Don't whatever you do go out the night before hand and drink beer and aftershock until 3am. Not the best preparation i must admit.

our global influence is only going one way, and that's down.

Not sure i quite understand you on that one. Are you saying that as a political power in this world we are having less involvment and less effect today than we have done?

it's about time we stopped thinking of ourselves as a major power in the world

Care to explain why?

I personally think we should keep it. As pointed out below the jobs it creates and sustains is one thing, but maintaining our stature alongside the other nuclear countries is also equally as important.

goon – that's the funniest thing I've ever heard.

Christ you should get out more. 😉

Bad service?
Don't use them again?

Bad service?
Don't use them again?

I think the answer is no.

Being a regular cyclist, motorist and pedestrian, I regularly see a number of motorists and cyclists driving / riding irresponsibly, but i also see the majority of them usually riding/cycling responsibly.

Very often i go to supermarkets and spot the precious owners of their precious cars have parked at the far side of the car park away from everyone else so i deliberately go over and park right next to them. Makes me laugh seeing their dismayed faces. 😉

BA Flight 9

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control. I trust you are not in too much distress.

I think British Airways learnt enough from the Flight 9 incident in 1982 when they unknowningly flew into volcanic ash and all 4 engines off the 747 shut down. Brown trousers a plenty.

Don't use them again?

I haven't had much experience of the other 2 but i can highly recommend the X-Trail. Yes the looks are a little, agricultural, but underneath they are great, reliable, handle well on-road and perform extremely well off-road. The diesel engine is a jem in my opinion and they have a pretty good size boot for all the kit.

I remember a few guys who worked at my old company who quit to become HIP assessors quoting how much they were going to be earning etc. Thought it was too good to be true and by the sounds of things it was.

lolz at the irony!

😉

Good. Miserable **** that he is.

TBH, the whole debate about who's got the "most" planes becomes a little bit academic when your "enemy" can field thousands of Nukes

none of us here have a clue about what the Chinese military is up to.

I think thats quite a sweeping statement with no real meat to back it up. For a lot of the aspects of technology we know exactly what their capabilities are, as they do for ours.

Which is why contrary to what was posted earlier in this thread, no parts for military jets are manufactured in China, in fact sourcing raw material from China is also not allowed for military hardware.

As long as they don't have our helmets and tracking and targeting capability they will remain miles behind in effectiveness.

Crikey thats a huge amount of money for an Astra. Especially as you can get the Focus ST for the same price.

Air-con systems shouldn't need recharging unless there is a problem – like a leak. Need to fix the root cause.

Hope the VXR drivers have some money left over for a chiropractor. The ride is rather, ermm stiff!!

Tony Bliar

LOL, how ever did they come up with that one? Genius!! 🙄 🙄

60,000 miles – average mpg 48.4 2.0TD Passat. 😛

Mainly sitting at 80mph on motorways / autoroutes.

I have validated all the cars i have owned (nerd) against the actual and computer mpgs and they have always been accurate.

Taken a 330D touring down to the alps and back, sitting at 85mphish on the autoroutes with aircon on and full car happily average 44mpg.

Same in a Passat 2.0TD too.

As above, fuel costs will fade into insignificance for some once you factor in depreciation. Buy smart.

so they feed, clothe and house them but if they have kids they're on their own ?

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

There in the army, not working for local council! 😉

As always the full story is unknown.

If it was a simple as

Person gets job, person continuously late for work due to personal issues – then yes that person should be told to sort themselves out else quit.

Immigration, sex, race or parental status should not come into it.

West Kipper, you seem to be hell bent on being argumentative and making things up. Why? Bored?

TJ,

It makes NO difference at all. We all use the roads, so all should respect each other. Something a lot of people fail to see.

Its all about mutual respect for other road users. A lot people seem to possess it, some people don't.

It goes for ALL road users. No one group has the right to be on the roads.

Tractors don't by law have to pull over and let cars past them, however where i live thats exactly what they do.

Caravan users don't have to do that either but having followed many through the roads of wales and scotland thats exactly what a lot do.

Cyclists don't have to pull over to a single file on the road to make it easier for cars to overtake, but most do.

Surely the 'militants' are the drivers that insist on having the road to themselves?

🙄 🙄 🙄

Christ some people seem to be awfully militant this morning? 🙄

riding alone i ride where the passenger of a car would be

I don't think we are talking at cross purposes here.

No one has mentioned gutter hugging in anyway so don't jump to conclusions. That is more dangerous than cycling right out in the lane.

Yes, i ride on the road every day.

So, before you jump to conclusions i am both a cyclist and a driver.

Cyclists who sit in the middle of the road rather than slightly over to the left are putting themselves and other road users at more risk IMPO.

I'd be where the outermost cyclist would be anyway

Sounds like adding more risk? No? Surely you would want to leave maximum distance between yourself and the overtaking car?

Seems like mixed fortune. I swore i'd never use them again after 4 pairs destroyed themselves in one day in the alps, but seemingly from reports this isn't happening anymore.

2-a-breast fine, anymore is just dangerous.

Single file on busy and narrow roads too.