I missed the 1st episode but from what I saw the boss seemed OK to me!

I’m open about my income with those I know if they’re interested and are open with me! I have an MSc which was a waste of time from a financial perspective.

most people don’t have what it takes to become an MP.

Whilst that’s true, in the same sense that most people don’t have what it takes to be all sorts of things, the average back bench MP is nothing special. I’d be interested to see what the average MP earnt before and after having a stint in parliament.

MP’s don’t get paid enough

I know plenty of people who appear to be better qualified with more experience than many MPs but get paid a lot less.

Look at any PLC and the directors get 3 or 4 times what our front benchers get.

Possibly front benchers are equivalent to directors of PLCs but I certainly don’t assume it. Anyway, most front benchers use that to get onto the boards of PLCs later and earn the kind of money that they may not have been able to without their front bench experience.

I’m not so keen on my IT consultancy role due to the travel and have mentioned to agents when they call to let me know about anything close to home. Was told about one at a large multinational 3 miles from home; would mean a 20% salary cut but asked to have my CV put forward as have so little travel is worth a lot to me – could ride in the Surrey Hills every evening…!

So the schools are party funded by the religious organisation – why do they have so much power over who is allowed entry? I guess some agreement exists with the state that in return for funding they get control over entry? If that’s the case then blame the government not the religion.

mountaincarrot – does it matter that the default position of many schools is that they teach Christianity as if it’s reality? My schools took that approach and can’t say that I’ve been negatively affected in anyway. Actually, I’m glad of it as I have knowledge of something that, rightly or wrongly, has played a part in this country’s history and continues to have influence. Maybe I’d be more fearfull if I didn’t have the knowledge I have?

OK, so religious organisations look after their members in various ways including funding schools for them. They prefer not to let kids into those schools who aren’t part of their organisation. Got to say this all sounds fair to me!

Are other groups allowed to fund schools?

Are there schools set up for other religions, say Muslims?

I’m a bit confused about the school thing – don’t have kids so partly why I guess. These schools that only allow kids in with specific beliefs – are they funded by the relevant church? I think that must be the case but if so then why can’t they choose who attends?

I took my XTR rings off and sold them to replace with rings I already had. Just needed to put some washers under the granny ring and all was fine. I only bought the chainset as got for £180 sold the rings for £95; seemed a cheap way to get a light chainset to me!

all thinking men are atheists

Well, my problem is I think too much and stay agnostic. I suppose I’ll stop thinking when I have the answer – so atheists and the religious are the non-thinkers…perhaps.

If you have an ounce of intellect religion is obvious nonsense.

Some of the most intelligent people I have met have been Christians, some of the most stupid not.

As I’ve mentioned in may previous similar threads on this sort of topic the more I read and learn the more I get stuck in my agnosticism!

Not sure why your bothering with investing £100 unless you think it’ll be fun. Trading costs will be too high to make it worthwhile and you’re likely to need many years to show a profit over what a cash ISA would give you. Regularly investing £25/month into an ISA Unit Trust FTSE tracker is probably the only sensible option using someone like these guys:

http://www.h-l.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

Get ’em. Don’t think there’s anything better for the money; obviously not particularly light but I’ve had no problems with mine.

I’ve never had a frame faced and no problems yet….

Well if people freak out to the latest tunes in a discotheque then I suppose they can in church too.

One of Gordon’s core beliefs seemed to be to save money in the good years to cover the bad ones. Didn’t really work out did it?

It was chasing sheep so that ain’t good. My parents’ golden retrievers ignored sheep so could be left off their leads but unfortunately one of them didn’t think lambs were the same thing and gave chase to one. So now they’re kept on their leads. Stupid dog….

But, when rpesenting it (particularly in writing) her thoughts become jumbled and broken. It makes sense to her, but is confusing to the person reading/listenting.

How about if she reads back or listens to a recording of herself?

He argued that we all have a degree of it

Curiously I’m told the same about homosexuality….

I’m curious about getting longer for exams – seems fair but do they need/get longer when in work?

The bike I wanted was in stock so they held it for me whilst the vouchers came through which took a week IIRC.

I want to see someone try to take an owner to court for having a too friendly dog. Thrown out of court I’d wager….

Is a dog going to say hello whilst wagging its tail a nuisance and thus resulting in the owner breaking the law? Trouble is many dogs are friendly and used to friendly people who like fussing dogs.

They sometimes come up on the classifieds as people buy the 26/36/48 chainsets cheaply for SSing then sell the rings.

Oh and Duck tape WILL NOT stop the frame going suddenly! Bloody stupid advice if you ask me!!

Yeah, add a zip tie or 2 just to be safe.

It takes a special person to be a teacher.

I’m an Oracle Applications Technical Consultant…. :?

I live in Surrey and pay £45/month for gas and elec but am a bit in debit I think. Live in a largish 4 bed detatched and shut off 1/2 the rooms with the rads turned off. Heating on for an hour in the morning and 4 in the evening. Wife likes a hot water bottle but I was too warm last night – duvet has lots of togs.

I remember my house in the 70s – ice on the inside of the windows when we woke up! No double glazing and some sort of warm air heating system. People aren’t tough these days.

I’ve just thought I ought to sort mine out whilst I have a bit of free time. Now I’m on PAYE I hope they’ll tell me I don’t have to do one anymore – that’s what happened before anyway.

I got a Pinnacle CX bike a year ago for use as a commuter/winter road bike and maybe even offroad…. I’m really happy with it.

I noticed my 2002 Spesh Enduro developed a hairline crack on the weld that holds the seat tube. It was at the beginning of a weekend at Afan so I thought I’d carry on riding it to see what happened as didn’t want to miss out. Over the weekend it got worse until on the final descent it was squeaking nastily and the crack was no longer just hairline. Spesh replaced it under warranty.

if your dog does not come back if you call it then it should not be off of its lead. Ever.

That’s most dogs IMO; not got one but known many – all friendly dogs and I have no problem with them running about chasing rabbits and generally enjoying being outside. Dogs have been part of our society for a long time and that’s a good thing on the whole. Quite why anyone would want to have an large, aggresive dog is beyond me but of course some people want dogs like that as part of their image or something. I’d be happy to ban more dogs than are currently banned. Most gun dogs are fine though for some reason.

If someone hurts (badly) a dog without justification then the law could be involved.

http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urlblob&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=RSPCABlob&blobwhere=1210683175951&ssbinary=true

I found my external bearings has seized up a few months ago so started to look at what to replace them with but decided I may as well use my Octalink XT cranks, which I’d kept for spares and never had a problem with, for the winter. No problems so far so suspect I’ll carry on doing this in the future and use external BB cranks in the drier months, assuming we get some sometime….

The original post wondered if 30lbs was the limit for an all day bike. My prefered bike is my 2004 S-works Enduro which comes in at up to 32lbs depending on the wheels and tyres I use. I’m not sure what all day riding means really but I’m happy with the Enduro for 40 miles with 1500m + of climbing. Rarely ride further than that but have taken my 23.5 lb Ti hardtail for around 60 miles. That’s still a tough enough bike for XC riding with very ordinary wheels and tyres so that could get down to 22lbs I think though does have V brakes.

My other bikes are a Soul that comes in at 28lbs and a SS rigid Inbred that I haven’t weighed. Have a Pinnacle CX bike at about 20lbs and an all Ultegra Lemond Chambery that’s about 18lbs.

Yeah it’s all relative; 1st time I rode a Trail centre it was more thrilling than it is now – more fun now I suppose. Also, is it more thrilling to ride familiar technical stuff that’s close to home or easier stuff hours into the middle of nowhere with light running out?

Try this plumbing forum:

http://www.noplumber.com/cms/forum.html?func=showcat&catid=2