Rachael McKelvey

• Dormant accounts scheme pays out
• My international Women’s Day
• Do you want to live to 100?
• What bird flu means to me
• What’s going on with SVB?

Dormant Asset Scheme Pay-out
Under the Dormant Assets Scheme £76 million from dormant accounts are to be released by HRMC this week to support people with the costs of living. The money is being distributed to individuals to support getting out of debt and to social enterprise schemes to support energy saving solutions.

The main aim of the dormant assets scheme is to reunite people with lost funds, however it’s not always possible and so is transferred to the scheme to support good causes, currently limited by legislation to youth, financial inclusion, and social investment initiatives.

Currently the schemes reach is only forgotten bank accounts and building society accounts, but its remit is being extended out to include insurances, pensions and even wealth management and securities which is likely to generate £880 million into the scheme.

The scheme is an interesting one and only funds from signed up banks and building societies are eligible to the fund after the business has failed to make best efforts to find the owner. Should an owner resurface years later, the scheme is liable for the value of the funds at the time it was transferred to the scheme as it is still the legal property of the owner but I think the idea is a good one, if reasonable efforts are made and for whatever reason the owner can’t be found then using the funds to support societal improvement seems the next best thing to be done!

International Women’s Day
I did not have the best International Women’s Day, I was low key annoyed from within an hour of getting up…it was snowing (the good stuff, not the slush this week has turned into) & I love walking in the snow. I made the decision not to wear my coat and just go out in a hoodie and leggings, the cold doesn’t bother me anyway and I do a figure 8 loop round where I live on the first loop I say good morning to a guy using a broom to clear snow off his truck, on the second loop I encounter the same man who has driven to the shop who acknowledges me again and makes a comment and the comment was nothing, it wasn’t rude or impolite, it’s just he wouldn’t have said it if I was a man.

I then foolishly requested a repeat prescription from GP surgery, which then lead to my GP ringing and then texting me about my blood pressure (which is fine btw), which then lead to a phone call and being told after THREE YEARS of my blood work coming back “in the normal range” that its “not the optimal range” & that I need to keep a record of my results and aim for the number to be in the optimal range, like I haven’t spent the last three years getting private blood tests done to prove exactly this point to him to finally get the medication I need to keep me alive.

I love that IWD show cases women, but what I really think IWD should be is looking at the systems and structures that continue to support suppressing women. I don’t want to be resilient or inspirational or brave…I want the glaring holes in systems and structures and data about women acknowledged and actions taken to address those and I know it won’t make an ounce of difference in my lifetime but it will to future women and that is what it’s all about.

Do you want to live to 100?
This week I learnt that todays 5 years old born in the wealthiest countries will likely live to 100…using the phrase 80 will be the new 60. The article from National Geographic is as exciting as it is horrifying…but I am not currently 5 years old and I can’t imagine growing up with the things children have available to them today so some things I’m just not keen because they just feel so alien to me, but they won’t to 5 year old Peggy because the future is now.

I think probably what really got me thinking is just how much technology will step in and do the thing’s we really should be doing for ourselves “a bionic exoskeleton to ease her muscles in later life”, and the key to  “…longevity is to slow down, stay healthy, and spend time with the people that matter” and strong agree. Laying those foundations now is so so important, I hope society can make the move to those chances for our current 5 year olds, our generations have sort of got lost in the middle working bit, where we will just have to go that harder for longer and if we can retire then it might not be as luxurious as those before us.

Just for the avoidance of doubt, I do not want to live to 100 in our current political and social state, and fortunately the genetics in my family are not stacked in my favour on that front, bar a decent set of outliers on my mums side, the exception that prove that rule!

What bird flu means to me
I listened to the Guardians Today in Focus Podcast about Avian Flu, listening to Harriet Reed talk about her life as a ranger on the Farne Islands with the birds and the seals but how in recent months, that has all changed with a new strain of bird flu, the odd dead bird turned into a mass extraction of 6000 carcasses and it just really got me thinking about how much hen keeping as changed.

This got me thinking about what bird flu has meant to me, this week I made a small snow man for my chickens so they can enjoy the snow. By the time it got to them it was ice rather than snow, but they enjoyed pecking at it just like they would if they were free to roam in the snow. I’ve kept chickens for well over a decade and in that time hen keeping has changed a lot but in recent years since bird flu it’s hard.

Long gone are the days of them roaming the garden of and evening or a weekend, they are under cover at all times to stop any passing droppings potentially contaminating our flock. They’ve also had mixed health care when we’ve needed to have them looked at because rightfully Vet’s don’t want them on premises in case they are infected, because the reality it that it has spread, to sea birds and mammals. There have also been deaths in humans who have worked closely with birds.

Our current flock have never known a free range life, they’ve never run around our garden or stood at the bottom of the fork waiting for worms to appear. It makes me sad there is a whole life they’ve not lived, but they live a full and rich life with more garden than ever, more enrichment activities than we’ve ever provided before and it’s a small price to pay to not lose them to an awful disease.

What’s going on with SVB?
Is it a symptom of the market or a tale as old as time?

Well-funded startsups meet attractive looking bank (SVB) and decide to deposit their excess funds, SVB lends out said deposits in a questionable financial decision (typically one asset class on money also loaned by one customer class) and buys safe 10-year bonds and mortgage backed securities to make moderately low yield. The macro environment changed, and the well-funded startups start needing their money back to survive.

The Fed enters the chat and raises interest rates leaving those 10-year bonds and securities losing money…so how exactly do you raise money to pay out on accounts that you’ve tied up for 10 years losing money? You sell securities which have also lost value in the interest hike and/or you have to start raising funds.

SVB sold $20bn of bonds and took a £2bn loss on that and this signalled to the market they were so desperate for cold hard cash they took a loss of £2bn just to get liquidity, which also isn’t a strong indicator to your customers, who then rightly might think their money is best off elsewhere, which then compounds the liquidity problem in a bit of a vicious circle.

More withdrawals, more strain on liquidity, more strain on liquidity, more withdrawals.

And that is the simple story of how a sudden bank run and capital crisis can leave you taken over by federal regulators and the largest failing US bank since 2008, the ripple out from this is anyone’s guess.

Current watch:  Carnival Row – Another excellent series I did not realise was back for another series…described as a Victorian “neo-noir fantasy” Carnival Row stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevinge and follows the plight of mythical creatures having fled their homes as a result of war to a new city where the tensions grow between citizens and its growing immigrant population. There is a love story within the twisty who done it fairy tale and its beautifully shot and is oddly reminiscent of other cult classics.

Current read: Unashamed – Harry Baker – I want to read a little bit more poetry this year, it’s writing I struggle with (unsure if it’s the aphantasia or I just don’t like it) so there was no better place to start than a Maths graduate and World Poetry Slam champion Harry Baker, he wrote a love poem about prime numbers. Unashamed is the collection of poetry he wrote during the pandemic and some of the poems he had taken on his world tour that abruptly came to an end. What a lovely collection of poetry and personal prose in between but my favourite bit was the numbers around a marathon and as someone who did run maths the entire time through her most successful marathon it was lovely to see I wasn’t the only one.

Most Impactful Listen: FT Money Clinic – How to financially survive divorce – Divorce inquiries are always busy in the first half of the year and it was oddly refreshing to see this title pop up in my feed. I have never been married but I have been in a situation where I felt a marriage certificate would have just been another piece of paper that would need paying to dissolve in order to extricate myself from the human being I was with at the time. The guests talk openly and honestly about their situations and the questions they had wished to know the answers to in hindsight and the experts are as helpful as they can be in short form generalities. This podcast is just as useful for anyone who has financially linked themselves to a partnership and wanted to leave as it is if you are also married.

• “Time’s up!” Betty Boothroyd
• What world record could you set at your job?
• National Trust Scones
• Unwritten rules of the group chat
• Women losing financial confidence

“Time’s Up!” Betty Boothroyd
What a women, the first and only women speaker of the House of Commons, a formidable politician and a Tiller Girl. Never married, despite many offers and no children and her legacy is no poorer for that.

Boothroyd had worked as a political secretary in both the UK and the States, on her fifth attempt to get elected she won the West Bromwich by-election in 1973, she was an assistant Whip, an MEP, she was on the select committee and the House of Commons Commission, she became Deputy Speaker and on to be Speaker.

And you want to know how I know about Betty Boothroyd? She was on Live and Kicking in 1997, she was so passionate about getting young people into Politics she did Saturday morning kids TV.

Her legacy is immense, she never stopped, her professional life so very big, she embodied everything to be proud of, she challenged boundaries, she believed in education for all at any age. She will be missed, but thank you Betty Boothroyd.

What world record could you set at your job?
This week Boeing engineers in St. Louis officially broke the Guinness World Record for the farthest flight by a paper aircraft by 11 meters from the original record from 2022, by throwing a paper plane a whopping 88 meters! We have all probably done those (hideous) team building exercises where you have to create the best paper plane and then your team also has to be able to produce like 10 of them in like 4 minutes or something (stupid) like that and for most of us that is as close to making paper planes at work as we will get.

There is nothing not cool about this entire story, the engineers involved are 2^nd and 3^rd generation employees who remember coming on the family fun days with their parents as kids, they studied origami and hypersonic vehicles and this took the guys and the teams month of perfection to land the record breaking distance on the third throw.

So, what would be the world record you could set at your job? This week one my reconciliation has made it to column DT and is still growing, but I don’t see largest balance sheet reconciliation as world record worthy, it’s certainly not 88 meters!

National Trust Scones
This week saw Sarah Merker eat her 244^th National Trust scone after a decade long mission to eat a scone at every single National Trust in England, Wales and Ireland (Scotland have their own NT that I did not know about until this week also).

Sarah has been chronically her adventures on Twitter @NT_Scones and her blog rating both the national trust property, the scone and highlight of the day out of 5. This was breaking BBC news in the office on someone’s phone and sparked the usual lively debate about cream and then jam or jam and then cream and peoples favourite scone moments.

It sort of makes me want to pick her Sarah’s book National Trust Book of Scones and definitely makes me want to go to our nearest National Trust for a scone or two.

Goodbye Kindle Unlimited
A week or so ago I got the message that Kindle Unlimited was increasing in price and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it theoretically should cost a lot more money than it does for what you get and in that is the rub…If I used it a whole lot more it would be so useful at even the increased price, but I don’t.

After a lot of thought I have cancelled my subscription, it was invaluable when I got it, I was at a very low energy tine in my life and then I was in my Booktok phase of enjoying trashy romance novels and while there are a few good titles in the spaces I want to read in this year, I am just not able to sustain a book a month to make it worthwhile.

I am currently not reading a lot of volume, committing to a feature that requires you to read stuff and recommend something a week, well that will kind of kill it for you, especially as there are not endless hours in the day to read.

Women losing financial confidence
Women’s financial confidence is declining at double the rate of men according to the Fidelity ahead of International Women’s Day. Despite the bounce in feeling off the back of the pandemic, where most people regardless of gender for the first time really had to consider their finances.

More women than ever feel financially independent, up 6% to 51% on 2022, but that said women often struggle to know what to do with their finances and often don’t feel like the advice is there for there. Women and the decisions they need to make around money are very different to men and their decision around money. Plenty of advice out there for men and money, less so for women. Women typically pay more for products than men, the pink tax is not imaginary, and women are typically having a harder time accessing the right financial products for them.

You can’t tackle what you don’t know and while you only need to head to the comments section on any article about women and money to see a deluge of men commenting that living within your means has no gender and that articles are just promo for the researching body to realise that the subject of women’s finance still has some way to go.

Current watch:  Outer Banks – Well I was not expecting to enjoy this, I’m not saying when trying to sell something to me that you don’t reference “sweet teen drama meets treasure island” but you know, it was the current watch of my temporary housemates that had been recommended by the teenager in their lives. I’m oddly fascinated, the soundtrack is beautiful, and North Carolina looks absolutely stunning, with some characters you love to hate, some teenage angst and those good moral basis of teen drama it grows on you.

Current read: The French Art of Not Giving a Sh*t: Cut the Crap and Live Your Life by Fabrice Midal – I feel like this book found me on a good day, the book explores the concept of noting doing what you think you’re supposed to be doing and embraces just being what you are in the moment. That meditation isn’t chasing thoughts out of your mind, but just being open to embracing life as it is right there in the moment, sit with it. The book acts as a gentle reminder to say no, give yourself a break and act compassionately to yourself. Midal offers the reader permission to embrace self and situation in a realistic way. I think the timing was so right for this book, I needed to find away to believe in myself in a very specific way, just in short bursts and his words helped do that, just for a day.

Most Impactful Listen: Today in Focus: What the salad crisis says about Britain – This podcast was fascinating, you can’t have failed to miss the empty shelves at the supermarket or the relentless reporting on said empty shelves, but what is the truth behind the shortage and why might this be a thing we just have to get used it? Michael Safe and Joanne Partridge explore the questions on everyone’s minds, is the bad weather in Europe and Egypt to blame? Is it Brexit? Or does the answer also lie a little closer to home? Spoiler alert, it’s a little from column a, b and c.

• Four-day working week results are in
• Old Neighbours is back
• Latest ONS data drop
• The weird people who want actual food before pancakes
• New hairdresser, who dis?

Four-day working week results are in
A whopping 92% of UK firms who took place in the 6 month trial say they will keep it, that’s 56 of the 61 firms who took part in the study. The study shows that results were fairly consistent over all workplaces regardless of size, the trial included big business and charity, from banking to retail to recruitment and despite 9 organisations pulling out from the study covered over 3000 employees.

The top line of the data is fascinating, a reduction in sick days, improved staff retention, average revenue increase, burn out down and massive improvements in employee well being but the real interesting stuff is in the actual report because the devil always is in the detail.

I really liked the Perspectives from the Shopfloor’ section towards the end of the report, where social researchers gleaned testimonials about the day to day impact the study has had on staff, the impact of the changes in the ways of working and the real insight that gave senior leadership is wonderful, and while it can be argued that studies like this are self selecting and made of future thinking, staff orientated senior leaders, just let us dream for a moment will you.

Old Neighbours is back!
This is the best thing that has happened to me in quite some time and this is not me being dramatic. While new Neighbours is not back until later in the new year, Amazon Freevee has acquired some of the old school episodes and they dropped this week. Hello 2012.

They will now be launching episodes for different era’s every month until new Neighbours launches at the end of the year.

I absolutely cannot. It’s been an emotional week in the RaeMcK household and there is a small hole in my heart and that requires good neighbours who become good friends. 2012 was a classic year, all the good characters with all the good house shares. My heart is full(er).

Latest ONS data drop
This weeks 2021 census data drop was marriage and civil partnership status in England and Wales and it’s a doozy, marriage rates are at the lowest level on record and the median age of those getting married is steadily increasing.

The data is starting to show that women are marrying later with more than half of women aged 34 or less are now not married, which is a 10% increase over the decade, which I hope reflects women’s choice in marriage and the ability for it not to be your leg up in life. It’s nice when data reflects social and cultural changes.

My most unpopular opinion is that there isn’t anything in marriage for women, but I can afford to have this unpopular opinion, while I think if children are in your future than marriage potentially offers something for women and children, but until needs must (when our health declines or we are old) then it’s a definite no from me, even if his surname is marginally cooler and easier to spell than mine.

The weird people who want actual food before pancakes
They walk amongst us, but they are wrong. Pancakes are a whole food. Despite last Tuesday being Valentines Day, the best bit about it was the fact that this Tuesday was pancake day.

For someone who does not understand Yorkshire puddings I do go hard on pancake day, I’ve not been “well” in recent years, functioning but not well and last year we did not pancake one bit, because “wellness” but this year I went hard, with zero preparation just whipped up some batter in the morning and I had 6 for tea as a complete meal.

The weirdo in my life had tuna, cheese mayo in his two…I went in all sweet. Every single one. Will I regret this? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Dear reader, within 3 short hours it was not worth it. Please remind me of this next year.

New hairdresser, who dis?
I hate the act of having my hair cut…always have, I have a lot of incredibly thick curly hair and some trauma from childhood from relentless well meaning grown ups under the illusion that neat hair involves hairbrushes. This week I tried a hairdresser who specifically cuts curly hair, trained in the ways of cutting volume hair.

It was the most enjoyable haircut I’ve ever had, pain free, quick (2 hours as it was a first cut, will be 90 minutes next time) and informative…tailored very much to my hair type and curl pattern.

I am sat here on day 3, still mildly in love with hair (curly hair love is a journey and it will be at least 6 months before it’s THE CUT) after 2 sleeps and a whole day of sweaty yoga. I don’t know why I haven’t done this sooner.

Current watch:  Last Week Tonight With John Oliver – It’s back after 3 long months… I absolutely love John Oliver, back when he was in the UK, when he was on The Bugle with Andy Zaltzman. Every week John Oliver takes on the weeks news in the States and delivers it with laughs…I don’t know if you have seen the news at all in recent years, but this is not an easy gig. Each week, Oliver covers a little new around the world and the States and has a feature piece on something that fundamentally doesn’t work in the system and while its focus is the US, it’s lesson and moral are universal. Oliver and the team are not scared to take on some big names and call things out for what they are but despite covering some of the most heart breaking topics, it is done well and somehow leaves you feeling hopeful. If you get a chance to see some clips on YouTube, do!

Current read: Stuffocation living more with less by James Wallman – Trend Forecaster (cool job) James Wallman shares real life experiences of those giving up on consumption alongside some useful social narrative on how the minimalist movement started and how stuff is essentially taking years off our lives. Do you own stuff, or does stuff own you? I was sceptical when I first started this book, but I really enjoyed it and it definitely gave food for thought. I have unwittingly become an experientialist in recent years and am in the processing of downsizing my stuff & had probably come to a halt on that, but this book reignited a fire, with some insightful questions to help do the work, with some interesting research and hypothesis to really get you thinking.

Most Impactful Listen: 99pi – Orange Alternatives – It’s been a year since the invasion of Ukraine and while there has been a lot of news, this gorgeous podcast episode was the perfect way to make time to be present to this fact. The episode focuses on anti-war graffiti and protest art, the history behind it and how it has evolved in Russia during this conflict in a country where protest is hard. Protest art has a huge legacy in the Soviet Union, they talk to Waldemar “Major” Fydrych who help found a political art movement across Poland during the 80’s. This podcast is well worth your time.

• How do you listen to audiobooks?
• Goodbye Lilt, Hello Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit
• The Bank of Mum & Dad
• Farewell Nicola Sturgeon
• Thorvald, the worlds oldest hedgehog

How do you listen to audiobooks?
I hope my other half never finds this, he has bought me many an audiobook that I’ve requested and to date I have listened to absolutely none of them. I’m just not sure I’m an audiobook person, and it turns out I might have been correct.

I used the Borrow Box app which is free with my library membership and gives access to hundreds of audiobooks for FREE. I almost couldn’t decide which one to borrow.

I have a lot of opportunity to listen to things, while driving, while walking, while at the gym and while I currently listen to podcasts, I swapped out for an audiobook this week.

Now, I don’t know if it’s that its nonfiction, or the reader (and the voices) or that I actually just don’t listen particularly well, but I am a few hours in and I remember astounding little…I might see if I can get a sample of the book to read the chapter and see if I feel the same.

I was a little distracted while listening, I wouldn’t have been able to read in those situations, but I would normally listen to a podcast of a similar genre, so what I am I missing? What am I doing wrong?

Goodbye Lilt, Hello Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit
After 50 long years, Coca-Cola have taken the decision to axe the Lilt brand, goodbye to the Lilt man and the Lilt Ladies of the 80’s and 90’s, we thank you for your service and the totally tropical taste, and on Valentine’s day, of all the days!

Happy 50^th Birthday Lilt, we will now call you Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit now available in 330ml cans and 500ml bottles…from a brand perspective I think it’s a logical move, since the recipe change from 2008 and 2014 to reduce the calories and the sugars and sweeteners it really hasn’t been the same and I think the sales reflect that, the Fanta brand is strong and well stocked and it makes sense to introduce the flavour to the family.

Twitter was its usual hilarious self at this news, made only more poignant by the fact it was Valentine’s day but it was nice to see that other people have fond memories of Lilt, it was the drink we only ever had at my paternal grandparents house when we typically spent a few days with them in warmer months, it was the go to special drink and just tasted like summer and happy memories. They all disappeared when they changed the recipe, the magic was in the sugar all along!

The Bank of Mum & Dad
The Institute for Fiscal Studies this week announced that £17 BILLION is gifted or loaned informally each year in Britain, with the largest chunk of that being from parents to their adult children.

The stats are astounding and well worth a read, 83% of all gifts received come from parents with 56% of the wealth transferred coming from the wealthiest fifth of adults.

Over half the gifts received go towards property purchase or improvement and a staggering 1 in 10 white young adults getting a gift over a 2 year period compared to 1 in 25 black African or black Caribbean young adults and less than 1 in 30 Pakistani or Bangladeshi young adults.

With UK household wealth doubling compared to incomes in recent decades, a lot of the wealth is sitting with the older generations while younger adults have seen stagnant income growth and rising prices.

I have benefited from generational wealth in my family and often debate with friends about the position of generational wealth, the hard line being that you shouldn’t die on a stack of cash, if you do it should go to the state to provide better provision, this should incentivise people to spend in life that would boost the economy.

But I must acknowledge that I am saving for that rainy day and will likely die with cash and no dependants, in which case anything left will go to charities.

Farewell Nicola Sturgeon
I don’t understand why so many people don’t like Nicola Sturgeon, and its quite vitriolic dislike. I think its fair if your dislike her politics, but I don’t find that to be peoples answer when you ask them about the specifics. A lot of people’s arguments just fall apart slowly and reveal what they were really trying hard not to say is they just don’t like women in power, even women.

Sturgeons’ resignation had echoes of Ardens resignation, the weight weighs heavy, even more so for women. If you asked me to name the best political leader of my life time it would be her.  While that they bar is unfortunately incredibly low, she acts like a grown up, she treats the electorate like grownups but also speaks in a compassionate way with the alarmingly unique skill in politics to explain complicated things in a way people understand, she has integrity and act’s thoughtfully and consistently even in the hardest and darkest times. She speaks incredibly well in a crisis, she works really hard and she reads and maybe I am biased but I think that’s important in a leader. She also has a sense of humour and isn’t afraid to laugh at herself. I enjoy her on Twitter immensely.

If she goes on to write a book or hits the podcast scene, I will definitely be keen to see what she really has to say without the weight of Holyrood on her shoulders and a little more freedom.

Thorvald, the worlds oldest hedgehog
I know and have created a surprising number of hedgehog fans over the years, I’ve been fortunate to always have one in residence at my house, under the decking by my patio doors and have been a great proponent for if you build them something useful they will come, the evidence being two unlikely hedgehog stops have become so by the simple addition of a feeding (always spikes) and water station. It’s much more enjoyable with a wireless camera to catch the noises and the sights.

This week science has confirmed the existence of the oldest European Hedgehog was in fact a gorgeous boy named Thorvald who lives for 16 years in Denmark and was found by a citizen science project where Danish citizens were asked to collect dead hedgehogs to get a better understanding of how they lived as hedgehogs are in massive decline in both urban and rural locations.

So how do you age a hedgehog? They have growth lines on the jawbones that are exactly like counting the rings on a tree.

Current watch:  Motherland – I finally found time to watch the Christmas special and it did not disappoint. Motherland is a must watch, a stella cast explore the trials and tribulations of middle-class mother(parent)hood. Julia, Liz and Kevin have the most functional dysfunctional relationships, they pull no punches, it is honest and hilarious and has still held up over three series.

Current read: Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World by Tom Burgis – Not an easy read but and important one, an astonishing piece of journalism written like fiction that just keeps you turning the page, but is a real insight into how corruption runs the world, dirty money is everywhere, in everything and seemingly truly the only thing that makes the world go round.

Most Impactful Listen: Cautionary Tales – The Hero Who Rode His Segway Off A Cliff – Cautionary Tales are fairytales for grown ups but they are all true, Harford shares stories of human error, catastrophe and happy accidents, this well timed episode on what makes an invention successful and useful. Why was the Segway a flop but the Concertainer an amazing versatile and much needed success?