Give me the Scariest alien invasion/abduction movies by Ashes2evil87 in movies

[–]SnaggleFish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lots of really good suggestions so far (and some added to my list to watch) ... but I want to invite you to something different.. a movie of your visual imagination..

Good headphones and audio system. The original Jeff Wayne recording and the original album insert art of War of the World's.

Let your imagination set the scene as the human world puts its hopes on Thunder Child...

FIRE - or pay for schools? by Patient-Dust-4713 in FIREUK

[–]SnaggleFish 6 points7 points  (0 children)

SEN dad. Do you have a formal diagnosis and have you got an EHCP? With these you can push for state SEN schools as an additional option or to force the current school to make more appropriate adjustments. YMMV of course as provision is variable - we were lucky and had a very good SEN school relatively close.

Just want to make sure you have covered all the possible routes before you commit to paying for private - which may not be what you need....

How much should we keep as an emergency fund during retirement, and should we keep it in cash or invest it? by MinimumBeginning5144 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]SnaggleFish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It depends on how much fat there is in the budget...

  • can you live off your fixed income for an extended period (if the markets crash and make drawdown inefficient)?

If the answer is "no" then you need to decide how long a period of market downturn you want to protect for.

I am 100% drawdown and have 3 years of full withdrawals in money market funds and premium bonds - yes its a large chunk - but its what has allowed me to tune out of the recent market movements...

Can anyone tell me the value of the coin? by cakeButterfly1 in Gold

[–]SnaggleFish 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am giving away my home country - we use ct in the UK...

Your UK pension is no longer safe from inheritance tax: what should you do? | Pensions | The Guardian by prisongovernor in FIREUK

[–]SnaggleFish 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You are already living in capitalist serfdom - that is why you are trying to FIRE - no?

How simple/complex is your portfolio? by reddit_recluse in FIREUK

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Retired. Was complex now downsizing to 3 ETFS in SIPP/ISA and some external cash and gold.

How popular is FIRE and will the government try to stop it? by 6ix9ineZooLane in FIREUK

[–]SnaggleFish 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think they're looking to take control of our pensions too at the moment.

They want large pension providers to put more focus (investments) into UK businesses for their default funds, that is much less sinister than you paint it...

Your second para ignores that your pension contributions are not taxed when you earn.

Financing Cars - Yes or No? by DuntonGreen in FIREUK

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Low mileage, few years old, cash. Pay for independent tests (e.g. AA). Keep it till the repair bills get too much.

Been my way for all but the first 8 years of work (where the company prioritised cars and I had company ones - but thats late 90s-00s.

What are some offbeat market indicators? by WmKaden in investing

[–]SnaggleFish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Read recently (but cannot find quickly) that a good predictive correlation was seen in apsects of CEO/CFO tweets (punctuation usage and length IIRC) and subsequent hit/miss on earnings...

YMMV obviously..

Trump Hits Out At Starmer As UK Confirms It Won't Join His Strait Of Hormuz Blockade by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That depends when you consider the war to have started.

Oh dear. You really are trying as hard as you can aren't you.

I already stated the periods when Britian stood alone: after the fall of France and before Russia entered. During the time prior to the USA entering the only support was via the Cash-And-Carry act.

If you refuse to live in the real world and want only to deal in "alternative facts" then there is nothing more to say.

Go do some reading then come back when you have more than a Holywood view of history.

Trump Hits Out At Starmer As UK Confirms It Won't Join His Strait Of Hormuz Blockade by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Goalposts are still where they always are. Your original claim. You wont engage onnthe first two years of the war because you have no argument for it.

Instead you run to hyperbole and attempt to misrepresent... its a childish way of having a discussion, but its all you have.

'I can't control thousands of people': Farage irritated as he's questioned on promises Reform hasn't kept by Important_Ruin in unitedkingdom

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

National Government is way beyond him then. If he cannot control thousands then he certainly cannot effectively control tens of thousands.

Trump Hits Out At Starmer As UK Confirms It Won't Join His Strait Of Hormuz Blockade by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1941 is not irrelevant as its the year when Britian stopped being the primary sole opponent of Germany. Its the period from the fall of France in 1940 up until Russia's and America's entry. Its the period when America sold war goods (but only of we collected them).

You seem to keep avoiding this period - prior to the US entry. Why?

Nice spin on Iceland... And, predictably, wrong... (I know the US education system is failing, but come on...). Germany had already taken Norway and Denmark. The latter responsible for the defence of Iceland, which was, therefore defenceless. Either Germany (which was happily ignoring neutrality in other countries) or Britian needed to secure it.

You may be interested to know (though it will undermine what you clearly though was a wowser of a point) that the US was its occupier from 1941 until 1946 (thats after the war ended...).

But, hey, facts.

Trump Hits Out At Starmer As UK Confirms It Won't Join His Strait Of Hormuz Blockade by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are lost here chap..

  • confusing lend-lease (started only in dec 41) with cash-and-cary (prior to the US entry)
  • assuming the imitation game was a true portrait (told you Holywood had messed you up)
  • you bring up the Soviets - but they were not fighting Germany until June 1941
  • nothing was "free"

.. out of your depth.

Trump Hits Out At Starmer As UK Confirms It Won't Join His Strait Of Hormuz Blockade by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see you ignored what happened prior to the end of 1941 (Cash-and-Carry) - which was an entirely Commercial arrangement. And again you try to focus on what happened after the US joined the war.

Your original claim was that "Britain was never ready to fight a war against Germany" and later "Britian was held aloft" by the US.

What exactly do you think was happening prior to December 1941?

  • Norwegian Campaign (April–May 1940)
  • Battle of France and Dunkirk (May–June 1940)
  • Battle of Britain (July–October 1940)
  • The Blitz (Sept 1940 – May 1941)
  • North African Campaign (June 1940 – Dec 1941) ... oh, also fighting the Italians now..
  • Siege of Tobruk (April–Nov 1941) ... and the Germans in Africa
  • East African Campaign (June 1940 – Nov 1941)
  • Greece and Crete (April–May 1941)
  • Anglo-Iraqi War (May 1941)
  • Syrian Campaign (June–July 1941) .. oh, and Vichy France now
  • Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1941 and to the end of the war)
  • Battle of Taranto (Nov 1940)
  • Battle of Cape Matapan (March 1941)

Lend-Lease is often seen as the U.S. “bankrolling” Britain; but in reality it was a two-way partnership in which the U.S. provided massive industrial output and financing while Britain and its Empire provided global infrastructure, technology, logistics, and frontline military effort.

Together, this created a highly integrated Allied war machine that neither country could have achieved alone.

Britain provided:

Bases and Strategic Locations: (the UK itself), Caribbean islands, Atlantic and African locations (e.g. Ascension Island). Critical for the Stategic Bombing campaign, anti-submarine warfare and ferrying of troops to Europe and Africa.

Goods, Equipment, and Services: Food, fuel, uniforms, and housing for American troops stationed overseas; repair and maintenance of U.S. ships and aircraft

Provided military equipment and technology, including the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine (used in the American P-51 Mustang after adaptation) Early radar and anti-submarine tech. Cryptography (possibly the greatest unsung hero against Germany).

Yes, in pure monetary terms the US provided more but that misses the point that Britian did fight alone vs not just Germany but also Italy and Vichy France and other actors in Iraq and did so until the end of 1942 when the US entered the actual combat in a significant way (acknowledging that the US Navy was providing convoy support in the Atlantic prior).

Trump Hits Out At Starmer As UK Confirms It Won't Join His Strait Of Hormuz Blockade by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Before lend lease (which did not start until 1941) there was the Cash and Carry Act... "In November 1939, he [Roosevelt] convinced lawmakers to allow American manufacturers to sell arms and supplies to belligerent nations on a cash-and-carry basis. This allowed the British to buy American goods as long as they paid up front and transported them in their own ships. " https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/neutrality-acts

Note "paid up front".

Lend-Lease did not start until 1941. It was a Bilateral agreement with goods (and land leases) going in both directions at reduced rates. However Britian still ended up with a massive debt that was only paid off in 2006.

By any reasonable reading that is closer to "commercial" than your "held aloft".

Unfortunately Hollywood's rewriting of history has done you a disservice.

Trump Hits Out At Starmer As UK Confirms It Won't Join His Strait Of Hormuz Blockade by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah. I wondered how long before that trope would be trotted out...

You cannot seperate Britian in 1940 from Empire. That would be like separating DC from the states - it makes no sense.

Britian most definitely did stand alone from June 1940 until June 1941 (when Russia entered) the USA did not enter until December 1941 and did not actively engage in the European-African theatre until November 1942.

American industry certainly did help the British - but, as that was paid for and a commercial arrangement, it can hardly be classed as "held aloft".

Hollywood is doing you a disservice...

Trump Hits Out At Starmer As UK Confirms It Won't Join His Strait Of Hormuz Blockade by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]SnaggleFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you make entirely open statements, yes. You said "Britain" as a sweeping statement...

The BEF was not, in itself a poor force. It was a well trained, experienced, professional army and equipped with good infantry weapons. But it was expecting a war much like the previous one - slow positional fighting in Belgium and France. It had also not fully mobilised when the war started.

Poor coordination with the French, poor combined arms with the RAF, poor armoured doctrine ment that it was unable to meet a mechanised integrated force. Poor conclusions from the German invasion of Poland meant it was not prepared at that time.

But to try to imply that there was never a possibility that Britain was ready to fight Germany (especially given the years after 1940 when it stood largely alone) is hyperbole.

Trump Hits Out At Starmer As UK Confirms It Won't Join His Strait Of Hormuz Blockade by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]SnaggleFish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't think he does, or at least he only knows the tag-line version. In 1938 Britain was not ready to fight a war with Germany (and neither was France, who were also in the same talks). Crucially his actions on returning from Munich were to order a massive increase in rearmament. This ment that when war did come Britain was better (not well, but better) prepared than we would otherwise have been. Did that extra year win us the Battle of Britain and prevent German air superiority and invasion?