u/TheWorldIsGoingMad

With all the speculation that Labour will increase capital gains tax (possibly substantially....) I wondered if the tax liability calculation takes into account inflation. As far as I can tell it doesn't, so, on that basis alone, how can capital gains tax be justified ?

I cannot agree with this, in my experience most young people get upset at stuff we would not have batted an eyelid to "back in the day".

That said, I do agree with this bit :

His report will say these problems were exacerbated by the pandemic because of the disruption it caused to their lives.

Though technically it was not the pandemic that shut down their schools and prevented young people from socialising, it was the unprecedented response to it that did that.

Royal Mail are having a price increase in October (an extra one over the April increase, naturally....) :

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2026-09/our-prices-october-2026-v1-ta.pdf
https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2026-09/online-price-guide-october-2026-v1-ta.pdf

But where has RM24 and RM48 gone ? Have they been replaced by Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 (only tracked on delivery as far as I'm aware) ?

Also has anyone noticed the huge price rise for large letters (particularly on the tracked service, ex RM24/48 ? ) ? There is now only one weight break (under 1Kg) and it's now £3.90 or Tracked 24 and £2.90 for Tracked 48.
Previously (Apr 26) for a 750g large letter RM24 was £2.45 and RM48 was £1.75

All prices plus fuel surcharge and VAT)

All good news for Evri I'm sure.....

TBH We don't send much by RM anyway (our consignments are generally too big) but I suspect we'll only use RM for the Highlands of Scotland or off shore addresses from now on !

Edited corrected

Has anyone suggestions for carriers who take unboxed products and items over 1m, and who do not charge a supplement for non business addresses ?

I can remember when we first got into mail order about 20 years ago, we used TNT and they'd take anything under 12ft in length with no surcharge ! It's hard to believe isn't it, but sadly, since FedEx took them over they're even worse than the other carriers*, everything has to be in a box or there's a hefty surcharge.
We have used DX and APC. The latter we do not like because their service can be poor and (because of their franchise model ? ) they dislike giving credits even more than the other carriers.
DX are a good fit for customers with unboxed products but have gone downhill a bit with their "banded together charge", which is a ludicrous idea really. Why, so long as the consignment is under the weight and volume limit, does it make any difference if it is "banded together" ?!? It is particularly frustrating as they charge per item in a consignment.....

* I would love to know what percentage of TNT customers FedEx lost when they enforced their packaging rules, I'm guessing it was high, higher then they expected ?

Bearing in mind the delayed 'sugar crash' are "energy" drinks, or "sports" drinks bad for performance at galas ?

I have always been wary of my lad having an "energy" drink (e.g. "Lucozade Energy") or sweets of any kind at a gala, but thought a sports drink (e.g. "Lucozade Sports") was OK. But looking at the ingredients of "Lucozade Sport" that has Glucose (a sugar....) as its number 2 ingredient (after water), just like "Lucozade Energy" !

I have always assumed that the fact girls appear to be faster then boys up to about 13 or 14 (their entry times for regional champs are certainly lower) was due to the fact they mature quicker than boys. Whilst it is true that girls are often taller than boys of the same age (under 13 or14 anyway) I did wonder if it was also that there are simply more girl swimmers than boy swimmers under 14, though it seems to equalise, or even flip round, over that age. Because the entry times for regional champs are set to allow around the top 50 girls and boys of each age (and there are more girls than boys) could it be that fact that girls have lower entry times and so appear to be faster ?

What has this got to do with politics I hear you ask....

Well, it transpires, this ban came from breaking the default 20mph limits (even on through routes) in operation near where she lives, she actually got clocked at between 24mph and 27mph, which is not exactly "dangerous driving" in anyone's book. Remember when we were told 40mph is dangerous, 30mph is safe ?

To me this IS to do with politics and, I think, it is part of the reason for the rise of Reform. People are sick to death of having their lives regulated and restricted more and more by what I call "progressive authoritarian" governments - everything from these default 20mph limits (including on through routes) to parents being fined for taking their kids on holiday in term time even for those with otherwise near 100% attendance ! Incidentally the latter was a Tory policy, introduced by Gove (a hate figure in our house)......

I am not blaming Barnsley swim club for this, in fact I feel very sorry for them...

My lad was swimming at the Barnsley Summer Splash Gala at Leeds (John Charles) pool on Saturday, and a child was sick in the water shortly after the afternoon session started. All swimming was stopped for about an hour and a quarter (by the management I assume), then, just as the kids were warming up (again...) in the diving pool for the restart it was announced the rest of the gala was cancelled !

Has this ever happened before ?

Bearing in mind the water has chlorine in it and it's a big pool (even in 25m mode, deep and 10 lanes wide), and pools let kids in wearing swim nappies ( ! ), why would they cancel a whole afternoon's gala for one child being sick in the pool ?!?
To me that decision is completely disproportionate, the amount of trouble and upset and work that has caused is huge.