I’m a tax professional so can say with confidence that this is the Tories/shitty papersclutching at straws at a complete non event. It is absolutely pissing me off given how much tax evasion goes on by rich people, how much room there is for reducing tax for rich people (non Dom status, offshore trusts, various tax reliefs for owner managed businesses, etc), how complex the tax laws are (especially for normal people who can’t afford a litany of advisors), and the other corruption scandals (PPE, party donations, expense scandals, etc). The tax owed might be nothing but at most orient 3/4k.

Also, my e-bike, which is my main and only source of transport, got stolen recently and it’s in the same ballpark as this tax liability (1.5k) - how do I get 12 police officers to investigate this as reported it but they magically couldn’t find anything even though it was locked next to ATMs on a busy London High street…

I’d much rather see this than any of the commercial adverts.

It is useful information too. Most people won’t interrupt or help, and partly because they are not sure how. I saw this recently and it did make me think, if I did see something happening I have a better idea of how I can help.

It also creates an environment where you cannot justify not acting because you don’t think you can help, and that we as a society are saying it is not acceptable. If one person challenges harassment that would not have done so before seeing that, I’d count it as a success.

It’s really targeted at people who want to stay “off the books” or not pay any taxes, so is what it is. If you’re getting paid cash up front then there’s not too much issue for you.

Technically, you have an employee - employer contact by law automatically, and they legally need to provide you with a letter stating certain terms within x days of the start date. I can’t remember exact details.

They should also be putting you through payroll, deducting taxes (if needed), and paying employers NI. Someone else mentioned the need to pay you minimum wage by law

These are all additional costs to them so if you raise it as an issue with them, I’d say they will cut you out and block you. You’re unlikely to get any authority to really care, especially if they keep a low profile for this purpose.

It might be a good idea to personally tell the tax authority about your earnings (ignoring the employer) and keep track of it. If in a tax year (April to March) you earn less then £5k you won’t pay any NI and less than £12.5k you won’t pay any income tax. It’s quite straightforward to do and if you’re not paying tax then no real cost. However, you could also easily get away with doing nothing, especially if they pay you cash and there’s no real record. Feel free to message me to ask any more questions about tax.

Mines just learned how to ride a pedal bike without stablisers and taken to so well. Naturally that means he wants to always go somewhere on it! It is so great going on a bike ride together though.

Somebody who used to teach children how to ride gave me a tip which seemed to work very well. Hold them gently by the shoulder instead of lower down or the bike itself. This way they learn how to balance themselves.

That’s really good point! It’s often cheaper to fly to Europe than get a train here…

Took my young son to the working vehicles day at Brooklands Museum. It rained on and off but nothing bad really with our rain coats. It was so quiet too because of the rain so we had a great time!

It blows my mind how many people were there without coats or umbrellas though. Why do so many people look out the window in the morning and decide on the weather. It’s Britain so it can change in an instant so just check the weather!

For day trips, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge and Canterbury are all easy to get to from London. A bit further but still doable in a day probably, are places like Warwick (also has a fantastic castle), Stratford-upon-Avon (if you like Shakespeare) or Nottingham which are all very historical places.

Longer away so needs more time are Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh which are all great with lots of history.

Flight wise, pretty much any city anywhere in Europe would fit the bill. I’d recommend Belfast, Dublin and Budapest but the real list is so so long!

That is shocking. They really have changed the system to be horrible to everyone trying to come in. I’m so sorry… my parents are immigrants but back when they were begging people to come in to do all the jobs locals just don’t want to. They’re already talking about opening up a bit because the labour market is so tight but who knows what will actually happen.

Our company has offices in India and it is quite regular that people move to other countries, not just from India and not just to the UK. Could be a long term option to find a global company, show you’re a valuable employee and see what happens. Some people just show they’re very good. Others just are the only ones who know certain systems so when they ask to move, it is easier for them to move than find someone else.

I bought some fingers for the first time in years. They had two options so I went for the larger “family pack”. The box is slightly bigger but the amount of fingers is certainly less than or equal to what the normal size was when I last bought some, and even back then it was a quarter empty so always felt cheated. If I bought the normal size I’d be even more fuming.

A baseball game and wimbledon on… yeah you’re f’d mate, sorry

Sorry to hear that, sounds like a horrible situation. I really hope it works out for you.

If they made you redundant do you really have to stick around the whole day? If that happened in my team I’d be sending them home or letting them look for jobs in work time…

Is there any chance of applying for PR or anything given how long you’ve been here? If you do have to leave, is there a good chance you can apply to come back? Appreciate you have probably explored all this so more out of curiosity than anything.

That’s amazing! Well done for going through with it and kudos to your workplace. I’m sure it’ll be weird at first but let us know how it goes!

There might be a few charities around you which do coffee meetups, organised walks, gardening together, etc. I heard u3a is good for trying or learning random different things. You could even go for long weekends to different parts of the UK or Europe to see lots of new places. You could do charity work.