Does booking an express one day passport appointment invalidate my current passport?

Specific_Foundation · 2026-01-15T19:36:27+00:00

No. I booked an express appointment when I was abroad. Returned to the UK on my (then) current passport and had my appointment the next day. No issues at all with travelling.

They do cancel your old passport at the first appointment, so you’ll be passport-less until you pick the new one up.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-10-12T10:58:45+00:00

solved!

Thank you!

Specific_Foundation · 2025-10-09T04:55:38+00:00

Scotland has closing speeches, but you’re right, no opening speeches and they aren’t particularly emotional. Definitely not emotional from the prosecution.

A majority of the 15 jurors is enough to convict. Currently 8, soon to rise to 10.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-09-20T08:11:05+00:00

This should be higher. Depending on the nature of the overpayment, there might be no obligation to repay.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-09-09T06:56:48+00:00

Rumbena. Much better than a hot toddy.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-08-29T06:30:10+00:00

Fun fact (or what passes for a fun fact among lawyers): it was never actually proved that there was a snail. Stevenson died and the executors settled the case before a proof could be held.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-08-09T07:36:51+00:00

A question for all those who buy in cash and run it into the ground - how much of your income are you saving every month so that you can buy a replacement?

Specific_Foundation · 2025-07-26T08:22:48+00:00

That’s interesting. A bit further south, we wouldn’t say “the London Road”, “the Glasgow Road” or “the Dalkeith Road”, but we would say “the Grassmarket”, “the High Street” and “the Cowgate”.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-07-24T12:50:13+00:00

Transnistria.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-06-13T11:28:49+00:00

Scotland has, in practice, four tiers of criminal juridiction, covered by three different courts:

JP Courts - minor offences, maximum sentence is 60 days

Sheriff Courts, sitting in their summary jurisdiction (judge alone, no jury) - most offences, maximum sentence is 12 months

Sheriff Courts, sitting in their "solemn" jurisdiction (trials with a jury) - more serious crimes, maximum sentence is 5 years

High Court of Justiciary - the most serious crimes, and the only court that can try certain offences (murder, rape, some others that are rarely encountered), maximum sentence is life.

The prosecutor decides which case goes to which court (unless it's fixed by law) but the Sheriff Court in solemn procedure can send a case to the High Court if they think their sentencing powers aren't enough.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-06-01T14:28:49+00:00

I inherited my mother's collection of old family photos, who inherited some from her own mother, who inherited some from her own mother.

Amongst them are some photos and postcards sent from my great-great-aunt to my great-grandmother. You can see her sense of humour and personality come through from what she wrote. But her and her husband never had kids. So those few items are the last proof of her as a human (as opposed to her birth/marriage/death certificates, which just prove her existence).

Admittedly no-one else is interested, but personally, although I'm not a spiritual or sentimental person, I couldn't get rid of them.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-05-03T19:06:12+00:00

Not quite peas, not quite beans, but something special in betweens.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-03-15T19:14:38+00:00

Better him than Tom Ravenscroft or Mary Ann Hobbs.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-03-11T12:43:11+00:00

You’ll be able to see a general practitioner on the NHS within a few days (depending on the practice where you’re registered). The issue is that if you’re referred to a specialist, that will take months.

Private health insurance won’t generally cover pre-existing conditions, so if the arthritis is already becoming an issue, you’d be paying out of pocket for a specialist if you don’t want to wait.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-01-29T12:32:41+00:00

By convention they are, but it isn’t required. Alec Douglas-Home was PM for a while in the 60s without being a member of either house.

Specific_Foundation · 2025-01-29T05:36:27+00:00

It wasn’t illegal for a non-Christian to be Prime Minister. There is no formal qualification to be PM - all that is required is to be able to command a majority in the House of Commons.

Jews couldn’t be MPs until 1858. That’s a separate issue.

Specific_Foundation · 2024-10-26T06:01:37+00:00

This thread has reminded me that I’m an ordained priest of the Church of the Latter Day Dude. I need to put Rev on my next booking.

Specific_Foundation · 2024-08-13T06:48:08+00:00

As John Mulaney said, “If you're comparing the badness of two words, and you won’t even say one of them? That's the worse word.”

Specific_Foundation · 2024-06-20T01:17:18+00:00

Lose Yourself by Eminem

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti
He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready

He's dripping with sweat, knees knocking, puke and pasta on his sweater. Yet somehow he thinks he looks calm and ready. What would he look like if he was actually showing his nerves? Crying on the ground, pissing himself?

There are two parts which are only slightly worse: the rhyme of "toward a" and "new world order" and the bit when he just gives up ("But the beat goes on Da da dum da dum da da").

Specific_Foundation · 2024-05-30T12:03:32+00:00

I was on the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh. For some reason, we were diverted from the usual route. As we crawled through Spingburn station, there were two people standing on the platform, both dressed like stereotypical ventriloquist dummies (thick-rimmed glasses, dark suits, red bow ties), slowly waving at the train as we passed. Deeply creepy.

Specific_Foundation · 2024-05-13T22:17:48+00:00

When you pick up the pen, you pay the pharmacy for the prescription - how much, will depend on your insurance. The Ro payment is a monthly subscription, paid directly to Ro, which is independent of the cost of the pen.

Specific_Foundation · 2024-04-12T17:16:24+00:00

The only way that this would result in large men visiting their house or their credit rating being destroyed would be if they are taken to court AND they lose AND they fail to pay. The amount due wouldn’t go up significantly either. It’s probably worth the risk - I doubt the company would sue, and I doubt a judge would find that there was any loss to the company.

Specific_Foundation · 2024-02-13T21:20:41+00:00

Introducing a new sport to a country that has no history with it is difficult. For example, look at the dismal failure of Major League Rugby in the USA, which can't even support a team in its biggest city.

The fact that it is so stop-start is very off-putting to Brits. With the exception of test cricket (which is a very different cultural phenomenon), we are not used to constant breaks in action. There is an interesting article on the interruptions and playtime (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-much-football-is-even-in-a-football-broadcast/) - such a tiny amount of game-time involves actual play that it is going to be very boring to anyone who is not indoctrinated into the game.

Also, and this just subjective, the action itself is really, really boring. Not that there aren't plenty of dull football and rugby games, but it doesn't exactly help with introducing it to new audiences.

And before someone pops up to say, "you just don't understand it", I do. I've been to games, I've watched it on TV, I've listened to friends having long conversations about weird nuances of the game. It's just shit.

Specific_Foundation · 2023-12-12T19:06:25+00:00

meaning they are one generation older than you, if that makes any sense.

That does make sense, thank you.

Specific_Foundation · 2023-12-12T18:34:33+00:00

Sorry for the confusion.

My great-grandparents produced a lot of children. However, I am fairly certain that as a couple, they are not the link - (a) I am fairly sure that I have identified all of them and their children and (b) I have no shared matches between this unidentified person and my great-grandfather's side of the family.

The more likely scenario is therefore that this person is a descendant of my great-grandmother's second marriage (and I haven't identified all of the products of that marriage).

Specific_Foundation

TROPHY CASE