GeorgeVilla82

It's a really tricky one, and lots of people have very strong views either way, so I'll try to tread carefully! Should start by saying that I'm not suggesting that what we do is "right" - far from it - but it kind of works for our family, and might not for others. 

My 4 year old loves screen time, he could happily play games or watch programmes on his tablet all day without a break. But like you say, we noticed that when he has too much screen time, he gets really overstimulated, has meltdowns over the most insignificant things and is generally a nightmare. So we haven't cut out screen time altogether as that's not realistic for us - my husband and I both work, so need to time to get stuff done in the morning and evening. But we limit it to 20 mins in the morning (and only watching CBeebies on TV rather than a tablet which isn't quite as brainrotting as some of the other garbage) and 20 mins before bath time (this time on a tablet, but again only choosing from CBeebies programmes). He also only gets these if he's done certain things - i.e. waited for his clock to turn orange in the morning before coming out of his room, sat at the table nicely for dinner, not kicked his sister etc etc. We also give really clear timings/ countdowns so that he knows when time is up, rather than it coming as a surprise. Then on a Sunday we might all watch a film in the afternoon after we've done some kind of activity in the morning, which the children get to choose from a list of options.

Our 2 year old isn't that fussed about screen time (yet...), but we stick to the above with her as well. 

In terms of talking to your daughter about it, I would go easy on her - as you know, parenting is absolutely exhausting and we all do almost anything we can to make it easier. Maybe suggest that you've noticed that bedtime is a lot easier when screen time is reduced (a massive benefit for her, as she gets more time in the evening to herself) and perhaps they could start by watching better quality content (Numberblocks/ Colourblocks on iPlayer is great for 2/3 year olds), broken up by other activities? The autoplay dopamine hit of back to back episodes is pretty hard to break, so that might also be something to try to limit.

Sorry, probably not that helpful but just my thoughts

17 hours ago, Rds1983 said:

Anyone banked with Starling? If so, would you recommend?

They offer a free kid's banking account and app. Tempted to get something like that for my son.

Yes, we do. Really recommend it - easy to set up an account, and the chat feature works well if you do need to speak to someone 

17 hours ago, villa4europe said:

With my two I've done turkey in October and would say it was a little on the cold side cos they don't heat the pools, Malta which I'd say the all inclusiveness of the hotel wasn't as good as Turkey but the country is more interesting and leaving the hotel to go exploring is a lot easier and better and then dubai* which we just about survived the flight the water park at the hotel was incredible maybe the best hotel I've ever stayed at, it was surprisingly good for the kids but you'd have to nail the hotel choice and package 

Ended up doing turkey again end of may with then something more adventurous towards the end of the year, I'm 90 mins closer to Turkey though 

My kids love the pool, love a playground but aren't interested in a kids club and an indoor soft play area is a must for me 

Personally for 5* AI I don't think you can touch turkey, they throw stuff at you, ice cream, cakes, juices etc etc I've got no shame in putting 3 plates worth of food in front of the kids and hoping they pick out stuff they like on half of one binning the rest - and I can guarantee the next day they won't like what they loved the day before 

Would say because I live abroad my kids do a fair bit of flying, my daughter is 4 in April and she's probably up to around 30 flights, she's also got an addiction to bluey on the tablet so doesn't give a shit about it anymore 

* went to dubai as the prices jump when they're 2 as you have to pay for the seat, I wanted one big cheaper holiday before that happened, duabi also has a weird thing in that it's so expensive that you can obviously drink and eat but I found myself not wanting to because it's so expensive! Compared to an AI holiday there's no distractions, I was spending 4 hours straight in the water park with the kids not looking round for an ice cream or a beer or more food, just focused on the kids and it made a huge difference, fly Emirates also had the smarts to put me on the front row giving me the extra leg room and a baby bed

 

 

I'd agree with all of this. I've got 2 aged 4 and under, and to be honest, a 2.5 hour flight vs a 4 hour flight isn't going to make that much of a difference - iPad, stickers, snacks are key to getting through the flight. Mine have now done 15-20 flights, and the worst bit is getting through security. All pretty straightforward once that's done, and if you're taking a buggy, try to get hold of one that you can put in the overhead locker (BabyZen Yoyo for example), which makes life a lot easier at the other end. 

Kids splash pool is pretty essential so that they can occupy themselves whilst you watch, without the fear they're going to drown. Also agree re: indoor soft play for when it gets a bit too hot, or just a change of scenery. And absolutely on the money for all inclusive - we're doing that in May (albeit long haul, so my flight advice is going to be tested to the extreme!), but it takes out all the stress of demands for ice cream, snacks, water etc. If your son is anything like mine, he won't go into a kids club by himself so there's no real benefit in that until they're older. 

Greece also a good shout, as well as Menorca - both very family friendly. Sounds old fashioned, but might be good to use a travel agent who is experienced in kid friendly holidays. We do it with ours now for holidays where we're not decided on exactly where we want to go. It doesn't tend to be more expensive, and they sort out all the admin, requesting a cot/ potty/ highchair etc for the room. We use someone at Travel Counsellors https://www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/rebecca.berzins/

A friend of mine is very good friends with his personal assistant (who I suspect may have made this complaint, given the stories I heard from my friend). He sounds like an absolute nightmare to work for - expected her to be available 24/7, told her what to wear, made inappropriate comments about her figure. Allegedly...

48 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I think we get two options at work. We can either take the car allowance and get whatever car we want, or we can get a "company car". If it's the latter then it has to be an electric car

Will obviously depend what car you choose (if you get a choice when taking a company car), but the tax savings will be substantial over taking the car allowance as cash

20 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Yeah I need to clarify how this works. I don't think I'll end up with less money overall because I won't have to pay for my current car. But I don't think it'll work out as a huge difference

I've just ordered a company car under my new job, and the tax you pay on an EV is so much less than an ICE car. I would have been taxed at the marginal rate for the full monthly benefit value for an ICE car, but it's a fraction of that for the EV. Obviously might not work if you don't have easy access to a charging point, but definitely worth looking into 

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

What cities in the uk is it in pete?

 

I live in Bath, and it's been here for a while now

1 hour ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

Thanks @GeorgeVilla82

I formed my opinion due to the words "I needed to pay AGAIN".  The inference being that the repair was a paid one, not free of charge.  

I have no professional experience of small claims court.  But my own experience is that the larger the company the less likely they are to attend.   Does your company actually contest small claims where its for a minimal amount?  

 

 

I don’t work for a large retailer any more (I’m now at a luxury brand - different challenges!) but it depends. When I was at the UK’s largest electrical retailer, they had a whole team of paralegals set up to deal with customer small claims. 
 

The large department store chain I then worked at had a different approach - pay it if it was a small amount and seemed within the bounds of reasonableness. 

My interpretation (which may be wrong!) of @Anthony's posts is that the retailer accepted that the laptop had an inherent fault by undertaking the first repair free of charge - once a product is past the first 6 months from purchase, it's for the consumer to demonstrate that there was an inherent fault at purchase which has now become apparent. So I assumed that they agreed that the product was faulty for the purposes of the Consumer Rights Act.

Once that's been established, the CRA is pretty clear that the retailer has one opportunity to repair or replace the product. If that fails, then the consumer is entitled to a refund - full if within 6 months of purchase, and partial to recognise usage if longer than 6 months. 

This article also explains it well

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act-aKJYx8n5KiSl

Having worked for two very large nationwide electricals retailers, I can safely say that you can threaten to sue them but it probably won't change much in dealing with the Customer Services team (who are your best bet - once it gets to Legal, it will get very slow and unlikely to reach a sensible settlement). I would put a formal complaint in writing (by email and letter) setting out the chronology and the law I quoted above - happy to review it if you PM me - and also perhaps write to one of the press consumer champions (The Sunday Times A Question of Money, for example). 

Anyway, no one really wants to hear lawyers debate consumer rights law (even I get bored of it TBH!) so happy to chat via PM if easier. 

41 minutes ago, Anthony said:

A house in the suburbs eh? Can't win 'em all I guess.

Seriously though, I can't find the law on repairs anywhere, other than 'reasonable', which, as you very well know is a really good word for lawyers who want to generate money.

A Dell laptop, repaired by Dell and only used in an office environment. Surely it's reasonable to expect it to last at least a year? FWIW they replaced the battery, motherboard and charging socket, as the laptop wasn't charging. Now it's not charging again.

Please note, I'm not expecting you to give me lots of your time and expertise for free, but any links or recommendations for further reading would be very much appreciated.

I'm a lawyer and have worked in-house for retailers for 13 years. This section of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 should help you:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/24/enacted

What it essentially says is that a consumer has a final right to reject faulty goods purchased more than 6 months ago (where there was an inherent fault), the retailer/ manufacturer has already repaired or replaced the item, and the fault persists. You would be entitled to a refund, less a deduction to recognise the use you've had of the item before the fault became apparent. 

I would ask them to replace it (as the repair has not rectified the fault), failing which you exercise your final right to reject under s.24 Consumer Rights Act 2015 and require a proportionate refund of the price paid. 

This article provides a decent summary:

https://www.ouryclark.com/resource-library/quick-guides/commercial/consumer-rights-act.html

Thank you all so much - brilliant suggestions, which I really appreciate. I’ll definitely take a look at the Grand Seiko, sounds like it might be a really good option. 

Merry Christmas all! Will let you know what I end up going with in the new year 

I'm a total novice when it comes to watches but considering buying a decent one for my husband for an upcoming big birthday, and would love your advice. He's not that bothered about brands or anything particularly flashy (he doesn't wear an expensive watch at the moment) and prefers a leather strap rather than metal, with a classic style face in a paler colour rather than dark. I know he likes some of the more classic IWC styles, for example.

My budget is up to about £8k, and happy to buy pre-owned if it can be authenticated and comes with papers etc. Do you have any suggestions of brands/ models that might fit the brief and not be a totally stupid purchase in the longer term? 

Sorry, appreciate that I'm basically asking for a personal shopping service but it's so daunting and as it's a really big purchase, I'd love some objective advice.

5 hours ago, Xela said:

Went to The Good Intent yesterday. Really nice venue and bigger than it looks!

https://www.craddocksbrewery.com/portfolio/the-good-intent/

 

 

Oh wow, that brings back memories. Used to be a cafe in the 90s (the Victorian, I think?) where I used to go for breakfast on Saturdays with my family before heading over to Rackhams

5 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

The way we were. Picture Post magazine, 6 February, 1954 (I was one week old). 

That's the date my Mum was born in Birmingham. Do you mind me asking where you found it?

1 hour ago, Davkaus said:

We've been through the exact same journey up to the Omeprazole, slowly increasing the dose because it's helped, but come nowhere near to solving it  

We were exactly the same with our second. Had to push the GP to get Omeprazole, and it definitely helped but didn't solve them problem entirely. It was awful - projectile vomiting after every single feed, refusing to feed, tongue tie...

Unfortunately, it only completely went at about 9/10 months when she was eating proper textured foods. I know that doesn't help when you're in the middle of it, but keep going - it will get better. 

5 hours ago, Spoony said:

Any other lawyers on here? I just can’t imagine ever wanting to work in the office again. I love my current company but have to leave due to a country move, and I just can’t see myself ever taking a non-remote job again. You simply don’t need to be in an office in my line of work. 

Yep, me. I work in-house for a British retailer, and during the various lockdowns, they got rid of my office to make more space for hot desks and breakout areas (totally understandably). I'm so much more productive when I'm at home, and although it's good to be there in person for important meetings, I don't go in more than once a week now. We actually moved out of London during the third lockdown, as both my husband and I can WFH a lot more.

I’ve moved to Bath from London in the last year, and it’s a really beautiful city which photographs very well. Lots of quiet back streets with Georgian buildings and then the main attractions such as the Roman Baths and the Royal Crescent 

I had two kids within 18 months after a good few years of trying, and whilst the first was easy as a newborn, our daughter was so tricky - really bad reflux and tongue tie. We got the tongue tie snipped (privately as the NHS wouldn't do it because she was bottle fed, even though it was causing her all sorts of problems) and then she went onto Omeprazole, which was a game changer. Still a bit sicky, but able to keep down most of her feeds and was generally a much happier baby. We weaned her off it at about 18 weeks and she's been great since.

Also second the Sleepyhead recommendation (now called DockATot I think). Technically they're not recommended for sleeping due to the risk of SIDS, but we used one for both of ours until they showed signs of attempting to roll and it was brilliant. Like swaddling, just made them feel more secure and less likely to thrash about. Also second the Tommee Tippee perfect prep machine - would be totally lost without ours. Bottles done in 2 mins.

Reflux babies are f***ing hard. I genuinely think it was the toughest 4 months of my life when our daughter was a newborn. But stick with it, it will get better and try to ignore social media posts from others who appear to be finding it all easy. One influencer who had 2 kids under 2 like me posted regularly about her perfect life with the newborn and a toddler, when I knew for a fact that she had a nanny and a night nurse...

28 minutes ago, Ingram85 said:

Random question: Can anyone remember the name of the main curry house on broad street back in the 90’s/2000’s? I think it’s now Pushkar but I can’t remember what it was back in the day. All glass and silver frontage. 

Shimla Pinks?

2 hours ago, AVFCDAN said:

I once took a call at the top of Scafell Pike because work were having a system issue and I was the only competent user.

Can anyone beat that?

Christmas Day 2014, about 8pm. News had broken that CityLink had been put into administration and I had a fairly long call from our Ops Director on it. Pretty sure I didn't give my best legal advice that day, given that I started on the bucks fizz at 11am...