A separate payment - or tacked onto a fortnightly payment? Can't say that I've ever noticed it before - must pay more attention to the meagre amount DWP send me...
The Minister who cut the Winter Fuel payments has her annual energy bill paid for by the pensioners who pay Income Tax That must be a huge consolation to all the ones who have lost the payment but dont receive enough to pay Income Tax
But if you do pay income tax on your pension, you can have a small say in directing some money where you want it to go. Make a donation to a cause of your choosing, then gift aid it and let the government pick up the bill.
It looks likely that a form of VAR will eventually find its way to the lower leagues. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/crl38k7n5deo
I will keep my language under control, but a good example here of why the small/medium-sized traders are seeing their sales to the EU plummet. I ordered a £10 calendar from the UK and find a €10 customs charge is applied. The supplying company had said they would refund any charges, meaning they will make no profit, maybe even a loss. They will give up exporting before long.
I am all for keeping online banking safe, but the systems in place can sometimes fail the systems designed to deliver security. Last night I wanted to check what funds I had in a UK account, so put in my 16 numbers in one box, with a further 5 in a second box. The security system then said it wanted to send me a one time passcode by SMS to my mobile phone. It didn't arrive, so I asked it for a resend. No luck again, so another resend request. Still nothing, but then a message to say that it looks like I am having a problem, so I should phone their helpline. Seeing as the helpline shut at 8.00pm, and it was now 11.00pm, that was not an option. Shut the programme down, then tried again, without anything different happening. Gave it one last chance, but still failed to receive a SMS message. At 8.00am this morning, my mobile phone becomes very agitated as 9 one time passcodes are being downloaded, all of which had expired 8 hours earlier. Tried to log on to the account with a new passcode, and wonders of wonders it was working. The whole system is designed around one having a mobile phone that has a signal. Most of the time my signal is poor, but just about useable. I will not require a 5G phone for Christmas.
Resonates with me.... in fact i believe my bank Nat West never sends me the passcode first time so i always have to click for them to resend...... Getting more and more complicated to log in to an account
That's something that annoys the hell out of me - my banks regularly insisting on two-step verification, although I suppose it's a good thing if it keeps my accounts safe. One of them actually offers three ways of receiving the one time passcode - mobile, landline or email - which, in our case, is effectively only two anyway. We unplugged our landline as the only calls we were getting on it were from scammers and cold callers. Still get them on the mobile but they're easier to spot and block. Perhaps you could ask your UK bank if there is an alternative to the SMS?
I raised the NATWEST issue with the bank and no sihnificant reply and it is being going on for a long time.... I suspect it is a built in anti fraud factor
Lloyds give me that issue all the time, in fact I think my history must be flagged when I call as had to do it so many times.
Hi Toby and OFH, I’m sure you know loads more than me about this, Toby, but I had a similar issue about a year ago when ‘texts’ were delayed to my phone for a number of hours, worrying because they were a suicidal friend reaching out for help. I changed my ‘Messages’ app settings from ‘Chat’ to ‘SMS only’ and the problem stopped. Just a thought.
Bright blue sky in rural France today, and the temperature has risen to a heady 6°C, double the high of yesterday. I have been trying to cut down on the number of Christmas cards sent to the UK. The cost of postage alone makes this an expensive operation, and I would rather provide a few meals for people who are finding life difficult. Last year, one card sent arrived in mid-February, so was a total waste, but who else can I cut? Mme doesn't want people to think we are deceased, and she is right, but we only have contact once a year. If only some used e-mail, the problem could be resolved, but some actually live without computers and mobile phones.
Was chatting with my son on WhatsApp earlier today - when he dropped the bombshell that he had just been deported from Honduras. He and the other two members of his band were en route to meeting the cruise ship they have a four month contract with - he was travelling on his UK passport, the others on their Aussie ones. Apparently their agent failed to mention that Starmer's government cancelled an agreement with Honduras that no visa was needed for visitors from each country - so the Honduras govt returned the compliment. So he's now in Mexico somewhere, waiting to meet up with the ship on Friday.
Glad that he will not be stranded for too long BB. To think that at one time a UK passport gave you more visa free travel than almost any other. And it will get worse when you need one to enter the EU.
He's well looked after really. Royal Caribbean, the cruise ship owners, put him up in a hotel on Cozumel Island. The ship docks there on Friday. The cause of the whole saga was Storm Darragh - they were supposed to fly out from Madrid last Saturday, but all flights were cancelled because of the storm.
I have just been reading that admission to Chateauroux's game on Friday evening can be free of charge. To take advantage of this offer you need to donate a new, or as good as new toy to their Christmas appeal. The club is in a financial pickle, having spent too much on a promotion drive that failed, but still put their place in the community above a few thousand euros. I am sure that GT would approve.
