The Rich According to the Guardian

[Judy1234]

www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/aug/04/workandcareers.executivesalaries

Scrap metal!?! What era are you living in?

scrap metal very lucrative at the moment

Xenia obviously knows the thieving little so-and-sos who nicked all the copper wire from the telecoms junction box near ds's school the other week. Phones in those streets were off for a fortnight, I think.

Bet that lot don't pay any taxes, either...

xenia, do you get a kick out of pissing people off??? genuine question.....
i find you extraordinary.
you really want to wake up and smell the coffee or should that be the cheapo chicory blend, that most poor people buy

She'll be telling us there's copper on Church roofs next.

We don't write articles, babysit, take in ironing, go door to door for scrap metal because we both work bloody hard enough as it is.

It is naive to think you can make money from writing articles just like that. I do some freelance journalism and I can tell you that most unsolicited pieces go in the bin. I'm not saying it's right, but suggesting people write articles to make money is highly impractical.

coco - agree! I'd love a few extra hours in the day to supplement the full time incomes we both have to earn!

"We look after people. They don't starve"

Erm, yes they do.
There are lots and lots of families out there struggling to get buy, lots of pensions who struggle, low income families who have to choose between putting the heating on for a little while or feeding their children.

Council tax, on the rise. Gas and Electric bills on the rise. Food costs on the rise. And, I imagine, possibly more people dying of the cold or lack of nutrition as we get into the colder months

Britain DOES NOT look after its vulnerable. Certain people will ALWAYS coming out smelling of roses and they are not the poor or elderly, so IMVO(and pissed off)O, we DO NOT look after people.

(Sorry, I'm ranting, Ignore me)

Some of those ideas will be good for some people. I know quite ab it about scrap metal. It's how the man who owned Newcastle united made his money (my mother knew him) and it is a very interesting current issue (remembering the people who stole parts of our trampoline here and my recent research).... then I was at my father's house demolishing a stair lift (lots of metal in there) single handed - you dont' get muscles like this from a gym.... and a man rang on the bell 0 he wanted scrap out of the skip I'd filled that morning - I brought him into the house and we spent 3 hours demolishing the chair lift and talking about the metals market. Go forth and gather it up. Now is the time for metals - look at the mittals. Lots of money in metals.

I love Polly Toynbee. She's so funny. She is carrying so much guilt about her highly privileged background that she can hardly see straight.

Which public school was it that she sent her kids to again?

Xenia you have inspired me! I am now going to wander around my house eyeing up everything made of metal!

I believe it's called pulling the drawbridge up behind you, smallwhitecat

According to our plumber, it's definitely worth collecting scrap metal, but be selective. Copper is worth most, followed by lead, followed by everything else. All the old pipework and ducting we ripped out of our house disappeared within a few hours, as did the old gas fires. Random bits of miscellaneous metal are the province of old guys who just need the price of their next drink. A year's worth of plumbing offcuts of copper pipe can be worth several hundred quid.

Apparently prices at scrap yards drop around Christmas though, as that's when all the builders cash in the scrap they've been saving up all year. So maybe get in now, or wait till January.

And yes, it was a long trip in the van to the plumbing supply shop.

Are you lot serious? Should I advertise my bits of metal on Freecycle, then?

AFter watching the two recent documentaries - one about orphans in south Africa and one about the man with tumours in China - I believe that Britain does look after people.

I know these things are all relative but our system is pretty good.