The Untied Kingdom? - the British thread 2021

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  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Firenze wrote: »
    Saturday default is steak'n'chips ...
    Steak is beginning to be my Saturday default too, but not chips: tbh I really only like chips from the chippy.

    I've never actually made chips myself; we used to have a deep-fat fryer, but I think I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times it was used, and always by David and not me. For eating with steak, I prefer mashed or baked spuds anyway.

    @Puzzler - your chicken thing sounds lovely - would you mind posting the recipe upstairs?

    I've just had a message from No. 1 Niece to say she's bringing Rosie out at about 11:30; I think No. 2 Niece and Coen are coming a wee bit later, and my brother and sister-in-law around lunchtime, so it's going to be quite a busy day. There may even be two separate lots of amblage - I'm going to be wrecked!
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    I really do not understand the reasoning behind inheritance tax. Expecially as those who inherit most, such as the Duke of wherever it is who owns most of the West End, seem to not pay it.
    What right has the government to it, when it has, in the case of earned money, rather than previously inherited wealth, already received tax on it?
    I spent some time when Dad died mumbling about cows owed to feudal landlords as heriot, and A.P.Herbert writing out a cheque on the side of a cow. It's medieval. In his case, because of Mum's share, there wasn't any. In my friend's case, because of the mess his parent's made of their lives, he, who needs it more than the state does, will probably be having it extracted.
    It made me feel that the state was claiming some sort of ownership over the people, that we lived by their grace and favour, and owed them for it.
    And I don't object to taxes in general, when they are used for the general good. Far from it.
  • Firenze wrote: »
    Saturday default is steak'n'chips: tonight was one of the more successful iterations. I flash fried the steaks, then deglazed the pan with whisky. The accompanying red was a Tempranillo from Yalumba, which is not a varietal you expect, but very good.

    Tempranillo has been increasingly popular here in Oz, especially in regions which enjoy hot summers leading up to vintage. Barossa, northern Victoria and Riverina regions produce some very flavoursome products.
  • Penny S wrote: »
    I really do not understand the reasoning behind inheritance tax. Expecially as those who inherit most, such as the Duke of wherever it is who owns most of the West End, seem to not pay it.
    What right has the government to it, when it has, in the case of earned money, rather than previously inherited wealth, already received tax on it?
    I spent some time when Dad died mumbling about cows owed to feudal landlords as heriot, and A.P.Herbert writing out a cheque on the side of a cow. It's medieval. In his case, because of Mum's share, there wasn't any. In my friend's case, because of the mess his parent's made of their lives, he, who needs it more than the state does, will probably be having it extracted.
    It made me feel that the state was claiming some sort of ownership over the people, that we lived by their grace and favour, and owed them for it.
    And I don't object to taxes in general, when they are used for the general good. Far from it.

    How about stamp duty, then?

    With inheritance tax, hardly anyone actually has to pay it - unless as you say they make a complete mess of their financial affairs. You can give it to your children*, who can in any case inherit the family home tax-free, and if you organise your pension properly that can also be passed on tax-free till they spend it.

    * or anyone else who takes your fancy...
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Piglet wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Saturday default is steak'n'chips ...
    Steak is beginning to be my Saturday default too, but not chips: tbh I really only like chips from the chippy.

    Ovenchip technology has come on a lot. I've not fried a chip in years. Something like McCain's Homestyle deliver an acceptable combo of crisp outer/fluffy middle.
  • You can give it to your children who can in any case inherit the family home tax-free.
    Not so (in the UK) although the tax threshold is higher: https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/passing-on-home

    Also, an article my paper yesterday suggested that, if HMRC think you have given your house to your children while you are still alive, as a deliberate ploy to avoid Inheritance Tax, they may come after you/them to claw it back.

  • MrsBeakyMrsBeaky Shipmate
    You can give it to your children who can in any case inherit the family home tax-free.
    Not so (in the UK) although the tax threshold is higher: https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/passing-on-home

    Also, an article my paper yesterday suggested that, if HMRC think you have given your house to your children while you are still alive, as a deliberate ploy to avoid Inheritance Tax, they may come after you/them to claw it back.

    Having had a few hair-raising moments after my mother died in 2019 and being extremely grateful to my retired lawyer husband who fought for me I'd simply add: don't forget the seven year rule whereby only gifts made in the seven years prior to a death are reckoned towards an inheritance tax assessment. We are now working around that in our own financial planning.
  • Penny S wrote: »
    I really do not understand the reasoning behind inheritance tax. Expecially as those who inherit most, such as the Duke of wherever it is who owns most of the West End, seem to not pay it.
    What right has the government to it, when it has, in the case of earned money, rather than previously inherited wealth, already received tax on it?
    I spent some time when Dad died mumbling about cows owed to feudal landlords as heriot, and A.P.Herbert writing out a cheque on the side of a cow. It's medieval. In his case, because of Mum's share, there wasn't any. In my friend's case, because of the mess his parent's made of their lives, he, who needs it more than the state does, will probably be having it extracted.
    It made me feel that the state was claiming some sort of ownership over the people, that we lived by their grace and favour, and owed them for it.
    And I don't object to taxes in general, when they are used for the general good. Far from it.

    Given the threshold for inheritance tax is an amount more than most folk will otherwise see at any one time in their life I don't think the beneficiary of an estate that has to pay it (and then only 40% of the amount above the threshold) can be said to be in any kind of need.

    Perhaps it helps if you consider that inheritance tax is actually more like a huge tax relief (compared with paying income tax on what you inherit, which seems the most natural alternative). Maybe the tax should be reformed to tax inheritance as income but allow the value to be spread over a number of tax years, say 10. I'd also be inclined to look at trusts and how they are used for tax dodging by the likes of the Duke of Westminster and the Duke of Argyll.
  • Please see my post above. It's not HMRC who will come after you if they think you've gifted your property to your children to avoid IHT. It's in fact the Council who'll come after you if they think you've been trying to get round paying for Social Care.
  • Leorning CnihtLeorning Cniht Shipmate
    edited April 25
    With inheritance tax, hardly anyone actually has to pay it - unless as you say they make a complete mess of their financial affairs.

    Which is an absurd state of affairs. A tax that is basically optional, and can be avoided by "not making a complete mess of your financial affairs" is just wrong. Taxes should be simple, and apply equally to people with similar levels of wealth / income.

    As regards IHT, I am philosophically not a fan: I'd far rather a wealth tax at a steady rate than an occasional tax on wealth that comes due when someone dies and didn't employ enough accountants. And it strikes me that for most valuable property that people own (money, land, shares etc.) then an annual value tax is quite feasible. Perhaps you need special arrangements for someone's art collection or similar.

    ETA: Philosophically, my position is that "tax planning" should be impossible.
  • The whole UK tax system needs root-and-branch reform. The more complicated a tax system the easier to get things wrong and the more prevalent evasion.
  • PriscillaPriscilla Shipmate
    On a lighter note, we had a glorious day in Wells yesterday (Darllenwr said that it was an awfully long way to go for cards and food for tea) and enjoyed visiting the Bishops Palace Gardens. We were shocked to find that admission had gone up to £15, but then saw that it covers 12 months, and Darllenwr came in free as my carer. The gardens were lovely, as ever - just the right blend of formal and random.
    This afternoon, we had a walk around a local country park. The sunshine was lovely, but whilst there had been quite a breeze yesterday, today it was what my father would have called a lazy wind - doesn’t blow around you, blows straight through!


  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Well, I've had a lovely day with most of my nearest and dearest, which as I anticipated included two ambles - one past the Palace and back along the High Street, the other the whole way round the Loch (the first time I've done it) and it was glorious. It helped that it was a beautiful day - although the temperature was only officially 13°, I was really quite warm by the time we got back, and glad I'd left off my jacket.

    By the time everyone had gone it was nearly six o'clock, so time to think about supper. I couldn't really face proper cooking (and I'd been grazing on cheese, oatcakes and biscuits off and on all afternoon), so I made an omelette with mushrooms, tomatoes, basil and oregano from my little plant pots and CHEESE, and it was rather nice.

    I think an early night is called for; I don't think I'll need rocking to sleep!
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    I liked Wells when I went there a couple of years ago @Priscilla and the social ambles sound great @piglet.
    We did a bit of clearing out ahead of our move. I put a few things we no longer need at the end of our drive and they’d been taken within ten minutes. We then went into town to drop some things at a charity shop and drop some documents off at the solicitors. The day was so nice we carried on walking, down by the Thanes looking at the boats.
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    Charity shops in Scotland can open from tomorrow! I have a whole room of stuff waiting to be distributed.
    After taking my three services we drove to the new house today to clean out the fishpond. We hadn’t realised we were buying a stocked pond, and the seller hadn’t been in any condition to clean it out for some time. One fish was floating 🙁. However working with three buckets and two of us in an hour and a half we had emptied the stinking water, rescued the other 4 surviving fish, cleaned the lining and begun to refill. I left Mr Cats there to replace the fish tomorrow, when the water has had time to sit for a while. Glorious day. Blue sea. Busy wee town. (It’s the one where the fish soup -skink- comes from - not personally a fan but Mr Cats is).
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited April 25
    I love the soup whereof you speak, and have fond, if rather vague, memories of family holidays in its delightful namesake fifty-mumble years ago when I was a very small piglet.

    Wishing you and your family many happy years there!
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    We have friends from Whithorn who regularly holiday there.
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    Wells is a wonderful place @Priscilla . I was travelling there once a fortnight for a course until the virus arrived and the course had to go on hold and then on Zoom.

    We had our usual Sunday Family Catchup and coffee and cake (two sorts of cake :smiley: ) in a garden with friends. Then lunch. Then another Zoom meeting. We pushed quite hard to get that Zoom meeting to be in someone's garden next week (it was such a shame to be sitting indoors with the lovely sunshine outside) and that's what'll happen as long as the weather allows. It sounds as though there isn't going to be a lot of rain next week, but it will be colder from midweek.

    I feel unaccountably fed up this evening and hope I feel better when I wake up tomorrow.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    Penny S wrote: »
    I really do not understand the reasoning behind inheritance tax. Expecially as those who inherit most, such as the Duke of wherever it is who owns most of the West End, seem to not pay it.
    What right has the government to it, when it has, in the case of earned money, rather than previously inherited wealth, already received tax on it?
    I spent some time when Dad died mumbling about cows owed to feudal landlords as heriot, and A.P.Herbert writing out a cheque on the side of a cow. It's medieval. In his case, because of Mum's share, there wasn't any. In my friend's case, because of the mess his parent's made of their lives, he, who needs it more than the state does, will probably be having it extracted.
    It made me feel that the state was claiming some sort of ownership over the people, that we lived by their grace and favour, and owed them for it.
    And I don't object to taxes in general, when they are used for the general good. Far from it.

    Given the threshold for inheritance tax is an amount more than most folk will otherwise see at any one time in their life I don't think the beneficiary of an estate that has to pay it (and then only 40% of the amount above the threshold) can be said to be in any kind of need.

    Perhaps it helps if you consider that inheritance tax is actually more like a huge tax relief (compared with paying income tax on what you inherit, which seems the most natural alternative). Maybe the tax should be reformed to tax inheritance as income but allow the value to be spread over a number of tax years, say 10. I'd also be inclined to look at trusts and how they are used for tax dodging by the likes of the Duke of Westminster and the Duke of Argyll.

    If you bought a modest home in certain parts of London back in the high and far off past, just after the war - you know, two recep and kitchen on the ground floor, two decent sized bedrooms and a pokey one upstairs with the bathroom and loo - and haven't moved since, you could be sitting in something easily over the double IHT threshold, and your legatees wouldn't have any cash to pay it with without selling up. And they wouldn't be able to afford a replacement. You can tell which houses this applies to as you drive around. I haven't been talking about the money in the bank, and the chattels, just the imaginary value of property. Though I suppose the government could say that no tax had been paid on that increase.

    My onetime guest was determined to live past April 6th in the year she came here, as that was the date there was an increase in the threshold coming in. We didn't, at the time, think she was going to make it. She did, but house prices since have eroded anything gained.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    edited April 25
    Today was our wedding anniversary. Since lockdown is still ongoing on this side of the Channel and there's nowhere to go, the only thing to do was eat :mrgreen:

    We went out to Pasteur on a patisserie finding expotition this morning and then past the market for flowers. After that we did our best to suitably honour husband en rouge's homemade FOIE GRAS. There was Champagne.
  • Happy wedding anniversary!
    Warm in the sunshine but a bit of a cold breeze occasionally. We had an afternoon of gardening. Other half extended the main flower bed where I planted campanulas, lupins and anemone corms. He also dug over the small vegetable patch while I did some weeding.
  • Wet KipperWet Kipper Shipmate
    Glad you had a nice amblage, piglet. You would have passed close to my house on the way to Beecraigs yesterday.
    In case you have any more small and interested visitors, there is a family of ducks with new ducklings on the Canal at the moment
  • Cathscats wrote: »
    . ....Glorious day. Blue sea. Busy wee town. (It’s the one where the fish soup -skink- comes from - not personally a fan but Mr Cats is).

    You surely know how to make the exile envious. Not the fish - can't eat any at all - but the sea, that coast, the inland views, the sun, the voices... If I don't get a pass to Heaven, that coast is one of a small number of places that would be a perfectly acceptable substitute.
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    Happy Anniversary, la vie en rouge! I remember when you posted photographs from your wedding -- how many years ago was that?
  • Penny S wrote: »
    Penny S wrote: »
    I really do not understand the reasoning behind inheritance tax. Expecially as those who inherit most, such as the Duke of wherever it is who owns most of the West End, seem to not pay it.
    What right has the government to it, when it has, in the case of earned money, rather than previously inherited wealth, already received tax on it?
    I spent some time when Dad died mumbling about cows owed to feudal landlords as heriot, and A.P.Herbert writing out a cheque on the side of a cow. It's medieval. In his case, because of Mum's share, there wasn't any. In my friend's case, because of the mess his parent's made of their lives, he, who needs it more than the state does, will probably be having it extracted.
    It made me feel that the state was claiming some sort of ownership over the people, that we lived by their grace and favour, and owed them for it.
    And I don't object to taxes in general, when they are used for the general good. Far from it.

    Given the threshold for inheritance tax is an amount more than most folk will otherwise see at any one time in their life I don't think the beneficiary of an estate that has to pay it (and then only 40% of the amount above the threshold) can be said to be in any kind of need.

    Perhaps it helps if you consider that inheritance tax is actually more like a huge tax relief (compared with paying income tax on what you inherit, which seems the most natural alternative). Maybe the tax should be reformed to tax inheritance as income but allow the value to be spread over a number of tax years, say 10. I'd also be inclined to look at trusts and how they are used for tax dodging by the likes of the Duke of Westminster and the Duke of Argyll.

    If you bought a modest home in certain parts of London back in the high and far off past, just after the war - you know, two recep and kitchen on the ground floor, two decent sized bedrooms and a pokey one upstairs with the bathroom and loo - and haven't moved since, you could be sitting in something easily over the double IHT threshold, and your legatees wouldn't have any cash to pay it with without selling up. And they wouldn't be able to afford a replacement. You can tell which houses this applies to as you drive around. I haven't been talking about the money in the bank, and the chattels, just the imaginary value of property. Though I suppose the government could say that no tax had been paid on that increase.

    They could very well argue that. In any case let's say the modest 3 bed 2 reception room house (still as large as any I've lived in since I got married) is valued at £500 000. That means a worst case of £70 000 owed in IHT. In the vast majority of cases even if the inheritor wants to live there they could easily afford mortgage repayments on a sub-40% LTV mortgage. To me, (and I suspect most folk who give it some thought) once you separate the finance from the personal loss, a £430 000 windfall with a £70 000 tax bill sounds like one of those nice to have problems.
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    edited April 26
    To me, (and I suspect most folk who give it some thought) once you separate the finance from the personal loss, a £430 000 windfall with a £70 000 tax bill sounds like one of those nice to have problems.

    Timing is however everything. If your inheritance is of sufficient size to qualify for IHT, you are required to pay it within a fixed period of time (can't remember exactly how long, 6 months comes to mind). But based on our recent experience it would have been entirely possible that the bill would have required settling before we had even been granted probate and been able to draw on my fathers monies. Or be able to sell the house to fund the IHT. And I'm not sure how many folk have £70k (for the sake of this example) available to pay tax. (In the event, my father's estate didn't incur IHT)

  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    edited April 26
    You may say £500 000. Not in some areas it isn't. Jaw dropping amounts can be involved. Areas which were not, in the past particularly sought after. Hence the area picked for the original purchase. And if the legatee who needs to live there is now retired they can easily afford a mortgage? And if the tax bill absorbs all the bank balance of the deceased?
    In the situation you describe, obviously there is no problem, but situations vary. And there isn't much tempering to the shorn lamb going on.
    Some time ago there were accounts of people trying to have the way that IHT was calculated with spouses extended to family members who had lived in as carers. I don't know what eventually happened with that. I'm pretty sure that the case of siblings who had shared houses didn't benefit at all, the other group which was discussed at the same time.
    Life isn't always easy.
  • Monday morning and it's overcast and cold here. Usual dull Monday of admin followed by the excitement of marking essays.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Priscilla wrote: »
    On a lighter note, we had a glorious day in Wells yesterday (Darllenwr said that it was an awfully long way to go for cards and food for tea) and enjoyed visiting the Bishops Palace Gardens. We were shocked to find that admission had gone up to £15, but then saw that it covers 12 months, and Darllenwr came in free as my carer. The gardens were lovely, as ever - just the right blend of formal and random.
    This afternoon, we had a walk around a local country park. The sunshine was lovely, but whilst there had been quite a breeze yesterday, today it was what my father would have called a lazy wind - doesn’t blow around you, blows straight through!


    Funnily enough, my husband and I visited the Bishops Palace last Wednesday and had a lovely walk as well. Yes, £15 felt a bit steep, but, for those of us living close enough, repeated visits will more than compensate. We’re only a 20 minute drive away, so visit Wells regularly as there’s plenty of ‘history’ to see and the High Street still has some nice shops (though diminishing, sadly).
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Monday morning and it's overcast and cold here. Usual dull Monday of admin followed by the excitement of marking essays.

    Oh dear, I hope it passes quickly.

    It’s bright, sunny and cold here. I always start the day with all the windows and the back door open to ‘air through’ so it’s proper chilly as I sit here. (My sons have acquired the habit of ‘airing through’ too. 🙂)

    Today it’s Doodle Zoom and I’ve copied a picture of the Queen ready for adding colour. She’s certainly a lady who likes colour!

  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    edited April 26
    Further information - when my Dad died, because of Mum's tax allowance, the estate fell below the IHT threshold, so my sisters and I got to share it all out between us. Extended bungalow, three bed, two recep, bathroom, extra loo, kitchen, utility room, garage, small garden, attractive rural area. Plus various savings accounts. Bit of a postcode lottery effect. No nice tax involved at all. Though a lot of form filling, deserving of a credit for a degree.
  • PriscillaPriscilla Shipmate
    Doone wrote: »
    Priscilla wrote: »
    On a lighter note, we had a glorious day in Wells yesterday


    We’re only a 20 minute drive away, so visit Wells regularly as there’s plenty of ‘history’ to see and the High Street still has some nice shops (though diminishing, sadly).

    Perhaps Wells might be suitable as a place for a shipmeet sometime?
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Penny S wrote: »
    Further information - when my Dad died, because of Mum's tax allowance, the estate fell below the IHT threshold, so my sisters and I got to share it all out between us. Extended bungalow, three bed, two recep, bathroom, extra loo, kitchen, utility room, garage, small garden, attractive rural area. Plus various savings accounts. Bit of a postcode lottery effect. No nice tax involved at all. Though a lot of form filling, deserving of a credit for a degree.

    When my mother died, it took me approximately six months to decide that when my father died, I'd pay a solicitor to do it. Which I did.
  • Indeed, once Ye Plague is over...

    I've never been there, but I have a couple of railway history books which illustrate the very odd stations which once served Wells - there were once three! - though that was quickly reduced to two. This may still seem a bit excessive for a small city, but it's the old story of several companies meeting, yet not being particularly agreeable with each other.
    ION, it's another cold, windy day, here in Kadath In Ye Cold Waste. My car is covered in dust, probably from the steppes of Central Asia...
    :disappointed:
  • To me, (and I suspect most folk who give it some thought) once you separate the finance from the personal loss, a £430 000 windfall with a £70 000 tax bill sounds like one of those nice to have problems.

    Maybe. But if the house we're talking about is your home, because you live with your parent, then it doesn't look like a "windfall" - it looks like you've always lived in this house, and you still have the house, but because your mother died, you owe the government £70,000.

    Which is why I'd like to tax wealth on a continual basis, rather than when people die. I don't think families are necessarily made up of a collection of independent individuals, but tax policy does.
  • It was my intention to divide my estate (such as it is) equally between my brother and my sister. However, my sister lives in France, and would (she says) have to pay quite a lot of her inheritance from me to the French Republic.

    I therefore need, I think, to adjust my will accordingly, so that it's mostly in favour of my brother and his children (my sister and I are both childless).

    A thorny thicket, wherever one lives!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    It's cloudy but quite mild here, and forecast to start raining about the time I finish work (surprise, surprise).

    I'm not sure what the buses are up to today: I usually just miss one at 7:35 and have to wait until 8:00, but this morning one arrived at about 7:45, which got me into work by 8:15, which is an improvement.

    In fairness I think they're playing around with the timetable now that shops are open again, so I expect things will be a bit erratic for a while
  • To me, (and I suspect most folk who give it some thought) once you separate the finance from the personal loss, a £430 000 windfall with a £70 000 tax bill sounds like one of those nice to have problems.

    Maybe. But if the house we're talking about is your home, because you live with your parent, then it doesn't look like a "windfall" - it looks like you've always lived in this house, and you still have the house, but because your mother died, you owe the government £70,000.

    Which is why I'd like to tax wealth on a continual basis, rather than when people die. I don't think families are necessarily made up of a collection of independent individuals, but tax policy does.

    Hard cases make bad law. If we did what you suggest it would be the old granny rattling around in the family home living on the state pension unable to afford the property taxes on her half-million pound home who would be the poster-person for scrapping the tax. I'd settle for a lien for the amount of IHT being placed on the property to be realised on sale or on it ceasing to be the main residence of all of the people who occupied it at the time of the tax becoming due.
  • ThomasinaThomasina Shipmate
    Many, many years ago, family + dog + teenage friend of daughter visited The Bishops Palace Gardens in Wells. (yes, you could take dogs in then!) Whilst passing the Palace lawns, a dog, apparently belonging to an episcopal group on the grass saw our dog and hurled himself across the lawn at us. Our dog, not liking this at all wound himself round my legs with his lead, causing me to hurl myself to the ground, tearing open my knee on the episcopal gravel! The Bishop himself (it turned out, though I didn't know, as he was in civvies), and a lady, Possibly Mrs. Bishop, ushered me into the episcopal kitchens where I was suitably washed, bandaged and offered profuse apologies. I returned to find two teenagers in fits of laughter and a dog trying to look as if he hadn't been scared!

    I think shortly after that the Bishop either retired, or moved on. I hope it was nothing to do with us!
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Penny S wrote: »
    <snip>And if the legatee who needs to live there is now retired they can easily afford a mortgage? And if the tax bill absorbs all the bank balance of the deceased?
    <snip>
    In the circumstances, I’d have thought an equity release plan, or something like that would do the trick. The value of the house is leveraged to pay off the inheritance tax with the lender getting their money when the legatee eventually dies (or sells the house). I guess there may be an arrangement whereby the legatee can move house before then with the lender continuing to have a right to the proceeds of sale of the replacement property when the legatee eventually dies.

    It sounds like a situation where reliable financial advice would be worth paying for.
  • I have fond memories of Wells Cathedral (as a young folk dancer on the green) and the Bishop's Palace, or more specifically its moat and the raft race that took place there.
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    Sorry I've no advice about inheritance tax and houses, I think proper legal advice is what needed. Our house move is inching closer. We're at the stage of wondering if we can move to our new place and rent it for a while till probate is granted or if we're going to have to find somewhere else to rent at maybe very short notice. That's assuming the sale of the place we currently own goes through smoothly. Eek
    To get back to Wells. My sister in law works in film and was in the Cathedral grounds on a shoot recently. She was chatting to someone in full clerical set up that she assumed was an extra, turned out it was the bishop.
  • Hard cases make bad law. If we did what you suggest it would be the old granny rattling around in the family home living on the state pension unable to afford the property taxes on her half-million pound home who would be the poster-person for scrapping the tax. I'd settle for a lien for the amount of IHT being placed on the property to be realised on sale or on it ceasing to be the main residence of all of the people who occupied it at the time of the tax becoming due.

    If we did what I want, there would be a Land Value Tax, and we wouldn't have old grannies rattling around in half-million pound homes at all: Granny's house would be worth, approximately, the build cost, and she'd pay an annual tax to occupy the land.

    A transition to such a scheme would contain pain (for example, for your grannies) and you'd want to have some kind of transition managing scheme, but with a LVT in place, you should avoid generating these hard situations in the first place.

  • Sarasa, it sounds very stressful.

    I have never been to Wells, but it is on my list (like Lincoln).

    My dull day was rather busy as I ended up having to write an tutorial before the marking, and gave an impromptu telephone tutorial to a student at 5.30. But I managed to keep on top of it all so I can spend tomorrow studying.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Priscilla wrote: »
    Doone wrote: »
    Priscilla wrote: »
    On a lighter note, we had a glorious day in Wells yesterday


    We’re only a 20 minute drive away, so visit Wells regularly as there’s plenty of ‘history’ to see and the High Street still has some nice shops (though diminishing, sadly).

    Perhaps Wells might be suitable as a place for a shipmeet sometime?

    Certainly for a daytime, but not sure about an evening one as I don’t know about suitable venues. I lead a very sheltered life 😉😂!
  • Meat-free Monday (the meat and veg boxes arrive on Tuesdays so we are almost always meat-free on Monday!) so we are having cheese and spinach risotto. I'm having a glass of sancerre while I wait for it to bake.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Faced with the perennial dilemma What To Do With Mince, I made a Mexican-ish ragu with onion, garlic, chilli, tinned tomatoes and a few random seasonings. Then in a shallow pie tin layered it with tortillas and grated cheese. Twenty minutes or so in the oven until brown and bubbly.

    Bit like lasagna without the faff.
  • Piglet wrote: »
    I'm not sure what the buses are up to today: I usually just miss one at 7:35 and have to wait until 8:00, but this morning one arrived at about 7:45, which got me into work by 8:15, which is an improvement.
    The website said "minor changes" to your timetable - perhaps it's worked to your advantage!

  • Firenze wrote: »
    Faced with the perennial dilemma What To Do With Mince, I made a Mexican-ish ragu with onion, garlic, chilli, tinned tomatoes and a few random seasonings. Then in a shallow pie tin layered it with tortillas and grated cheese. Twenty minutes or so in the oven until brown and bubbly.

    Bit like lasagna without the faff.
    Oh, I’ll steal that one. We usually have tortillas around for making fajitas.
    I often serve chilli on a bed of tortilla chips - very easy tea.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Shipmate
    edited April 27
    You can use cabbage leaves instead of pasta/tortilla if you want a low carb option.
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