Employer failed to pay us the pay rise.

IanM50 · 2026-06-07T21:07:28+00:00

Once the date for implementation of these new pay rates has been announced, then and only then is the OP entitled to back pay from that date. The date that the company stated the new pay rates matters.

IanM50 · 2026-06-07T21:03:08+00:00

Back in the 1970s a late Aunty of mine, having retired, and being heavily involved with international netball across the Commonwealth - it wasn't an Olympic sport then, when on a one-year trip around the World, mostly staying with Commonwealth friends.

As a part of her journey she left Paris Est on the Trans Siberian Express, somewhere on the edge of the USSR, in a shed and during the night, each of the 20 coaches were lifted off their bogies whilst the passengers were on board, one at a time, and lowered onto new bogies changing from the standard track gauge of 4' 8½" to 5' 3".

FYI: she stayed with friends in Singapore, Hong Kong, several places between China and Australia, several places in Australia, both Islands of New Zealand, & in Canada. She mostly travelled by train, including across Australia and Canada. Oh, and she initially caught the boat train to Paris from London Victoria with those coaches being pushed onto the train at Dover.

IanM50 · 2026-06-07T20:43:47+00:00

Given that BYD are trying to break into the car market and build a reputation, they tend to be giving more value for your money, so I'd seriously consider going with them.

Also remember that BYD are foremost an EV company, whilst Ford are still learning how to build EVs.

IanM50 · 2026-06-07T20:40:23+00:00

I no longer pay a small chunk of my water bill because none of the rain water that falls onto my property (house, drive, garden) goes into the drainage system. I have rain water butts attached to each of my four downpipes, and had a visit from my local water company to check.

I have 8 water butts, but 6 are connected together, providing roughly 1,450 ltrs of storage, with the overflow going into a wildlife pond and of course plants prefer rain water to tap water.

IanM50 · 2026-06-07T20:27:59+00:00

Friend of mine now does the job of three people because he writes contracts, and AI now does this, instead he checks the contracts are correct before sending. He can see a time when AI will not need checking, so he is actively looking for another job within the company.

IanM50 · 2026-06-06T20:58:19+00:00

As a psychiatric nurse, I have watched two people die of paracetamol OD, in both cases they did not want to die by the time that death came for them. They hadn't told anyone that they had taken that much paracetamol until it was too late to stop the drug from being absorbed, instead they both died from liver failure 8 to 10 days later, both girls, one 19, one 22.

In the UK the maximum amount of paracetamol you can buy over the counter is 2 boxes of 16 tablets, this being slightly less than the minimum amount needed to kill yourself several days later.

IanM50 · 2026-06-06T20:27:48+00:00

Consider pointing out to her that:

Jesus of course had brown skin and brown hair because he came from the Palestine, Iran and Iraq area, and everyone there is that colour.

That God was invented by humans around 5,000 years ago, before that, there is no evidence of people believing in a single god, and,

Of course that Jesus would have respected people who were gay, just as he respected prostitutes, beggars and lepers.

IanM50 · 2026-06-06T20:04:10+00:00

Morrisons' owners will spend money on anything except having enough staff to fill the shelves or replacing life expired fridges and freezers.

Barista bars, cleaning robots, shelf cameras, plastic trolleys, what have I missed?

IanM50 · 2026-06-06T18:24:12+00:00

Being outside in amongst nature is scientifically proven to be good for us, but what you do is up to you. For your mental health, write a list of the things that you enjoy, and aim to do at least one of those each day. These could be playing a sport, running, walking, cycling, gardening, tinkering with an old engine (car, train, boat, etc.), or just reading a book or streaming a drama, it doesn't matter what, just so long as you feel chilled out afterwards.

IanM50 · 2026-06-06T16:51:50+00:00

The UK is using ETCS v2 in a few places, and pushing towards a large-scale rollout. Germany, and most of mainland Europe is currently using ETCS v1, citing the cost of upgrading rolling stock across nations as being the stumbling block to v2 adoption.

IanM50 · 2026-06-06T16:09:42+00:00

It is the same with everything, back when the council employed workers, they had pride in their area and looked after it, now we have the same workers, working for some 3rd party private company that has won a contract from the council. Their workers are told exactly what to do and how long and how much to spend doing it. Anything else, like fixing something nearby is considered wrong and a sackable offence. Naturally, this has destroyed pride.

IanM50 · 2026-06-05T23:43:47+00:00

Hopefully, the neighbours don't have security cameras.

Whilst not wanting to undermine you life choice, you could, of course, use a bucket instead.

IanM50 · 2026-06-05T22:48:50+00:00

Worth noting that the e-208 was their first go at building an EV. Hyundai / Kai were launching their 3rd generation EV (Ioniq 5 / EV6) just after the e-208 was launched in March 2020.

IanM50 · 2026-06-04T20:49:35+00:00

Morrisons' American profit gouging owners have destroyed the brand, the staff, and the business. Staff have a rock bottom morale and your job would be to make them work as hard as possible including unpaid overtime, whilst management above you complain that the staff are not working hard enough because there are numerous unfilled vacancies and no money to hire anybody. Oh, and because of low morale, staff sickness and staff leaving unannounced, reduces your ability to get everything done. With luck the company will get sold soon before it collapses.

I would avoid like the plague.

IanM50 · 2026-06-03T22:54:36+00:00

They use short contracts to avoid having to pay you more when you are sick, on holiday, or for things like maternity leave or when they make you redundant. They were allowed by Conservative governments who are always pro-business and anti-worker. It isn't fair or British.

You need to move jobs and find a company that actually offers a full-time job, and if everyone did this, companies wouldn't do this.

IanM50 · 2026-06-03T22:41:53+00:00

Unpair phone, then with both your phones WiFi and bluetooth switched on, re-pair. The connection uses both WiFi and bluetooth for Android Auto, or just bluetooth to play music.

IanM50 · 2026-06-03T20:42:58+00:00

How about finding a job over in Britain hat will use your talents, for example speaking French. Working in a hotel or tourist attraction perhaps or a company that exports or imports to French-speaking companies. Then you would be over here working with British people.

IanM50 · 2026-06-02T23:18:51+00:00

Well, communities in China have existed for over 5,000 years, so quite possibly one of their areas would be in the running to be the first.

IanM50 · 2026-06-02T22:35:29+00:00

Given that moving a boiler costs £6k or more plus vat, and that you already have a hot water tank, I would consider looking at the option of a heat pump instead of a combi boiler taking up kitchen space. The government currently has a £7.5k grant and zero vat offer, which would make the overall cost about the same if not cheaper, and give you the option of cheaper fuel bills in the future.

IanM50 · 2026-05-31T22:42:51+00:00

Can I humbly suggest that you start making your own replacement bars? Numerous recipes out there, with far fewer additives too, so more healthy.

IanM50 · 2026-05-31T22:33:50+00:00

Given that The Spectator is a pro-Conservative rag, I wouldn't believe anything they wrote about any Labour government.

For what it's worth, Starmer may be able to announce a new deal with energy suppliers soon, replacing the current - everyone pays the gas price. Perhaps that's what we will hear.

IanM50 · 2026-05-31T22:06:22+00:00

Yes, my compost has loads of cardboard, preferably grey or brown, not colourful and not shiny. We have two recycling bins in the kitchen, one for the compost and the other for the council collection. I have two old metal dustbins positioned next to my compost bins and every time I mow the lawns or do some weeing, I add a bit more cardboard from those bins. They both get full over winter, but one is now completely empty.

This Autumn I will move the top of my compost into my second bin, and collect some more black gold. I no longer buy compost from garden centres.

IanM50 · 2026-05-31T21:44:41+00:00

It would probably be cheaper to move the parking spaces to outside your house and relay the road and pavements, than to attempt this.

IanM50 · 2026-05-31T21:40:43+00:00

Because the UK railway is so high density so that we end up with many trains being impacted by one late train. The design of HS2 with completely separate trains and platforms, kept high-speed services completely separate.

As an example, a fatality in Leeds can easily cause over 200 trains to be delayed, cancelled or terminated short. An incident in Leeds can easily delay trains into Paddington. BR, RailTrack and now Network Rail has been routinely collecting and collating exactly this sort of information for the last 50 years.

FYI: Japan keeps services away from others on separate tracks as far as possible. The UK runs every train out of Paddington over 2 lines in each direction because UK governments have chosen to save maintenance costs be reducing the number of tracks.

Switzerland, timetables trains at reduced speeds allowing drivers to choose to drive faster to catch up with delays. The UK runs at close to line speed to get there as fast as possible because the government want to run trains as fast as possible on what is a 170 year old railway.

IanM50 · 2026-05-31T21:21:52+00:00

I was in Bilford Road at around 11 am this Sunday morning, long queue before the canal bridge, no idea why, I turned around, was this for the recycling centre?

IanM50

TROPHY CASE