POINT IN QUESTION

Ask a variety of people the same question, receive different answers.

Naturally, this is not really the ideal scenario when trying to make a sound decision but it’s par for the course if dealing with trades. Every person has their own idea of what you should do and generally they don’t coincide with what you might have had in mind. But thanks for your input. Thank God it costs nothing to get quotes.

Half and half. I’ll get the top half of the house covered in some nice cladding but leave the other half of the wall with its original brickwork. Re-pointed brickwork. That should do the trick.

Remember – the point of it all is to get rid of those awful cracks/holes in the brickwork I tell myself as I blanche at a selection of quotes for re-pointing work. £1,700 – crikey, that seems like a large chunk of cash to part with just for a bit of new mortar.

Only it’s not just a case of slapping a bit of muck in the joints, is it? Re-pointing brickwork looks like your worst builders’ nightmare. Time consuming, dusty, back-breaking work. I certainly wouldn’t want to be doing it.

For starters, before you can even magic up a trug of cement, every single bit of old mortar has to be chiselled out. I saw my builder using a super-sized tool requiring the power of Grayskull to wield it in order to rake out each and every mortar filled channel. That VAT discount won’t even begin to touch the sides of my next electricity bill after this little lot. I shut my eyes and try not to think about meter readings.

Every inch of garden fencing and greenery is covered in fine dust. My alleyway looks like it’s been hit by a sandstorm. I’m surprised my neighbours haven’t beaten a path to my front door to complain about the noise or dust-coated laundry on their washing lines. Best to keep my head down for now.

It’s taken 3 dudes, a scaffolding tower and the best part of a week’s work to clear all the holey mortar then re-point every single joint. And that’s just for half a wall!

Lovely bit of re-pointing work

A grand job done. All joints finished off very neatly. Looks a hundred times better than it did before.

Well, that’s the first part of Project Side Wall Tart Up completed. 

Wall Project Part II – replacement of asbestos soil stack coming to a screen near you soonish.

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES

Most of you out there must think that I spend all my time in front of a keyboard desperately trying to fill cyber space with endless prattle on stuff and nonsense but that’s really not the case. I can assure you all that I do spend time on other stuff. Like what?

Stuff like orchestrating household projects that hopefully improve my home or that tackle those property shortcomings raised by the surveyor at the time we bought this house. One such shortcoming is the condition of the exterior side wall.

External side wall to house

This exterior wall is in the direct flight path of every bit of wind or rain that hits Chichester. It bears the full force of every storm, downpour or anything falling out of the sky round these parts. Basically, gets the crap beaten out of it. I’m sure you’re getting the picture.

Closer examination of the brickwork shows mortar riddled with holes or missing bits caused by years of continual weather erosion. Holes that might eventually lead to water getting into the cavity possibly giving rise to damp. Well, I’m not having any of that! How best to remedy this situation?

I’m sure there’s a million and one ways to improve weather-proofing of exterior walls. For example; you could render or clad the whole wall from top to bottom. No doubt, specialist coatings could be applied to brickwork to make it ‘waterproof’ but whatever method you decide on there are things to consider such as breatheability and the overall aesthetic appearance of your property.

Walls need to be able to ‘breathe’. Seal them up too tightly and any trapped moisture or vapour may struggle to evaporate thus leading to damp or rot issues.

Consideration to the end result and how it might change the character of your house is also important. You want your external appearance improved but in such a way that it’s in keeping with the rest of the property and doesn’t stick out like a neighbourhood sore thumb. Get it wrong and it might end up being the fly-in-the ointment when selling your house.

Time to call in the professionals for a spot of advice. Yes, that seems to be a most logical solution. What do they think I should do to improve my lot?

NCS - NATIONAL SOCIAL CARE

Oh God, new prime minister, new ideas for extorting more money out of the masses.

What are we likely to be paying through the nose for this time? A proposed National Social Care system it seems.

Now before I unleash the dogs of war on whether I think such an idea is worth it’s salt, I’d like to throw a few grenades out there to encourage ‘debate’ – something that today’s permanently offended Wokerati strive to shut down at all costs because having an opinion that doesn’t fit their skewed view of the world is not allowed. (Cancel her!)

I’m going to begin this debate with a number of questions/observations to which I’m sure there are statistical answers out there somewhere.

First question:  What percentage of the total UK population are actually in care or using social care services?

Inevitably, we’re all going to get older yet NOT EVERYONE is going to need to either go into care or require social care services to lead independent lives.

My aged parents 91 and 88 years old are still managing to look after themselves in their own home in spite of a compendium of health issues the size of a woolly mammoth. They’ve managed for years without care and every time I broach the subject, I get shot down in flames. They soldier on regardless as do many of their generation. Care home? Pah! Over our dead bodies. Well, it might come to that…

Second question:  Of the percentage of people that are currently in care or using social care services, how many pay privately and how many get care costs covered by the state/local authorities?

There are several trains of thought running through this second station where the platform is full of Have and Have Not passengers.

Firstly – some passengers have saved diligently throughout their working lives for their old age and everything that comes with it. If I had saved £100 per month for the whole of my 43yr working life, I would have £51,600 to put towards retirement or care. I would also be significantly over the threshold that entitles me to ‘free or state sponsored’ care, the means testing threshold being just over £23,000. If I have some money then it’s expected that I pay for part of my care – fair?

Secondly – there are some passengers who have squandered every single penny acquired either through hard graft or scrounged from the State with never a thought as to what might happen in their later years. The expectation of those passengers appears to be that if care or anything else is needed then someone other than themselves or their family will pick up the tab. They’ve taken ZERO accountability for managing their own care or lives. If the Government is going to levy a separate NCS tax then that very same levy needs to be taken from any benefit handouts so that everyone contributes equally for their future care costs.

Thirdly – There is also the question of choice and personal expectations of care. Wealthier patrons using social care services may prefer to pay privately in order to obtain a higher standard of care that is tailored more specifically to their needs or expectations. It’s like choosing to stay at The Ritz instead of at a Travelodge or sending your kids to private schools. Luxury costs money. If I want the best, I can hardly expect someone else to pay for it, can I? Local Authorities are certainly not going to pay for you to stay at the Ritz that’s for sure.

Third question:  Of the percentage of people currently in care or using social care services paid for by the State or Local Authorities, how many of them are on benefits?

Welfare claimant levels are growing yet the magic money tree that generates the cash to fund their lives is not. This tree is withering under a drought of lower birth rates and fewer tax payers. Whilst we always associate ‘care’ with the elderly, there is probably a surprisingly high percentage of users of care services that are under state retirement age. Who have never worked or worked very little throughout their lives.

This growing majority is propped up by a dwindling working minority so political parties of every persuasion are going to have to come up with new and exciting ways to fleece taxpayers further to keep the magic money tree alive. Why not create yet another Ponzi type scheme where everyone pays in but not everyone gets a payout?

Fourth question:  Is it fair to expect people to invest in a system where they do not see any tangible benefit or return on their investment?

I am not averse to paying a bit more tax (I am) if that extra money is specifically ring fenced for care costs. Ring-fenced cash for care would enable me to buy into the fantasy that I’m putting money aside for when my turn comes. However, having paid in that bit extra then I’d expect to have some kind of guaranteed payback in return. After all, investors usually get paid dividends when they invest their money.

What I would not expect is to contribute for a lifetime then find that none of my care needs can be met by the State decades later.

I do not want a new baby brother or sister for the NHS. It’s bad enough that none of my current health needs or expectations can be adequately met without me having to dip into my pocket time and time again for private treatments. Having an NCS (National Care Service) to pay for as well would quite frankly, be pants.

Fifth question:  How much Inheritance Tax revenue does the Treasury stand to lose if people have to sell their properties in order to pay for care?

You’ve worked hard all your life to acquire material wealth which you hope to pass on to your offspring one day. What no-one ever expects is to have to liquidate their material assets before they kick the bucket in order to fund care costs. Unfair? Yes, it is. But without voluntary euthanasia to resort to then what other choice do you have? Care is not going to pay for itself.

Funding a National Care Service sounds a bit like the Government wants a bigger slice of your cake whilst you’re alive in the form of an extra care tax and again once you’re dead when the value of your property pushes your estate over their frozen IHT thresholds. Double bubble for the Treasury.

Surely it is better to sell your property so that you can spend your later years living in Ritz-like care home luxury, waited on hand and foot than to leave your dependants with a huge IHT headache once you’ve gone? Remember - the only one really benefitting from elderly people holding onto material assets is The Revenue, not you or your families.

I know I’m sounding insensitive and I do apologize because deep down, I’m not a hard-hearted callous bitch but a caring person who does not like seeing others being taken for a ride.

I’ve rambled on (as always) so I shall finish this epic post with one final observation:

HAVE and HAVE NOTS – we cannot get away from the fact that in life for whatever reason, there will always be inequalities. These inequalities give rise to two-tier systems. It may not seem fair to have two-tier systems but that’s the way it is. Life’s not fair by any means.

Social care should not be a one-size-fits-all blanket funded by the State. In the ideal world, of course it would be but then we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a world where everyone is different, has different needs/expectations/demographic/wealth etc, etc. That’s a whole lotta of differences and the key thing to remember is that NOT EVERYONE NEEDS social care.

Andy Pandy and those advocating any kind of national social care system need to do a lot of data crunching before making any changes or else we’ll end up with yet another scenario where the many, end up paying unfairly for the few.  My questions might actually help him identify how much of a real problem social care actually is.

ZERO VAT ON ELECTRICITY BILLS

There’s one thing that our new Prime Minister and I have in common and that’s our loathing of Thatcherism. (Mouthwash me!).

Privatisation of all our utilities was the worst thing that could have happened to the UK but what I’d really like to know is this – what happened to all the money raised from the sale of these industries to private companies/investors?  What did Thatcher do with it?

Andy Pandy’s gone top of the league by starting his premiership with a few gimmicky bones thrown to dogs in a bid to garner popularity with the masses. My eye’s lit up to see the headline ‘VAT to be cut on household energy bills’. This headline now appears to have been specifically updated to include the word ‘electricity’ in the title.

Marvellous! Just what we all need to help with the rising cost of living, no VAT on our leccy bills. Fandabbydozy!

The devil’s in the detail though. Buried in the not-so-small print is that this priceless gift will only apply for a 6-month period from October 2026 to March 2027 and not forever. I suspect that war in the Middle East and its impact on future energy supplies could well scupper this policy but we’ll see. For now, let’s rejoice in that few extra quid.

Being the sad number-cruncher that I am, I wanted to quantify this potential monetary saving so I dug out all my previous energy bills covering the period October 25 to March 26 to see how much VAT I’d been charged in the past on my electricity during the same time period.

Wow! A grand total of just over £14 historically paid. Only that much VAT? Hmmmm. Such a paltry saving is not really going to make a dent in filling my cost-of-living pot-hole is it?

Let’s not look too closely in the mouth of this gift horse but instead re-focus on the positives ie what you could do with an extra £14 in your purse. Fourteen pounds would get you any one of the following:

• 8 pints of milk @ £1.65 per bottle
• 8 litres of diesel @ £1.65 per litre
• 7 x £2 bus trips
• 5 pints of Stowford Press cider at Wetherspoons (£2.39 per pint)
• 1 x £11 cinema ticket at the New Park cinema
• 2 x All-you-can-eat breakfasts at Toby Carvery (£6.99 each)
• 12 hours of parking in town (£10) and possibly enough change for a cuppa
• 3 x multipacks of Cornetto at Tesco (£3.75 per box)
• 28 x toilet rolls (Tesco pack of 4 luxury soft rolls at £2 per pack)
• 12 x Light bulbs (Amazon £1.14 per bulb)
• 2 x boxes of AnuSol soothing ointment for haemorrhoids (Boots £4.90 per tube)

That reduction on my energy bills is going to make one heck of a difference to my already pared back lifestyle but I’m not complaining because not having VAT applied to any bill is one less tax to pay and I’m all for not paying taxes.