Octopus and out-of-date meter

Why should the government lean on homeowners to improve their insulation and then not print some more money to cover the cost of compliance?

It's a good job the population of the UK is falling and we don't need to grow so much food, isn't it?

The last time the UK was self-sufficient in food, was in the 1700s

I hope you are not being serious.

Most of India Pakistan and the middle east seems to be relocating here.

Juts because they dont show on official statistics doesn't mean they don't need feeding

The population is increasing, and there's been more legal immigration since Brexit than before.

One year I saw a number 1.8m pa, that make the number of boat asylum seekers (30-50k pa) a small drop in the channel.

Indeed, you need a land border for proper illegal immigration, see USA.

In message snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>, at 11:31:11 on Mon, 6 May

"Planning officials have to decide between being petrol bombed by extinction rebellion, or being voted out of office in the next election"

Seems to do the exact opposite though.

It's just biding its time. In the last 44 years ours[1] has cost us at least 3 thermocouples, one new pump, and a new flame failure device.

OTOH, it has cost zero in annual service charges, and countless system replacements.

Glad to see you quoting an unimpeachable source.

Not had the chimbley sweep to it then?

I have a similar boiler: Installed (by me) in 1989. 3 thermocouplea amd one overheat thermostat. It is being replaced mext month. SWMBO doesn't like its noises.

Yes, no one trusts the BBC any more, do they?

An element of truth here.

Farmers have had odd bits of financial support since WW2. In my youth, this was so called *deficiency payments* where the actual sale value of a product such as Wheat was made up to a price set by the govt. The Common Market has its own way of doing this and there were various permutations of *support* in exchange for area controls (set aside). With our exit, this system is being wrapped up over the next 2 years and new *voter acceptable* payments put in their place. Voter acceptable translates into wild flower meadow planting, over Winter bird food crops, low input grassland etc.

No, he does the wood stove. (Strange accent, and he keeps doing this funny dance.)

P.S. What happens if she doesn't like the sound of the replacement?

Some of the noises are a bit more recent, but I don't mind them.

She might have to pay for something else

Does he have an urchin with him?

Might have Squire, possibly - but it might have been a spiny urchin.

Out of the joint account? (Or is that just my experience of how things work out?)

Better than a spiny Norman.