Why invest if you don’t then release cash from the investment?!

Because it provides you with an income?

Loads of BYOBs in London, must be some on the fringes?

The Evening Standard have worked out, based on an average London salary (around £27,000), that if you save 10% of your total (not take home) salary, for 19.6 years then you should be able to afford your first home. Based on 25% deposit and borrowing 6x annual salary. That £200,000 will get you a small 1 bed flat in zone 2, or maybe a 2 bed if its ex Local Authority housing. If you want the £300,000 for a 2/3 bed flat, maybe even a small house in the less desirable parts of zone 2/zone 3, then on the £27,000 salary you need about £150,000 up front, which would take about 60 years to save at 10%. Its important to note when considering the 10% saving, that in London you will be paying £7-8000 a year for rent on one room in a shared flat.

Unfortunately loads of ‘property developers’ bought houses while they were cheap, and while mortgages were easy to come by. Now they have a captive audience who can’t afford to buy and are forced to rent, so they can charge silly money. That keeps prices high because property developers buy up everything, particularly at the lower end of the market, since they have other properties to remortgage and hence get much better rates.

Realistically our generation is going to be renting for most of our lives, maybe all of them if our parents homes go to pay for their care. People in their mid-twenties and below who didn’t get onto the property market before 2008 just have to accept that they are going to be much worse off than their parents, and that significant proportions of their income (in rent) will go to making a few people much better off.

Another +1 for The Lives of Others, great film.

I would suggest Let the Right One In or actually, if you’re feeling a bit lazy, the American remake Let Me In is almost as good.

Is that any easier than the US agreement with the UK?

It’s the same agreement, I think. However the “temporary surrender” clause only seems to apply when someone has been charged/is being prosecuted/is serving a sentence in one country, and is also wanted in another country. Since Assange is not being charged with anything in this country then temporary surrender would seem not to apply, whereas it could in Sweden because of the rape charges.

Lots of people seem to think that the “temporary surrender” procedure may be less rigorous than the full extradition procedure, but you’d have to ask a legal expert for the real picture I guess.

Is that any easier than the US agreement with the UK?

It’s the same, I think. However the “temporary surrender” clause only seems to apply when someone has been charged/is being prosecuted/is serving a sentence in one country, and is also wanted in another country. Since Assange is not being charged with anything in this country then temporary surrender would seem not to apply, whereas it could in Sweden because of the rape charges.

Lots of people seem to think that the “temporary surrender” procedure may be less rigorous than the full extradition procedure, but you’d have to ask a legal expert for the real picture I guess.

This looks like absolutely brilliant value:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=67802

Leaves him with money for a skills course, and a few other bits and pieces. It is direct-sales, but CRC are in my opinion pretty good at returns and customer service. I would imagine anyway that if a warranty issue were to arise they would probably just suggest you get them fixed at a LBS and then send them the bill, unless its something serious, in which case you’re only paying UK rather than international postage.

It is also apparently designed by Brant, now of Shedfire/On-One, so should have the similarly confidence-inspiring geometry as the hardtails (456) suggested higher up the thread, which he also designed.

The view of the Cuillin from Coir’ a’ Ghrunnda boulder field

Adding to that, a picture from my last trip, just a bit higher up the hill, and in slightly different weather conditions…

You think he’s happy to be holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy, facing extradition to Sweden to face rape charges and potentially a long prison sentence, with the added possibility of extradition/rendition to the US and a death sentence?

I know he’s hardly the beacon of truth that some make him out to be, but I think even his desire for self publicising must have a limit, and its probably someway short of that.

Surely you’ve got to climb at least one of the Cuillin while you’re there? Sgurr Alasdair from Glenbrittle?

To clarrify. There has been a lot of posts about the only reason for him to go to Sweden is so that he can be sent to the US more easily and that the US are behind, essentially, ‘fake’ accusations.

It would appear that it is easier for the US to extradite from the UK than Sweden so why go to the hassle?

Oh right. Maybe the Assange supporters think the plan is to charge him for rape in order to discredit him, so there’s less public sympathy when he is eventually extradited? I guess if he was found guilty and sat in a Swedish jail for a few years, things might die down a bit as well?

Also, they could argue that having him in custody would probably make things easier? If they’d started US extradition hearings here he would presumably have been off to the Ecuadorian embassy much earlier, whereas perhaps his supporters could argue that the authorities thought he wouldn’t feel so threatened by extradition to Sweden, and that they could get him on the charges there, then once he’s safely in prison, begin the US extradition proceedings? I don’t know, too many conspiracy theories on both sides.

Personally I think that he should get a guarantee from Sweden that he will be extradited, charged and tried on the rape and/or related offences, serve his punishment (if any), and then be allowed to return to Australia/Britain*/country of his choice.

*Not sure if we would typically grant entry to an Australian citizen convicted of rape in Sweden. If we wouldn’t normally, then we shouldn’t in the case of him being found guilty either.

The thing is though, they don’t need to manipulate either the UK or Sweden. They can just phone up the UK Government (I assume it would be the Foreign Office first??) say ‘he’s a person of interest’ and he’d be on a plane to the US.

Using the ‘Pro Assange’ retoric the US wouldn’t want him going to Sweden.

Well, I believe a british judge would have to decide that he was, in their opinion, a person of interest.

I’m not sure exactly what the “‘Pro Assange’ rhetoric” is, but presumably he trusts neither the British or Swedish systems, hence why he is in Ecuador (or at least, in their embassy).

Don’t you hate crap/lazy reporting:

Defenders outside the court room, including human rights groups,
Madonna and Sir Paul McCartney, have backed the women in the name of freedom of speech and conscience.

What, Madonna and Macca were outside the court room? Doubt it.

Are you suggesting that they were inside the court room, because that seems far less likely?

No, he’s really not – if he was fleeing from a biased or unfair British Justice System, then he had more than ample opportunity to do so during the two years that he had on bail, in which he was given the opportunity to exhaust every legal avenue to have the European arrest warrant declared invalid – the fact that he only fled from the ‘unjust system’ after losing his case at the highest court in the land undermines in any way the allegation that he thought he was being treated unfairly.

Sorry, you’ll have to explain this to me again. Why does waiting for the final decision before acting undermine that allegation? The fact that he took it to the ‘highest court in the land’ suggests that he was challenging the system at every point?

I also (personally) believe that the justice system here is relatively fair (and probably is in Sweden too), but, given the USA’s recent track record with political prisoners, and those accused of terrorism, do not fully trust the USA not to manipulate our’s or Sweden’s political and/or justice systems to get hold of him. I can see why he is wary.

Only to the overly sensitive.

Why use 3 words when you can use 6

What about when you can’t use 3 words because it doesn’t provide a fair and accurate account of the case? :-)

Seriously though, I’m sure you see the point. Its an extremely complex case, which, like so many others, is rather oversimplified in many debates on here and elsewhere. Many of his supporters would say the exact opposite, that he is “fleeing from injustice”.

I personally think he should stand trial on the allegations in Sweden, and would hope that it would be a fair trial, but I do not think he should be extradited to the US, and certainly should not face the death penalty or treason/terrorism charges, and therefore I can understand his current reluctance to hand himself in to the British and therefore, Swedish authorities.

Saying he was “fleeing from justice” is rather inflammatory, and without doubt a matter of opinion. “Fleeing from the British justice system” is probably a more accurate accusation.

Don’t get me wrong, I broadly agree with the sentiment expressed in the Independent article, however, it’s hardly a detailed, factual and balanced view of the case from the beginning, and is not presenting the many sides of the debate. It’s an opinion piece.

This seems very balance (from today’s Independent)

Seriously?

Is that meant to be ironic?

We three kings of orient are
One in a taxi, one in a car,
One on a scooter,
Beeping his hooter.
Following yonder star.

Oh star of wonder, star of light.
Sit on a box of dynamite
Light the fuse, and off you go,
Half the way to Mexico

Taking yourself too seriously…?

Maybe all threads with more than three posts from any of TJ/Z-11/don simon/THM* should automatically get moved to a separate, hidden ‘arguments forum’ that only they can access. They could then carry on to their hearts content, with the bonus of them spending less time on the main forum because none of them could ever leave an argument.

*add or delete as appropriate

Nice video though.

He was never guilty of anything that his opponents weren’t also guilty of, unfortunately he did seem to appear in many arguments with many different people. Got to say, for people suggesting he was inflexible on his positions, most of his arguments come across as a lot more coherent and well thought out than those he was always faced with, but he would definitely have been better off just leaving it. No one else is going to accept that they’re wrong on the Internet either, and most of it, in the end just comes down to opinion.

Don’t know him, but he seems like a good guy. At least he was always arguing for what he thought would be best for the majority. Pity he thought that arguing on the Internet would get him anywhere.

This is why I never buy from LBS, support your not-so-local direct sales company!

There are no issues with *that website*, the issue was with 5 new “PSA” threads appearing every time a new sale started as STWers tried to spam their referral links all over the place to get £5 credit.

EDIT: Just like the above…

I used to play hockey in the same county side as Ashley Jackson, I have also been coached by, and played with, Sean Kerly, 1988 hockey gold medalist.

If you got a bad back then get a bike fit somewhere reputable first, then buy a model/size that fits you well. The thing on a bike most likely to cause pain is whether or not it fits, rather than whether it’s got suspension or not.

From opposite ends of the spectrum, my favourites are the Tesco Finest Ham, Mushroom & Mascarpone, which are probably better than going to Pizza Express, and also those little Chicago Town deep dish ones that aren’t really like pizzas at all, they come in packs of two and you microwave them on a funny fold-out cardboard tray.

For good value look at the Boardman FS, Canyon Nerve AM or one of the reduced Giant Trance Xs from Paul’s Cycles.

Unless she has a personality transplant I think she’ll be spending the rest of her life with one of the worst of the incompetent self serving idiots of politics.

Peanut butter and Celery.

Brie and Red Grape.

Won’t somebody think of the children!

I think calling for a study of the efficacy of helmet laws is a good thing, so long as its a fair and balanced review of the evidence.

Also, along with Matalan and TK Maxx mentioned further up, Primark might be worth a look.

Rokit Vintage will have them, shops in Covent Garden and Brick Lane. Camden Market will also have them somewhere I expect. Charity shops will be cheaper and are probably worth a look if you’ve got a few nearby.

TT bikes are often a bit of a halfway house between road bikes and tri bikes because the UCI rules won’t let TT bikes be as aero or as steep as the non-UCI regulated tri bikes can be.

The blue at CyB is great fun as a warmup blast, bit swoopy, a few berms, couple of tiny (<6″) drops. But it is gravel and probably wide enough for two bikes on a lot of it. It’s also quite a step down from the reds there. I would imagine quite a lot of people will have done the blue quite easily, only to find they can’t even make it up the first technical climb on the tester section for the other routes.

Or buy a second-hand Brompton. If you look after it a bit you should be able to sell it at the end of the year and get most of your money back.

Was going to go out for a ride in the sun, but seem to have found myself watching the tennis.