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My house has a flat roof extension which is lit by a line of 6 x 12v MR16 lamps. Their energy consumption is offensive (they're inherited) and I want to replace them with 4w LEDs. I have no idea how many replacement transformers I'll need - one hopefully - but with no access, I'm planning to use...

... sorry in my last post, I didnt mean to imply that an electrical device is the only "barrier to entry"!! I think years of training and experience might come into it as well !!!!

Many thanks for your reply BAS - very enlightening ... or not, if you take my point. I would say that it's surprising the law is so hazy on this matter, but then, in all truth, it's not is it? I do consider myself competent in very basic household electricity (well, put it like this, I...

As an occasional user of this forum, I'm aware that "Part P" has been covered at some length (!) and that there's no doubt a definitive answer to my question somewhere in the hundreds of thousands of posts, but as I cannot find 'the smoking gun', forgive me for asking: is an average DIYer ever...

We've been over this John. I'm not justfying anything .... a sub-prime loan was to an individual with a poor credit history, and yes it's based on probablity. It did not mean they could not pay it back. When a boom turns sour however, they'll be the first to default .... Get away with what?

I'm not sure what you're asking for the first part ... Insurance companies had plenty of exposure to the property sector, in varying forms. The thing to remember is that sub-prime came at the end of a long-boom .... all a product of ultra-low interest rates from 2001 onwards. Some argue it...

As I have said, you simply do not know if you're creditworthy - a bank can only extrapolate from your current (and short-term) projected circumstances. On a 20/25 year term, that's guesswork, pure and simple. Hence when you applied for your mortgage, you could not guarantee being able to...

You know, you're right. It started off as a discussion on wealth and I'm now accused of being an apologist for the banking sector!! But criticism aimed at the sector as a whole is unjust. That said, I'll leave the horse alone ..... one last post excepted

So you made sure not to buy your house in a boom then huh? You know, you really should think around subjects a little before laying in ... otherwise you'll get a reputation as a bombastic idiot

I've said, the banking sector was not in itself the contributing factor to the financial crisis; but the industry got caught up in it like any other firm or individual got caught up in it. Because it was inescapable. That doesnt make them culpable. Some things were NOT obvious to the...

It's not intended to be charitable. I'm trying to explain the circumstances of how something like sub-prime lending came about. The assumption that everyone was simply wreckless isnt entirely fair because you have to see it against the dimension of time. Who knows how long a period of strong...

As I said in my last post, bad practises were in place, and no I wouldnt defend sub-prime lending in any circumstances. But again, I'm trying to get you to see that you simply cannot criticise banking generally - to do so shows a complete lack of understanding of the causes of the 2008 crisis...

As I said of your previous post, it said nothing of the cause of the boom, only the symptoms. As for this tirade, it speaks of a profound ignorance of just how the world works. Your post is full of normative statements, 'shoulds' and 'shouldnts' and there's a bizarre presumption of "full...

Do you realise how many banks there are in the world John? I'm bemused by your implicit belief that a crisis cannot be sparked by one or two entitities .... consider the 1998 crisis in Russia and the role of LTCM .... Well again, you state that a loan would be issued to someone who couldnt...

Not really. I'm suggesting that certain banks / entities that packaged asset-backed securities probably felt that it was an area that they couldnt afford to simply hand to the competition. You have to remember that interest rates are 'a' bank's meal-ticket and they spent an awful lot of time at...

Wrong either way. What you describe was symptomatic of the boom, not the cause. Moreover ... Banks lend, that's what they do, so being 'forced' doesnt come into it. Then identifying what is and is not a good credit risk has its limits. Clearly, "Throwing caution to the wind" and "clearly poor...

OK - fair enough. The point I'm making is that banks (though perhaps not RBS!!) have been too easily criticised. The nature of their role means that they will always be party to a boom and bust, but does this make it their fault? It may feel like it when we have to bail one or two out for fear...

[/url] It was discredited, by definition, because academics began to point out its obvious flaws - the predominant one being that it ignores the role of investment in a society, which is a hard argument to circumvent. I'll concede that some neo-Keynesians try, but then the likes of Paul...

I'd be careful with Riveralt's pick n mix of snippets from basic theories .... As I said earlier in the thread, "wealth" is subject to debate which is why we confined it to "money and assets", but I'm not sure it's helped. Wealth can be multi-faceted, and if an economic agent is compelled...

The movement of money is not wealth creation. By definition.