Guest Blogs
Knowitall.ch often invites local experts in their field to contribute to their own blogs on our site. This means not only you will benefit from the useful recommendations that we make on our News pages, but you can also profit from some of the great advice and tips that these experts have to make on their favorite subjects. Whilst each of these bloggers has been recommended to us at some point during the evolution of Know-it-all passport and knowitall.ch, obviously we are not able to test out all the suggestions they make on their blogs, nor do we necessarily agree with all their opinions. So if you do find one of their tips useful (or not!), do let us know!
To make these blogs more accessible to you, we have now decided to group them altogether in one section, entitled Guest Blogs, accessible from our main menu bar. We will also post the most recent blogs on the home page of our site in the right hand column.
We are still building up this area of the site, and are looking for bloggers in a number of sections, including Your Home, Travel, and Leisure, so if you feel you have a useful contribution to make in either of these areas, and have the time to submit blog entries approximately every month, then please get in touch!
By Alan Turner, Forth Capital
There are two major changes to UK taxes that will happen in April that are going to significantly affect UK property owners who live abroad.
The first of these is going to see an increase in the stamp duty that is paid by expatriates acquiring a second UK residential property, and the second change is an increase that will affect expats who own UK properties within companies.
I took the time to discuss these with our Head of Tax, Mark Routen, to try and understand what this really means and what can be done to mitigate. This is what I learned:
By Mark Routen, Forth Capital
On the 16th March the Chancellor will deliver the 2016 budget. This will be against a backdrop of uncertainty caused by the EU referendum to be held on the 23rd June and also in a difficult worldwide financial market place, where performance has not been as expected and growth is not reaching the expected levels.
There is still the deficit to be repaid and while the UK economy is doing well the financial markets are suffering and the pound is down.
Against this backdrop the Chancellor has to create a 2016 budget that will help repay the deficit without damaging the shoots of recovery and without alienating a section of the electorate that the remain campaign are relying on to keep the UK in Europe, a campaign of which he and the prime minister are key members of.
by Johdi Woodford, Little Bird Pilates
The use of the word ‘butt’ bothers me a bit here, as I’m used to using British English, (you know, the one the Queen speaks!?), and so I would usually say ‘bum’, but that sometimes makes people think of a beggar-type person, and I’m trying to stick to anatomical parts here, and then derrière sounds so pretentious, but whatever the semantics, know that this post is for all of us, because it’s all about people who sit, what that does to them, and how they can avoid the major pitfalls of sitting. Oh no! That’s right, I’ve already written about that here.
Ok, now I’ve jogged my own poor memory, this time, I’m going to outline 3 ‘moves’ that we can do to lessen the impact on the parts of our body that tend to bother us? Think neck, shoulders, lower back, and hips, and think, simple, fuss-free strategies for breaking the sedentary cycle. With anything, any activity, in life, as humans, and as bipeds, if we engage our lower abdominals, think the lower half below the belly button and then lift our lower back bones, we work all the rest of our bodies. It’s all to do with a mights structure called the Thoracolumbar Complex, but don’t worry that now, just read on! If you spend long periods sitting, these 3 moves will help in many different ways that should become evident as you do them regularly. They’re easy and they work, trust me!
By Dean Marriott
This year is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. To mark this, the British Council is supporting a series of global events, as well as offering a huge number of online resources.
For those of you who have a spare couple of hours per week and would like to brush up on your knowledge of Shakespeare, it would be worth considering a free 6-week online course with the British Council. After looking into the life of Shakespeare during week 1, the course will then take you on a journey of his works, discovering a new play each week: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest and Macbeth. The next course begins on 18th April and you can sign up for free on the following link: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-english-shakespeare
I often explore the works of Shakespeare during classes and workshops with children and am always excited by their discoveries as they bring the text to life and discover the origins of certain expressions. Currently, I am working on Romeo and Juliet with my Wednesday afternoon Advanced English learners aged 8-13. Some parents are often surprised to hear that their children are studying Shakespeare as part of a language acquisition course. However, to me, as an actor teaching English through theatre, this has always seemed a natural part of the language acquisition process. The themes are so relevant today and the language so rich, that it would be a shame to avoid it.
By Hiba Giacoletto, Healthwise
This is a simple, tasty recipe that you can serve either warm or cold.
The combination of tastes and textures in this recipe is incredibly interesting to the tastebuds, particularly due to the umami (http://www.healthwise.ch/umami-or-how-to-make-more-satisfying-meals/) combo of garlic / onion / Feta / olives. If you lightly toast the pumpkin seeds, this also makes them more umami and lends a more enticing texture.
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes – medium sized (about 500g)
- 1 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 onions or scallions, chopped
- 200g Feta cheese, diced AND/OR olives
- About 2 tablespoons parsley or coriander, chopped
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Green vegetable of your choice – here I added some steamed broccoli as a side to make a more complete meal but you can also add a handful of spinach leaves or chopped kale at the end and simply stir through to wilt the leaves slightly.
