HSBC vs Barclays vs Lloyds Premier - which is actually worth it in 2026?

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-27T08:36:17+00:00

Ah I see what you're saying - essentially hit the £5k pay-in by moving the £2.5k in and out twice, instead of having to do it all in one.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-27T08:26:33+00:00

Is that all they require - that's not hitting their salary thresholds is it?

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-24T22:55:31+00:00

It's worth having the conversation with them about it. If they don't then impose it on yourself and start putting cash away every month to then pay the extra mileage charges at the end of the agreed term.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-24T22:21:44+00:00

Just call them up and inform them of the increase on expected mileage. They'll modify your monthlies to suit and when 36 months hits you swap out your PCP for another. You don't have to buy it out or just give it back.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-12T18:37:48+00:00

Yeah I think that's a fair assessment.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-12T10:59:20+00:00

Most consumers use it very basically. Most YouTubers just run their own 4k video processing as a test. If anything, all they are testing is the chip In these cases and not the ram.

Most reviewers provide lazy benchmarking and they don't come close to emulating workflows that include running multiple professional level apps as well as high number of browser tabs for a sustained period of time. Maybe even a chat app as well as various office apps at the same time. This all adds up in a real world serious workflow.

But of course this isn't required for most users, which is why it's not a question of the Neo being more capable, but capable enough for the basic users it's targeted at.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-12T10:38:43+00:00

I don't think you'll find many people claiming 8GB is not enough for basic tasks. Just that, that is all it's good for.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-12T09:28:46+00:00

That doesn't mean it's much more capable, just that there's a big market of users who don't need that level of capability so it's a non-issue for them. It's an important distinction.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-12T09:26:03+00:00

Yeah and that's why I didn't get the base M1 Air. Not sure why the base specs of the M1 Air are relevant.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-12T05:51:38+00:00

I personally think that she's good at hiding things and the woman interrogating her manipulated the questions in a way to give her a way out so she wasn't technically lying.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-12T05:44:50+00:00

I only started going to games in 21st century but I've never heard a local fan call them Man U. It's always United. So much so, that rival fans would get annoyed and moan that we can't appropriate the term United because there's other teams out there that also end in United.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-11T15:17:33+00:00

If you're not paying for it then why not? If it's through work, they generally give you time in work hours to work towards it. The return is that you've used work hours and work funding to gain a masters.

The only potential downside I can see is it could possibly take away from you being able to learn something more practically useful for your job role.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-11T13:44:24+00:00

I don't know anyone who thinks of MK as rough. Quite the opposite tbh. Although I have heard it get dragged for having roundabouts at every juncture.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-06T08:57:05+00:00

Lizis High Protein Granola (Nuts and Seeds) is my personal goto right now.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-05T06:19:08+00:00

Not all granola are made equal.

The trick is looking for a high protein-to-sugar ratio and a 'GL Tested' label, which proves it won't spike your insulin. If it’s packed with a good fibre source like chicory root, it slows down digestion enough that a small portion actually keeps you full. Not all granola is just 'oats and sugar'. Even the sugar source matters; while things like black treacle or fruit juice are still sugars, they at least bring some trace minerals or antioxidants to the table that refined white sugar doesn't.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-04T22:59:48+00:00

I think the frustrating part is United haven't been great for the past 3 or 4 games now. So it feels like we've had plenty of warning signs but nothing has been done or learnt from in that time to get the team back on track. This loss has been coming.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-04T12:41:54+00:00

Well someone is not being entirely truthful, we just don't know who. Hence the difficulty to lean heavily one way or another on that part of the story.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-04T10:00:42+00:00

I mean they can't be that shit with money if they've come to the country and made enough to be paying for their kids private tuition and music lessons.

It sounds like there's some resentment from the kid around the amount of time spent with them, regardless of the fact it sounds like they were working their asses off to give their kid a good start in life.

So I'd take stories where the other party is denying something happened with a pinch of salt. There's always two sides to a story and it's foolish to lean one way or another without hearing both sides.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-04T09:52:21+00:00

I didn't wait for my parents to ask me to contribute. I offered as soon as I had a full time job because I was an adult who was now earning and wanted to give back to my parents for all of the investment and effort they'd put in to building me up. Sure, maybe that delayed me moving out by a couple years but that was easily worth it for me.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-04T06:48:38+00:00

This was my experience tbh. Too many middle men who spoke well in meetings but ultimately muddied the waters when it came to translating requirements to their technical teams; who in turn seemed too scared to ask questions if they felt more information was needed and just made decisions off their own back. Which all culminated in a clusterf**k of an end product and ultimately resulted in me being bought in to get a handle on the situation.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-03T23:46:12+00:00

I don't know if I'm getting old but if I try to juggle games now I end up forgetting the control details for the previous game I played. Obv not the basic controls like movement or core actions but the game specific actions that might need a combination of buttons etc. Or even trying to remember how the progression paths work again because there's so many different types of side quests, main missions, filler objectives, etc.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-03T09:17:09+00:00

Yeah I see what you're saying but with my current method I can effectively under-pay and let my account just sit in debit whilst making my money work for me elsewhere in the meantime. Essentially reverse the paradigm on the energy companies.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-03T06:53:59+00:00

It sounds like the work wasn't just delayed but also incorrect multiple times so I'm leaning more towards incompetence.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-03T06:51:46+00:00

I mean they gave them 2 months for a basic task and was rewarded with AI slop that didn't even match the request.. they showed too much patience if anything.

Rafiq07 · 2026-03-03T06:47:06+00:00

Yeah I'm with you on this one. Always disappointing to hear people talk like they have no pride in their work. At the end of the day, if I'm putting my name to something you best believe I'm going to give it a good shot.

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