I live on the edge of Middlesbrough in a fairly typical suburb. Family homes, schools, shops, parks, not much else.

In the last week I have seen the same man on 3 occasions, walking his dog without a lead. I, who know nothing about dogs, believe it to be an XL Bully. I do accept that I may be wrong about the breed, but it is big and it looks to be made of pure muscle. Clearly a dog bred for violence.

Now, I'm not a small guy. I'm 6'5" and, though not exactly ripped, I am strong. I can take care of myself if needed. Still, I believe that this dog could kill me easily if it chose to. So my 7 year old daughter would be little more than a chew toy to it. I'm certain that the man believes that his dog is a friendly, harmless, slobberlover cuddle machine, but it just doesn't seem safe to let such an animal roam free about town.

But what do I do?! I'm certainly not going to approach the guy and risk a confrontation with a man who keeps a murder dog as a pet. I can't imagine the police would do anything as the dog isn't currently actually eating anybody. I'm genuinely scared for my family and I don't know what to do!

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Not sure if this is the best sub to post this, but basically, my family are planning on doing a 2-week holiday in the US next year. I have told them I really don't think we should go, with the state of the US and everything, but they want to go. I don't want to be donating to their economy and also I just feel like i would be uncomfortable (we have gone before but several years ago). For context I am 17 yrs old.

After saying I didn't want to go, my parents said I could stay home but in a really sarcastic way (not expecting me too yk) but should I say no? For 2 weeks? Or is that just a stupid idea. I mean it would be fun, but am I just overthinking the whole situation?

Still learning all things British but this one stand out as something I'm still wrapping my brain around.

I have some favourites, but I don't know if they're the best.

Dr Who

Only fools and horses

Come dine with me

Inbetweeners

Friday night dinner

Merlin

Started a new job in furniture retail 6 weeks ago, in the interview the manager said I will be expected to work one day on a weekend each week which I see as fair and have no problems with, I’ve just been sent my rotas for the next 2 months and I’m doing every single Saturday and Sunday, I spoke to my manager about it and they’ve said the higher ups have informed them that no one can have a weekend day off anymore unless it’s taken as annual leave because it’s the busiest days for the business and staff are expected to work them. I quite like the job and have had no issues with it until now, this is a pretty big hurdle for me to overcome though, what steps can I actually take? Both of my colleagues have said they don’t care and they’re happy to always work Saturdays and Sundays but that supposedly is going to be a requirement for me now despite obviously not being happy doing both days.

I was born in the late 90s. I was looking at this and the idea of the NMW for those over 22 being just £3.60 now is unthinkable to me, but then I guess things were also cheaper back then.

What have you seen the biggest difference in? I remember buying a first class stamp for about 60p in 2015 (and it's now closer to £2).

I was visiting the UK on work and told people that I planned to go off hiking and someone jokingly said "aren't you a bit young for that? To be a rambler?" She also joked that I'd need to change my look.

When I got there I did notice that many of the hikers, or ramblers, were a bit older. I stayed at a "Youth Hostel" where the average age was definitely about 60. And at a festival I went by a booth for the ramblers and it was staffed by older men wearing big hats

In the US hiking / mountaineering is more of a young person's activity. It is closely associated with mountaineering, rock climbing and camping and is I guess kind of atheletic

The elderly in contrast are more about shuffleboard or bingo (stereotypically) or maybe a gentle round of golf.

Hiking is healthy and fun for all ages so I am not casting aspersions. In fact it is great that older people keep hiking. But can someone explain rambling / ramblers and the idea you age into it

I hate B&M. I know it’s always been cheap sh!t but over the past year or so, literally everything we’ve bought from there has either been useless or broken in record time.

Household storage? Cheap plastic, broke in days. Furniture? Badly made, broke.
Solar lights for garden? Half didn’t work, half after it rained.
Pegs? Fell apart.
Clothes airer? Broke.
Gadgets? Either don’t do what they say, or break in no time.
Phone holder for the car? Doesn’t stick to the windscreen and can’t support a normal smart phone.
Garden hose accessories? Leak.

There’s a handful of exceptions (the branded food is largely exactly what you’d expect, and they do sell a solid watering can) but largely I think it’s all such bad quality that even at their cheap(ish) prices, it’s still a total waste of money.

But I’ve been accused of being a snob because I’d prefer to go elsewhere and pay a bit more.

Am I in the wrong here?! Am I a snob?

Hello I am a 24 year old who is about to graduate and become a registered nurse. I've recently come out of a long term relationship and I've made it to a point in my life where I've realised how much I want to experience life overseas. I really want to get out of my comfort zone, meet new people and experience more of the world while I'm still young and relatively free of major commitments.

The thing I'm struggling with is whether I should stay in NZ and complete a new graduate programme first or move to the UK sooner. Mental health nursing is the area I'm most interested in but I am keen to work regular hospital jobs. I have considered doing a working holiday programme in the uk and just work a hospitality job until I land something related to healthcare.

For anyone who has moved to the UK as a newly qualified nurse what were the job prospects like? Is it realistic to move over with little to no post registration experience and find work in nursing or healthcare related roles? How difficult is it to get hired as a new grad nurse in the UK? and particularly in London?

If you were in my position would you get a year or two of experience first or take the opportunity to move while you're young and figure it out from there? Because I'm drawn to the second one but I don't want to make any hasty decisions just because I feel like something new and exciting. But I do just want to prioritse experiencing life over a career and I'm ready to leave the home and country I've grown up in.

What do people think about the UK care system? Do you think it's sustainable long term?

Me and my other half are looking to buy our first home together. I currently own the house we’re living in at the moment and my minimum payment is 17% of my salary (2.3% on current mortgage which is due to expire shortly). However the mortgages for the houses we’re currently looking at will total around 25% of our household income (combined salaries and a mortgage rate of about 4.5%).

So, what % of your household income is your minimum mortgage payment?

Just curious really, because I realised some normal sentences sound completely different late at night.

Edit: "what's the time mate" asking for the time late at night, sounds sus to me...

I've heard people use this term and based on tone in each circumstance, sometimes it seemed like a compliment and other times an insult.

As an American, still trying to decode all things British...

When those digital revolving picture frames became popular about 20 years ago, I remember saying, "These are a fad. Total novelty. It'll never stick". I haven't seen one in forever.

Are the self service machines in the supermarkets programmed to English, Scottish and Northern Irish bank notes?

I was looking at reed courses recently as I want to further my chances of getting hired. They have multiple courses there ranging from level 1 to level 7 in that field. Obviously I'm not gonna do all 7 levels but was planning on doing a level 2 or 3. They are online courses and the role i wanna apply for is physical so idk if it will help as much but I wanna further my chances of getting hired as I have been unemployed for quite a while.

Should I do a level 2 and 3 course on reed and will it further my chances of getting employed? Or is there a better website to do courses on where they give out courses that are done by better companies which employees will care more about?

They are very short courses and you get a certificate out of it so I want my cv to look better for the role in want to apply to. Should I give it a try?

I've been out of the school system for a while and I'm curious about how things have changed.

Growing up, pretty much every secondary school had girls wearing skirts as the standard uniform, with trousers sometimes allowed as an option (or not at all in stricter places). But I've seen recent news about various schools and academy trusts banning skirts entirely and moving to trousers-only for everyone — citing reasons like equality/inclusivity, practicality (no more arguing over skirt lengths), cost for parents, and less time wasted by staff on uniform policing.

Is this still a minority of schools, or has it become the norm now? Do most secondaries still expect girls to wear skirts (with trousers optional), or is the trend shifting strongly towards gender-neutral trousers-only policies?

50M, EU expat. I do a lot of volunteer work, like litter picking, soup kitchen work, and so on. I noticed that often I am the youngest volunteer in the groups. Why? It's quite worrying, volunteers do a lot of work for the community, and I fear that in some years the groups will be forced to close down.

My tween daughter just started her period. I have set her up with a started kit of sanitary products but she is keen to try period underwear.

I’ll be looking for age 12 for day, sleep and hopefully swimwear.

I’m currently mulling over Next and Bodyform but there’s not much reviews so would really appreciate some reviews for places that supply UK.

Thank you.

Hi, I am an international student and just got an offer to do my master's in Biotech and Bioinformatics from the University of Aberdeen!! So need suggestions on...

1/ on places around the university I could live...
2/ the kind of warm clothes I should pack and more...
3/ the *things* in general I should pack...
4/ the fun things to do...
5/ how to actually make the most out of this place

A group of my friends want to go and watch the new horror movie Obsession in cinemas however a few of them haven’t turned 18 yet but are very close (Obsession is a 18+ movie), I just want to know how serious they take the whole age certification tag and would they genuinely turn people away or ask for their ID at the desk for a movie? We really want to go and see the movie.

What does the northern part of the UK think of the south? Is it as different as north United States compared to southern United States? What are the cultural differences?

I’ve heard of stuff like Premier League and Champions League and ‘the league table’ but I’ve never really looked into it even though I want to get more into watching it. Can someone break down UK football for me?

My six year old has caught World Cup fever early and demanded the Panini (not the flat sandwich) album. Fine, lovely, here's your album lad.

Then I made the rookie error of actually working out what it costs to fill it buying packets at random.

The best part of a grand. £1000!!! For stickers! 🤣

I had a couple of these myself in the 90s and I'm fairly sure my entire collection cost about a fiver, some chewing gum and a paper round.

The main reason I bought the album sticker album was because the england and scotland KO times are absolutely cursed, everything's 9pm to gone midnight!

So I was looking for ways to help him keep excited during the World Cup, knowing that we probably won't let him stay up so late to watch that many of the matches. The Panini album was one way to kind of keep him excited.

• We're also listening to the Ultimate Football Heroes kids podcast together (it's a tie in to the books that your kids might read already), hoping that they will episodes during the World Cup but we don't know yet so here's hoping. Any other kids football podcast recommendations would be AWESOME btw!
• Also just bought a new football to kick around in the local field after school with him if my knees can hold out 🤣

Any other ideas for keeping the younglings spirits up would be super welcome!

How's everyone else surviving this one with little kids? Are we all just quietly accepting we'll never complete the album and doing swaps in the playground like it's 1990?

And has anyone cracked letting a six year old stay up for a 9pm kickoff without paying for it the next morning?

I was recently watching a YouTube Short regarding how the digital footprints of Love Island contestants are being forensically analysed overnight, which prompted this query. We are looking at old screenshots of private conversations that can be as much as ten years old.

We will soon have a generation of politicians, athletes, and entertainers who have had consistent access to social media since they were in secondary school or even younger.

I am certain that we have all said things or used language that does not represent who we are today and that we would not want to be associated with now.

For the older generations who did not grow up with social media, how would you feel if your teenage years had been subjected to the same level of online scrutiny?