Preparedness for when

nuatha

NewShadow wrote: »

ETA - Could someone please explain something for me...

VAT is charged on luxury items.
VAT is charged on adult clothes
Therefore pre-made clothes were considered a luxury when rates were set in the 70's

Fine. ish.

VAT is charged on luxury items.
VAT is charged on fabric
Therefore fabric was considered a luxury when rates were set in the 70's

Erm... okay.

Given VAT is not applied to items considered basic essentials, and given VAT is also chargeable on second-hand/ charity shop items where the item is rateable, the logical conclusion is in the 70's the poor went naked?

I like the logic.
VAT replaced Purchase Tax, which was charged at the factory gate (ie on wholesale prices, the rate varied depending on how luxurious the goods were reckoned to be as well as varying over time (100% during WW2) and was 25% in 1973 when we joined the common market and harmonised our tax structure. VAT was introduced at a single rate of 10%. There's been lots of shenigans with the rates since (from all political parties) and as its the governments third largest income stream (after income tax and NI) there aren't likely to be to be government moves to do away with it regardless of Brexit.

Whereas VAT is chargeable on services and second hand goods, its predecessor was only charged on new goods leaving the factory (or at wholesale by importers).
There's also lots of stupidities, biscuits (not chocolate coated), cakes and breads are zero rated, chocolate coated biscuits are currently 20%.
Though the idea that its a tax on luxuries goes back to 1974 and Dennis Healey reducing the standard rate from 10% to 8% and introducing a new luxury rate of 12.5% on petrol (later increased to 25%) and the two tier VAT system continued until 1979 when Mrs Thatcher introduced a single tier VAT of 15% (modified many times since).

So the basic premise that VAT is a luxury tax is in error. (the three tier system we now have, doesn't have a luxury rate, we have standard, reduced and zero rated).

HTH

GreyQueen

I'm slowly transitioning into eating in a primal/ paleo way and the experience thus far has been very positive. I'm pretty much cured of my sugar-junkie habits after less than a month and have misplaced 3.3 kg of flab in 29 days. After another month, I should slip from being obese to being merely fat, lol.

Have just finished reading a book called Wheat Belly, which I can recommend highly to anyone interested in bolstering their health.

Lots of the things which ail us in the modern world are related to diet, and lots of them aren't. We can only try to build as strong a body as we are personally capable of achieving and try not to stress about the might-be element. Eat yer greens and get to bed at a reasonable hour.

A pal of mine was regularly annoyed by a holy-roller variant of the dippy-hippy theme, a woman who believed you could pray your way to good health. Then she got bowel cancer.

He asked her afterwards if she'd gone to her doctor or her pastor for help? She was sensible enough to have proper proven treatement and survived. And she stopped rabbiting on about religion in his hearing, which pleased him as much as her survival, because he's irreligious but not malicious.

NewShadow

Karmacat wrote: »

I've been thinking a lot about this recently, and thats exactly my attitude, Nargleblast. I'm sure there's *something* in some alternatives, though not all.

I think it's worth remembering that drugs are just chemical compounds that have an effect on our systems. Some of those same chemical compounds can be found in or derived from plants and/or other naturally occurring substances.

I also think it's worth remembering that these effects are not magical or mystical - they're fairly predictable, empirically observable, and reliably repeatable results.

As GQ wisely advised - there is nothing wrong with considering alternative medicines - if those medicines have been proven to be both safe and effective, and if you are taking what you know to be a therapeutically recommended dose.

Willowbank, for example, has been demonstrated to be more effective than a placebo but less effective than alternative methods of pain relief for arthritis.

Studies suggest that willow bark may be useful for the following conditions:

Headache

Willow bark has been shown to relieve headaches. There is some evidence that it is less likely to cause gastrointestinal side effects than other pain relievers, such as ibuprofen (Advil) and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, do. However, studies have not shown this beyond all doubt, and people who are prone to stomach upset may want to avoid willow bark. Large-scale studies are needed to fully determine how safe and effective willow bark is for chronic or recurring headaches.

Low back pain

Willow bark appears to be effective for back pain. In a well-designed study of nearly 200 people with low back pain, those who received willow bark experienced a significant improvement in pain compared to those who received placebo. People who received higher doses of willow bark (240 mg salicin) had more significant pain relief than those who received low doses (120 mg salicin).

Osteoarthritis

Several studies show that willow is more effective at reducing pain from osteoarthritis than placebo. In a small study of people with osteoarthritis of the neck or lower back, those who received willow bark experienced significant improvement in symptoms compared to those who received placebo. A similar study of 78 people hospitalized with osteoarthritis of the knee or hip joint found that people who received willow bark had significant pain relief compared to those who received placebo.

http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/willow-bark

Homeopathy on the other hand - a report published in 2014 carried out 57 systematic reviews (on 68 conditions) which contained 176 individual studies and found no discernible convincing effects beyond placebo.

There was no reliable evidence from research in humans that homeopathy was effective for treating the range of health conditions considered...People who choose homeopathy may put their health at risk if they reject or delay treatments for which there is good evidence for safety and effectiveness.

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/health-topics/complementary-medicines/homeopathy-review

GreyQueen

Willowbark has been documented as a painkiller since at least the second century BC (Egypt) and was known to the Greeks and Romans, too, but most of us would find it more convenient to access in its modern synthesised form - asprin - a very useful drug which is widely-available OTC for pennies. As with all substances, use with prudence and seek medical advice in case pre-existing conditions/ medications would have contra effects with asprin. And if something hurts, it's better to find out why and treat the cause, rather than the symptoms.

I'm at the age (early fifties) where I'm noticing, in myself and my peer group, the consequences of unwise lifestyle choices such as eating too many buns and not enough cabbage, folk getting hefty where once they were slim, aches and pains becoming more prevalent and uncomfortable.

It's a thought-provoking time, sure enough.

Karmacat

NewShadow - you named exactly the methods I was thinking of, and in exactly that way, yes

On another topic ... Storm Katie and its aftereffects have crystallised my thinking about house maintenance ... its very necessary

I was pootling on my patio this morning, while the dishwasher was doing its pre-wash thing, and noticed that the outlet has become detached from the drainpipe :eek: I shoved it back in, but its out again now - so thats a plumber needed to, the pipe is very old and it could probably do with replacing, to be honest.

And I've been cleaning the emptied built-in wardrobe preparing to put stuff back in after the roof repairs: there were several 5 litre bottles of water in there, and 2 of them are badly distorted :eek: if they'd bust while in the 'drobe, I'd have another whole set of problems :eek:

I never used to get maintenance issues the way I get them here, in spite of living on top of a hill on the south coast etc - either this house has been *really* badly maintained (which I don't think is true) or storm damage is more prevalent these days. I think I'm going to have to get into the habit of walking around the property after bad storms, seeing if everything's okay - a neighbour of my mum's does this, and it turns out its a good idea

GreyQueen

One thing which has often surprised me is how so many home owners seem to take poor care of the exterior of their properties. I don't know what they do with the interiors, as I am referring to places I repeatedly pass for year after year, or see from the windows of buses.

Given the extortionate price of property, and the expensiveness of repairs, I would have logically assumed that people of sense would be scrupulous about maintenance but it's often not so.

Karmakat, it's no bad idea to look at the outside of your roof with a pair of binos regularly, esp after high winds, the check nothing's slipped or fallen.

On a much more modest scale, it flabberghasts me how many people don't mend allotment sheds when roofing felt comes off, and who neglect to put wood preservatives on them. Have seen several once-decent sheds destroyed by the elements for want of simple maintenance.

One of my parents' sheds is over 40 years old and a shed in my Nan's back garden is at least 80 years old and still going strong.

mardatha

I think our diet and lifestyle now is the worst it has been since Victorian times - they at least had extreme poverty as an excuse. I've gone paleo too with minor cheats and the ME isn't half as bad as it once was, although my store of energy is very limited.

ivyleaf

jk0 wrote: »

Apart from the price, I was also shocked that Everest took two weeks to even reply to me regarding a solution. Unless I was mechanically minded and had the tools, I would have had no way to secure my kitchen window until they got round to repairing it. The mechanism was completely seized by broken gear teeth. I had to take the broken bits out of the gearbox that worked one shootbolt, and just use the other one in the meantime.

I've had to use Ecover & Surcare products for years as other stuff smells too much.

Edit: BTW, I even know when my neighbours have washing out as soon as I open the door due to the washing powder smell. Their line is about 30ft away.

Apparently Surf is said to be the smelliest, perhaps they use that! I don't think we'll use the Tesco one again. Asda's is fine though, it has a pleasant but not overpowering smell.

I do use Ecover liquid for my stuff, though I'm very bored with its smell! They do a concentrated gel as well, which smells lovely but doesn't irritate the nose - but is so thick that I found it hard to squeeze out of the bottle

Two weeks is a ridiculous length of time to be left with an unlockable window :eek:

ivyleaf

Re house maintenance GQ - Ours is in a right old state We had new windows put in at the front 17 years ago but couldn't afford the best quality, and they are now in desperate need of replacement again, which would cost several thousands (they're big windows) we haven't got. The pebbledash needs redoing, the concrete window ledges need repairing and repainting. The low wall at the front edge of the little front garden needs to be pulled down and rebuilt. The whole outside needs re-rendering.

It all costs a heck of a lot of money that we simply haven't got. We aren't fit enough to do much ourselves, though DS has done a lot of vital stuff like replacing the radiators, and replacing a load of the old gas pipes when we had a gas leak last year (don't worry, he did have it checked by a friend who's a gas engineer.)

I expect there are plenty of older people in our situation, but it worries me a lot Apart from the weatherproofing aspect, it looks so awful and as if we don't care about it, which is not the case.

It was both having to stop work so young that's caused the problem in our case.

pollyanna_26

Mar Noticed a thread earlier from you and can't remember which part of the forums so as no doubt you will be on here at some point can I ask if the ex coal box is the much admired one in your avatar ? That was a national treasure !
Re climbers Lonicera Halliana is tough , mine stays pretty well evergreen but your need to train it and secure firmly , pretty low maintainance but tie in new growth or you'll end up with a big tangle .
Have you looked around nurseries nearby and gardens with similar weather ? A good way of seeing what stands a chance of coping .
Don't know if you know the biggest garden centre in Scotland ( D*bbi*s outside Edinburgh ) could be worth a look if you can persuade the RV . Tell him it has a butterfly world . They will be able to advise you on veg , flowers etc .
Failing that perhaps it's time to release Peter Gunn from the shed - how many years has he been in there now . I'm sure he could make you a garden .
polly