Search results

The point is that few parents, however politically inclined they are to abolish the better and most popular schools, will follow through by sending their child to a rubbish school in hopes that it might somehow improve. If their good school is closed, they will find another good school somehow...

I've often seen that imagined. I don't know how many schools Tony Blair's children passed to get to The Oratory, but it doesn't suggest much commitment to putting the greater good of the country against the good of his own children. Diane Abbott and Shirley Williams have both proved in the...

And at the same time, perhaps they could bring down the standards of the better state schools so that no child gets a better education than the next child. If there is a problem with schools not being good enough (and it's not a new problem), the answer isn't to close the good ones. It's to...

Do I pull my mother's wheelchair behind the bicycle, or do I sit her in the basket? ;) There are more prosaic reasons to need a car as well. 1. I can't get to Ripon races (or many other places I want to go) for an evening meeting by public transport. 2. To go to work by bus, even Colne to...

Cumulative inflation from 1971 to 1980 inclusive was 260%. So if someone's income went up[ with inflation, from say £10,000 to £36,000, but their liability of say £10,000 did not, then the liability went from 100% of their income to 28% of their income. A huge help when paying off debts...

I think when someone suggests there are no black players in the side, then to point out that two of the players were black or mixed race is a simple statement of fact, not a gambit.

I've just been in Milwaukee, where buses run from everywhere to everywhere at a maximum of $864 per year if you use them all day and every day. Max $2 per ride, max $4 per day, max $19.50 per week and $72 per month. And from a very quick count of car v bus passengers while waiting for a bus...

Dwight McNeil hardly missed a game for years, and Maxwell Cornet was a regular two seasons ago as well. Why on earth would you think the support would care about having a black manager and playing attacking football?

Not all food banks are government run or government licensed. The one at my church certainly isn't, and they don't means test.

And that's where a case study would be useful. I have still never seen a proper case study of the income and expenditure of a person who needs food banks and yet is receiving proper pay and statutory benefits. Does such a case study exist?

The ZX81 (1K memory!) became available in 1981, hence the name. Sinclair's Spectrum was 1982. They had mainframe and midi computers in the late seventies, but they were expensive machines that needed their own room.

Good idea in theory, though it might be tricky (not to say illegal) if they're already buried. Do solicitors have access to legal means of unlocking phones? Or even worse, what happens if the phone can't be found?

No, this one's Oak Mill on Skipton Road.

Just how far would house prices have to fall before a single mother on minimum wage could afford to buy one? Not all tenants are young professionals struggling to raise a deposit. If we want to reduce the private landlord market, we must have a proper safety net in advance for the tenants who...

The cost of actually doing the building is a relatively small part of an expensive house. Land prices are huge. They sold new 3 bedroom houses in Colne for £175k including cost of land, demolition of the existing mill, and profit. The labour and materials would be easily afforded in more...

I've been wondering about the smartphone generation, and probate. What happens when someone who keeps all their data on a biometric protected phone, and they die? How do the executors know where the money is? The old fashioned way would be to look at bank statements and, if necessary, wait for...

The thing about BACS is that you can go to your branch and do a bank transfer from there. If you still have a branch, of course. And the staff will be able to take you through the process. If they still have staff, of course. I'm moderately tetchy, though not with a smartphone because none...

Your billions and trillions are a bit askew. Yes, the rich 1% have £2.8 trillion or £4m each on average. But the 70% have £2.4 trillion according to Credit Suisse, not billion. £2.4 billion among 48 million would be net £50 per head over 70% of the population. £50,000 per head is the true...

It somehow seems a shame that the person with self-inflicted injuries gets treatment to help him recover. In these circumstances, it might be better to let him have his wish to die.

For £20, the charity Mary's Meals can provide a school dinner for a full year for a child who would otherwise have no dinner at all. I'm rich.