The majority of commercial channels have both subscription arrangements and adverts. Those in the UK that only have adverts either survive on relatively small budgets or benefit from universal availability like ITV and C4, but even ITV isn't so profitable anymore and commercial channels would suffer...

Sorry, are you actually suggesting that NOT using cash makes transactions cheaper or safer? :roll: There are certainly sources that say yes; although also others that dispute that. It's not always clear which costs are being considered or disregarded and studies are often many years old or publishe...

Do the majority of parents still give pocket money to their children in cash? I imagine so, while presumably some kind of pre-paid card or smartphone e-cash might provide an alternative.

UK supply chain faces collapse in “two to three weeks”, RHA warns government Published 1 week ago: https://motortransport.co.uk/blog/2021/07/27/uk-supply-chain-faces-collapse-in-two-to-three-weeks-rha-warns-government/ There's an extract that can be read without paywall/registration here: https://t...

If someone was going to do that for pocket money then Visa or MasterCard would obviously be good choices, so they're easy to spend. Selecting a reloadable card would pretty much eliminate the kind of 'breakage' that you mention, however fees could be an issue.

...... or they could use some form of token to pay for the meal, maybe some metal discs or something. The problem would be agreeing the value ...... but perhaps some mutually acceptable paper documents could be designed........ :eh: Whooa, steady on... that system sounds cumbersome and costly. Not ...

Yes, batteries need to be disposed of properly - take them to a collection point. Everyone should know this by now. The packaging on battery packs and appliances has carried warnings and advice for decades now; unfortunately many people just don't care.

Word of the day from Susie Dent today:

Hurkle-durkling: 19th-century Scots for lounging in bed long after it’s time to get up.

https://twitter.com/susie_dent/status/1 ... 02979?s=20

There are usually collection points for standard household batteries in major supermarkets, as well as some workplaces and public buildings. However, many stopped operating through the pandemic; hopefully they'll return when possible.

Word of the day from Susie Dent today:

Word of the day is ‘malverse’ (17th century): to act corruptly in a position of trust.

https://twitter.com/susie_dent/status/1 ... 50709?s=20