Another Drive4show 'Anything goes' thread

[McLaren]

First topic message reminder :

Super

For starters I live in a one bedroom flat. But I think you know that it should not take the people of a nation putting refugees up in their house before the government is required to do anything about it.

For example the government could easily rent 50 premier inns and put the refugees there until they can be given homes.


"Of course it matters. They have a far greater responsibility than the UK does"

So you are saying that because those countries closer to Syria have neglected their responsibilities the UK has the right to do nothing? You are saying that one country doing nothing is sufficient for another country to justify doing nothing?


bob

WTF was that?

[super_realist]

IFA's and Mortgage Advisers are private companies which offer impartial advice.

The Land Registry is the only registry in regards to land, it's effectively a monopoly, you have no other choice but to use it, please explain how being in private hands would change anything?

[MontysMerkin]

IFA's and Mortgage Advisers are private companies which offer impartial advice.

yeah you're right they do. Each supplier of services 'rewards' the advisor with a commission. Guess who gets the most business - yes, that's right, the one with the higher commission

[super_realist]

Wrong, IFA's are regulated, there are measures in place to ensure that providers are not favoured.

[beninho]

When i was a Mortgage Broker, we did not charge a fee and were paid by commission. The difference was minimal on what most mortgage companies paid, you had to show why you chose a certain deal for each company. You treat the client as stupid, they would easily find a better deal and cut you out altogether.

I think now, brokers and IFA have to charge a fee, in a bid to show transparency or something.

[McLaren]

Super

Don't be a tool, you know perfectly well that most mortgage advisers and IFA's are not totally impartial.  Not in a malicious way but they clearly favour some products over others.

And as Ben noted, there is no need to use a mortgage broker if you can use a simple web search combined with a little research.


As for selling off the land registry it clearly is quite concerning that the data will be held be an unaccountable firm who can sell the data to anyone they like.  In Scotland you can look up most of the data anyway but not on a large scale and it makes do pretty specific searches.  Now I assume you will be able to buy whatever search you want, or just the whole lot.

[MontysMerkin]

Wrong, IFA's are regulated, there are measures in place to ensure that providers are not favoured.

Utter tripe. The FSA is one of the biggest cons going. The likes ofcom and ofgen? They have proven time and again to be a nonsense. Really...

[super_realist]

Sure you would know Mac, given your expertise as a bog cleaner.

[raycastleunited]

Airlines will also say that you can only have one pair of shoes, a dozen golf balls, and an umbrella in there.  I make sure it meets the weight requirement but ignore that "advice" as they don't go through it as such.

I've never seen this in Europe

[MontysMerkin]

And a dozen golf balls will never be enough for 3 rounds anyway....

[raycastleunited]

The Land Registry is fundamentally a repository of information. There are many private companies which provide this type of impartial unbiased service in many different industries.

Having said that I believe it is in the interest of the public that organisations like Companies House and the Land Registry remain under Government control.

[raycastleunited]

Golf travel bags...

All advice so far very sensible, so I won't repeat it.

- Most important is to ensure you have good insurance.
- The airline you fly with makes a huge difference.... BA will sort you out if anything goes wrong, Ryanair won't give a toss.
- What's the value of your clubs? No point spending £500 on a deluxe padded coffin to transport Donnay sticks.

[super_realist]

Tie your clubs together with something like a football sock and put something in between the heads like a towel so they don't get dented .
Baggage handlers care nothing for what's in your bag.

[1GrumpyGolfer]

Airlines will also say that you can only have one pair of shoes, a dozen golf balls, and an umbrella in there.  I make sure it meets the weight requirement but ignore that "advice" as they don't go through it as such.

I've never seen this in Europe

Prior to emigrating I remember from my first trip with Virgin that they explained the "rules" but it maybe more of a transatlantic thing.

Airline policy on the classification of my clubs plays a big part on whether I book with them. Virgin, while typically more expensive, will fly them for free while BA and others will fly them as a second bag which will cost you more in luggage fees, typically more than the saving versus Virgin.

[McLaren]

Another option is to find out what clubs you can rent from the place you are playing. I once went somewhere that gave out that seasons titleist irons and woods, so just went with that.

[raycastleunited]

Airlines will also say that you can only have one pair of shoes, a dozen golf balls, and an umbrella in there.  I make sure it meets the weight requirement but ignore that "advice" as they don't go through it as such.

I've never seen this in Europe

Prior to emigrating I remember from my first trip with Virgin that they explained the "rules" but it maybe more of a transatlantic thing.

Airline policy on the classification of my clubs plays a big part on whether I book with them. Virgin, while typically more expensive, will fly them for free while BA and others will fly them as a second bag which will cost you more in luggage fees, typically more than the saving versus Virgin.

If it's within your luggage allowance, BA don't charge extra. I've taken my clubs on BA many times and never paid extra for them.

I think easyjet charge £25 each way which seems fair enough compared to the cost of checking in a suitcase. Ryanair on the other hand £40 each way just another attempt to catch you out and suck some cash out of you.

[McLaren]

Ray

You can do the same on the gulf airlines as well. I think they usually give you about 30-35kg and up to two/three bags in the hold. They don't seem to care if the bags are golf clubs, snowboards, boxes, whatever.

If like me you travel light it is pretty easy to get the clubs and suitcase within that limit.

[super_realist]

Does your bus charge you an extra ticket for golf clubs?

[McLaren]

Super

When the North sea oil industry finally goes you will find out that some of the buses have a luggage rack at the front.

[super_realist]

I don't work North Sea Mac.

[McLaren]

Then what do you do?

[super_realist]

Other parts of the world, why would you think I'm stuck in NS?

[westisbest]

Whats wrong with the bus.

My word, this guy.

[McLaren]

I thought you said that you lived in Aberdeen?


How shaky is your position at the moment?

If you get the chop I know my way around the job centre so can give you some tips.

[McLaren]

PS, who did you vote for sups. I went labour for constituency and Greens for regional.

[super_realist]

Yes Mac, I live in Aberdeen, but that doesn't mean I have to work NS assets does it? I can work any location in the world from my desk.

Is my position shaky? Potentially it is, and I wouldn't be surprised to be put up for consultation, but I could survive for a year without working on the standard redundancy pay I would get, so it's a less frightening prospect compared to people who get the chop from other industries. Oil price is currently about break even point.

I didn't vote Mac.

[McLaren]

Kinda weird that you would be touchy about which "assets" you work?

Any good reason why you didn't vote?

[super_realist]

I'm not being remotely touchy Mac, it's rather speculative that if you work in Aberdeen you must be working the North Sea.

I didn't vote because I didn't see any party who was worth voting for. You must be gutted your hero Corbyn bombed yet again.

[beninho]

Nothing wrong with not voting, just means you lose all credibility when/if you* start complaining about politics. - *thats just you as in a general person not voting.

[MontysMerkin]

I'm not being remotely touchy Mac, it's rather speculative  that if you work in Aberdeen you must be working the North Sea.

I didn't vote because I didn't see any party who was worth voting for. You must be gutted your hero Corbyn bombed yet again.

Bombed? In Scotland yes, but in England and Wales they far exceeded expectations (at least if you believe the increasingly out of touch media). I do hope you don't form all your political views from the Ladybird Book of Duh.

[McLaren]

Not touchy but you are keen to point out that it is "rather speculative" to assume someone working in Aberdeen has something to do with North Sea oil or gas. In any case it clearly wasn't a particularly derogation assumption and someone who claims not to get offended should have been able to handle a fairly harmless and common misconception.

[pedro]

Politicians are useless and corrupt and don't care about the people they represent - especially now after Boaty McBoatface-gate... Fascists.

[super_realist]

I don't get offended Mac, it just reaffirms my suspicions that you are out of touch. You are probably one of those people that thinks there are underground lakes of oil that you just stick a hose into.

Monty, did Labour exceed expectations? Didn't look like it, they've done enough to ensure there probably won't be a Labour leadership contest in the next year, but in terms of building towards an effective opposition, which they need to be at this mid term stage, they're miles off, and given the clog the Tories have been getting for the Junior Doctors, Steel etc, you would have thought that even a Labour as rudderless as this one might have been able to make better "gains" than they have. Not looking good for Labour at all.

[McLaren]

Super

I have no idea how you get oil out of the sea floor. Although I did think it was in layers between certain kinds of rock, and you just sort of stuck the end of the sucker near it.

[super_realist]

Ha ha,I suppose that's a slightly better answer than Independence supporters would think, but not much.

[McLaren]

I would be genuinely interested if you could give a brief summary of how North sea oil is extracted?

[super_realist]

I'm more about the exploration rather than the production Mac, but if you're generally interested......

An oil province (North Sea for example) is split into Quadrants on a minute by minute grid. Each of these quadrants is split into 30 further "blocks" upon which companies bid. Licences are held on the basis of drill or drop, contingent wells, proposed seismic etc, and the company with the best bid, gets the licence.
It's likely that the company will "farm out" equity in the block to other companies to share costs, but remain the operator.

Each block of interest probably has a little bit known about it especially in a very mature basin like the NS, e.g previous fields, leads, prospects, gravity and magnetic data, gross depositional maps,  particular geology. 2D, 3D and sometimes 4D Seismic data is shot, or obtained if it's already been done and scrutinised and interpreted by geoscientists to see whether there is an oil kitchen, migration, reservoir, (e.g. jurassic or cretaceous sandstone) trap and seal. If all of these are present and the economics stand up, or the risk of one of the factors is low, you may have a drillable prospect.

Such geology is usually several kilometres beneath the seabed, and increasingly in the North Sea the prospects now being found are at pressures in the reservoir of north of 10,000 psi, and temperatures above 600f, so it's a dangerous and difficult place to drill. Hence, incredibly expensive. Something the SNP never really understood.

North Sea average fields are getting smaller, as they are harder to find, so the cost of a dry well could be more than the worth of drilling it.

Infrastructure to develop a field can run into billions, and the North Sea is the most expensive basin in the entire world to produce oil from (ex Canada tar sands) so understandably, it's in massive decline and companies are looking at different "plays" in West of Shetland, Atlantic Margin, Ireland etc and easier, cheaper alternatives onshore in more frontier basins that look promising.

Saying that, if you can find something commercial, and tie it back to existing infrastructure, it can work.

Then, when you find something, the Government charges more corporation tax than any other industry in the country at between 50% and 80% depending on the type of field.

[McLaren]

Thanks super. But how do you actually get the oil out. Is it really just a case of dangling the pipe near the oil and the pressure of the oil means it flies up the pipe?

[super_realist]

Mac, it's in rock in pore spaces, under pressure, it depends on the permeability and porosity of the rock and how viscous or how waxy the oil is. So you might need quite a lot of development wells, you might also need injectors to force it out, or you might need to fracture the rock. It's bloody complicated and frankly amazing they can drill a well either vertically, deviated or horizontally to such a small target.

[McLaren]

Hopefully the greens can force some policies through that mean we don't have to worry about such complexities.

[super_realist]

Hopefully the greens can force some policies through that mean we don't have to worry about such complexities.  

Doubt it Mac, seeing as they have no power and virtually everything you and I do and rely on on a daily basis is 100% reliant on oil somewhere.

[Roller_Coaster]

I read that Adidas are getting shot of their golf based businesses (TM, Adams, Ashworth and I presume Yes) to focus on apparel/footwear etc.

Any likely takers out there do you think or would it go down a private equity route or perhaps management buy out.

Hopefully it signals the end of the release of clubs every 6 weeks. A local pro was assured that the M1 and M2 woods would last at least through the rest of the year so maybe TM has been told to wind in the "R&D" to cut costs already.

[McLaren]

Roller

I would imagine the private equity route is most likely, isn't that what happened when Auchnet sold its golf brands a few years back?

Although you always hear rumors that Under Armour would like a crack at the clubs market, they could buy up taylormade and all the club making facilitates and then start releasing the new clubs with a UA logo.

I listened to a podcast on where the top four adidas players might go and the conclusion was

DJ - PXG
Day - Nike
Rose - Stay with TM/Bridgestone
Sergio - His contract is actually for adidas, apparently he only has adidas logos on him. So stay with Adidas golf apparel (which adidas are keeping) and maybe get some titleist clubs.

[dynamark]

Interesting oil stuff super .
few years back I did a job for a company in Devizes who had several vessels in different parts of the world taking surveys of seabed and geology in the oceans ,24 hrs a day continuous feeds of maps and data coming off on huge printers.They were selling the information on presumably to oil and mining companies

[Roller_Coaster]

Probably suits a PE investment, external eyes and strategic thinking and all that. Although I wonder if Nike would be interested, even if only to put one over Adidas. They seem to me to be pretty similar (that said, maybe too similar).

[MontysMerkin]

Interesting oil stuff super .
few years back I did a job for a company in Devizes who had several vessels in different parts of the world taking surveys of seabed and geology in the oceans ,24 hrs a day continuous feeds of maps and data coming off on huge printers.They were selling the information on presumably to oil and mining companies

I once worked on a tug towing rigs out into the Caspian sea from Baku. The oil was so close to the surface of the seabed that great clouds of oil would bubble up when they lifted the anchor. Kids would dig holes by the side of the road and sell crude oil in old coke bottles.

[Roller_Coaster]

Interesting oil stuff super .
few years back I did a job for a company in Devizes who had several vessels in different parts of the world taking surveys of seabed and geology in the oceans ,24 hrs a day continuous feeds of maps and data coming off on huge printers.They were selling the information on presumably to oil and mining companies

I once worked on a tug towing rigs out into the Caspian sea from Baku. The oil was so close to the surface of the seabed that great clouds of oil would bubble up when they lifted the anchor. Kids would dig holes by the side of the road and sell crude oil in old coke bottles.

Cor, that's fracking amazing.

I'll get me coat.

[raycastleunited]

Adidas has been actively marketing TM to PE houses since before Christmas.

On the one hand it's a very attractive turnaround prospect. It was the clear market leader for several years, with a strong track record of innovation and growth, RBZ was a phenomenal product, but they then shot themselves in the foot with excessive product launches that offered little and delivered less (RBZ stage 2? Jet speed?). With good products (e.g. M1 / M2) and more stable and progressive marketing you'd think they have a good chance of getting the brand back on track.

On the other hand, trends show that golf is in decline. US / Japan / UK markets are saturated, growth prospects in emerging markets are a bit shaky and not fully confirmed. A PE investor might not see enough growth in the next 3 years to justify the price.

History shows that PE has typically not meant good news for golf equipment manufacturers. Spalding any one? Although a PE investor might have been wiser when it comes to acquisitions... in recent years TM has bought Maxfli, Yes, Ashworth, Adams. None of these look like good buys now, although we don't know what intellectual property came with these deals and how beneficial it has been to TM.

[McLaren]

I do wonder if it really costs all that more to keep releasing clubs if they don't differ all that much from the other products.

With car companies it now seems you get a basic chassis, gearbox, engine, electronics etc and then just bolt a different shell on the top. Is it the same with TM clubs. Are they all pretty much the same thing underneath with a different plastic bit attached to the sole?

[raycastleunited]

The major cost of releasing new clubs is the marketing push. But the main issue is obsolesence of older models.

Many people wouldn't spend £350 on a brand new TM driver when you can wait a couple of months and pick it up for £200 when TM release a newer "better" model. That's not good news for retailers (who have to discount their stock) or TM.

[McLaren]

A somewhat interesting little piece on the batshittery of Trump voters.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2016/may/12/why-people-vote-donald-trump-indiana-death-american-dream-video?CMP=share_btn_tw

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