Parent of two here. It has to be first come first served, nothing else is fair. If you have nice colleagues then arrange informally holidays that work for all, but if thats not possible then managment should give everyone equal priority in choosing holiday slots.

On the ebike I got in the summer its amazing how roadies race you.
Cycling from South Leeds to Harrogate in September I was cycling past the Asparagus farm just near the bottom of Harewood bank. A guy on a time trial bike came hooning past, but once 100m or so in front he eased off. We both turned off to head up to Kirby Overblow (undulating, but mainly climing!). He kept looking over his shoulder at the fat guy on the shopping bike that he could not shake off. As we climbed into Kirby Overblow I caught him up and gave a cheery “Mornin! Don’t worry, I am cheating”… he said “thank god I thought my torque sensor was broken”.
Loving the ebike and its amazing how many people just assume its a normal “shopping” bike.

Kalkhoff are the best drive system on the market at the moment. I have one of their crank drive bikes and its epic. Add a couple of Ortlieb panniers and you can happily cart a full shop home, even up hill! Has transformed my practical biking.

I have a 360 that I am happy to sell at 20% below going second hand rate to anyone near Leeds that want one. Not chipped or blacklisted and barely used as I prefer PS3.

Best I have seen is Halfords Pro 200 piece socket set for £125.
This is by far the best price I have seen for this in over a year. I bought one last week for £135 and though I had got a bargain (£150 minus 10% code from here!).
If you need a socket set then you won’t do better. Offer is on all weekend from their website front page.

Blair. Lied to the country and has the blood of thousands on his corrupt hands.

I have an original Surface Pro 128GB first generation. Bought it cheap 3 months ago and its now become my device of choice over iPad and Desktop PC.
The proper USB port, full desktop programs and a great screen make it a delight to use.
Only three areas I would change on my SP-one and these have been addressed on the SP3…namely: kickstand, battery life, trackpad on keyboard.
I will be getting a SP3 (or SP4 when it comes out!) at some point, the speed and usability is brill.

Halfords Professional socket sets.

Leatherman micra keychain tool/knife/scissors.

Lamy 2000 Fountain pen

….the list goes on!!

Sanyo (or now Panasonic!) Eneloop rechargeable cells. I never use any other AA cell these days. Epic and the ones I bought 5 years ago are still going strong.

I think perhaps we agree more than we realise! There are certain things that you are NEVER going to get a politician to say, so wasting interview time trying to do this just turns the whole thing into pantomime. Of course Gove can’t say 100% that more won’t defect to UKIP. If he had said this then Eddie would have questioned his “command and grip” on the loyalty of tory MP’s…so instead he dances round the question and the whole thing falls to farce.

Again Gove is never going to anything other than 100% loyal in the words he uses about Cameron, so the line of questioning on his failings was never going to trip up or progress anywhere.

There’s a real spectrum of R4 interviewers. Some of the better ones save their bullets for points that matter.

Junkyard: it was the “will you quit if there’s another UKIP defection where I thought Eddie lost it. Eddie asks VERY loaded questions with a clear baited trap waiting for the novice politician. Gove refused to step into that trap and gave a good retort when Eddie accused him of not giving straight answers.
All in my opinion of course. In contrast I though Andy Burnham gave a fab performance a week or two prior on R4 with candid straight answers to reasonable and probing questions.

Listened to the interview on R4 on the way home from work. Gove is a politician I have little time for after the mess he caused my kids education. That said, Eddie Mares questioning was Eddie Mare at his petty worst and reminded me of why I don’t like his interview style. Against Eddies petty non-questions I thought Gove came off 3-2 in front.

Already have the industrial and its got lots in it! Thought I should add a red one to the collection. Thanks for the code above for the extra 10%

Looks fairly modern to me, I mean one of the dials even has a setting for Ebay.

I always replace disks with pads as a unit. Modern pads are much harder and so the discs wear a lot more than they used to.
Set of discs for my cars are £50 for the AudiA2 and £110 for the XC90 approx. For that kind of cost I am happy to swap them over every few years when the pads are shot. I have had warped/uneven discs in the past. Its more a fault in the casting than the fault of how you drive.

Opening scene of Quantum of Solice….pan shot accross the lake with serene musis…than BAM…you are in the tunnels with V12’s and machines guns…to the bad guy being in the boot at the end. My favourite Bond opening, marred only by the rubbish film it prefaces.

Hey, I thought that was a pretty amusing morphing of your user name, but then my humour is not for all. Junta is effectively what you have in many socialist states, and they are far from fair.
We seem to have incompatible versions of what fair means. I have explained to the best of my ability what my version of fair is. I can only wish you well if it sits incongruous to your understanding of the world.

noteeth: happy for it to be included as “on-topic”, but the start of the thread was whether private insurance is good or bad. The topic of private vs public is different for me. If private sector is allowed into public sector than it has to be arranged to be of net benefit to the public. There are some shocking contracts out there. Another thing thats a worry is the threat of USA medical companies suing the NHS for access to NHS contracts.
I am not naive to the pitfalls of what can go wrong, but just because some contracts are wrong does not make the idea wrong always.

CG…I work in procurement. I know how skewed public sector procurement is AGAINST the state. All the rules mainly protect the companies, who litigate if the public sector buyers are not 100% following the procedures. Would not want to work in this area for a public organisation. This risks hijacking this thread though, as its a bit off topic. 🙂

a-a: agree…introduction of private into public has to be done VERY carefully. There are plenty of big nasty ruthless companies out there that would happily screw the NHS out of every last penny for minimal return. The PFI hospitals (and schools for that matter) are some atrocious contracts and will cost the tax payer a fortune. Perversely they were mainly signed up to by a Labour government!

However this same need for value for money and quality of service is managed in the private sector all the time. I don’t believe that just because some private companies have screwed themselves a good deal out of the state, that ALL public/private enterprises are doomed.
I think an NHS and an education system where 90% of employees are working for the state is the right way of doing it. We should ensure that the 10% (or whatever figure it is) of “contractors” don’t milk the system.

aa: I think we are mixing up two things on this thread…

1. Should the NHS be funded to be a good/great system? My answer is yes, and that probably costs more than we pay as a nation now.
2. Will this funded NHS (or the current underfunded one!) always be able to offer miniscule wait times and latest mega expensive procedures? No, there will always be something better than the state can fund, and for this I think its our free will as individuals if we choose to pay for something better than the NHS. I still pay my taxes for the NHS provision, so I end up paying twice.

CG….jeez no!! Lord Sugar…the maker of cheap hifi’s and rubbish computers in the 1980’s.
Philip Green… importer of chinese tat clothing.
We need doctors in charge not accountants. People who are led by value for money, not cheap. Would rather see the boss of Aldi run the NHS than I would the boss of Top Shop.

a-a: define what you mean by quality. Then tell me how much “quality” would cost more than current. Then tell me that “cost of quality”+x% would not be even better quality.
I support paying for a good NHS through taxation (and would support more funds going into it), but the reality is that there is always the +x% more that would make it EVEN better….and some people choose to pay this x% from their taxed income.

Yeah, fairs a hard thing to define, but you sum it up well Vicky.
As humans I think we all have a self-interest streak, some more than others. For me thats why communism will never work, it goes against human nature to strive for better.
I also value the education and opportunities that society has given me. I earn my money from my own efforts, but its only possible for me to do that because society works. Therefore, if I take more out in salary etc then I think it fair that I pay more in for those less able to contribute. That to me is fair. Do I think it would be fair if everyone had the same? No. There will never be enough resources to give everyone everything, so give everyone a decent standard of living, good education and decent health from the state, but don’t be deluded to think that the state can always give the best there is, and don’t restrict free choice of those that want to pay themselves for something better.

We run it in house…not capped either 🙂
You have to be with the company a year and the payments are spread over 24 months.
Great system. I have had three bikes on the scheme over the last 10 years.

Comrade Junta-yard:
Yes I do think its fair that if I pay more I get more. Thats how economics works. You seem to believe that we could specify the “ultimate NHS” for all and somehow have the funds to pay for this as a country? I would support paying more into the NHS, but it will never have enough money put into it to be “the best there is”, therefore it’s free will if I and others (for the benefit of me, my family, not society) choose to spend some of the money we have earnt and paid taxes on for a better health care provision.
I put a lot into society and I believe in a civil society funded by a fair and progressive taxation system. I also believe that my family come first. No conflict of interest as I see it.

Free choice. I like the NHS but its limited resources dont give me the security and waiting times that I want/need. Is it wrong to pay extra to get into a separate queue? I am still paying for the NHS place, but am freeing it for someone else to take.
Some people on here really would have everything run from a politbureau with everything provided by the state.

anagallis: In the example above, the cost (ie paid to the insurer) of insurance is £600.
This £600 is paid by the employer to the insurer.
The tax man sees this as payment…ie a cash value instead of actual wages of £600.
The tax man wants to tax this at the same rate as your income either 22% or 40% depending on income tax level.
He can’t take this tax from the £600 directly, so they mess about with your tax code and claw it back over the year via PAYE income tax…ie out of your pay packet.
So for £600 a higher rate tax payer would pay £240 extra in tax over the year to allow for the benefit of £600 of insurance.

Understand now? 🙂

@emz: well done for this brave and open post.
I think sexuality is something we are born with and have to live with. I can no more explain why I find (some) women attractive than I can explain why I write with my left hand or have blue eyes.
Sadly too many of our rapidly expanding world population continue to believe its a lifestyle choice or deviant/against [insert your god]’s will.
Until we all catch up with this realisation that its not a choice then Tim Cooks brave sharing is still relevant. I hope one day its no more news than the colour of his socks.

chimnea every time. We have a 5 year old cast iron one…kicks out loads of heat and is fuel efficient.

I have it through work. Valued at c£500pa….get taxed on this via benefit in kind at the “appropriate” rate.
The NHS is like the spare ribs at a chinese buffet…there can never be enough supplied to cope with the demand of the needy who think that their £7 eat all you like contribution gets them all the prawns and fillet steak in blackbean sauce you can eat. It doesnt, someone has to pay if you want A* service. NHS is B- and thats still better than most of the world.
oh…I am a huge fan of what the NHS achieves with it limited resources despite being hamstrung by successive government policies.

Think Wiggle have responded well to this. The Wiggle top is quite different from the design Ana did.

Would normally expect a premium for those hours. Is she on alternating shifts or fixed earlies? Minimum wage in the UK needs to be higher.

Iphone 4S here…slow as hell after update. Falling out of favour with Apple.

Potentially a big story this. disappointed that I had to do a manual search on the BBC to bring it up in their news….while at the same time there are some real non-stories featuring prominently.

If you ever pass Leeds you are welcome to demo my Kalkhoff with Impulse 2 drive. Its absolutely epic and has made me cut down on car use a lot as I can load it with shopping and ride the hilly streets of Leeds and feel like I am cycling in Belgium. I think the impulse 2 system is currently the best on the market.

We are heading to a world of excessive censorship. Always been a fan of John, ever since his book taught me how to pull apart my 1993 Marin Palisades.

Hi Winston, am in Leeds. Have emailed you from profile email. 🙂

Sorry for the marginal hijack, but I have a lightly used 3/4 bought from Banks in York a couple of years ago if anyone needs one for a sensible price. {hijack over).

Lots of pickpockets when I went. Amazing place, but preferred Florence.