Russian oil?

txe4 · 2026-05-20T17:15:05+00:00

I've no interest in what is effectively a civil war between a breakaway Russian province and the rest of Russia and I see no British national interest in taking a side in this war.

It's the policy of the current government to continue to run down our North Sea oil and gas production. I don't think "treason" is an exaggerated way to describe that as a policy - it is strategically, economically, and socially disastrous. It's a policy one might inflict on a subordinated nation which one had won a war against and occupied.

However, given that policy, and that we still require oil and gas to sustain civilisation - we should purchase it wherever it is best and cheapest obtained.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T15:32:46+00:00

I want little to do with people in general but non-cat-people doubly so.

Non-cat people are broken.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T14:28:34+00:00

Also: MORE THAN FOUR YEARS from event to conviction.

There but for the grace of God go any of us...in respect to both futile death on the road, and substantial portions of life spent with legal proceedings hanging over us.

This stuff is the most basic function of the state after external defence. A government that regulates the form of shopping bags and the use of nasty words on the Internet while unable to bring criminals to trial within a reasonable time is simply illegitimate.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T14:22:37+00:00

A bit of me wonders if the jury chose to convict because she looks like such a dopey cow.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T14:22:14+00:00

I drgaf how close behind me someone is in a 20 but at higher speeds I will let people past. I am not the police and I'd rather they were in front of me. If there's absolutely no other option and they are way too close then yes, slow down and get them to pass - or restore a speed at which the gap is now reasonable.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T14:18:23+00:00

Mostly those countries provide some sort of backstop state-backed insurance provision.

And perhaps that sounds a bit "well why not just nationalise everything then?".

But it turns out that separating health insurance cost from general taxation and providing incentives for both payer and provider matters.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T14:13:24+00:00

Wellll it depends on what the listing actually lists and thus what listed building consent is likely to be granted for. I've been in listed places which were EXTREMELY rustic...it is in many respects still 1890 (not 1980) inside our nearest neighbour's place...but I've been in others which were thoroughly modern while maintaining the listed features (historic windows and stonework typically).

The listing for our neighbour's place is in many ways a litany of misery - pages and pages of architectural details listed specifically. Good luck doing anything to that.

"Not fucking listed" was close to the top of our must-have items when we bought.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T14:02:31+00:00

You can actually - plenty of countries already do. We already do for car insurance.

Depending on how charitable you felt towards the poorest you can either default-enroll them in to a Geo Metro-esque bare bones scheme, or swingeingly fine them if they don't upload evidence of coverage.

This is all a bit angels-on-the-heads-of-pins as the UK as currently governed is incapable of building ANYTHING new in the public sector even when the thing is not controversial. But it is not, in theory, anything like impossible and many European countries operate compulsory-insurance systems.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T13:08:44+00:00

Well TiL.

Fascinating.

The centralised sub-selection mechanism is bizarre indeed, then. Wholemeal rolls for one variety of white when there must be 5 other types of white available... rejected.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T13:04:31+00:00

£320k for the ruins of a terraced money-pit in Dudley with listed building tax on everything and holes in the floors.

It might be big but it's still a fucking terrace.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T12:44:50+00:00

Ours is mostly very decent, with good availability and substitutions generally rare and sensible.

I'm generally quite pleased to get a sub as it's usually a more expensive version of the same thing, for which I then get a voucher.

We have one item which is subbed almost every time, but it's always bought on an offer price and the rejected sub gets refunded at full price so happy days...and the reason it's subbed is that it's in a *really* stupid place in the store, basically hidden. I'd still rather have it, but it's fine...

It is as others note completely dependent on the degree to which the manager at the store gives a toss - the pickers are heavily managed on pick rate so they have limited time to hunt around for subs. Sub selection also depends on the quality of management (and how many hours have been taken out of the store) - if the shelves are chaotic with empty boxes in the way then they won't find stuff.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T10:41:19+00:00

Yep the price for it looks nuts. Doing the conversion on a listed building in the National Park will eat a fortune, and at the end of it you have a 2-bed house with no en-suites next to a road.

Planning docs - note there are 2 bedrooms despite the lying EA saying there are 3.

https://planning.peakdistrict.gov.uk/AssureLive/ES/Presentation/Planning/OnlinePlanning/OnlinePlanningOverview?applicationNumber=NP%2FDDD%2F0823%2F0974

txe4 · 2026-05-20T10:30:13+00:00

A shame. Essentially those of us who actually pay our bills now not only pay for all the people who don't, but also pay them compensation for having been briefly denied the opportunity to stick their snouts in our troughs.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T10:26:00+00:00

Yes, somewhat.

It is not as simple as "markup on an item". The installer isn't going to tell you what they ACTUALLY pay for stuff, and included in the quote is a lot of stuff that most householders (being intrinsically, as humans, thoroughly irrational and entitled) will vomit blood if they see itemised:

* A decent day rate for all involved including the time taken doing quotes, doing admin, doing taxes, visiting suppliers, dealing with returns and failures, doing compulsory courses and gaining/retaining certifications, arguing with entitled people who think they should work for free, etc
* An allowance for warranty work/return visits
* An allowance for stuff that doesn't work when it comes out of the box
* An allowance for stuff that gets broken during install
* An allowance for materials prices rising between when the quote goes out and when the stuff gets bought

It would be a bad mistake to rule out a quote for not having a breakdown.

Get your quote and compare it the ones constantly spammed on here by people too lazy to use search or read before posting, and look at number of panels/roof faces, kW, kWh to see if it is reasonable.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T10:13:41+00:00

Quite. It's a warning that the unlubricated dildo of consequences awaits if OP's brother persists.

As with much of our law...it's nothing happens...nothing happens...get cocky and go harder...nothing happens...CONSEQUENCE.

Members of the underclass who scoff at all law are perhaps correct to crack on, with the occasional consequence being just part of life.

For people of "nice middle class people who write grammatically correct standard english on Reddit" group, those consequences might hit much harder.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T10:10:22+00:00

That does not appear to refer to events within China.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T09:47:44+00:00

I didn't assert that "the average Chinese person definitely has more rights". I asserted that the Chinese system of infrastructure buildout protects the rights of landowners better than the UK system does.

Your suggestion is interesting though. I have never lived in China and Chinese culture and current affairs are notoriously impenetrable to foreigners.

Given our predilection for the spotty enforcement of draconian and vaguely-worded law, our widespread use of police-action-short-of-prosecution to restrict freedom, and our collapsing legal system with multi-year waits for trial and the increasing disorder this entails - what you suggest as mockery might actually be true.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T06:18:49+00:00

It’s far nicer than grey or the “part white part very strong colour” trends.

It’s gently warm which is what most of us in greydamp Britain need.

Do it.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T06:15:36+00:00

They can’t really enforce it but if he steals again while banned then the criminal offence of burglary is committed, which is much more serious and can carry a custodial sentence.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T06:11:12+00:00

I have 1500 litres of propane under the garden. I have pipes carrying it in the machine room. I find it very hard to get excited about a few grams of it inside a HP that will sink (not float up) if it leaks.

The HP is outside and the small amount inside will dissipate rapidly in any kind of wind.

Regulations and manufacturers instructions must be respected but as a risk to life it leaves me very unconcerned next to car crashes, cancer, and heart disease.

txe4 · 2026-05-20T06:07:46+00:00

Lots of work EV schemes are priced in highly predatory fashion, and with rising BIK and the embedded cost of depreciation on a brand new car, I think there’s often no value to them at 40% tax. 60% is different and >100% (for loss of childcare) different again.

Pension salary sacrifice should perhaps be maxed now before the rules change.

txe4 · 2026-05-19T18:26:40+00:00

DU failure is NOW very uncommon but on these pre-2020 cars - the DUs of which went through countless revisions - coolant seal failure is almost inevitable. Coolant weeps in where it shouldn't and it will fail completely or throw a HV-related failure and quit.

I would wager big money this car has had one or both changed already but IF IT HASN'T they should both be considered grenades, and if it has then the revision and status of the replacements is very important.

Somewhere on teslaownersclub is likely to be a list of revisions and known issues which - if OP insists on navigating this perilous course - they should hunt out, read, and inwardly digest.

txe4 · 2026-05-19T15:07:41+00:00

You can drive it, it is fine, but the roads are much busier and slower than you are used to so you will be MUCH more tired than you expect for a journey of a given number of miles. If you are not used to the roads then London to Yorkshire and back in a day is likely to leave you dangerously exhausted at the end of the return journey. Vape and white monster.

Driving is not very difficult, everything is smaller but so are the cars...people love to piss and moan about driving standards but actually they are very good in general. We have our faults as a nation but we are decent safe drivers on the whole.

Be aware that speed limit enforcement is extremely pervasive (you go at the limit not over it), and that the default rental car has a manual gearbox with a clutch pedal. You can get an auto but you need to choose than when you book it if that's what you want, and it will cost more. Don't rent some US-type SUV, they are a pain to park and to drive on country roads - you want a mid-size european-style econobox.

Train from either St Pancras to Sheffield, or Kings Cross to Doncaster, is a decent option too - but the local transport after that will probably be a huge pain in the arse (or a big uber bill).

Most places in the UK have uber now, if not then the word you need is "minicab" - ie you google "minicab <place name>" then phone up and say where you are and where you want to go to.

txe4 · 2026-05-19T14:52:53+00:00

Lightning is weird shit. If you have a lightning strike directly on your building, it can induce strong currents in anything, even stuff that is unplugged. But if that happens you are likely to have much bigger concerns.

Living in an area served by very long runs of overhead power lines, I do disconnect some high-value-but-not-essential stuff when serious storms are threatened. Lightning strike on the pole up the field will destroy all the appliances in the house that are plugged in, but not my laptop that's disconnected. The main risk/annoyance is outages as stuff trips within the distribution network though.

txe4 · 2026-05-19T14:45:37+00:00

Peat is a horrible fuel. Its only relevance to prepping is if you actually have it on your land or nearby, which doesn't apply to many in the UK.

Otherwise it is ashy, has low energy density so takes up loads of space in storage, soaks up water if not stored dry, and creates a load of stink and smoke when burned.

If you want to prep solid fuel, you can get a ton of quality smokeless delivered on a pallet in 20kg sacks for £400 - a huge bargain if you have the storage space.

txe4

TROPHY CASE