Report him. Partly for his lack of ability to teach pupils how to overtake a cyclist but also because ‘making progress’ means making safe progress, not risking a head-on collision…

My eldest Godson (11), who lives in a massive house in Abu Dhabi and goes to private school and whose parents are really quite well off was moaning about the poor quality of the dubbing on the Asterix film we were watching on a mahoosive LED TV with Bose soundbar over New Year…
His parents have done a very good job though – he knows what a First World Problem is :-)

We already incentivise people to be healthier.

With 60%+ of the population being overweight or obese then we’re clearly not are we? We may be trying to, but it’s not effective…

I’ve no idea what we’d have done without the NHS.

– the debate is about how to provide healthcare at bearable cost – cancer care would still be available under any new scheme. The current free-at-point-of-delivery model is what we’re debating here, not the actual provision of care.

I’m not sure BMI is related to national healthcare… i mean look at USA!

– agree to an extent but the extremity of our overweight crisis means the current system clearly is not the most effective one we could have…

Eh, I’m going to stop ageing in 20 years?

This isn’t about you, it’s about the population balance overall. In the past, people died in their late 70s overall. Once you’re dead you represent zero cost to the NHS as you have zero healthcare needs.
Now, people are living much longer – but the later years are in declining health, therefore representing a bigger burden on the NHS at the end of our lives than we used to. Coupled with a big increase in the number of older people, means lots more old people needing lots more care.
In 20 years time when the Baby Boomers are dead, this problem will go away – when you look at the demographic breakdown in the UK there are fewer people in the younger age groups…

It is and it is (general taxation).

But clearly not enough money is being provided by this mechanism with 65% of NHS trusts in deficit in 15/16 (up from 8% in 2009/10)

Having free healthcare means people are more likely to seek help early meaning that treatment is usually far simpler and cheaper than if you wait until you’re really really ill because you didn’t have the money or didn’t want to pay to visit a GP.

I take your point but how come, if free at point of delivery is so effective at providing good healthcare for a population, we’re one of the least healthy countries in the world when it comes to basic BMI/overweight/obesity…

Maybe your point is true for acute illness but not for chronic or self-created illness?

– so work was done by contractors and 3rd parties.
This is how Britain has worked since the. 90s

When I was a contractor at the London-based European Head Office of a finance company for 4 years, my clients were variously English, Dutch, Pakistani, American, Half-French, so being political and not doing your job is, to be fair, not unique to the English.

And my mate working in the UAE only has his job because generally speaking, the indigenous Arab population are so ineffective…

Easy, change the proposition of ‘free at the point of delivery’ – it’s simply not sustainable, means we’re not incentivised to look after ourselves and means we take for granted the value it provides – if it’s free, it has no cost… (we believe)

It will get sorted in 20 years time when the population is no longer ageing…

In the meantime, government needs to stand up to the electorate and spell out in clear terms we can’t always have what we want…

Everyone should be given a breakdown of the total cost of their treatment so at least we’re aware of the cost.
Consider, like charities do, suggesting we make a % contribution to offset that cost.
Make a contribution obligatory and means test it.
Consider tax breaks for private care so those who can afford it are encouraged to go private
Not sure what you do about the majority of the population who’re knowingly creating a burden for the NHS by overeating and doing no exercise – I can’t see a non-contentious way of dealing with that unfortunately…

As a higher rate taxpayer who’s had 4 operations over the years falling off my bike (i.e. I was partly responsible for the costs the taxpayer paid) I have no problem with that… then taxpayers’ money can go to those who can’t fund it themselves

If you like Bowie and haven’t already, then go and see Lazarus, it’s excellent, if you’re a fan. The cast soundtrack has some excellent renditions of his songs, too: Changes and Life on Mars in particular.

Excellent documentary, sad to see Tony Visconti nearly in tears, if understandable

If you like Bowie and haven’t already, then go and see Lazarus, it’s excellent, if you’re a fan. The cast soundtrack has some excellent renditions of his songs, too: Changes and Life on Mars in particular.

Everyone needs to read this, from the FT.

The Long And Painful Journey To World Disorder

The link may not work, in which case Google “Martin Wolf: The long and painful journey to world disorder” and you should be able to read it…

Proper bigger picture stuff. Problem with a lot of Leave voters I think is by definition they’re very parochial in their views of the world – they really don’t have that broader understanding of politics, history and economics which has led to them feeling the way they do, and hence they’ve been easily manipulated into believing that leaving the EU will solve all the problems they feel they have. I think a lot of the problems they identify (inequality, slow economic growth, distant elite) are real problems and they’re right to shout about them – but they’ve utterly missed the causation of them and been led into believing the EU is the problem when in fact it’s the confluence of far bigger and broader trends… Personally I think Brexit or not, UK is in for a lost generation of slow growth and falling living standards… none of this ‘lost decade’ nonsense – more like 30+ years…
I’m thinking of emigrating as current UK leadership (Tory and Labour) seems unable to grasp the depth and breadth of the issue and is pandering to their own base and a fearful, tantrumy electorate… which isn’t quite what we need in a crisis

I honestly don’t think you stand a chance of getting any compensation under EU rules.

From reading the EU conditions I think you’re right. My insurance won’t cover it either – but surely being 24 hours late for a 14 hour journey, inadequate food and drink and 30 hours with nearly no sleep is breaking some law or sales regulation somewhere? It was truly chaotic at times… The queue in Bahrain took 3 hours to move 15 metres to find out what connecting flights were available as pretty much every flight from that part of the world had been affected…

Of course, now we’re leaving the EU we’ll need our own rules.

:D

Condor Tempo worth a look. Pricey but beautiful to ride and all good quality components so not expensive in the long run.
Have been riding mine several times a week for two years and only just had to replace chain and tyres. Other than brake blocks everything else is original parts.

Also the fee is just an initial estimate at the moment, it could go up after the site is complete.

Also known as a licence to print money from a captive audience! I don’t see any incentive there for the landowner to control costs…

Harry Enfield has it right “I saw you coming…”

We badly need to change our attitude to property – we justify overspending on it to a massive amount for some insane reason, and then wonder how we’ve ended up in debt crisis… and public services are massively underfunded cos there’s not enough taxpayer cash to pay for them

who buys a leasehold?

People who can’t afford anything else generally… which is increasingly everyone who hasn’t already bought
Buy To Letters – they’re only interesting in making money
Every Londoner who earns less than £100k. Seriously – pretty much impossible to find a 2-bed flat under £400k or 1-bed flat under £350k now – in tattier parts of SE London even a small 2-bed terrace house is now £500k+
Median London income is c£35k…

Housing in the UK appears to be increasingly some kind of feudal scam – benefiting only the landowners, builders and banks…

Leasehold flats for a start – FT ran a piece on leasehold recently which described it as medieval law (which it is)… you never actually own anything, not the land, nor the building…
Then you get situations where managing agents overcharge and fail to deliver but when the leaseholders successfully sue them, the costs get added back into their management fees.
Def read the articles in The Guardian re the scams going on with increasing ground rents – which sounds an awful lot like extortion, but totally legal because the landowners have successfully prevented proper reform of property law…
There’s also now new build houses being sold only as leasehold… (houses, not flats…)
Or leases which get sold on and gently increased over the years…

I have to admit I’d never heard of new build estates coming with management charges – sounds like another way for developers/landowners to rinse us of our post-tax pay to me…

Brits are uniquely insane about property – we’ve been conditioned into handing over vast amounts of our hard-earned to developers, banks and landowners and feel happy about doing it cos our homes are our castles…

5th from bottom in the EU for outright owned, no mortgage remaining… all that debt and we still have one of the lowest rates of ownership in the EU!

Eurostat data…

OP – there’s a very good reason why the agent was being vague about it!… she’s hoping like hell you don’t ask too many ‘difficult’ questions before you sign…

I you have a Garmin Edge 200 or similar GPS for your bike then stick that in your pocket…

There’s been a hypothesis running for a while that falling violent crime rates in recent years are due to the removal of leaded petrol. It might be that damaged generation is making its way through the demographics.

It’d be interesting to see some evidence of that – if it turned out to be true the resulting class action would destroy the oil companies and force us all onto bikes and renewables :-) Society would be an awful lot happier…

Elbow sound a lot like that other well-known band from Bury: Arse.

I never knew anyone who could tell one from the other

I’m not sure why he’s suddenly got the urge to ‘say it like it is’ on moral matters, it’s not exactly his modus operandi is it?

The Saudis aren’t the only one of our allies/partners he’s been offensive to recently… his current run rate of offensive comments is about one a week…

I think he’s trying to get sacked – to avoid the trap May set him by putting him in Cabinet in the first place – to ensure he takes some responsibility for the Brexit mess he helped to create and give herself a fall guy when it gets messy, which it will at some point.

I reckon he’ll push things even further and try and force her to sack him but instead of letting him resign from government she’ll move him to another Cabinet post to keep him in the crosshairs of Brexit….

All these games when we’re in a massive crisis and we need some leadership :-(

As a FTB I can see a fair few properties coming on the market with tenants in situ and I wouldn’t touch them with a bargepole. Partly the mortgage would be tricky as mentioned above, partly I wouldn’t want to be responsible for evicting someone and partly as a renter my experience is almost wholly that landlords do as little maintenance as possible as they’re in it to make money or just assume tenants will wreck the place so ‘it’s not worth it’ – so I’d expect to find a load of work to do…

As a side note I gather there’s a lot of landlords who aren’t aware of what’s happening next April so you may find a big increase in properties on the market next year – and with BTL being slowly killed by gvnmnt you’ll likely find few BTL buyers so I’d be getting the place shifted asap…

Oh and don’t waste your time asking estate agents for advice! Ask a lawyer

increases the chance of a war kicking off.

Military Industrial Complex isn’t it – sending a bit of business the way of America’s defence contractors = jobs and GDP growth + a common enemy will handily help to unite a divided USA.

Mind you, Obama’s been winding up the Chinese over South China Sea for months now – the above strategies are hardly Trumpian inventions…

+ 1 for Condor Fratello – you can build one with a good group and wheels for under £2k and rim brakes + they have a disc version now too.
Lovely bike to ride… very comfy and pretty sprightly and a very knowlegeable independent LBS

I believe Brixton Beach is staying put even tho Brixton Cycles has had to move + the track in Brockwell Park is still in place AFAIK.
I would give Brixton Cycles a call – they’ll know what’s going on with the club

I suffered from really bad constipation last time I trekked in Nepal, didn’t go for over 2 weeks. So no bog roll used at all

Should’ve taken some Picolax

Par for the course in the UK at the moment – pretending property is some magic free money tree and trying to rinse any greater fools they can find…

On a similar note, my tenancy agreement doesn’t end until end Feb and my letting agent’s just sent me a letter asking me if I want to renew, for which they’ll want to charge £45+ VAT – somewhat ignoring the fact it becomes a rolling tenancy when the fixed term expires, therefore nothing to renew, and the government have just announced their intention to ban all letting agents’ fees… I suspect they’re hoping to get me to pay before the ban takes place and are hoping I don’t read the papers or understand an AST…

And as for the OP – that land’s not going to flood ever, is it… I mean, the Thames Valley isn’t a flood plain at all…. 8O

Ride em on down is definitely a tribute to Robert Johnson….

This is Cym Idwal at Easter 2013 after a superb dump of snow. One of the best winter days out I’ve ever had. It’s just up the road from Plas Y Brenin so you may well end up in stuff like that if the weather’s right. Walking crampons would’ve got you along the flat bit by the lake but the second the path hits the headwall you’d be dangerously ill-equipped…

I wouldn’t recommend that kind of terrain in those kind of conditions without proper 4 season boots, crampons, axe and ability to use them…

Personally if you’re an absolute beginner I’d stop taking advice on here and give the guys at Plas Y Brenin a call and have a follow up chat face to face and if you want to buy something while you’re there, pop into Joe Browns in Capel Curig and get some proper expert advice

I go with the approach of riding a bit further out well in advance when you see oncoming traffic, such that you obviously can’t both carry on as you are.

Then, most drivers will slow down and move over as much as possible, and you can gradually move back over, probably further in than originally positioned, and pass with a cheerful wave.

Otherwise, you have a clear sign that the driver is one of the sociopathic variety, so you still move over in the same way but are better prepared for the option of diving into the hedge/ditch if necessary.

This.

I have a theory that a lot of people essentially regress to toddler stage when they get in their cars, and they need clear, assertive leadership about how to behave. Give them that, I they often meekly comply. Let them get scared cos they’re not sure what to do and you get panic and tantrums. Honestly – I’ve been on the receiving end of what can only be described as a tantrum many times – once it even ended in a sulk – pursed lips and everything :-)

I go with the wave pre-emptively – as soon as they see me. It’s a polite way of saying ‘stay where you are, I’m here already’ – most people reciprocate. But as John says you know pretty quickly if you’re dealing with a psycho and because you’ve started the interaction early, you give yourself extra time to take avoidance action…

I have a fair bit of Mavic stuff, i think it’s excellent value. I’m 97cm/38 inches chest and take their medium. It’s a roadie fit so def on the slim side. But I find their large stuff means the pockets sag when there’s anything in them.

I’m also medium in Endura stuff too, if that helps

Good grief. I’m not Herr Flick!

I don’t know – that style of thinking seems quite de rigeur at the moment… Maybe the Gestapo look will be the in thing come next season?

Across the EU as a whole, 62 per cent of those polled would vote to stay in the EU compared with 57 per cent in March, according to Bertelsmann’s polling which covered nearly 15,000 respondents. The poll was conducted in August 2016 a few weeks after the British referendum.
In Britain, support rose to 56 per cent after the Brexit vote, compared to 49 per cent before. Approval rates fell in Spain to 68 per cent, but rose in the other four big continental member states – Germany, France, Italy and Poland.

Very interesting – the greatest advert for the benefits of the EU has been a referendum where the outcome was a preference for leaving :-)

As a committed Remainer who’s spent time living in France and has always seen the EU as a good thing I have to admit I’ve been utterly complacent about its benefits and always assumed most other people accepted it to, accepting that while it had faults, the essential purpose of binding European people together was seen as an overall worthwhile objective.

To be honest I think that’s still true – all that’s happened really is that a few far-Right individuals have (like another certain Far Right individual 80 years ago) exploited the fear of change and realisation that the economy’s in serious long term trouble to serve their own agenda…

Now we see those benefits at risk and we see what we’ll lose by leaving, it’s interesting that public opinion is swaying back towards remain…

IMO there’s a deliberate campaign by all the vested interests in Remain (most of the Press, most MPs, large corporates, BoE, most European Heads of State, America (for now), foreign investors e.g. Japan, the City (all very powerful groups) to bring about buyers’ remorse and bring us to a point of either a second referendum or a general election fought purely on EU membership. If I were running that campaign I’d be doing my best to publicise polls like this and I’d also recognise that we need to experience some real pain to ensure a clear mandate for Remain next time the vote goes to the People. Whether Theresa May is part of this campaign or not, I’m really not sure…

think of the neighbours, if any.

This. In our rush to use property as a way to ‘easy’ wealth now it’s clear the economy is broadly screwed for at least a generation there’s very little consideration IME of the impact of property no longer being seen as a home, and instead as an ‘investment’ and the impact this has on mental health and destruction of healthy local communities.
See the law on local ownership being changed in Cornwall as one e.g. and both middle classes and the poor being exiled from London as another… Friends of mine in the Lakes will tell you the same tale of the outside money pushing locals out of the National Park, breaking up communities as they go…

On this note, I wouldn’t assume the tax situation around holiday lets will remain the same – just as BTL has been deliberately broken, so will holiday lets as people trying to game the system re-categorising their properties. it’s also an easy political target at a time when we’re desperate for more tax income (see NHS for e.g.)

Ortlieb
Waterproof
Bombproof

Whatever the legality of it I’d be wary of stopping dead on a cycle superhighway given the general levels of riders on them and the general ability to look ahead and anticipate – you’re likely to get rear-ended or cause a pile up. Bikes don’t have brake lights so no-one behind will have a clue you’re slowing up.

Which leaves you in a tricky place I agree…

I’d be thinking about slowing up in case the car moves into your lane and shouting a warning to the riders behind.

Wouldn’t touch it…

The idea that it’s not flooded before and that makes it ok is meaningless at a time with unprecedented numbers/extent and seriousness of flooding… the past is no guide whatsoever to the present or future at a time of unprecedented climate change!

Mate in the Lakes managed to stop his house getting flooded due to proactive use of sandbags. Neighbours not so lucky and apparently their house is now uninsurable (been flooded twice in two years I think).

A load of houses down near the Ouse near me have been on the market for months and months – really nice Victorian terraces and seem well priced. Then you speak to people who know the area and they tell you those streets flood regularly… so clearly buyers are already wary – and likely to be more so when you come to sell in the future…

Twitter campaign to support part-time education

And I just thought it’d be worth throwing this into the discussion…

The characteristics of Leave voters[/url]

Disciplining children and whipping sex criminals, keeping the nation safe, protecting social order and skepticism (‘few products live up to the claims of their advertisers…products don’t last as long as they used to’) correlate with Brexit sentiment.

The EU is not completely unrelated to either World War, is it?

+ the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

It’s notable how little we’re taught about the history of the EU in the UK – the background to its formation and the aims of the founding fathers. As it happens I wrote my final year Uni dissertation on it – France and Germany went to war 3 times in 80 years – millions of men killed, families torn apart (my own great grandfather was German and got hauled back to Germany in WW1 to fight against his own adopted country… screwed my Grandma up for life seeing her father abandon her like that…) economies wrecked and countries just torn apart… but the UK didn’t have the same experience as mainland Europe as we were never occupied.
Nothing like the horrors of the Oradour sur Glane massacre happened on UK soil – nothing like the WW2 cemeteries with fields and fields of white crosses exist on British soil – so we don’t have that visceral understanding of the horrors of those 3 wars and why the founding fathers were so determined to bring Europe so closely together (particularly to contain German nationalism) to stop it ever happening again.

Instead, we whine like children about ‘straight bananas’ and utterly miss the point that EU is about preventing war more than anything else.

I think it’s an utter tragedy that we’ve not been taught this at school – the endgame being what we’re currently seeing – a woefully poorly educated electorate voting against something without having any real idea of its true purpose, which is peace and prevention of war. This lack of education about the EU has made it very easy for various parties to manipulate us…

The only criticism I’d make of the EU at the moment is it’s not proven able to stop the rise of the far right across Europe – which really and truely is it’s reason for existing…

Yes so you agree vocational studies are just as valuable as degrees then.

Absolutely. Apprenticeships are being introduced because the government recognise there’s a need for them for industry. But Working Futures is saying you need something to an advanced level – if not a degree then an Apprenticeship, but nothing more than GCSE is increasingly not an option to a decent job. Even basic jobs in retail are disappearing as everything goes online

Different strokes and many folks will go on to get a degree at a later date once they see a need.

Not necessarily – if you read Working Futures it’s suggesting you need the higher qualifications to even get into the decent jobs from the beginning…

If I was advising kids now I’d be encouraging a degree if the desired job required it, or an Apprenticeship if the desired job required it. But I’d really not advise doing nothing… the nature of work is changing fast…

The proportion of the labour force remaining unqualified is expected to represent only a small minority by 2024.

What is also true is that academic and personal skills will be increasingly required to have a chance of a decent job in an increasingly competitive world.

The Erasumus scheme is very helpful in this respect of course.

:oops:

:D