It's all a matter of personal taste in the end though isn't it and what you think about what other people might think of you.

Personally, although some tats are quite arty it's not for me. At all. Ever. Because it has become so common place a lot of them now do look pretty chavvy. Heaven knows what's got into Becks head as well – he looks a right **** these days!

And the same goes for body piercings (earings aside). I just don't get it and think they look awful. But all IMHO.

[Discussions with daughter and her wanting a nose stud. Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!]

I rather like the Seat's but my experience (ok, so I only had 1) is that while it was great fun to drive the build quality and ultimately long term reliability was a bit shonky. Rather partial to the S-Max and that, to me, would be a better family car. More room and more versatile. As the kids grow older I reckon you will find the C-Max too small.

FWIW we have a Vectra estate. Not quite the "drivers car" that others may be but they are cheap as chips, bigger than a P&O container ship, reasonably economical and, in my experience, pretty reliable (had 3 or 4 over the years now and not had a major issue with any of them – total of 240,000 miles driving). I like the new shape Mundane and it does drive very nicely although on a long distance I found the drivers seat just a tad too short.

i can notice the sound is actually quite poor

Welcome to world of digital music. :-)

He's quite good for his age and certianly doesn't lack confidence. For me though, what he is playing is not really that hard and comes across as all a bit full on with no variation or subtlety. The judges banging on about how awesome he is just shows they don't relaly know anything about drumming and if it sounds loud and fast it must be good. My son's pretty much the same age and is, IMO a way better drummer than him. Doesn't have the same self confidence.

All seems a bit clumsy to me. Board have now indicated they don't want him but clearly don't want to sack him either, so are trying to get rid of him on the cheap. Nothing in it for Raffa to accept – especially as he has a long, lucrative contract in place. I expect him to sit it out and wait for the board to offer him a really good deal to walk or give in and sack him. Why do anything else?

It was the "I didn't mean to cause any harm" bit that doesn't quite ring true. How exactly were you planning "not to cause any harm" by going for a superman grip and tug on a chap's old fella? :roll:

And the problem with buy to let is what, exactly? Someone who has a bit more cash than tyou and saw an opportunity to invest their cash in a potentially more rewarding way than playing the stock market or savings? I can't argue that a fair number of people went into it with only eyes for potential profits etc and have been stung because they over extended themselves or didn't think about how they would manage if they couldn't let. And I also agree that a fair number of them are pretty crap "landlords". But that's not really the fault of buy to let. That's because they are cocks. Probably cocks in other areas of their lives too.

I know a few people who have invested in second properties as an alternative to a traditional pension fund as they feel it is a better potential return on their investment. Over the long term it quite possibly is.

Doesn't help the OP though and can appreciate that life can be a pain if you cannot afford to buy your own place and have to suffer the incompetencies of owners / landlords.

Reminds me of a family that lived near us. Surname was King. Kids were Lee, Jo and Wayne. I don't know whether the parents thought it was funny at the time or whether they just didn't think it through. We thought it was funny. :lol:

e.g. christened Henry but shortened to Harry from birth

Hmm, hardly a shortening though is it given they both have the same number of letters. :-)

Why not go the whole hog and call him Bench? Or a bit more upmarket with Abercrombie or Fitch.

What about the Aussie special of Donk?

Personally I wouldn't go with Oakley, but then he's not my kid. Main thing as most people here are saying one way or another is think not just about today but also the future and what he may have to go through.

Missed the first half of the series but joined it after the "catch up" episode. Looked quite watchable from that. Thought it was quite good for the first few episodes of the new bit but then it just started to feel likeit was being strung out for the sake of it. Random new information and arrivals to the story all made it feel like something that was gearing up to be a long running series rather than concentrating on a decent storyline. It was ok to watch but I'm not that bothered it will not run into a second series. Only disappointment will be getting to the end of series 1 and not really knowing much more than when we started out. Prefer the Good Wife although, again, that has flaws in it. At least each episode is pretty much self contained.

Does all this mean you are owning up to the "feisty" bit C_G? :wink:

And was that definitely a figure to die for or a figure to die of?

You mean the "we only have 2 sales a year" DFS? Yeah, right!

No Hora either? Unless he's already in his car and on the M4 :lol:

New Forest is beautiful – I love it, having visited a few times recently. However, it ain't cheap and, as posted above, most of the riding is on the gravel forest tracks. Very picturesque riding but not really much fun, singletrack technical riding. Moving back here would depend largely on what you did for work and where you wanted to live. As a country I think we lose sight of the fact that there are so many beautiful places that are inspiring and satisfying. There are lots of places to do all sorts of riding from big outdoors offroad epics to trail centre fun to cheeky trails. Lots of sporting opportunities if you want do adventure races or organised bike rides.

Being a native I suspect I will always hanker to live here if I had moved away, unless the place I went to totally surpassed my love of this country. I can imagine I would find it difficult to leave Canada if I had to move there, but that's another story… :-)

Something you need to be getting off your chest there Grimy? :-)

Similar to Beckham as well though isn't it? Maybe he has been paying the "hide the mobile phone" game with Ashley Cole while on England duties?

It was a pretty poor display on the whole by England although to play badly and still win 3-1 is not such a bad thing. Fortunately didn't see much of it on the telly – listened to the commentary on Radio 5. I suppose the one good thing so far is that the media hype seems a bit more understated compared to previous campaigns. Who knows – we may even do quite well.

Like many others on this thread we have a bills account which I transfer a set amount each month to cover our bills plus a bit of "emergency" funds. Her account is used for her spending as well as the household shopping. We have a couple of savings accounts (one for a lump that we don't spend from at all and one that acts as savings / slush fund for occasional extravagences) and make sure we put at least something into the savings account each month. My account (what's left) is used for mortgage, community tax, fuel and general treats / shopping / eating out / take away's / adventure races / bike events. There's not usually much left at the end of the month. Fortunate that Mrs BC has gone along with the generally more frugal lifestyle and doesn't find the need to own 73 pairs of shoes, or 36 handbags etc. Sometimes wonder how it is that people seem to have lots of new shiny things regularly as well as "expensive" holidays etc. I guess some are just a lot better off then we are but some are living well beyond their means and it will come back to bite them at some point in the future. I personally can't face having that sort of situation so we actively plan to avoid it.

Appears we had the same thought and posted at the same time. I couldn't be bothered to modify my post at the time though.

Agree though crikey.

Bound to kill the thread now….

That's just wrong! So wrong.:-)

It has to be said though, that the OP has hinted at an interesting and as yet, mostly, unanswered question

So….If ladies dress like that, is it ok to look?

The hinted question behind this is what are people (usually ladies) thinking when choosing what to wear? What statement is a woman making when she wears a super short skirt and a top so low cut that it's a miracle the puppies don't spill out all by themselves? By and large blokes are tuned to spot these things quite quickly (and also quite adept at spotting and studying them without the SO noticing) and almost certainly will.

It is not an edifying spectacle at all. 2 ignorant and stubborn people banging up against each other with neither one willing to back down. To call for 5 day strikes is an insane and stupid thing to do – and something that is only guaranteed to help break BA as a company. While I agree the BA tactic to go to the courts over an incredibly trivial irregularity is, however, entirely understandable as a way to stop the strike happening and is exactly what the Union would do as well if the shoe was on the other foot. The rate this dispute is going everyone at BA will soon be able to thank Unite and the Heathrow cabin crew for nuking their jobs. I have always had a soft spot for BA and in the past have used them in preference to others (for a truly awful flying experience try United). However, I can't trust them anymore that a booking I make will be honoured so I will avoid them – at least until the dispute is over. The whole issue though does bring together, quite nicely, most of the reasons why some people hate unions and others hate capitalist executives.

Like some of the others here it was more a case of someone walking in on me. Staying in a hotel in New Orleans, late afternoon I had come back to the hotel. Desperately needed a dump having not produced anything of note for a couple of days. Anyway, mid dump, and to be fair it was a bit of a minger, there's a knock at the door and room maid walks in. Doesn't take her long to notice the "aroma" in the room. Starts to cough and comment about it – she is clearly not alone. I make a suitable noise to indicate I am still in residence at which point she splutters an apology and races off with her mates, giggling and exclaiming to them about what she just walked in to. I couldn't help chuckling to myself.

I must say that I have been interested in Pace as an option for my next bike (when I eventually scrape some pennies together for it) but it's cases like this that mean I will just not bother to look at them. Sure, we may have just happened to hit a small seam of dodgy frames and all the others are ok – but personally I'm not prepared to take that risk when there are so many other choices out there and it's my money I'm spending. :-)

Saw title to this thread and there was me thinking it was a well meaning and touching tribute to Ronnie James Dio. Oh well.

The one thing I don't understand is where and why this word homophobic has come from? Not sure there are many (if any) who have an irrational fear or phobia of people who have an alternative sexual preference. Seems a rather pejorative word to use that will not do anything to help rational dialog between the two sides of the issue.

Becky Mantin certianly brightens up the weather forecasts in this area. Mind you, heavily preggers at the moment….

And from Oxford you are only about 50 minutes from Swinley Forest too. Clearly you will be spoilt for choice. :-)

It's a gesture – I mean 5% is hardly likely to bring the company back into financial health, but at least they have done something and something positive at that. As you say, much better than all the posturing that has happened in past governments (of all flavours) and the MPs collectively voting for a pay rise.

My first response was going to be Don't – but that was just for comedy effect and to join in with the joke.

My wedding day was almost 20 years ago and it was great. Some wise words above re enjoying the day and keeping the speeches simple. If there is only one piece of advice I can offer you for the day it is to relax, enjoy the day and take in as much of it as you can. Yes it is a long day but boy it flies by! If you are not careful you will miss out on spending some time talking to / meeting friends and family who have made the effort to come. And try and make sure you can get the friends and relatives to send you a copy of pics they took as they will help capture all of those moments that you didn't see. One wedding we went to recently provided a pile of instant cameras at the reception. Let people take photos and then you know you have at least a record from different peoples perspective of the event. Worked well.

Have a great day – and a long and happy marriage!

bikingatastrophe …do you wonder why we have free helathcare and welfare state?

Er, yes. From the taxes I and others who work pay. Although it's not technically free, really, is it? But that alone is no justification for charging a higher rate of tax on a porrtion of someone's income over some arbitrary level. People who earn a higher income pay more tax because the tax is a percentage of what you earn. The 40% rate for "high income earners" feels bad enough – especially as it hits those who don't particularly earn a vast amount, but to then stick in another tax band just doesn't sit as a "fair" thing to do. I can assume it's fairly safe to say that the majority of people who think it's a great idea are those who won't be affected by it and have to pay it. So it becomes something easy to have a view on. And you talk about the wealthy being selfish? But our tax system also goes towards paying for lazy, workshy numbnuts who have no intention of working at all and with no incentive to do so because the state comes along every week with a handful of cash. Is that fair? So why is it fair to penalise people who have invested in their education, their career, their life – taken responsibility for it and pay their way? Wealth distribution for the sake of it doesn't make sense. I would agree that it is not ideal that the very wealthy accumulate serious wealth without paying a fair contribution to society via tax. As others have said what we need to do with these people is find a way through legislation that obliges them to pay a fair contribution. Vindictive and jealous targeting of them to pay an increased or unfair share is not the way to do it and will only fuel the politics of envy and protection.

So for those who are so keen on wealth redistribution – do you do the lottery, and if so, what do you plan to do with your winnings if you were to hit the jackpot?

So why is it a good idea to tax people with a higher income at a higher rate? Why, when you get to a threshold of, say, £100,000 or £150,000 per year is it a great idea to introduce a higher rate of tax for the income above that level?

And molgrips – yes I am worse off. Fact. I pay more tax and have fewer allowances to mention 2 specific things. I am by no means rich. I agree, I can't tell how much worse off I am compared to how I might have been with an alternative government these past 13 years. I can speculate that had the Conservatives won I would be paying less tax than I am now (but possibly more than I was 13 years ago) and if Lib Dems had won 13 years ago I would be paying more tax.

Very funny molgrips. Er, your point is?

So, interest rates were double digit throughout the whole of the last tory adminstration were they? Someone must have been with a very dodgy bank as mine weren't.

Feeding the troll….

Funny – I can't remember there being 12 years of dole queues and 3 million out of work, a slashed public services and riots. I guess other people have much better and more accurate memories than me. Even though I lived through it. I find it quite sad really that there seem to be so many people who are openly hostile to a conservative led government and think it's going to be awful and seem to have completely missed what a catastrophic situaiton we are in largely thanks to Gordon Brown's "prudence" and strong economic judgement. His policies and decisions as chancellor have ruined us financially and is something we will be paying for in one way and another for quite some time.

And yes, I think I can say, quite categorically, that I am worse off proportionately than I was before Labour came into office. Am I worse off than I would have been if Labour hadn't been in office? That one is harder to call, but I suspect I am.

That's me worse off then. Guess I better go and cancel the summer holiday now…

And you weren't under Labour? Really? Lucky you. I am much, much worse off since Labour. Thank you Gordon.

I think it will be interesting to see how this one pans out. I think Cam has done a good job so far in trying to get a coalition – not entirely sure Clegg has been as helpful or constructive as he could have been (was possibly holding out for a dela with Labour, but in the end decided that a share of power at whatever cost was worth more in the end). Maybe it will last 6 months. Maybe they will see out a couple of years. It all depends how bug the differences are when it really matters.

every vote for a loosing candidate

And? Your point is what? That's the deal with a choice isn't it? Those votes are not wasted. They made a choice for a particular candidate / party. Unfortunately for them, more people made alternative choices. If they chose to vote "tactically" that's their choice / mistake is it not? A bit feeble really to argue that someone voted one way only because they wanted to stop someone else winning and then claim that the current system is rubbish because their vote is wasted. Pillocks. Should have voted for what they want.

Saying PR is better still doesn't really answer the question. Why is it better? What will it mean to the UK government? Surekly all it means is that we will have more hung parliaments / coalition governments. And apparently, at the moment, that's a really bad thing.

So what exactly is so bad about FPTP as an electoral process and why is any alternative better? Everyone seems to be whinging about hung parliaments being bad news and to my (simple) mind PR will only make it more inevitable.

In fact it seems to me that the people most exercised by wanting electoral reform are those who feel it is a way to get more seats for themselves and not necessarily something that is for the benefit of the country as a whole. Funny that.

so if lib/lab pact is made clegg could easily ask for pmship

Which of course he has abolsutely no chance of getting. 258 seats vs 57 seats. No way Labour would ever agree to let the Cleggster be PM.

Good news that Gordo is standing down though. He seems to have finally woken up and smelled the coffee and realised that no one really likes him. Even his own party have started on him and perhaps he finally saw sense. Best decision he has made since 1997.

I was going to suggest a Malt 4 from Merlin. I rather like them. My son rides one (it's a couple of years old now) but gernally pretty light, rolls very smoothly and is a nice bike to ride. General spec is pretty competitive with almost anything else out there. Choose frame size carefully though. If I were getting one for myself I would probably get the 19" frame (I'm 5'11 with short, stubby 32" legs).
Marin have a competitive deal at the moment with the White Line (and Black Line if you prefer a bike in black rather than white). Surprisingly good spec from them. Wifey has one although I'm not convinced of the feel of it if I were riding one.
Have had a Giant xtc for a few years now and very much like the feel and ride of that although I do sometimes sneak a cheeky ride on my sons Merlin.

It is definitely the most intriguing of the elections in recent years and clearly too close to call for now. If Labour fail to gain an overall majority I agree that it doesn't look good for GB – although he could then be a bit honest in trying to big himself up a bit by saying that according to the polls over the past few years he should have been hammered in the election but look, I only just lost out. Therefore the people like me and so I should stay. However, he would almost certainly need to do a deal with someone and Lib Dems seem quite clear that as long as GB is leader of the Labour party they are not interested. Now, if GB is forced to stand down as leader of the Labour Party how would that affect any proposal to form a government? With GB removed he is no longer the incumbant – unless it is viewed as a party thing and thus allow Labour to hold a party leadership contest with the winner getting the proize of PM. Can't see that being especially popular with anyone.
Even if Labour came 3rd (unlikely, but you never know) I can't see them being as far out in the cold as they were in the 80s. During much of that time Labour were completely unelectable under the leadership of Foot and Kinnock. Whatever criticsms there are of Tony Blair and the NuLab project, they have to be credited with the move to a more central political stance, making them a much more appealing party to the electorate – one of the reasons why this election is so hard to call. The reality is, on the face of it, that there is not that much between all of the parties. If we do end up with a hung parliament, I'm not sure I can see it being that successful as England does not really seem set up for that style of goernment. It possibly works in Wales and Scotland better because most of the protagonists are more desperate to be self governing than bickering amongst themselves.

Global recession you say? Well, yes there is, but it's not solely a global recession that has left our financial cupboard bare. GB is a walking disaster and I still believe him to be the worst chancelor we have ever had. How anyone with even half a brain can walk into office and claim that he will end boom and bust. Right. Detached from reality! Deluded about his own ability and capabilities.

As was mentioned up there ^^ the last Tory government weren't thrown outr because a wrecked economy it was largey the result of the political sleaze and the fact that multi term governments end up getting stale and complacent. The economy was in pretty good shape in 97. So much so that Nulab kept the current spending plans in place to avoid destabilising the growth and strength of the economy. GB was then the luckiest chancelor in history by living in a time of unprecedented growth and stability so all his little plans and schemes and tinkering and spending could go pretty much unnoticed. Then, when things did start to go a bit pear shaped, we suddenly discover that we are in a pretty dire position. I don't buy any of his "I'm the man that steered us out of the mess" because #1 we are not out of the mess yet, #2 he was culpable in putting us in the mess in the first place.
Truth be told, I'm not sure I could trust any of our current crop of politicians to really deliver us out of the mire of debt and make significant improvements to our society. However, I do know that I do not want any more of GB so I for one hope he is gone come May 7th.