L
ocal issue 28
Nmagazine
etwork
JoJo Cocoa Crossword ‘Gym’ Facebook groups & what lurks The kick in your coffee Soda Bread Open Sesame! The Addictive Fitbit Pension Reform Garden View Drone Safety
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What’s inside
p4
Page 5 What is a dangerous dog?
p4
JoJo Cocoa
p9
p15 p17
p17
p25
Page 19 The man is not on the moon The Addictive Fitbit
23 TheReform heat is On! Page 7 Garden view - which Christmas tree?p19 PagePension Crossword p7 p13
The kick in your coffee
Viewdoes a carrier cost? p21 PageGarden 25 What ‘Gym’ Facebook groups & what lurks there! p23
p15
Open Sesame!
p25
Soda Bread & Orange Cake p9 Page 11 Cranberry
Page 15 Deck the Halls EVERYWHERE! Page 17 Crossword & Word Search
Page Keep Cyber Safe Drone Safety
Page 31 Pawley Malyon David Malyon - Tax Tips
Takeley Ironing & Dry Cleaning Services For all your domestic and commercial dry cleaning & laundry
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p2 | Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016
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I
have the best job in the world; I have never met a miserable person at one of my workshops and I seriously don’t think it will ever happen either. Chocolate tends to bring out the best in people; it’s a wonderful product to work with as you can be so creative. I love making what I call a ‘super button’ with Belgian chocolate - imagine two very generous spoonful’s of chocolate that you then shape to your heart’s desire. Then you simply add a range of edible goodies like white chocolate flakes, colourful sprinkles and desiccated coconut to bring your design to life. So what would you make? A circle? A square? I have seen starfish, minions, cats and cars in my time! I think one of my favourite things to make is the simple yet delicious truffle; everyone is amazed to learn that to make these gorgeous little balls of melt in the mouth goodies, you only need two ingredients. Dark chocolate plus double cream. Oh, and a little cocoa powder to dust them off with. Easy, simple and a really special homemade treat too. The best bit is that you can add booze to them, so you can impress your friends and family at Christmas/birthdays. People ask why I got into chocolate because (and this is true) I rarely eat it; I prefer cakes and biscuits if I am in a sweet snack mood. But good quality chocolate is packed with anti-oxidants and very good for you, so if I do fancy
Chocolate tends to bring out the best in people; it’s a wonderful product to work with as you can be so creative.
some, it’s dark Belgian choc’ and 55% for me. I was taught how to be a chocolate workshop teacher in 2010 and I ran workshops for four years in Brighton where I lived. This job fitted my lifestyle as I was a student at the time and I needed a fun part time role. Teaching people is my passion, I love seeing confidence growing, I love hearing people say “Oh I didn’t know it was so easy!” and I love it when I get feedback to say “thank you – you made it fun and we had a great time”. So that’s why I have the best job in the world, and it NEVER feels like work. Okay maybe when I have to tackle the washing up after a workshop it feels like work, but never before that! I know what I have achieved can be done by someone else. I moved to the city of Cambridge and knew just a handful of people - my sister and her family. In eighteen months I have started and built JoJo Cocoa to where it is today and this was part time just 10–15 hours a week. I now have a wonderful small business that is fun to do, that attracts lovely people and doesn’t feel like work. If you would like to chat about becoming a chocolatier and workshop teacher with me, please do get in touch.
ℹ
Head to: www.jojococoa.co.uk
p4 | Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016
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p6 | Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016
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Method u Preheat the oven to 200C / Gas mark 6. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the liquid slowly while mixing to make a dough. u Knead briefly, divide into two and shape into rough rounds. Pat to flatten until about 2-3 inches / 5-8 cm thick. Cut a deep cross in the top of the loaf (cut almost all the way through but not quite) and stab lightly all over. u Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Allow to cool on a wire rack for a few minutes and eat warm with butter. u Variations u Thinned yoghurt or half milk to water works instead of buttermilk if you don’t have any. u Experiment with flour mixtures. Spelt flour and rye flour make tasty additions. u Add a couple of large handfuls of dried fruit to the mix. Raisins and sultanas, or chopped dates work very well. u Try a half-and-half mixture of plain and wholemeal flour and add a spoon of black treacle to the mix. It makes a denser, sweeter soda bread which is great with cheese. u Or using half plain and half wholemeal flour, add a couple of handfuls of chopped walnuts and a couple of tablespoons of honey. u Try switching the buttermilk for beer (works best with wholemeal flour) u The variations are endless. Enjoy.
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I
The kick in your coffee
s the Western world addicted to coffee and caffeine? The short answer is YES! In the USA, 85 % of the population consume caffeine at least once each day, usually via coffee. This isn’t just adults - teenagers get their caffeine fix via fizzy drinks and toddlers via chocolate milkshakes. The USA isn’t the world’s biggest coffee consumer by far, in fact they only manage 16th place. The Netherlands drink the most and most of Scandinavia isn’t far behind (the UK ranks 37th). The USA generally leads the UK by 5 years in social trends. US hospital emergency rooms have reported a sharp increase in caffeine-induced episodes including some 3,000 incidents involving energy drinks. Worryingly, two thirds of those affected were teenagers. The US now officially recognises caffeine withdrawal as a mental health disorder. A recent survey compared the caffeine content of coffees for sale in Glasgow, Parma (Italy) and Pamplona (Spain). Scottish coffees ranged from 72mg of caffeine (Starbucks) to a massive 275mg in a local independent cafe, whereas Italian and Spanish versions had significantly lower maximum levels. This is important, as drinking a single cup could exceed the recommended daily limit for pregnant women (200mg in the UK). Farmed coffee
comes in two main species – Arabica and Robusta. Most blends contain a mix of the two, but expensive blends often boast of ‘100% Arabica’. This is because Robusta has a less refined taste, often described as ‘burnt tyres’ or ‘rubbery’. Robusta beans contain twice the caffeine of Arabica, increasing their bitterness. Caffeine deters bugs, which protects Robusta plants from insect attack. Robusta is also easier to grow, gives higher yields hence costs just over half the price of Arabica. However, coffee isn’t just comprised of caffeine, it also contains valuable antioxidants. Researchers from Seoul, South Korea found that people who drink 3-5 coffees a day are less likely to develop narrowed arteries and suffer a heart attack. In addition, a meta-study of 430,000 people suggested regular coffee consumption was linked to a 44% lower incidence of liver cirrhosis. We all know that coffee increases our mental alertness, but it also appears to have other psychological effects - a study by Harvard School of Public Health suggested drinking several coffees each day halves the risk of suicide. Coffee boosts your physical performance - a black coffee one hour before a workout will improve performance by 10%. And not just on the sports field – a University of Texas study showed that men who drank two coffees a day were 42% less likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction. Coffee really can keep you up all night!!
Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016 | p13
Farmed coffee comes in two main species – Arabica and Robusta. Most blends contain a mix of the two, but expensive blends often boast of ‘100% Arabica’.
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[ T y p e a q u o t e f r o m
06/04/2015 11:46
Open
Sesame! By Brenda Burling
N
owadays our lives are ruled by computers, laptops, mobile phones and hand held devices. These contain our emails, online shopping accounts, online banking and club memberships to name but a few. These things are supposed to add convenience to our lives - that is until we get to the password section. Now I like to think of myself as a relatively simple creature but when it comes passwords, depending on how hurried I am at the time, I have been known to come up with some absolute stonkers often mistyped in haste. I like to think I write all passwords down methodically in one place, clearly stating the application it pertains to - I do not. In reality I scribble them down on a couple of blank centimetres on anything from old receipts to partially used tissues and stuffed into my already overflowing handbag to be lost forever. For the important things like bank accounts etc. I like to stick to some sort of pattern. This would work if I weren’t constantly asked to change the password on an almost monthly basis. Couple this with the upper case, lower case, numerical, non-numerical, punctuation and non-punctuation mark requirements and to say things can become a tad frustrating is an understatement. Add to this the marker
Gone are the days of the ‘password’ password as favoured by the Boov in the film Home.
that goes from red, amber and to green to indicate how good in strength of detectability my chosen password is this can make me change my password which in turn means I can end up with six or seven discarded choices until I hit that green band and am assured my choice is secure as a Nasa take off sequence and I’m ready to proceed to shop safely at Sainsbury’s! I have to laugh at the warnings about not using birth dates, family names etc. Really? There is limited space available in my age addled, children destroyed brain as it is, just what am I supposed to use? My dog has four legs, two eyes and the moon is in the fourth quadrant!? Seriously? Things come to a head when there is a three attempt rule and my initial submission is declined. The family then run around trying to find where I might have written it down accompanied by the yelling out of variations on what I am convinced is the correct password and the computer has it wrong not me, all delivered with a generous dash of colourful language and the promise to live ‘off grid’. Gone are the days of the ‘password’ password as favoured by the Boov in the film Home. Along with it, guiltily are many personal abandoned emails, shopping and mail order accounts that I can no longer access. Clearly the password rules; I do not.
Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016 | p15
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p16 | Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016
The By Kate Duggan
Addictive Fitbit
W
Feel like you’re getting your full eight hours of sleep, but still feel tired? You might want to opt for One or Flex, which track your sleep as well as your activity.
ant to make sure you’re completing your 10,000 steps a day, or looking to improve your training? An activity tracker can help. The Fitbit is probably the best known brand on the market, with several models to choose from. The entry level Zip, at around £50, tracks your steps, distance walked and calories burned. “So it’s a fancy pedometer then?” I hear you ask. Well, yes, basically, but it’s more responsive and you can sync it to your computer or smartphone to see your activity presented as a graph. This makes it much easier to monitor your activity levels over time and track you progress. The Zip also acts as a watch, and there are various other extras, such as the ability to log your food intake. Feel like you’re getting your full eight hours of sleep, but still feel tired? You might want to opt for One or Flex, which track your sleep as well as your activity. They also have silent alarms, to wake you up, but not your partner. One clips onto your clothing, while Flex is worn like a watch. There are some differences in what they offer – Flex doesn’t have a clock, for example. Charge is similar to Flex, in that you wear it like a watch, but it comes with some added extras, such as a clock. If your phone is nearby and it rings, the caller ID will come up on the charge
display. It also has a better battery life, of up to 10 days. Charge HR is designed for people who work out regularly, as it can recognise different exercises, and has an automatic heart-rate monitor to help maximise your training. Top of the range is Surge, at around £200. It’s been designed for people who are really serious about their sports performance, and want to monitor every aspect of their training. For instance, you can track the route you’re running using GPS. You can also control music and read texts that come through to your smartphone. So which one to go for? Well Zip is a great choice if you just want to check whether you’re walking those recommended 10,000 steps a day. If you cycle, run, or enjoy another sport, you’ll want to opt for a more advanced model. Now, a warning! It is possible to get ever so slightly obsessed with the Fitbit. You can easily find yourself checking it hundreds of times a day, which can distract you from real life, and you can find yourself pushing ever harder, unnecessarily. On the positive side, it does encourage you to increase your activity levels and build up your fitness. Like so much in life, the key is moderation.
ℹ
Tempted? Head to: www.fitbit.com
Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016 | p17
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p18 | Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016
Pension Reform
R
ecent changes to pension legislation gives millions of pension savers freedom to cash in their pensions and avoid buying an annuity. These changes mean that pensions could become like bank or building society accounts. Is this a good thing?
What is the main change? Savers have always had the freedom to take 25% of their pension in a tax-free lump sum, but have then generally been herded into buying an annuity with all of the rest of the money. As of April 2015, savers over the age of 55 have the option of taking all of their pension pot as a lump sum, with a portion of it potentially subject to tax.
I have £40,000 in pension savings. What does it mean for me? It is possible to draw the money down over a few years. A £40,000 pension pot is actually about average for those people in the UK who have ‘defined contribution’ schemes. If you take the lot immediately on retirement, and have no other income, then you would receive a £10,000 taxfree lump sum and then be liable for tax on the remaining £30,000. One option would be to take it at £10,000 a year over four years, then each year you’d get a tax-free lump sum of £2,500, while the remaining £7,500 will be liable for tax. Given that the personal allowance is £10,000, that would suggest you’d be getting your hands on the cash entirely tax free assuming no other income. HMRC will also be including your state pension in the calculation. If you are drawing that as well (and you don’t have to, you can defer it for a number of years) then that income will be added into the tax equation.
Can I effectively use my pension as a bank account? Yes. The money you have saved will sit in a pension pot for you to access whenever you want from age 55, subject to your marginal tax rate. The costs of
doing so will be quite high, so there are likely to be charges to pay.
Do I have to retire to take the money? No. You can be 55 years old and working, receiving a salary and be allowed access to your pension. So if, for example, you have a small DC pension pot from a former employer and you want the money, you can take it as a single lump sum or draw it down over several years, even if you are in work and paying into your company’s pension scheme. The same rules apply; 25% of each drawdown will be tax free, with the rest liable for tax at your marginal rate. So if you are earning £50,000 a year, then it’s not that great, as each bit of money will be taxed at 40%, but if you are, say, working part-time, and pay 20% tax, then it could be a useful boost to your income.
I’m 55. Will I be able to pay into a pension then draw it out straightaway? Yes and no. Financial advisers, and the tax authorities, are alert to the possibilities of ‘salary washing’ that the new rules offer. For example, someone aged 55 or above could use their ‘additional voluntary contribution’ scheme at work to maximise their payments into their pension – and then draw it down a year later, with 25% of it tax free. New rules are expected to limit, but not altogether wipe out, the possibility of doing this.
What’s the best legal way to take advantage of these reforms? Withdraw the money slowly so that you minimise the tax paid, and then park the money you have taken out into a tax-free ISA. Everyone has a £15,240 ISA tax-free allowance, so a husband and wife could shelter £30,480 of the money taken out of a pension into an ISA, ensuring that when they want to draw it down later there won’t be income tax to pay. It would be highly recommended that you seek advice before making any decisions in regards to your pension as there are long term effects on your income if you take all the money immediately.
Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016 | p19
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Well it’s supposed to on March 20th!
D
igging is really only something I do with ground that is being cultivated for the first time. Mostly I use a fork and work in fertiliser as I go along. I like to use an organic fertiliser and tend to go for poultry manure pellets. I sprinkle them round shrubs, roses and perennials. The application instructions will vary but generally it’s about three handfuls to the square metre. It’s magical stuff when lightly forked in. It gives the plants a boost and builds up the levels of beneficial soil bacteria. Now is the time I dig up my overcrowded border plants and split them into smaller clumps. These can be used to plug the gaps elsewhere in my garden, or given to friends to help plug the gaps in theirs! Make sure you use a bit of fertiliser and water them in if the ground is dry. I spread a good 3 inch / 8cm layer of mulch around my border, between the plants. Choose from wellrotted manure or garden compost, chipped bark or cocoa shells. This seals in moisture and keeps the weeds down, essential at this time of year when they start growing like...well...weeds! If you haven’t already done so give your roses a prune taking care to remove any dead or diseased stems completely.
How to…
Check to shrub is suitable for the site. Dig a hole that is larger than the rootball. Work well-rotted garden-compost or planting mixture into the bottom of the hole and mix it with the soil you removed when you dug the hole. Plant the shrub so that the top of the rootball is just fractionally below the finished soil level. Firm the earth around with your boot. Water the plant in and spread an organic mulch on top.
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I
&
, like most exercise professionals, am a member of a lot of Facebook groups that concentrate on the gym and exercise, or I was. I originally joined these groups in order to broaden my knowledge of exercise techniques and pick up tips from other like-minded trainers and PT’s; this is most definitely not what most of these groups contain. Until I joined these groups, I wasn’t aware of the terms cycle, test, dbol, pharma, clen, tren - the list is endless and all of these are terms relating to illegal anabolic steroids! Some of these groups openly buy and sell these compounds online and blatantly put up pictures of the latest drugs that they have procured and ask what effect they have had on their users. Facebook are aware of this and apparently it doesn’t breach their community guidelines, although I fail to see how! I am very much against steroids and have seen some of the ill effects that they can have on people so when someone posted a ‘before and after’ picture on one of these groups, I could not believe the questions, such as “What did you use mate?” “Where are you in your cycle?” etc. I was even more surprised to the reaction I received when I asked if anyone makes these ‘gains’ naturally and if the trainer felt any less sense of achievement because he had effectively cheated? I thought it was a fair question, however I was met with a torrent of abuse, name calling and ridicule; how I dare I suggest that illegal drugs are harmful!! Even if the NHS name some of the side effects as high blood pressure, heart attack, reduced sperm count, baldness, increased risk of prostate cancer, severe acne and that’s just for men - women who use them can look forward to facial hair, deepened voice, hair loss, loss of breasts, period and fertility problems and also severe acne. I think the irony that most of these have a detrimental effect on your appearance is
what lurks there!
probably lost on these ‘roiders’ (particularly the ‘lady’ who called me a very offensive four letter word, but I assume she would have said it with a very deep voice!). I have to say that after this experience, I don’t have a great deal of sympathy for the steroid users on this group but it does open up a bigger issue for me and society as a whole. These groups are open to all age groups and have very few filters, in fact a lot of the admins for these pages are steroid users themselves. Any child can join these groups and be easily fooled into thinking that the only way to get ‘ripped’ or look good is to take steroids. As a parent of a 14 year old boy, I am always concerned that there are not many places that children can go these days that promote healthy living, apart from gyms and sports clubs. If these places are becoming populated by drug dealers then where is left? Surely apart from the fact that exercise can improve your outward appearance and the fact that it generally improves your sense of well-being is one of the great things about it. This must be missing if you make the progress by cheating with illegal drugs? It is a great source of personal pride for me that I lost 4 stone after deciding to become a personal trainer; I don’t think I could look myself in the mirror if I knew that I had used illegal methods to do this and I very much resent the fact that there is bullying on these sites for people who choose the natural, healthy method. The quick results that steroids can give you are obviously an incentive to some but trust me they don’t replace the great feeling of achieving your goals the right, legal way. If you notice that your child is a member of groups such as ‘Mass Attack’, ‘Gym Motivation and Banter’ or ‘Generation Iron’ they may outwardly appear to be concerned with health and fitness, but I can assure you that that is very far from the truth.
Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016 | p23
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p24 | Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016
Drone Safety D
id you buy your son or daughter a drone for Christmas? Do you check that they fly it responsibly and know what the dangers are? The UK Air Proximity Board (UKAB) investigates ‘near-miss’ aircraft incidents. At 5pm on September 13th 2015 a drone flew within 5 metres of a Boeing 737 climbing away from Stansted. The incident happened 1,225 metres above the ground and the drone measured 2 metres long - more than big enough to smash a hole in the aircraft’s fuselage. The UKAB’s December report detailed another six ‘category A’ incidents – regarded as indicating a serious risk of collision. On September 22nd a drone narrowly missed the wing of a Boeing 777 as it took off from Heathrow Airport. This happened at 600 metres, more than double the permitted altitude for most drones. 800 UK companies are registered with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for commercial drone use. Most, but not all, use them for aerial photography and surveys. Drones can have other less obvious uses such as ‘Angels Away’ who offer a service to scatter your deceased relative’s ashes from on high. Commercial drones can weigh 7kg+ and if they malfunction and fall from a height the results could be catastrophic. Champion downhill skier Marcel Hirscher had a narrow escape at a slalom event in Italy when a drone filming the event crashed from the sky just behind him. In the US, a woman was knocked unconscious by a drone weighing just 0.9kg. The largest recreational drone manufacturer in the world is Chinese producer ‘DJI’ with an 80% market share. Its latest models incorporate safety features such as automatic return to base when the batteries have only 10% charge remaining, or
inbuilt GPS to prevent the drone flying into restricted airspace. Unfortunately, technically advanced users can override the features. In October 2014, an already tense football match between Serbia and Albania turned into a brawl after a drone carrying an Albanian flag hovered above the pitch. CAA regulations (CAP 722) state that amateur camera-equipped drones need special permission to fly closer than 150 metres to a congested area, closer than 150 metres to an organised open-air group of more than 1,000 people and/or closer than 50 metres of any person, car or building. Irrespective of whether the drone has a camera or not, it must be in sight at all times and flown no higher than 122m or further than 500m horizontally from the operator. The CAA has prosecuted two drone pilots, one for flying over Alton Towers and the other a nuclear submarine facility. There is also a question of privacy. The UK CCTV code of practice was recently updated to include drone-mounted cameras, and images taken without the consent of the individual could contravene the Data Protection Act. America has taken action; the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) now requires all drones weighing 250g - 25kg to be registered and labelled, identifying the owner. It is also testing technology designed to locate the operators of small drones that fly illegally near airports, tracking the radio control signals to identify the operator’s location.
ℹ
This article is not intended to offer legal advice and users should seek authoritative guidance from the CAA or police before any drone use.
Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016 | p25
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p26 | Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016
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By Equestrian Embroidery Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016 | p29
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No.2 Stable, Netherhall Farm, Essex CM5 0JA | Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016 Telephone: 01920 p30 823096 www.liberty-wills.co.uk
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T
he 2015 Budget announced several changes will start to impact on landlords with buy-to-let properties from the start of the new tax year on 6 April 2016. Up until now landlords with fully furnished properties have been able to claim a wear and tear allowance, which was effectively 10% of their gross rent less any rates costs, for replacing furnishings regardless of the amount they had spent during the year. From 2016/17 the wear and tear allowance is being replaced and in future landlords will only be able to obtain tax relief for the amounts that they have actually spent during the tax year replacing furnishings. This relief for actual expenditure will however be available for all landlords letting residential dwellings regardless of the level of furnishings provided. Also from 1 April 2016, there will be an additional 3% Stamp Duty charge over and above the usual band charge when purchasing a property for rental or 2nd home. Landlords also now have Right to Rent obligations to meet where they must ensure that any prospective tenant over the age of 18 wishing to let one of their properties has the right to remain in the UK, report any suspicions to the Home Office and also take copies of documents such as a passport and driving licence for any new tenants. Failure to do so could lead to the landlord being fined up to £3,000. Potentially the biggest change for many landlords will be the changes to Mortgage Interest Relief being phased in from April 2017. At present landlords can deduct the full cost of mortgage interest relating to their rental property when calculating their rental profits. As rental income is taxed at the taxpayer’s top income tax rate for the tax year, this means that currently Higher Rate and Top Rate taxpayers are able to obtain tax relief of 40% and 45% respectively on the total mortgage interest costs of the rental property. There will be a move, phased in over 3 years from 2017/18, to restrict the amount of mortgage interest relief to the basic rate of tax 20%, so this will increase the amount of taxable profit many landlords will make in future. Companies will still be able to obtain full tax relief on mortgage interest and so this may be an attractive route for some landlords for new acquisitions, bearing in mind taxation on gains and on extracting money from the company to the owners / shareholders. If a rental property is already owned personally then Capital Gains Tax would arise if you now wished to transfer this into a limited company, so in many cases this would be prohibitive. Every case will be different so as always we would recommend that you take professional advice.
Next month – Tax Year End
Local Network Magazine Issue 27 2016 | p31
p32 | Local Network Magazine Issue 28 2016