Member Info for RegulatorUK

Lots of low count trolls to bin I see...

“ Omaru, South Island, NZ - wonderful place and anywhere on the Otago peninsula.‘

My sister went to school at Teschemakers, in Omaru...

“ Surreylad - given that you are proposing to live winter in spain and the spring in france how do you propose to get round the 3 months out of 6 in europe rule ? ( assuming you dont have residency )”

I’m lucky enough to have Irish citizenship, alongside the NZ and British. :thumbs up:

I’ve only ever flown into Malaga and then travelled elsewhere. Funnily enough, stayed in Mijas overnight a few times. Nice town.

Only just a JAFA. I was born there but never lived there.

“ Where are you from/“

I was born in Auckland. Lived in Palmerston North, Westport and Whangaroa. So both North and South.

"RegulatorUK, whatever you do, don't buy for the first year - IMO you need to rent in an area you like, live there for a full 12 months"

I have lived in multiple countries around the world in my lifetime (I'm a Kiwi by birth and also worked overseas for a number of years). I'm fully aware of the pitfalls.

I love the Seville area (and almost bought a house in Utrera last time we were out there) but in the last few years we've also been exploring Jerez and Cadiz. There was a fabulous run down old bodega in the old town of Jerez that caught my eye.

Problem is I also love Galicia and part of the Basque region, and have a few places there where I wouldn't mind living. We may end up with a summer place in the north and a winter place in the south.

"I am trying to convince the family that we should all move out to Spain/Portugal. I’m done with the UK winters. They’re not having it. Might have to go by myself :)"

We've decided to move out when my other half retires (he's got another 8 years before NHS minimum retirement age) and once the various parents are deceased.

We're thinkin Andalucia - around the Seville or Jerez/Cadiz areas.

There's some big sells coming through... probably from the less confident.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more peaks and troughs before the promised market updated (there's a few weeks of the month yet) and the usual troll derampers will crawl back and try to frighten investors.

But I'm happy to let my holding ride the waves...

Yay! I had money tied up in there too.

Talking of work life balance, I shall take the dog out for a walk shortly. It's a lovely sunny day here.

"Permanent wfh is depressing as ****"

I like it. I've worked from home for the last six years and really like the work-life balance it enables. I've been lucky in that one of my employers is very good at organising social events, where the various teams meet up, and we were using Zoom regularly before Covid.

I must say I have missed the face-to-face social events - but we managed a quite fun Christmas party on Zoom, with my employers sending us all a hamper.

I'm being headhunted for another job. One of my conditions was that I would only do WFH... they agreed.

Those are the Innova tests being used up.

"The suppliers are likely embargoed until approved."

Strictly speaking, once a contract award has been made, and any standstill period has expired, then the supplier is free to publish the information. The government shouldn't be seeking to restrict a company unduly.

* that should read "...isn't that well understood..."

"Is this a cost cutting exercise ? I expect the governemnt to be cutting back on things money is very tight.
They recon 1:1000 kids wil be false positive, if there 3 mil secondary schoolers then thats 3000 missing school for two week plus siblings and parents if they can;t work from home. Makes no sense to me.. back in Nov I was able to wal into a testing center with no appointment or symptoms and get a test (place was empty) has all this changed now?"

Problem is that the false positive rate for PCR is that well understood either... preliminary estimates show it could be somewhere between 0·8% and 4·0%.

"normally if its business days it is stated clearly as default is ordinary days."

Yep!

"Lets be honest the gov is rubbish at releasing the info when it should - even though reprimanded already on it...."

And what they do finally get round to publishing is often not what is actually required under the Regulations and Guidance.

"That’s 30 business days."

No, it's not. It's 30 calendar days, as 'working days' is not specified in s.50 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (but is specified elsewhere in the regulations where they wish working days to apply).

"Not sure if it was just me that didn't know this but Government contracts over £120k have to be published within 30 days of signing."

Actually, it's not as straightforward as that:

- under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the £120k threshold relates to whether the provisions of the Public Contract Directive will apply (e.g. whether a formal procurement/tender process is required);
- under the Public Contract Regulations, Contract Award Notices have to be published within 30 calendar days of Contract Award (i.e. when the supplier was notified they'd be getting a Contract - not when the Contract is signed) and the 30 days limit is where there is a standstill period.
- where there is no standstill period (i.e. a direct award without tender) then the requirement is publication within 20 calendar days of Contract Award.

However, the Government has also published the 'Publication of Central Government Tenders and Contracts' guidance (last update November 2017) which says that all central government contracts (including those issued by executive agencies and NDPBs) over £10k must be published in line with the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.