Lady G-force

I need some help here. This is in the UK. We are about to hire scaffolding for some chimney work that a client has asked us to do. We would be using a scaffolding company that we have used before and have not had any problems with. However, the scaffolding company said that they cannot cover any accidental damage to the roof (to the structure or tiles) but our client has said that they will only go ahead if the roof is covered by insurance for accidental damage.

So, I am trying to work out who should be responsible for any damage and whether the scaffolding company can really avoid being responsible. I should say that the scaffolding company have my sympathy - I trust they will take care, but I know tiles can easily get damaged when they erect the scaffolding as they will be walking on the roof, and it is not easy for them to cover such damage as they then put themself in the situation of the client perhaps trying to claim pre-existing damage and the insurance cost goes up a lot etc. So, I understand why they say this. But I need to sort this out.

What is the legal situation? If the roof is damaged by the scaffolding company, can they really avoid liability just by saying at the outset they will not be liable? The scaffolding company actually have Public Liability insurance that covers damage to property caused in the course of their business, so I am wondering what that is for, if it is not for occasions such as this. Their insurance has an excess of £2,500 so maybe tile damage would anyway not normally be costly enough to be covered by the insurance.

Anyway, does the law not make the person who caused the damage liable, whatever they have said at the outset,and whether they have insurance or not?

Also, my client is checking if their insurance company will cover it, but surely even if they would, would they not then claim on the scaffolding company's insurance (via ours ... )?

Basically, can the scaffolding company really say they would not be liable?

I watched one of the old "Life on Earth" David Attenborough fillms on BBC iplayer last night, Rise of the Mammals. Very good. One interesting thing was that Attenborough mentioned that there is scant fossil evidence of the monotremes (most primitive type of mammal) in the fossil record. This film was made about 35 years ago. So I'm wondering have any fossil monotremes been found since, and where were they found?

Nowadays, monotremes are only found in Australia (or Australasia), which split off from the Antarctica/South America supercontinent about 45 million years ago, indicating that the monotremes evolved before this date. Does the date and /or location of fossil monotremes still support this theory that they evolved so many millions of years ago? Thanks for your answers.

I am doing our tax return (deadline today). I'm not sure how to deal with our car purchases/sales, which were mainly used for business. During the year, we sold our Audi for £100 scrap (it had a written down value brought forward from previous year of £280, so we made a loss in that sense), then we bought a Toyota for £450 but then it was in an accident and we received a £1,000 payout, and then we bought a Mitsubishi for £400 which we still have.

Do I count the costs of buying the cars as expenses and the income from scrapping the Audi and Toyota as an expenses credit (or as income or Capital Gain/Loss, not sure how to deal with that)?

We also sold a van for £380 scrap (having bought it the year before for £800), so how do I deal with that? I believe vans and cars are treated separately in the Return (van is part of Annual Investment Allowance but car is part of Writing Down Allowances). How to I treat the income from scrapping the van, as expenses credit or Capital Gain or ignore as it was part of AIA?

Please help me with my Tax Return. During the tax year, we bought a car for £450 but after a few weeks it was damaged and written off in an accident and we received a £1,000 insurance payout. As the car was mainly used for business, do I class the business portion of this money (90% ie. £900) as business income or Capital Gains or as an expenses credit or ignore it?

We used the £1,000 payout to pay for a new car and the insurance. What figures do I write where? (We had no other Capital Gains that I am aware of.) Thank you.

I am confused about this. On the one hand we are always told that when the Europeans invaded the Americas, their diseases wiped out most of the indigenous population, destroying local major civilisations and killing tens of millions of people. So, this theory implies that most Latin American 'blood' is of South European (Spanish/Portuguese) origin. However, that is clearly not true as they obviously have a lot of indigenous blood. (And they are often called hispanics to refer to their mixed origin, not simply latinos which refers to the latin languages.) Mexicans are clearly a mix of indigenous and European blood, Chileans and Bolivians appear to have a majority of local blood and only a small amount of European blood. So, is the general explanation wrong that most of the locals were killed? What are the rough proportions for the contribution of European and indigenous blood in Latin America, then? I realise it will vary from country to country. Thanks.

Having just had renewal declined by our old insurance company, I am confused about how to proceed and get new insurance without risking getting refused again several times and then reducing my chances further! Can I try an on-line comparison site, or is that no point? Part of the problem is that I don't know what counts as refusal. Any advice would be appreciated.

We run our own business and are trying to get a new insurance policy (for public & liability insurance) . Our old insurance company said they would not be offering renewal to us (due to a small claim during the three years we were with them, as our ex-employee cut his hand and claimed, but we couldn't provide a written risk assessment for using a Stanley knife etc.!). Now, we didn't want a renewal from them as they don't cover what we now need, so we were anyway looking for a new insurance company. However, now that we have been refused once, it may be difficult to get a new company as they all ask if you have been refused, and then many refuse to offer quotes if you have been refused. So, if I fill in an on-line comparison site and don't get quoted by most companies does that count as being refused again and now by several companies?! If so, I can't risk trying an on-line site ... Also, do the insurance companies keep a common database of who has refused who, so will they find out of another company did not quote over the internet/through a comparison site?

Or, as I hope, is 'refusal' ONLY referring to a personal refusal by a company, not a generic one simply because they don't deal in our circumstances (eg. having been refused before).

I have read that bacon in the USA is mostly streaky bacon (ie. pork belly). That surprised me at first. Is this true? Back bacon (ie. pork loin, from the pig's back) is the normal bacon in the UK and totally delicous. Streaky bacon is also good but much more fatty and considered 'cheaper' than proper back bacon. Do Americans know about back bacon and just choose not to buy it? Are there any trends towards back bacon in the US ? ;)

I am self-employed and work from home. I wish to claim some of my home bills as expenses. I have read the HMRC notes and they say you can claim a proportion of your bills, based on the area of your home that you work in and also the proportion of your time that you are working. So, can someone advise me on what is normal. If, say, I was working 30hrs a week in one room that comprised a quarter of the house area, what proportion of the bills can I claim? For the time element, is it 30 hours out of a total of 7 x 24 hours? Or 30 out of a total of all waking hours? Thanks for your help.

I know that most of the charged particles that reach the earth a day or two after a solar flare are deflected by the earth's magnetic field. However, I'm interested in the electro-magnetic radiation that is given off by the flares and reaches the earth at the speed of light. How much of this is deflected? How much reaches us? Does anyone know? Also, what type of radiation is it exactly - X-rays and gamma rays, anything else? Thank you.

(I've had a few sudden random strong headaches and nausea over the last few weeks and I've just found out that they have all occurred exactly when a solar flare occurred, so I'm wondering how/if I am beng affected. I know most of you probably won't believe in any such link, but I'm interested in information and evidence, not beliefs thank you!)

I've started monitoring the occurence of solar flares (http://www.tesis.lebedev.ru/en/sun_flares.html) and noticed that all the ones I've seen have occurred in the morning. I didn't expect this. Okay, I have only been looking for a couple of weeks which is hardly anything, but it's starting to seem like a pattern. Just chance? I then read that solar flares peak around May and September. Again, I wouldn't have expected this, as surely the sun's activity is not related to the earth's orbit, is it?

So, does anyone know if solar flares do happen mostly in the morning, and peak around May and September. If so, why?

I have just been reading about spinach and how it is the most nutrient dense vegetable (most vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients per calories of any vegetable). It's really good for fighting cancer, promoting eye health, bone strength, digestive tract health, fighting the loss of co-ordination and mental ability with aging, etc. etc. It also tastes good and is fast to prepare, so I am thinking of eating more of this veggie (eg. spinach & bacon salads, eggs Florentine etc.).

Now that you know, does that make you tempted to eat more? :)

Stalactities build up slowly by small deposits of calcite (I think) that are left behind each time a drip falls from the stalactite. Can anyone give me an idea of roughly how molecules are left behind with each drip?

Also, I'm wondering why is it deposited - if it was dissolved in the water, why does it now come out of solution just because the stalactite is dripping? It can't be evaporation, as there is always dripping water...?

The name Palestine and Philistine sounds similar and they live(d) in the same region, so could they be the same people ? Current history says that the ancient Hebrews (who lived in the hill country) hired themselves out as mercenary soldiers to the Philistines, who were the people living in the lowlands. Then at some point, they instead fought the Philistines and took over their cities. This was the foundation of the Hebrew kingdom apparently.

Ancient history and archeology are fascinating subjects. So why, apart from regular questions on the Romans, are there so few questions on these subjects? It doesn't help that there is no specific YA! section for these subjects, but surely there should be more questions??

I have watched the fascinating TV series by David Rohl that argues for a New Chronology for ancient Egypt that brings forward the dates by 300 years. It is based on his books, such as A Test of Time. He makes a very convincing case that that the accepted chronology was mistaken and that his 'new' chronology fits the evidence (archeological and other) much better. His proposals were not at all welcomed by the academic establishment when they were first presented over 15 years ago (a development of ideas of earlier thinkers). Has there been any progress in revising the official chronology since ?

Of most interest is that his New Chronology gives a firm historical basis for the Old Testament (the traditional history of the Hebrews), and also means that Homer wrote his epics soon after the events that he wrote about, not hundreds of years later.

You can watch the series on this link:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/pharaohs-and-ki...

After the earthquake in Japan (11 March), tsunami warnings were issued across the Pacific Ocean, including the Philippines, Taiwan, and Russia. But did it actually reach these countries? Have there been any reports? Countries as far away as Indonesia, Australia, Chile and New Zealand were issued tsunami warnings. To the east of the Pacific Ocean, the entire West Coast of the United States and Canada were also given tsunami warnings. However, there then seemed to be no more news, except reports of small increases in the waves like 60cm or so. This seems strange. Have we missed the reports or did it not happen? If not, why?

(Some people are arguing that there is now military technology that can cause earthquakes and that the fact that the tsunami did not reach other countries indicates that this one was artifically caused. I'm wondering if it is correct that the tsunami did not reach the other countries. And if so, is there is another explanation.)

Hi, now with internet access to bank accounts in the UK, it is free and easy to pay other people even if they are with another bank. Can we also pay someone with a foreign bank account directly without a charge? Can someone in another country pay to my bank account over the internet without charges? Do the high street banks accounts offer this service (we are with NatWest and Barclays). Or, is there another bank we could open an account with to do this? Thanks. (Obviously, I'm aware of Western Union, but I don't want to go through another company, pay the charges, fill in forms each time ...)

Hello,

My partner set up a renovation company and although still small and growing, we are hardly making any money (only just enough to support ourselves, but not yet enough to pay income tax on the turnover which will be due soon and is stressing us). However, as we now have two people working for us, we are going to go over the VAT registration threshold in a couple of months. This is pretty scary. Are there reasonable and legitimate ways we can avoid this? For example, we have one main client at the moment who wants us to do lots of projects over the next few months. Could we ask him to set up a bank account and we then administrate the account or ask him to do payments, so he/we pay for the materials and two workers from his account, ie. we are then just providing the service of organising everything and doing our work in return for our own wages, without all the costs of the others' wages and materials going through our account. Let me know, thanks!

Some foods are always so disappointing in the shops (UK), like cheesecake. My dad used to make gorgious cheesecake. The ones in supermarkets and cafes look okay but are nearly always disappointing, with none of the gorgious soft texture and flavour of homemade ones. Does anyone know why? Is it something specific or just because they use more 'industrial' ingredients to make them last longer? I'm going to try and make my own cheesecake this week.

Bees are dying off worldwide and our entire food production is in danger. Scientists blame certain toxic pesticides (neonicotinoids) and four European governments have already banned them. If we get the US and the EU to join the ban, other governments across the world could follow, and we could save bees from dying out. Let's all sign the petition. If you are signing, please reply here to let me know. Then we can see how many of us do ;) Thank you.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/96.php