Any question answered...

Clearly untrue, London is the epicentre of the universe and anything South is heathen. Canadians are obviously in the far North and thus are the poor cousins of the great and good USA, to be pitied by all and periodically buggered by polar bears. Geographical truth is irrelevant.

This is of course correct.
And I fucking hate bears.

Yes, took a month to be printed, then a week to arrive from TNT. I never received tracking details and was just posted through the letter box. My old passports arrived a week later via regular Royal Mail post.

I had the same issue with using my iPhone. I used a photo booth in Tesco, cost £6 (I think). The code they give you to submit on the .gov website takes a few hours to become active. I had to wait til the next morning before it would work.

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Seen quite a few clusters of mamils out and about north London today. Is there a thing on or is this normal Saturday that happens but I'm usually asleep?

Eta...and one solitary mafil

What size powerbank do I need to be self sufficient for a week? I forsee the below charging requirements. Never had one before.

1. Three phone charges (pixel 4a)
   
2. 2 suunto watch charges (Suunto 9)
   
3. 1 or 2 camera battery charges (a6300 batteries)
   

Something like 20,000 mAh

London is the epicentre of the universe

Yes, obvs.

anything South is heathen

Of course

Canadians are obviously in the far North

As can be clearly seen from aerial photography

and thus are the poor cousins of the great and good USA

What? USA is in the South, so obviously populated by a tribe of savages even more dangerous to the civilised people of Canuckistan than the bloody bears. Fortunately they're easy to spot when on the warpath by their elaborate head dresses bearing the inscription "MAGA"

Is there a thing on

Decent weather and a four day weekend.

Also, it's P-R weekend, so they'll be hitting those cobbled sectors around about, The Hell of North London.

Anyone know anything about inheritance tax?

scenario is this: my mother has a house (in scotland) where she lives and a flat which she rents out, the income from which is the majority of what she and her her husband (my step father) live on.

In essence, my mum wants the property assets to go to her children when she dies, but if her husband outlives her, naturally she wants him to have life rent in their house and also the income from the flat as he won't be able to afford to live without this.

A potential issue i can see is that if the value of the two places exceeds the IHT threshold, could we have to pay the tax with her husband still in residence (if he is the surviving partner), as we wouldn't have any obvious way of doing this without selling one of the places?

my mum's Scottish solicitor says that the value of the house where they live "is covered by other allowances", so we don't have to worry about this part. He also says that we would only need to pay IHT if the value of the flat (from which they get their income) at the time exceeded £570k, which is unlikely. I'm not clear where the £570k number comes from.

So overall I could just sign the thing (we are executors of the will) and not worry about things that may not happen, but it would be nice to be a little bit reassured.

I guess seeing as inheritance is immoral so I should just ask her to leave it all to the cats and dogs home in any case...

If the rules are the same in Scotland as England then...

A potential issue i can see is that if the value of the two places exceeds the IHT threshold, could we have to pay the tax with her husband still in residence (if he is the surviving partner), as we wouldn't have any obvious way of doing this without selling one of the places?

Generally you can transfer any amount to your spouse and there is no IHT due. That might be different if the flat is owned by a business which your mum is the owner of, you would need a specialist advisor to be sure.

I'm not clear where the £570k number comes from.
Does seem odd. Ask the solicitor?

Thanks for the reply.

The concern is that we (the kids) would inherit the properties on mum's death but her husband would have the right to the benefit of them. He has not inherited the properties themselves in this scenario, hence the concern over possible IHT falling due.

What are the best areas for cycling within three hours of Calais/Le Havre?

Any suggestions for a balance bike for a 2 year old? Are the cheapo Halfords ones fit for purpose or do you need to spend more than £40?

balance bike for a 2 year old?

Try to get a second hand Islabikes Rothan, it will be more than £40 but you'll probably get all your money back when your nipper outgrows it

Thanks, there's a few on eBay at the moment. It's for my niece so not my nipper. My brother and his wife could well knock out a second one at some point so don't spending a bit extra if it's likely to last.

It's for my niece so not my nipper. My brother and his wife could well knock out a second one at some point

I bought a new one for my niece, her little brother got it as a hand me down, and I think my brother still got about 3/4 of the original purchase price for it when they had both finished with it.

Puky are cheap and durable (but heavy.)

Low resolution image quiz:

How many speeds are these shifters?

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+Ndeipi

9 speed Tiagra?

8 speed Sora!

I was going to say Sora ST-R3300 which is 8 speed

Bingo! Do we get a prize +Ndeipi ?

Oh nice, maybe that's the way to go then! It seems you can get decent looking ones on eBay for between £50-£100 which is doable.

Frog ones are pretty decent too! Usually get back your money.

Yes, as it happens! One Freddo chocolate each. Collection only, from Scarborough.