In fact the North needs its own Barnet formula! Independence for the North!

Good points the real issue is the democratic deficit in England!

I’d vote for an Independent London, preferably with a big wall around it

Yep, then we can fill the bugger full of water to make a massive resevoir! Will stop these southern softies stealing all our water!

I’m all for a parliment of the North (England)! Hadrians wall MkII about stoke level?

More to the point would it even have an effect on the English? What advatages does the Union bestow on us at a personal level?

No borders, different currencies, significant differeces in laws.

What about national institutions such as the BBC?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-15878391

Looks like business is asking questions that maybe politicians should be asking?

You have to ask whether this has actually been thought through anyway?

Brilliant …a great play on stereotypes! (and maybe a shade too close to the bone) 😐

+1 for the mighty New Mills.

I currently work in Warrington which is a fair commute (about an hour each way, longer in bad traffic).

Two stations for nights out in Manc and the A6 isn’t too bad as long as your out of peak hours although I often go via Marple which is sometimes quicker.

Three bed house should be easy with £150k.

….and the best bit there is great riding every way from your doorstep!

There will be no winners in this economic tradgedy. There may be a few greedy players at the top which is an abhorrence. The reality is that all of us will have to accept a reduction in our living standards for the forseeable future.

No one has an automatic right to continual pay increases and unaffordable benefits.

The unions need to realise this otherwise all they will do is create the need for further job losses either for their members or indirectly for others.

5E + 1

Trade Unions promote collective bargaining which is against the best interests of talented and hard working employees.

I couldn’t live with my conscience if I crossed a picket-line, unless I was a designated essential service. Because that would make me a scab.

I say do you still live in the 80’s?

Peston makes some interesting observations …not so much were **** but more …its going to take a long time to turn around this crisis. Don’t expect a pay rise any time soon!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15820601

Lifer – Its quite obvious really.

The OBR predictions are based on the same data sets. To say that the independent prediction predicts that Osbournes plan will end up borrowing more than Darlings is at best disingenuous.

The OBR and Treasury predictions use different data sets.

Your up to your no good mischief as usual.

Ernie – Your views on capitalism are well know. So go on show us the light, how should we run our economy?

‘Left Foot Forwards’ Please … can we have some credible evidence!

I love this term ‘race to the bottom’ but what does it actually mean?

The fact is that for the past 10 – 20 years our economy has been growing on debt. We now have the situation where not only do we have to pay this back but we have to completely restructure our economy onto a sustainable footing.

The reality is that it is not a race to the bottom it is part of rebalancing the economy.

Unfortunately the unions wish to protect their employees. That is right and completely natural for them. Don’t however expect support from the general punblic.

The unions can only protect their own members at the expence of other people, FACT.

Well you’ve got your work cut out. You simly do not have the support of public opinion. Why – because we in the private sector have inferior pensions and benefits.

We however understand that its better to still have a job than a plush pension.

To support our public sector with wholly unreasonable demands whilst negotiations are ongoing …no thanks.

Nope. Why would I?

Ah ha…. from the horses mouth. It has failed as a ‘single currency’ although remains a ‘working currency’.

Does that about sum it up?

Its a rechargeable battery hence I would not consider it a consumable. It should have an anticipated design life.

Thats not to say that it should last the same as the phone but 6 months is not reasonable.

Should yeah, damn right they should but they don’t or atleast certain manufacturers will not warranty them for that long.

Thats true and it is the manufacturers right to offer a warranty or not to offer one at all. A warranty is different from your statutory rights.

You are statutory entitled to a battery of reasonable quality and one that is fit for purpose. I would suspect that anything that does not at least last for the contract period would fall foul of this. The burden of proof changes from the manufacturer to the consumer after 6 months which not surprisingly ties up with their warranty.

On the basis that every smartphone I’ve seen needs charging daily they really need to be designed for this.

To be fair I would expect that a battery on a phone has an anticipated design life which would assumme charging every day and normal usage.

Certainly if its less than 6 months they have no option but to replace. If you can prove that the battery was not of suitable quality or not fit for purpose then you are entitled to a free replacement even after 6 months.

Batteries cannot really be considered a consumable. They should have an anticiapted lifespan of at least the contract length (im my opinion that is what would constitute reasonable quality and fir for purpose).

You cannot simply state that as it is holding its value it has not failed. For the average German it has not failed but for those in Grece and Italy it most certainly has.

Lets consider it like this – as a currency it has not failed.

As a single currency it most definitely has.

I’m struggleing to understand this dogged defence of the Euro. It was a political project but a fiscal gamble. That gamble has failed.

It may well survive but its already caused enourmous damage to the world economy and I fear the worst is yet to come.

GB at least made one good decision and that was to keep us out of it.

No one will leave it – its not going to happen.

la la la …la la la…..

It may survive or it may not. I doubt it will be in its current form and membership if that is the case however.

A single common currency can only work with fiscal union. Even then the restrictions to free movement of labour will still constrict a system. In the long term it simply cannot work as we have too many barriers unlike the united states. Language and culture being the two significant factors that we cannot control.

The better decent is from just below the mam torr road col to Edale. Fast and seriously good fun. Tis getting a litte eroded though and those pesky walkers can oft get in the way and spoil your fun!

I know how you feel …not with mountian biking but with rock climbing.

I use to go rock climbing 2 to 3 times a week but I’ve just fell out of love. I lost the strength and fitness required and just lost ability. Climbing lower grades and working my way back to where I was just seemed like too much hard work.

With mountain biking I feel fit, fast and good. That helps a lot, (It helps that I can ride stright out of my door tbh, although I could also walk to a crag!)

I’ve thought about selling up and moving on but I still have ambitions to climb big stuff in the alps and beyond.

So I’ve moved into ski mountaineering and this winter (i.e. now) I’m going indoors to train and start rebuilding my strength. I’ve not done it yet though ….night riding is whey too much fun!

All I can suggest is try riding in the evenings locally or short afternoon blasts. Make it social and the love will soon come back.

I really cant belive how incredibly naive some people are. Would the world be safer is Iran had nuclear weapons ….Jeez.

In an ideal worls nobody would have any and that is where we need to aim for. So no they damm well should not have any.

Its even worse where countries have nuclear weapons when that might actually use them. The guy is a power crazy nutter and while I don’t think he would be that stupid to try and use them I would really rather prefer that he didn’t have the choice.

Nuclear weapons are a danger to the human race and the less the better. I just wish someone would take them of Israel too.

The Euro is borked unless Germany or ECB (German proxy) agrees to underwrite eurozone debt.

It was always doomed to failure.

there is no need to reduce expenditure. we tax and spend far less than most other european countries – remember we get most of our healthcare from taxes and they do not.

except that ….raising taxes hinders growth. We did NEED to reduce public spending and continue to control it.

No I don’t.

I do agree that I should have included tax rises into the mix.

OMITN – Touche, noted.

TJ – Yes your right you could use tax increases instead of cutting public expenditure. However putting up taxes also has a negative impact on growth.

There is an argument on idealogy however the sensible way is to use both tools and targetting expenditure in a way that promotes growth, for example investing in infrastructure rather than services.

The key word is not credibility or affordability. It is sustainability. The country has been living beyond its means for some times and this requires actions.

1. To restore and maintain creadibility in the nations ability to pay.
2. To pay down the deficit at a sustainable rate.
3. To provide a platform for sustainable public expenditure at long term growth levels.

This will require firstly a reduction in public expenditure to elimitate the structural deficit that cannot be eliminated by growth and secondly by transforming the public services auch that they can be funded sustainably for the long term.

Its really not rocket science.

…..dagnamit

There needs to be a system where you can counter vote. Them off roaders are a bloody nuisance but why should I or anyone else try to restrict it? Yes where its causing real damage but restrictions should be the last resort.

NIMBY’s the lot of em.

Howevert that is not what Frodo appeared to be doing / saying.

TJ – You misunderstand. What I’m saying is that within reason you do what is required to get the job done, sometimes that means staying late. I wouldn’t ask anyone to stay unless it was important and if they said I’m sorry I have commitments tonight …thats fine.

I would however expect people to make reasonable efforts to make the effort ‘when it is required’.

It depends on the relative importance on either event. Obviously if something can wait then it will wait.

Sometimes you cannot achieve something and you let the client know.

However it is important to ensure the client get what they need when they need it. I don’t see a regular biking night as being more important than sorting out critical issues when they occur.

I don’t mind staying on a bit later so long as I have nothing else planned. However, If I’m going riding or meeting friends then I’ll leave.

Sorry but in my book that is letting down the team. Sometimes something just happens that needs to be sorted. Not everything can be planned in advance.

Picking the kids up, well not much you can do there but I would expect them to try to make alternative arrangement if possible, or do what they can remotely from home.

The exception to this is if it happens on a regular basis. I have often cancelled biking nights at the last minute. I would be somewhat annoyed if this was a regular occurence however.