Religious people, although it may be comforting to you, there is absolutely no evidence for your belief in higher-beings. These beliefs came about as a result of people trying to explain various natural phenomena and have been refined, by humans, into ways to influence people over the past centuries. Some of these beliefs are philanthropic and others very much less so….

Blind Faith is not a virtue, it just indicates ignorance.

In this country we are constantly forced to consider & 'respect' religious beliefs and we even have representatives of a religion in our upper house of Parliament.

Having no religion requires no leaders, but does make you consider how/why it is that religion has so much influence in society.

Save your dosh and go elsewhere. What items are you after?

Not the outdoor extravaganza on Xmas Day that I always intend to do.

I often manage it on Boxing Day though.

67% -Fail!

As somebody who is well-educated, well-read, keeps abreast of current affairs and has managed to survive in the UK for 30-odd years, I'm disappointed….

…..in the poor quality of that test.

Does this suggest that a large majority of UK subjects are considered unsuitable to be so???

I wonder whether France or Canada will take me as an asylum seeker from a regime that doesn't want me?

As pointed out above, if an alternative therapy is deemed to be effective then it ceases to be alternative and becomes therapy.

If some of these alternative therapies that have been used for "thousands of years" are truly beneficial, then surely there would be evidence of their efficacy over and above a placebo?

-This is not closed-mindedness.

Scientific knowledge increases incrementally and understanding increases with time, it does not decrease. A healer 2000 years ago may have observed some positive effects of some of their herbal potions. Further observation and refinement has resulted in the medical practice of today. This practice will change when more is learned/understood.

If the placebo, sorry, alternative therapy isn't working, maybe some real therapy is in order? Just to 'complement' a bit of shamanism, mind.

If people in the stone/bronze age could heal everything I'm not sure why we've bothered with developing medical techniques further. Oh hang on, maybe that development is actually the key to it??

so, where do I locate my aura?

James May is preferable to the vast majority of people on the TV.

I like the chap.

thankfully chap i dont need no peer to make my mind up for me i find the proof for myself as can you if you wish.
so why not try it rather than be blind about it.

…but, if it was tested and validated then it could be used to the benefit of others….

Cock detector working well for me…

Yes, I too can detect a lot of mumbo-jumbo pseudo-science.

Send me 50 pounds and you'll receive telepathic healing.

just because something has been done for 'thousands of years', doesn't make it right. Human sacrifices to the Sun god anyone?

Each to their own, but paying for someone to carry out placebo/comforting/feel-good make-believe therapy on you seems like a waste of money to me.

Having a determined, positive outlook seems to help, the 'therapy' is less important.

Aristole – That may be good advice in a rural area but in a city you see scroats every few seconds

I know, as I live in one too.

Go with your 'gut instinct'(not actually instinct, but learned through experience)

It's less hassle to occasionally drive a convoluted route home than to have your car/bike stolen though. I no longer have a fast car and my bikes are now fairly old, so I'm hoping that nobody nicks them.

You used to have more than 1:
Disused Stations Website[/url]

Victoria is looking better than the Old Exchange station though:

This contained platform 11 which was the longest platform in the UK(2,194 feet)

and is now that large raised area of waste-ground, car parking and urban decay on the approach to Victoria.

So you had to do cottaging in the photo booth rather than the closed toilets?

Yuck.

I've always been puzzled by the attraction to cottagers of that particularly manky, p*iss-smelling, decrepit and very busy Victorian toilet.

Not the classical place for seduction.

Manchester Victoria does the job and has some interesting features:

What's wrong with Bank Quay?

It says "Welcome to Warrington":

Ohm's Law:

V=IR

Current=Voltage/Resistance

-So the current is proportional to the voltage and inversely proportional to the resistance (of your conducting body parts).

A 'small' power supply may not provide sufficient current to cause you damage.

I got followed by a dodgy looking car when driving home from a trail center a few months back. I didn't like the look of the cars occupants, and breifly considered driving past the estate where I live

Drive past your estate, then do a U-turn at a roundabout. They'll know you've clocked them. If they follow you, drive to a Police Station or such like.

It's another reason to carry bikes inside the car rather than on the back.

Dodgy as you like, but Russia (with zero Russian language and just a 'letter of invitation' gained through an agent) was a great experience.

Entering through the Estonian border on a twilight summer night was like something from a 70s Cold War Thriller.

Passing the various powerplants and 'facilities' in the forest, surrounded by tower blocks and drunks lying on the ground, along a pot-holed road on the bus was fairly surreal.

I spent the whole time looking over my shoulder, was pick-pocketed and witnessed violent crime but I'm glad I went!

ps. US dollars seemed to lubricate administration.

I like James May's programmes.

The Meccano one was great and I enjoyed the plasticine one.

The Scalextric one last night wasn't quite as good and seemed more about doing a spectacular, but still quite interesting.

B'stards.

That's some haul.

Eyes peeled.

Was the garage left open/bikes visible?

Yes, stuffing a big rag into the inlet is the way to do it.

It happened to an automatic E-Class and another car on a ramp in a garage.

The ECU will go into safe mode if there is under-boost. This can be caused by something as simple as a boost pipe leak or the pressure regulator failing. You may be lucky.

The spectacular sort of Turbo failure is when an oil bearing/seal fails and oil is sprayed into the inlet. The engine then runs on the lubricating oil, can get faster and faster and won't stop until something fails….

other than to imply that the average person is
stupid ……

Is that the mean, mode or median?

The Sun is garbage that is produced by intelligent people for "the masses". The readers aren't under the illusion that it is news, but don't want demanding, intellectual stimulation and that's fine. I find that papers like The Sun trivialise important issues and make a big story about non-issues, though, which is a shame.

ps. I don't watch X Factor because it's sh*t (yes, I did see it the other week and was amazed by how awful it was), and so is Strictly Come Dancing.

The only film I've walked out of:

The Boat That Rocked

Absolutely and totally awful in every single way.

I should have walked out of Quantum of Solace, but, as an act of extreme masochism, stayed.

Recumbent stuff is what you want

Hydraulic Brakes
Bike computer
Good Tyres

I dropped my DAS course bike doing u-turns in a tight road. I felt pretty stupid

I'm not surprised! ;)

I think we all(including Samuri) know that a 25 year old RD350 would be a terrible choice, but a good fun.

If someone was looking for a top spec mountainbike would you suggest a £50 halfords clunker because it would be cheaper?

Not quite the same thing.

I appreciate that I've got more to learn about riding than I can possibly imagine, but can't I learn the ropes on something nice?

Of course, but a 500/600 hack will be quick enough. With bikes, it's actually about the rider, much more so than with a car.

-although for a lot of people in the UK it's about telling people what a fast, shiny bike they have sat in the garage for 359 days of the year :wink:

I don't want to buy something cheap n chearful now, only to replace it in 6 months / a years time.

Why not? Learn the ropes, improve as a rider and go through winter on a hack then get something nicer.

Have you done any riding in the past 18 months since DAS? If not, possibly a bit wasted on a new rider. Better to get to grips with it on a slower bike. Street Triples are supposed to be really good, but about 5grand for the cheapest.

I'd rather fight off a gang of youths intent on plundering my consumer goods every night than be surrounded by Britains lost middle class

Although you live in Leigh, I don't believe you.

As someone else said, better to live there than a middle class commuter ghetto.

I don't know about anyone else, but in preference to an unpleasant, violent, crime-ridden, parochial unpleasant area, I'd take the pleasant, leafy spacious, middle-class commuter ghetto EVERY TIME.

St Helens was where I grew up. Living there in the 80s & 90s, the town didn't have the absolute 'grimness' or feeling of menace that other places I've visited(different to living somewhere for 20 years) have -just a fairly parochial attitude from a lot of the people.
It has been tidied up a bit in recent years, but I do find the town centre a bit depressing on my occasional visits. Of course there are nice parts, and much of the borough is actually quite green/rural.

As has been said, many other towns are similar. They all have the poor, the people in the middle(the old 'respectable' working class who's off-spring have become successively better off, probably including many of the people on here)and the well-off, just in different proportions.

Even Leigh has some nice areas and just outside Kirkby there are large arable farms.

Liverpool gets a terrible press, but it is no worse than other cities.

From what I've seen, the worst places are those that are very insular. Having little opportunity leads to a narrow view of the world, which makes ignorance a virtue and then breeds contempt for education and people from outside and so the cycle continues.

I'm led to believe that Real Men actually use these:

Never understood the need for a hatchet

-Easier to carry about and good when camping. Whack it with a piece of wood if you need more oomph. My hatchet is one I was given a very ye olde Spear & Jackson one (Made in Sheffield) to which I fitted a more recent handle.

George Lamb seems a bright bloke, but is really, really unsuited to 6Music.

Presumably the station's listeners broadly agree.

Opinels are great and easily modified. I've had various sizes and use them for all kinds. They're so cheap that losing or breaking one isn't a problem.

Although Frost knives are cheap, the steel is superb. Do a search on the www -they're very popular and the Clipper is even Endorsed by Ray Mears[/url]

Of course the size depends on the task in hand.

I've got a small hatchet which is great for small work and a ~3.5lb axe for bigger things.

A big splitting maul is handy, but a Wood Grenade and abig hammer does a good job and cost almost nothing.