All recipes at a glance by taste/texture

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The matrix here shows the meals and snacks that met my own taste and texture cravings. Of course, most meals have a mixture of tastes and textures but I’ve just listed them under the taste/texture they had that was most dominant for me. You’ll likely come up with your own matrix but I hope these get you going. All of these foods

  • are fairly quick and easy to cook (I was a virtual novice to cooking a few months ago, having existed mainly on convenience food, so they had to be!)
  • have a lower proportion/total amount of carb (bulky green vegetables fill you up but have a low carb density so visually they will take up much more room on your plate than your protein source) than traditional meals – except for a handful (like those with pitta bread) which you can occasionally eat as part of a ‘normal’ diet when you’ve reached your weight goal.
  Sweet Spicy/peppery Savoury (salty) Acidic (sour) Bitter
Creamy Cocoa milk shakeYogurt and raspberry pudding Yogurt and cocoa
Soft Yogurt and pear pudding Avocado half
Boiled organic free-range egg
Cheesy Ryvita with cottage cheese and cucumber
Meaty Thai fish and vegetable curryThai chicken and vegetable curry AnchoviesBolognese with cauliflower

Bolognese with Ryvita

Beef/salmon with cauliflower and broccoli

Beef with sweet potato and cauliflower

Roast chicken with salad/cauliflower and broccoli

Tuna and tomato/cucumber yogurt pitta

Spaghetti bolognese
Chewy Yogurt, pear, walnut and prune pudding
Porridge and fruit		 Spinach and oil/seasoning Mussels in garlic sauce
Penne with tuna, cucumber and tomatoBean salad and chicken slices
Scrambled egg and salmon on brown toast		 Grapefruit half Cocoa powder spoon
Nutty All-Bran and skimmed milk Ryvita and peanut butter
Walnut half
Crunchy Apple Broccoli/sprouts and oil/seasoning Cauliflower and broccoli saladCottage cheese

Celery/cucumber/sugar snap peas

 Salad
Pickled onion/cucumber
Refreshing Skimmed milk Lime and soda Green tea

In most cases I haven’t detailed the ingredients/quantities and instructions however the internet is overflowing with recipes and you’ll in any case have to develop a rough understanding of the nutritional value (amount of carb, protein, calories, etc.) of the ingredients and foods you commonly eat and a feel for how large given quantities look (like 100g – for which a food scale is very useful when starting out)  to make a permanent change to your lifestyle. Generally, I made my protein source (typically cooked in a way that kept bad and saturated fats low – e.g. supermarket-rotisseried in the case of roast chicken) half the size of the plate and low carb density vegetables (typically steamed in a microwave steamer) the other half. Make up your own recipes that adhere to the general biochemical principles you’ve learnt (that apply to everybody) and are tailored to your own experiences/findings from monitoring your weight loss against the foods you eat – just keep the grams of carb below the threshold that you can tolerate without spiking your blood sugar (signified by feeling hungry again a short time later) at one sitting (typically 20 to 30g and ideally less than the grams of protein/fat) and make sure you get your daily allowance of nutrients (vitamins/minerals are OK to come from a tablet during your period of fat loss). Personally, I found my hunger following a meal was kept lowest when I kept carbs very low (under 20g/meal) but the level of carb you can tolerate without spiking your blood sugar will depend on

  1. how quickly it’s absorbed into the blood – which itself depends on (a) how the carb is exposed to the stomach e.g. diluting the carb with protein/fat/fibre/water will reduce absorption and (b) how much work the body needs to do to turn the carb into glucose i.e. the GI and
  2. how quickly it’s being taken out of the blood by your muscles – which depends on how exhausted i.e. depleted of glycogen they are.

Of course, you’ll probably break the principles from time-to-time e.g. when socializing (even then your body probably won’t want to gorge anyway if you’ve kept it well nourished) or when pressure of work means you don’t have time to cook but if you follow the principles you’ve discovered the large majority of the time and continue to monitor your weight don’t worry about it!

Enjoy 🙂

The Secret of How to Lose Fat!

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By far the biggest change was WHAT and WHEN I ate but here’s the full story:

1) I changed WHAT I ate to stomach-filling meals with a much lower amount of carbohydrate (90 grams total per day is fine if you have a fairly sedentary lifestyle but go as low as you can comfortably manage while ensuring you get enough fibre in your diet – read the grams of carb on the nutrition label on your foods or google their ingredients e.g. here) combined in the meal in a low-GI way (see the videos here if you don’t know what GI means) while at the same time ensuring I got essential nutrients (proteins, vitamins, minerals, essential fats, fibre) so my body was not denied what it NEEDED and my blood sugar was kept at an even level (rapid rises in blood sugar are always followed by rapid drops – which make you feel incredibly hungry!). I gradually learnt about the calories in various foods and limited my food intake so I ate 1000 fewer calories than my body was using per day (to lose around 1kg a week). I came up with a list of meals I liked  that both satisfied my cravings for specific tastes, textures and smells like spicy, savoury, sweet, chocolaty, acidic, tart, crunchy, nutty, meaty, cheesy, chewy, creamy, aromatic but ALSO met my lower carb/high nutrient criteria and then shopped for those meal ingredients only, preparing batches of the cooked meals in advance (that I stored in my freezer) – I’ve posted pictures of the staple meals/snack ‘faithfuls’ I settled on (including a Slim-Fast style meal replacement milk shake) in the Recipes section. A strategy I found useful was to eat the majority of ‘feel-good’ carbohydrates in a pudding (like this) after the main meal – that way I finished the meal on a carb high feeling completely satisfied but without having consumed too many in total. I took a cheap supermarket-branded multivitamin and mineral tablet daily to ensure I got the nutrients I needed on my calorie-limited diet and made sure my diet included foods containing Omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. What you give your body is as important as what you deny it but I reduced saturated fats, eliminated products with artificial sweeteners (which stimulate appetite) and caffeine (which causes water and minerals to be lost from the body), drinking water or green/herbal tea (without sugar) when thirsty – note that you will feel more thirsty and need to drink more as you start to burn your fat reserves. Remember, you will eat a smaller quantity of food but once you get over your sugar cravings (which can last for a few days) your body will quickly adapt to burning fat when it needs energy and re-educate your body’s cravings for the healthier foods you have introduced into your diet – if you only source of XYZ vitamin or mineral is French fries then you will crave French fries; when your body has healthier food sources of the nutrients it needs it will actually crave those healthy sources and you will come to love several foods you didn’t before!

2) I changed WHEN I ate to (a) include a breakfast and (b) rarely eat anything substantial later than 8pm so I didn’t go to sleep on a full stomach and had a restful night’s sleep. I also only ate at a meal time or when I was really feeling hungry in my stomach – rather than when I wanted a food ‘high’/’hit’ to cheer me up because I felt stressed or down or tired or bored or wanted a pleasurable distraction giving life a purpose/goal. Distinguishing real hunger from thirst (dehydration) or just feeling low in mood/energy is a skill that can be developed fairly quickly by allowing yourself to drink water/unsweetened tea or eat a limited repertoire (like apples, low-carb-density vegetables and canned tuna) of nutritious but not highly pleasurable foods when feeling the urge to eat. I never starved myself and always allowed myself to eat one of my repertoire of nutritious but not highly pleasurable foods if feeling truly hungry between meals. By BALANCING your energy intake (how much you eat and when) against your energy expenditure (how active you are) before and after that intake you can ‘coast’ along at a comfortable medium-to-low (but not so low that you feel hungry and end up over-eating) blood sugar level and get your body to burn fat by doing nothing – even when you sleep! In fact, the easiest time to deal with low blood sugar is at night while you’re sleeping since your body ordinarily burns fat then anyway and you don’t feel hungry at all. Modern work life can be stressful but if you allow yourself the time to savour tastes on your palate and take at least 30 minutes over your main meal of the day from the first bite to the last your stomach will have time to register how full you are and you’ll naturally know when you’ve had enough to eat. Listen to your body (but not false hunger cravings) and eat until you are satisfied. Remember that whatever you do during your weight loss phase has to also be manageable comfortably long term – there is no point exerting lots of willpower to deny your body’s real hunger cravings since you will just end up compensating (and more) down the line.

3) I kept a weekly record of my weight and fat % (using a set of electronic scales) and took weekly photos of my body to monitor my PROGRESS. Seeing the results gave me feedback on how various foods impacted my weight loss and looking more conventionally attractive and feeling healthier motivated me to continue losing weight. Muscle in fact weighs more than fat and your weight can change by 3kg from one day to the next depending on your intestine contents and level of hydration so recording fat % and pictures of your muscle tone is vital to know how amazingly well you’re doing!

4) I did 1 minute (yes, that’s not a typo!) of INTENSE (heart rate up to 120bpm) exercise a day on 3 alternate days a WEEK – as 3 bursts of 20 seconds of intense running on the spot (or cycling or swimming) every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The effects of this small amount of exercise on your blood biochemistry are profound and extend well into the next day.

Prior to my new lifestyle (it’s now a way of life I enjoy rather than a temporary regime of denial) I had in the main eaten foods I mistakenly thought were healthy and good for weight loss (like brown bread, wild rice, baked potatoes, cereals) together with convenient supermarket ready-meals (lasagne, fish pie, curry, M&S ‘fuller for longer’ meals) and in fact spent more time exercising (though at a lower pace). I had also dieted from time to time in the past when I felt the waistline had gone too far but always ended up putting the lost weight back on.

This is a lot of information to take in presented in a condensed way but my hope is that this site will provide you with a sufficient understanding of nutrition and your body’s biochemistry to enable you to implement the lifestyle changes that will let you take charge of your weight and stay healthy throughout your life – as well as pass on the understanding you develop and good habits you learn to those you care about. If you have questions not answered here then do please ask/comment.

Some people find it easier to be given a more prescriptive approach to what to do when starting out – a kind of one-size-fits-all template – and I have provided such a ‘prescription’ here, however, it’s important that as you see positive results you understand why the regime works so you can continue to lead a healthy lifestyle and keep your weight at a healthy level forever.

Water quality testing at London’s first designated Thames bathing area between Kingston and Ham

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Thames water quality testing in Kingston and Ham

We swam at London’s first officially designated bathing area on the Thames, between Kingston and Ham.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/kkCE24xrdXc1VvUZ7

It was straight after our Saturday morning Kingston parkrun, which finishes very near the get in, and when, coincidentally, the water was being tested.

The Environment Agency lady told us she had to wait until 10am to test and that the water temperature was a very pleasant 24 degrees – warmer than many public swimming pools.

While the quality testing wouldn’t be available for a day, the historic test results are online.

https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/data-samples.html?bw=uki2203-11942&district=Kingston%20upon%20Thames

After a spike in nasties in June (perhaps coinciding with a release of ground water from the sewers after heavy rain) the water quality has been fine for swimming since.

With the water being so still, and doing a version of the breast stroke, I was able to successfully avoid anything but a few splashes getting onto my face and mouth. Whatever the reassurances, I wouldn’t recommend ingesting too much Thames water.

I got told off by someone sitting on a bench on the island opposite, Trowlock Island, for attempting to get out there and declare a victorious crossing – apparently they were on alert after a recent boat theft.

If you read the bathing signs (I didn’t), the designated bathing/swimming area is demarcated on the Surrey side – though open water swimmers like the Blue Tits women’s group are rather more adventurous.

The water didn’t smell (just a slight open river smell), there were a few tiny fishes visible through the very clear water and the water sample extracted for testing looked as clear as tap water.

We had a cup of tea from the YMCA Hawker centre afterwards rather than the traditional fizzy cola to keep any bugs at bay.

Come on in, the water’s lovely 😃 ..but check the latest advice:

https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/profile.html?site=uki2203-11942

What’s the rave music in the 2026 Specsavers Ad?

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Papua New Guinea by The Future Sound of London.

The ad is part of a series advertising hearing tests for over-50s that includes Groove Armada.

https://www.thedrum.com/news/ad-of-the-day-specsavers-asks-the-rave-generation-to-get-their-hearing-checked

It certainly resonated with this quinquagenarian – though happily my hearing’s fine at the moment.

I heard that! Pardon?

Here are a few remixes of that FSOL track.

By the way, the low drone and high synth at the beginning of the 7 and 12 inch original versions sounds like it may have influenced the beginning of another much more recent track by Jimmy Cauty (of KLF fame) which has a similarly timeless but somewhat more frenetic quality.

How to reduce your Yahoo email storage below 15G fast! Bulk delete by sender

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This article is now available as a short video which shows the steps to take in the Yahoo Mail app 👇

With the recent Yahoo email changes limiting you to 15G of free storage you may be struggling to work out how to reduce your storage when you’ve got mails going back years or even decades.

The “Manage storage” button just let’s you see emails with media or documents, sorted by size and download them so isn’t that useful when you’re trying to get rid of gigabytes of storage. Reviewing all your old emails would take forever!

Well, one quick way to reduce your Yahoo storage is to delete all those now effectively junk emails with updates you get from companies like Ebay, Amazon, LinkedIn, Facebook and others.

To do this you just need to open one of those junk emails, find the sender email address, copy it and then search for all emails from that address.

In the search bar just type from, colon, space, and then paste the email address e.g.

From: donotreply@ebay.com

Now here’s the trick. You need to click or touch to select all those emails – not just the most recent ones and then click delete.

We’re not quite there yet. Those deleted emails just went to our yahoo trash folder so we also need to delete them from there.

Close and reopen the yahoo mail app and voila! You’ll see your storage has reduced. Some senders will have thousands of emails in your inbox and with pictures too so you can free up loads of space this way.

Staying within the 15 Gigabyte Yahoo storage limit means you avoid paying monthly fees so if you’re close to your limit a bit of housekeeping may be just the ticket.

Britain’s “democracy” is broken – the biggest minority wins so Divide and Rule

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Britain’s broken democracy – Taxation without representation

The UK’s first past the post (FPTP) system, coupled with a proliferation of political parties, means that power goes to the biggest sect rather than the people.

Why is this obvious consequence of our political system – the system which allocates and reallocates resources – not being shouted about?

The many are being enslaved by the few.

Everyone is ruled by whichever unpopular minority can organise themselves to get more votes than the next biggest sect.

Could this explain the instability in recent governments. Frequent new Prime Ministers, U-turns on policy, amplification of policies that appeal to a minority, rising crime and societal unhappiness.

When the rules of a game are broken, is it any wonder big players come to the casino to bring the house down?

Some fairer form of representation of the people, often referred to as “Proportional Representation”, is the answer but which sect would ever give up power?

How would there ever be agreement on which fairer system to adopt?

The argument is that the FPTP has ‘worked’ for ever but history shows how often our system of representation has been revised to better reflect the wants of the many, not the few.

How long have we used First Past the Post? You might be surprised

And the present unrest in society and instability in politics shows that things are empirically not working.

Revolution can only come through an unsatisfied people. The link below is from the Electoral Reform Society.

https://action.electoral-reform.org.uk/page/3782/petition/1

Politics isn’t working. It’s time to call time on the broken culture in Westminster and have a fresh start with a fair voting system. Add your name to @electoralreform’s call to #MakeSeatsMatchVotes

Cold water bottle – cool your hot feet with a hot water bottle and cool down quickly!

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Cold water bottle – cool down with your hot water bottle!

This article is now available as a short video.

With these record-breaking temperatures in the UK, are your feet feeling really hot? 🥵

Have you been resting the base of your feet on your calves for temporary relief from aching hot feet?

Putting your feet into a bucket of cold water has always been a way to cool down but isn’t very practical when lying down – nor if you want to move around at home without having to dry your feet off each time.

I was imagining a solution involving a water-filled rubber mat or overshoes when it hit me.

Why not just fill a hot water bottle with cold water?

It’s a technology many people already have in their home and widely available.

Ice “slippers” and similar can be found online but these could potentially be a little too harsh or even cause cause cold burns with prolonged use.

Your feet act like the radiator in a car engine. Cool them and the rest of your body follows.

Short of aircon, a cold shower, bath, paddle in a stream or dip in the sea has always been the ultimate way to cool down but reimagining your hot water bottle may do the trick. Give it a go, and feel free to leave a comment if it worked for you 😃

Mitchell and Webb’s Cash Register Shop sketch script

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This is one of the funniest radio sketches I’ve ever heard but I couldn’t find the original script or even a transcript online so here it is!

There are more poignant sketches like their Corner Shop (for TV https://youtu.be/uRbj1Q4tXNo) but this gets close to 10 laughs per minute on average – and in fact a much higher rate, given the first laugh doesn’t come until nearly 30 seconds in.

Title: Cash Register Shop Script
Running time: 2m10s
Writer: Toby Davies
From: That Mitchell And Webb Sound S05E01 (2013) https://youtu.be/p_KlckKFFc0
Notes: 2s/line (frenetic), 22 laughs so 10/min! (hilarious)
Style: observational to surreal to ridiculous.

SCRIPT
(*) shows where the audience laughs.

Customer: Yeah, I think it’s a little bit pricey for me.

Shopkeeper: I know it does seem a little expensive, but I think you’ll be pleased you made the investment. This is one of the best cash registers on the market.

Customer: Well, I’m sure you know your stuff when it comes to cash registers. I, I’ve never seen so many cash registers in one place. Cash registers as far as the eye can see.

Shopkeeper: Yeah. Well, well, we specialize in cash registers, as you can tell. We only sell cash registers.

Customer: What about that?

Shopkeeper: That’s my daughter’s saxophone. She picks it up here for her lesson. Now, about the cash register.
(*)
Customer: D’you know, I think you’re right. It’s expensive, but worth it. Sold.

Shopkeeper: Excellent choice. Let me just ring it up.

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Oops. Silly me. That’s not our actual cash register.
(**)
That’s uh that’s one of the ones we sell. I’ll um I’ll just ring it up.

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Ha ha. That’s not it either.
(*)
That’s uh that’s a display model. Try again.

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Sorry, wrong one.
(*)
FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Not my lucky day.
(*)
Ah, this one

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Is not the right one.
(*)
Um this one.

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Nope.

Customer: Uh, how about this one?

Shopkeeper: Good thought.

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Nope.
(*)
This one?

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Nope. This one?

FX: Saxophone parp.

Shopkeeper: That’s my daughter’s saxophone.
(**)
FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Nope. So, sorry about this.

Customer: Please don’t worry. It’s totally understandable.
(*)
Shopkeeper: I I can’t help feeling we should have some sort of system to prevent this from happening.
(*)
But, uh, there you go. I’ll just try these three.

FX: Cash register ring. x 3

Shopkeeper: Nope.
(**)
This one.

FX: Saxophone parp.

Shopkeeper: That’s my daughter’s saxophone again.
(*)
FX: Saxophone parp.
(*)
Shopkeeper: And again. I mean, that’s just silly. It doesn’t even look like a cash register.
(*)
FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Nope.

Customer: Should I come back later?

Shopkeeper: Nope. Don’t worry. We’ll have this sorted out in a jiffy.

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Nope. Ah, here it is. Call off the dogs. This is the one.

FX: Saxophone parp.

Shopkeeper: Damn it.
(**)
FX: Door open ring.

Shopkeeper: I I didn’t do anything that time.
(*)
Customer: Uh, it was the door.

Shopkeeper: Oh, yes, of course.

Robber: Right. Do exactly as I say. And nobody gets hurt.
(***)
Shopkeeper: Oh. Uh. Oh, right. Yes, of course.

Robber: Just give me all the money in the till.
(**)
Shopkeeper: Right. Right away.

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Nope.
(*)
FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: Wrong again.

FX: Saxophone parp.
(*)
Shopkeeper: Nope.

FX: Cash register ring.

Shopkeeper: We’ll get there in the end.
(*)
END

If you love writing sketches, sitcoms or screenplays and are looking for feedback on whether yours is funny feel free to DM me to join a comedy writers’ WhatsApp group – deets in my links 👇👍

https://linktr.ee/gichowdotcom

How To Reduce Dependency On US Technology – Porting IT Applications off American Platforms

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US Technology Dependency

This is the beginning of an article considering how to reduce UK dependency on American software and hardware platforms to mitigate the risk of economic (cold) war with the United States.

US Technology companies include household names like Microsoft, Google/Alphabet, Amazon/AWS, Apple, Meta (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook), YouTube, X, Salesforce, Netflix, eBay, OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Intel and AMD.

The prospect of cold war between the United Kingdom or Europe and the United States may until recently (2025) never have been considered by your organisation. Even had it been recorded as a theoretical risk on a risk register somewhere, it may have seemed so remote a possibility and so seemingly impossible to mitigate against that the risk was simply accepted (low risk, high impact).

Recent events, including the introduction and threat of further tariffs on the UK and Europe, and unprecedented actions on the world stage may have changed the perception of that risk.

Likely, your US software vendors – Microsoft, Amazon AWS, Google, etc. won’t allow you to host their cloud application, platform and infrastructure services on your own hardware or ‘tin’. Or if they do e.g. through Docker containerised services or similar, such alternative hosting models will themselves introduce dependency on American operating systems and/or hardware/microchip technology.

So how to address the risk?

Two main options present themselves.

Firstly, put pressure on US vendors to provide a mechanism to address this risk e.g. open source their software or put their software into an escrow arrangement for release on condition of economic sanction, tariff or other conflict with the US.

Secondly, ensure all dependencies on technologies (this need not be confined to US technologies) are documented to a sufficient level that mission critical applications could be rewritten for porting and data migration to non-US technology or non-proprietary platforms. This might include producing architecture diagrams (business, data, application, technology) and functional specifications.

Such documentation would necessarily include everything from the ground up i.e.

  • hardware/virtual infrastructure (including routers, routing configuration, servers, storage, CPUs,  peripherals, etc.)
  • platforms (operating systems, database servers, application servers)
  • applications (bespoke, configuration and customisation of application platforms like ERP, CRM, CMS, LLM, Reporting, Data Analysis, Machine Learning, etc. and database platforms for OLTP, OLAP, etc.)

If you have experience of performing these negotiations and analysis, reusable templates and processes to employ, pitfalls and gotchas to watch out for or anything else to mitigate the risks of dependency on non-national resources please do share in a comment.

With such specifications, one can imagine the prospect of automating the development of applications from them, built upon non-US and non-proprietary technologies.

Furthermore, a future national or European cloud software vendor could offer similar services to the US companies that currently dominate by reverse engineering the specifications of such services.

Platforms for low-code and no-code application development have existed for some time, and AI platforms for building apps from descriptions, like Google’s Opal, are already available.

Start by focusing on your most mission critical applications. The lessons learned can be used to inform the subsequent porting of any application in more efficient and optimal ways.

Legislation is being progressed to address the UK’s empirical lack of “digital sovereignty” but organisations, especially those providing critical national infrastructure would be wise to consider the options available until legislation is enacted.

Cybersecurity Bill: ORG calls on MPs to reduce UK reliance on US tech companies

Digital sovereignty is the capacity of a state, organization, or individual to independently control digital infrastructure, data, and decision-making processes within their jurisdiction.

https://www.trendmicro.com/en_gb/what-is/data-sovereignty

A global interconnected pattern of dependencies is a positive for world cooperation and ultimately peace but where there is an imbalance of power in any realm, such imbalance could be exploited and upset world order. Steps to mitigate such imbalance help ensure no nation gets too big for its boots and necessitate mutual respect.

The United States has benefited from international trust in globalisation and now holds significant influence stemming from that trust. International reliance on US technology and other companies has allowed them to grow unchecked to a point where they can potentially upset the delicate balance of power needed for the security of the world.

Eternal vigilance, recognising and mitigating the risk of power imbalance is perhaps the price we pay for a safe world.

HMRC Making Tax Digital (MTD) Webinar for the self-employed and landlords Q&A

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If you attended a HMRC-hosted MTD webinar for the self-employed, landlords, and joint property owners, you may have seen your and several other attendee questions fly past in the GoTo Webinar interface without being able to record or screenshot them.

Several questions were raised and answered in the webinar that I attended on 4th December 2025 and these are captured in the video above – pause and/or slow it down to see the Q&A.

These include discussion of MTD software, key dates for beginning to submit quarterly electronic records, what counts as qualifying income (turnover v profit and excluding PAYE salary, pensions), categories (as per existing self assessment form), sole trader and landlord categories, combining income/expense line items, scanned documents v keying in manually, quarterly and full year submissions, mtd software as tax deductible, SA109, separate bank accounts/submissions for property and self employment, joint property expense recording, 24/25 50k rule, calendar quarters, why this is happening and the legal basis, evidence of income/expense, using an accountant, how many tax payments are made/when, correcting previous quarter submissions in the next update, xml/csv/api/Excel, foreign property income, submitting without an agent/book keeper/accountant, lumping together property incomes v self employment incomes, time gap between last quarterly update (7th May) and end of year return (Jan of the following year), HMRC evidence/bank accounts, and more.

Please like or subscribe if you got value 👍

Samsung Health’s Passive Aggressive Audio Guide Messages

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“Are you feeling well enough to run today?”

“Sweating is good for you.”

“Enjoy moving and being active.”

“Speeeed up!”

“Slow down.”

Just some of the messages I got through my headphones this morning, interrupting the podcast I was listening to on my weekly park run.

While tempted to throw my phone into the bushes, never to be seen again, I held on to the bitter end and worked out how to turn this unrequested workout advice off.

From the Samsung Health app, click Running > 3 dots > Settings > Audio Guide and toggle it off.

Hope this helps! 😬🤬😄

Samsung phone word suggestions and spelling corrections disappeared after Android upgrade

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Frustratingly the panel showing word suggestions and spelling corrections above the on-screen keyboard was gone (!) after my phone upgraded to the latest Android and OneUI 😱

To get them back, go into your phone settings and download the predictive text pack. Voila! 🎉

I didn’t need to do anything else but the screenshots below show the relevant phone settings and the return of the word suggestions line above the keyboard.