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[hobnob]

Surely you need 4 disks for that?
RAID 0 is striping
RAID 1 is mirroring
RAID 0+1 is a mirror of stripes
RAID 1+0 is a stripe of mirrors...

[hobnob]

I agree with vwdan that this task isn't inherently inside IR35. However, I'm guessing that this isn't part of the scope of work that you agreed to at the start of the contract.

I think the question then becomes how significant it is. E.g. if someone turned up for interview a bit early,...

[hobnob]

The problem with those is similar to a laptop - you have to replace the main unit (motherboard etc.) and the screen at the same time. For instance, I know someone with an all-in-one device that runs Windows 10, and it's not compatible with Windows 11. The screen is working fine, but they'll have to...

[hobnob]

I thought this was the type of thing that the ECCT (Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency) Act was supposed to prevent.

If this is a brand new company, I assume that "the Latvian dude" has done ID verification. That should make it easier for the authorities to get hold of...

[hobnob]

I normally buy from Crucial, but they've decided to stop selling to consumers; they want to focus on AI datacentres instead.
Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business | Micron Technology

And I agree about prices being absurd. I bought 64 GiB of DDR4 RAM in July for £110,...

[hobnob]

If this is for your home PC (rather than work), Microsoft 365 Personal isn't that expensive:
Buy Microsoft 365 Personal (formerly Office 365) – Subscription Price | Microsoft Store
It's initially £85/year, but you can bring that down to £60/year if you don't care about Copilot. That subscription...

[hobnob]

Regarding Hamas, do you think that the UK government was wrong to negotiate with the IRA? If they hadn't, we'd never have got the Good Friday agreement.

I don't know whether a 1-state or 2-state solution is the best long-term plan, but I don't think it's fair to say that anyone who advocates...

[hobnob]

I haven't used an ACSP, but I know some people who used Bourse Company Services. That cost £42 and it was a very quick turnaround.

There's a full list of ACSPs here:
List of Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSPs) - GOV.UK
It might be worth picking one that's local to...

[hobnob]

When I was at school, I did 20th century history. The GCSE exam was pretty much guaranteed to have some variation on this question: "Was the League of Nations a failure?" (I.e. it was set up after WW1 but didn't stop WW2.)

I think Trump's legacy will be similar questions for future...

[hobnob]

I'm curious about why you have a company secretary at all. Is this just a legacy thing from the 1990s (when it used to be a requirement)? MyCo has never had a secretary....

[hobnob]

I've generally had it the opposite way around, i.e. the umbrella takes too much tax then I get a rebate after my SATR. That's annoying, but better than getting a big bill!

I think your advice about setting money aside is spot-on. I have an Excel file that I use for my SATR, and I can use...

[hobnob]

Bumping this old post (to save creating a new thread), I've just seen that Companies House are raising the cost again. As of 1st Feb, it will cost £50 for a confirmation statement!
Companies House fees are changing from 1 February 2026 - GOV.UK

That's a 47% rise, which almost makes...

[hobnob]

Leaving aside the company specific questions, you might want to look at the MSE forums, particularly "Debt Free Wannabe":
Welcome to the MoneySavingExpert Forum
More specifically, look at this sticky post:
In Debt and Wannabe Debt Free? first Steps to take are here, please...

[hobnob]

Welcome to the forum. I don't have any specific advice about your liquidation query, but I'd recommend reading the sticky posts in this forum (if you haven't already), particularly this one:
Please read this if you are desperate and feel you are running out of options - Contractor UK Bulletin...

[hobnob]

You said that you were a LAMP developer. Is that what you're planning to do again?

I think there are fewer development roles than there used to be, because lots of organisations are now using cloud computing (SaaS) rather than running in-house systems....

[hobnob]

Solar panels and home storage batteries are independent, i.e. you can have just panels, just batteries, or both together. You can charge the batteries from mains power (either as the sole source or to "top up" the solar power). Depending on your tariff, it might make sense to charge them overnight...

[hobnob]

I agree with malvolio that step 1 is to quantify your requirements. There are devices that you can plug into a socket to monitor how much electricity you're using, but hopefully you could also get specifications from the product manuals.

One alternative to a generator is home storage batteries....

[hobnob]

You might be thinking of this:
Changes to company registers - Changes to UK company law
Basically, there are some registers which no longer need to be available for inspection (e.g. a list of directors' home addresses). However, there are other registers which do still need to be available...

[hobnob]

Thanks, that's useful. Looking at the various options on their website, my only disappointment is that they don't offer a document storage option, so this wouldn't work as a SAIL address:
Statutory records (SAIL) - Contractor UK Bulletin Board
However, I can't do that with my accountants...