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I know so many former muckers that are institutionalised and have struggled to establish themselves in civvy street. The common thing you see is depression and alcohol and seems to be prevalent in those that did more than 12 years. After 22 years a lot have battled their way up the promotion ladder, used to eating in the Sergeants Mess, enjoy the respect and benefits that goes with it, subsided married quarters, and they are somebody.

Then they do their resettlement course which the most popular seemed to be for most trades back in '99 was a HGV license. Then they land in civvy street as an inexperienced but older truck driver working on minimum wage, or bouncing around from low paid job to low paid job, with no respect or perks of their former lives. But at least they have a military pension to fall back on if they did 22 years.

For those that got culled during their service as part of the governments draw down then the situation was worse, a lot didn't want to leave. When I saw it back in the mid 90's, there was no logic or fairness to how people got made redundant. There were guys serving in Bosnia who were told they would be jobless when they got back, and young lads with no rank got a minimal payout, and no pension rights.

Unfortunately between conflicts the popularity and image of the military fades from public view, it's natural, the world moves on. Which is something that has been the same since Nelsons day, when ships got laid up and crews dumped on the docks to fend for themselves.

We've moved on since then, but looks like we still got some way to go.

One common theme for ex forces is the feeling of being on the outside, it takes a long time to accept you are a civilian. Plenty never do. Ex forces can normally spot each other pretty quickly normally from a comment derived from service slang, to mannerisms, even work ethic.

I think this is where social media has actually played a really important role, and why ex forces groups are so popular. It's a place to talk the same language with people who understand exactly what you are talking about, even though you may have never met or your service careers were decades apart. 

Maybe more publicity or emphasise should be given about social media communities for those leaving the forces, or those who are suffering from depression etc. Or maybe they already do? 

Officially anything after the dot isn't classed as a keyword. The domain extension (.co.uk .com .name .travel) is generic.

The official Google list of these is here: Generic Top Level Domains 

But the article is out of date and hasn't factored in the splurge of recent new domains. I can't see why Google would change it's practice so .london would be seen as a generic or regional top level domain, rather than a keyword.

But obviously Google has been known to do a few U turns over the last few years 

Nominet, the UK Domain Registrar announced that new .uk domain became available from the 10th June 2014.

The idea is that this is a new short fill domain to use instead of .co.uk for any UK based businesses. 

Nominet actually reserved over 10 million of the new domain names, and if you have a .co.uk web address registered before the 10th June, then you will automatically have the rights to the .uk version until 10th June 2019.

At least it means no one can cyber squat your business name if you are trading under a .co.uk and you have plenty of time to think about it before registering the new domain.

I personally don't get it, what was wrong with .co.uk? Everyone recognises it and understands it, or doesn't it matter?

I can't see us moving over, but no doubt we will end up registering the .uk eventually just to protect it

If you want to see if there are any owner rights to a new .uk domain, you can check with the Rights Look Up Tool

Has anyone moved over to the new domain or have plans to move over? Have you spotted many .uk websites?

Had an issue yesterday with configuring some new local email mail boxes and trying to work out the permissions (email really isn't my thing ). But we outsource our email to a company called cobweb who we've been with now for donkeys years.

They are very good, cost is peanuts and the support is excellent which is critical in this modern age and they soon had me untangled and up and running

Anyone else care to sing the praise of a non related business?

After the flag comes down in Afghanistan, the news this morning is all about the flawed care for Military veterans. 

"The government is failing to abide by its military covenant, medical experts who treat injured soldiers have said.

Leading professors in psychology and orthopaedics say the healthcare system is not providing veterans with the service they have been promised.

The Armed Forces Covenant, described as a duty of care to the armed forces, states veterans should be "sustained and rewarded" .

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said it was "fully committed" to the covenant."

BBC News

The government needs to get a clear handle on this one. As well as morally and ethically wrong, this sort of thing will be a vote loser. 

Here's a new scam that's been flagged by Financial Fraud Action UK

Public warned of new ‘number spoofing’ scam

Criminals are using a new scam to make the people they are phoning believe they are speaking to a trusted organisation – like a bank – by fooling their phones into displaying any number the fraudster chooses.

The scam, known as ‘number spoofing’, works by fraudsters cloning the telephone number of the organisation they want to impersonate and then making it appear on the victim’s caller ID display when they telephone them.

The criminal will then gain the person’s trust by drawing their attention to the number, claiming that this is proof of their identity, before trying to defraud them.

This scam comes as a new variation on a type of telephone fraud, where fraudsters call people and pose as bank staff, police officers or other trusted organisations to persuade their victim to part with financial and personal details – often on the pretence that fraud has been detected on their account.

Once criminals have their victim’s confidence they will try to extract information such as the victim’s PIN, online passwords or other sensitive information which will then be used to steal from their bank account. Alternatively, some criminals will trick victims in to sending money to other accounts or to hand over cash or cards to a courier for ‘safe-keeping’.

Financial Fraud Action UK’s (FFA UK) intelligence unit – the Financial Fraud Bureau – has reported
that the scam has become increasingly common in recent weeks. Whilst the technology needed to
spoof someone’s number has existed for years, only recently have criminals begun using it to defraud people.

The advice to beat the scam is simple – never assume that someone is who they say they are just because their number matches that of an organisation you know. In fact, if someone tries to draw your attention to the number on your caller ID display, you should immediately become suspicious.

Similarly, you should be suspicious if you’re asked for your four digit PIN, your full online banking passwords, to transfer or withdraw money, or to give your card to a courier. Your bank or the police will never ask you to do any of these things.

Commenting, Craig Jones, spokesperson for FFA UK said:

“Number spoofing is becoming increasingly common and it’s not difficult for the criminals to fake a caller ID. So if a number appears on your phone’s caller ID display, you shouldn't assume you know where the call is being made from. Remember that if a caller is trying to draw your attention to the number on your phone display, it’s very unlikely the call is genuine as there is no legitimate reason to point it out.”

Personally I think it's common sense, never trust anyone who is phoning you unless you recognise them and never give out a PIN or password. In the same way that you should never agree to or buy anything from an initial cold call. But it seems plenty of people still keep get caught out

Originally Posted by Barney

“I'd try this company this must be the best card ever..........haha”

Good find, can use that again this year

So Lloyds is to shed more jobs, a further 9000 and 150 branch closures.

According to the Beeb: The bank said it would concentrate on urban branch closures first and has abandoned its pledge to keep open "the last branch in town".

Don't make any promises you can't keep Lloyds!

With the changing High Street, and we've said it here a few times, who goes into their local branch these days when you can do 99% of business and personal banking online?

I guess it's invetiable and we will see other Banks closing Branches over the coming years.

I wouldn't want to see American Presidential style security with loads of ear piece toting dark glasses wearing gorillas. Our understated approach keeps us all British. 

Plus looking at it, there didn't seem to be any real risk, although no doubt they've all been fired and if you pop over to the tower you might see their heads on spikes

"adjustments" is another favourite one used by politicians