premium bonds.

[Taipan]

cashed mine in... bought a plane

They're only £15 !

Bugger.... I was ripped off then.

Nah, that one has a real shit short field ability!

[Count Steer]

Got an email to say I've won something, dunno how much yet. Having a good year so far considering there's £5k in there. Keep meaning to add more but general inertia keeps getting in the way.

[Count Steer]

Got an email to say I've won something, dunno how much yet. Having a good year so far considering there's £5k in there. Keep meaning to add more but general inertia keeps getting in the way.

Woot! Another £100. That's over 4% in 2 months I think. Probably time to move the money before a long fallow spell kicks in. (There was a year where I think I got £50 so it probably averages out in the long term).

[Demannu]

2 x £75
Paid for her flights to and from blighty and a bit of duty free too boot!

[Mr Nozzle]

£100 this month

[MyLittleStudPony]

Probability has no memory. But equally, God does not play dice with the universe.

[KungFooBob]

Probability has no memory. But equally, God does not play dice with the universe.

...and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

[MyLittleStudPony]

True (in a non zero sum game). Nice epithet though.

But equally, God does not play dice with the universe.

False; yes, he (she/they/it/xe) does play dice. Einstein was famously wrong about that . What makes you think you're right?

There's a lot of pointless (if you ask me) waffle about the nature of reality even if there is such a thing as "real". But the entire observable universe can be quite incredibly accurately described by one single equation: Schrödinger wave equation. That is all about probabilities, in fact in layman's terms no quantum state is determined until it is measured and until then all of reality is merely a wave of probability.

I have no idea, I just like repeating stuff which sounds cool.

That said I remain convinced there is no natural random. Every system (or the one big system as I guess things really are) is governed by the laws of physics, regardless of how well we understand them.

[weeksy]

Oh please do. I'm not quite asleep yet

[Yorick]

Oh please do. I'm not quite asleep yet

I knew you'd be funny one day

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Probability has no memory. But equally, God does not play dice with the universe.

...and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

And the sound of freedom is General Electric J79s

[MyLittleStudPony]

Oh please do. I'm not quite asleep yet

Think of it as random time dilation in an incredibly compressed space.

Matter is energy. In the universe there are many energy fields which we cannot normally perceive. Some energies have a spiritual source which act upon a person’s soul. However, this “soul” does not exist ab initio as orthodox Christianity teaches; it has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved owing to man’s unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia.

[Taipan]

Unlucky is the bloke who was walking to work and a helicopter fell on him and killed him. Every day above ground is a good one...

[Mr. Dazzle]

Every day above ground is a good one...

Except for the helicopter pilot that day.

[Count Steer]

Oh please do. I'm not quite asleep yet

LOL. Nah better not though the random and probabilistic nature of Premium Bonds is bang on topic for such a discussion....

On a similar note...I wrote to the R4 programme about stats, More or Less, to see if they'd look into the widespread perception that your chances are higher when you first buy bonds. It seems to be such a common belief I thought they might set their number crunchers on it.

[Jody]

Nothing this month

Maybe they are sulking after I took most of it out, paid off the mortgage and bought a new kitchen ??

[Count Steer]

Yorkshire Building Society has offered existing members a 1 year 6% deal. (No closure, no withdrawals).

1 year isn't long to tie up some cash and they're a well established outfit. Might stick a few £ in.

[MyLittleStudPony]

NS&I have changed their interest rates on fixed savers to match the base rate, you can get up to 6% elsewhere but as I keep saying it's only guaranteed up to £85k, plus some of these online banks look a bit sketchy to me.

5% guaranteed in an NS&I fixed bond or income bond is a decent bet IMHO, it also shows that the analysts don't expect interest to drop below 5% for at least another year.

I'm not always right, I'm wishing I'd have held my nerve and waited, I tied a big chunk of my money up at 4% with the view that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but I should have waited.

I put a chunk in for 1 year at 6% in June, as soon as 6% was available. I've got two or three more chunks to go and am holding on to see what happens at the next BOE rate rise in early August.

I'd told myself I'd commit the lot at 6% but it looks like it's going higher now, yesterday there were one year bonds offering 6.15.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Today's news is that inflation is less than expected...

Start of a trend? Who knows! Certainly not the banks by the sounds of it But anyway, perhaps it means rates won't climb as quick as expected and these deals will start to fade away.

Or maybe it doesn't. How the fuck should I know?

[MyLittleStudPony]

I put a chunk in for 1 year at 6% in June, as soon as 6% was available. I've got two or three more chunks to go and am holding on to see what happens at the next BOE rate rise in early August.

I'd told myself I'd commit the lot at 6% but it looks like it's going higher now, yesterday there were one year bonds offering 6.15.

When you say "chunks" it depends what you're talking about, if you talking about half a million plus then 1% matters, but if you're talking about <£85k and you're waiting on changes of <1% then it's not worth fannying about at.

I'm struggling to call a cap on it, I don't see base rates over 6% given the current situation, I'd like to see it on my savings, but it would be bad for a lot of people.

It's somewhere in between those amounts. And I'm dead tight and scrottagy so am happy to fanny about for a bit of dosh.