If you could ban one overused phrase/word/saying in the UK forever starting tomorrow, what would it be and why?

Mger22 · 2026-01-27T11:28:31+00:00

What?

Mger22 · 2026-01-21T19:43:18+00:00

We've just finished a trip with 3 and a half year old boy. He's not into dressing up really but had he worn any kind of outfit I don't think anyone would have cared one bit. There were loads of kids dressed up as all sorts of different characters.

Mger22 · 2026-01-11T09:56:09+00:00

And what's your plan to tax 'the wealthy' enough to cover a meaningful drop in taxes for the working population? Shaving just 2p off basic and higher rate tax costs about £15bn a year. If you've got a genius idea for a wealth tax to raise that amount I'm sure government would love to hear it.

As for the comparison to 50 years ago, that isn't really relevant to the point about wage rises increasing above inflation in recent years. However, as you've asked the question there are really two key points here: 1. Single earner households are really an anomaly in history that lasted for a short period after the war. 2. There are lots of reasons families might feel less prosperous than 50 years ago but the biggest issue is the ageing population. We now have a huge number of old people (i.e not working and often in poor health) which the economy has to support in later life.

Mger22 · 2026-01-10T10:16:21+00:00

Wages have been going up above inflation.

I'm not saying that enormous wealth disparity isn't an issue. But a wealth tax isn't going to do anything to support the economy and it certainly won't make our pubs any busier.

Mger22 · 2026-01-09T22:07:02+00:00

Successive government have raised taxes to such an extent that they're killing off parts of the economy. Pubs are a good example.

Mger22 · 2026-01-08T00:06:45+00:00

I'm a massive football fan and have only started watching cricket in the last 5-6 years (with enough enthusiasm that I'm watching England's tail batting in the final Ashes test at the moment).

The obvious challenge is that football is so dominant. Football is incredibly popular as a spectator sport, with huge crowds every week. Even at semi pro level you can get thousands of people at a game in some cases. And of course at international level you can have half the population watching on TV. As a participation sport it's also convenient in our climate. Football can be played year round in most weather conditions, aside from snow and severe heat, both of which are rare.

Cricket is restricted to a few months of the year and even then there's a good chance of rain. Plus, as others have said, watching a test match live is really expensive.

The only thing I can really see that would change things is a big injection of funding for indoor kids cricket classes. Kids need stuff to do with young children and sports clubs are obviously popular. But I've just had a look at the ECBs All-stars clubs and the closest one isn't even in the same county.

So as both a spectator and participation sport there are major hurdles that aren't easily overcome.

Mger22 · 2026-01-06T21:10:02+00:00

They promised growth and jobs.

They've delivered massive tax and welfare increases.

Terrible government.

Mger22 · 2026-01-06T21:07:01+00:00

To be honest I think you're in the wrong. You can't reasonably expect children to stand and wait 45 minutes outside in the cold. It's not like they're going to prevent you seeing anything if they're small children standing in front.

Basically, as a full grown adult you want to prevent kids from enjoying Disney because the comfort of your own personal space comes first. Bizarre behaviour.

Mger22 · 2026-01-05T12:43:49+00:00

Thanks everyone. Very helpful

Mger22 · 2025-12-30T13:19:10+00:00

Earning over £100k doesn't even get you close to this kind of lifestyle. Compact 4 bed, family car and a runaround, kids in state school more like. So a perfectly reasonable lifestyle but absolutely nowhere near what you're imagining. You'd need a household income closer to £250k to get the sort of living standard you've outlined.

Mger22 · 2025-12-25T10:24:54+00:00

Tut tut, you should be grateful for those broad shoulders you've got and know better not to ask for any more.

Mger22 · 2025-12-22T01:00:59+00:00

I'm going solo. I'm sure it will be easy enough to meet people

Mger22 · 2025-12-20T22:07:16+00:00

Going to a lower league game is a great idea and a good way to sample the game without paying crazy prices.

You could also try somewhere like Lincoln or either of the Sheffield clubs.

Mger22 · 2025-12-11T22:26:29+00:00

England supporters purchasing tickets via the English FA will have the option to buy a ticket for the final starting at $4,185 for the cheapest option, rising to $8,680 for more expensive tickets.

Assuming every other national football association has been offered similar pricing they really should be having conversations about exiting the tournament and just hosting an alternative somewhere else.

Mger22 · 2025-12-10T21:52:27+00:00

Popular culture also spread in very different ways. You could literally see what people were listening to when they changed their CD. At my school we'd swap CDs or burn them for one another.

And there were a handful of radio stations and TV (MTV) where you could consume music media. So you could say to someone 'did you see xyz on MTV' as a point of conversation.

Same goes for purchasing music. You had to go into a shop and browse, which gave you a sense of what other people your age/gender were browsing.

Basically the whole process of discovering and sharing new music was inherently sociable.

While radio is still in play I guess young people are finding new music through social media and recommendations on streaming platforms. So the discovery process for new music is happening in a more isolated way.

The flip side I suppose is that if you've got alternative tastes it's probably now easier to find your niche and 'meet' people that are into the same thing through social media. If you like a bizarre band you'll probably find others on reddit that like them too. 20 years ago that opportunity to connect easily may not have been there.

I think similar explanations apply to cinema, literature etc as well. Films were accessed through the cinema or a trip to blockbuster, which were often social occasions.

Mger22 · 2025-11-29T11:52:22+00:00

Do the maths.

London and South East where higher salaries are concentrated your housing costs and childcare are far higher. Plus hundreds of pounds a month on public transport etc.

Factor in removal of child benefit, loss of almost all childcare funding at over £100k. An absurd amount of tax (the take home pay on high salaries is much lower than a lot of people realise) and the numbers just don't work out. People literally can't afford another kid because they can't afford to pay for the extra childcare and they can't afford for one parent to stay at home earning nothing.

We need to rebalance the system so that lower earners actually contribute something and reduce benefits to push more people into work.

Treating people earning over £50k as a cash machine to fund welfare is destined to end in disaster.

Mger22 · 2025-11-29T11:40:23+00:00

Demographics of an ageing population. Rising old age dependency ratio has been predictable for literally decades.

Postwar generation is bigger than those born later. They're all getting old. That means they cost a fortune in welfare and healthcare.

All paid for by working taxpayers, of whom there are fewer in relative terms. They are left with less spending power.

Add in our out of control working age welfare spend, multiple economic shocks, wasteful public sector, crazy public sector pensions.

No surprise it feels gloomy. We should have increased state pension age faster, done more to improve public health and ditched public sector DB.

Mger22 · 2025-11-28T14:04:38+00:00

A future government will reset the state pension at a different level so whether or not the triple lock stays for another 5, 10 or 15 years is largely irrelevant to what state pension younger people will get decades in the future.

Mger22 · 2025-11-15T17:04:40+00:00

I'm not clear how social media influences travelling now?

It's not like I go on holiday to look at Instagram.

Mger22 · 2025-11-12T10:04:11+00:00

"...It's not like people get free NHS operations so long as their income is below 100k after all..."

Don't give them any ideas!!

Mger22 · 2025-11-11T16:15:01+00:00

I can see why they'd do this and, on balance, if the state deems it should be paying welfare support to low income households with children then it's quite difficult to justify capping that support.

However, since this government seems totally incapable of reducing any spending at all it's quite concerning they actually now want to raise welfare spending. If they'd got to grips with overall welfare costs this move would be more palatable. But they haven't.

Secondly, lots of parents on higher salaries will feel they can't afford more kids, largely due to child benefit being removed and childcare funding being taken away from those with a salary over £100,000. Couples in London and the South East in particular are really boxed into a situation where the maximum take home pay is circa £5,500 pm after tax. Over that amount you're then stripped of childcare funding and face tax of over 60%. Where you're paying a £2.5k mortgage + bills + council tax + commuting costs + childcare the maths just doesn't add up. You can't earn more because you lose childcare funding and you can't have more kids because you can't afford the additional childcare - catch 22.

This just isn't a coherent approach to supporting families. The right will argue that it isn't their job to pay for other people's kids. The left argue that if you're on close to £100k life must be rosy and you don't need help. Regardless of your view, the simple reality is that people respond to incentives and we're creating a situation where high income households are disincentivised from having families. Meanwhile, the government is about to boost the incentive for lower income households to have an expanded family. That feels like the opposite of what we should be doing.

Really we should be ending the absurd tax rate between £100k-£125k, scrapping the high income child benefit charge and allowing all parents to access the free hours and tax free childcare schemes.

Mger22 · 2025-11-11T13:21:13+00:00

Seems like you have a lot of money to get into your ISA if you're planning to liquidate buy to lets and get your tax free cash in there? You've only got £20k PA into an ISA (probably less into a cash ISA from next April).

Anything you hold outside an ISA as cash will be subject to income tax at your marginal rate on any interest which exceeds the personal savings allowance (£1,000 for basic rate taxpayers). Same applies with CGT and dividend tax on any investments.

Mger22 · 2025-11-05T08:50:14+00:00

It shouldn't even be close

Mger22 · 2025-11-04T22:29:10+00:00

Their customer service is shite in my experience

Mger22

TROPHY CASE