so-called stem cell research.

I love that. It's not really stem cell research, that's just jargon for, erm, baby murdering like that nice Mr Hitler we used to support. Stem cells don't exist, probably. Or something.

Edit: Unless they turn out to cure cancer in which case they are the best thing ever and sorry for the earlier confusion, which by the way didn't happen.

a nice sentiment, but most people will need some credit at some point in their life. Especially if they want to own their own home.

I have a mortgage and no credit card (never have had) so don't see the connection.

You're right of course that if you have a credit card and only use it for certain things (travel, buying off the net, etc.) and pay it off every month then that's fine. However I also know people that have got into bad debt because of credit cards.

Demonstrating that you can responsibly manage a little monthly credit means you have a lower risk score than someone who has never had any credit and is an unknown quantity.

True. But like saying that if you have proved you can run on a treadmill at 5 mph they're more likely to let you turn up the speed, and again and again until you're running flat out (but still not getting anywhere).

Another option is not to get on the treadmill.

not having a credit card can effectively lower your credit score.

That's not true, if you read the link it says that having a credit card which you always pay off can increase your credit rating. Nothing about not having one decreasing your rating.

Besides, the idea that you should borrow in order to be more likely to be lent to is a bit circular, isn't it?

A guy that lived in the next street used to park his Hymer outside my house sometimes, blocked out all the light those things are so big. Perhaps he moved to your neck of the woods and lives round the corner from you now? I can see why he wouldn't want to park it outside his own house.

£35k or £45k may have got you a terrace house "oop north" 15 or 20 years ago, but since the house price bubble of the early noughties you need to triple those figures. Not sure I would recommend busting a gut to get on the housing ladder to my son – houses are overpriced and will remain so for quite a few years it seems.

I never got any financial advice from my parents but I learned not to do what they did. So, no credit card, do not keep borrowing against the house to pay off other debts, etc. It's not free money, you have to pay it back one day.

The other things I have learned the hard way myself are:

1) there's no such thing as an independent financial advisor
2) endowments were a crazy idea
3) many pension schemes aren't much better

It all seems very complicated when you're starting out with houses and pensions and stuff in your twenties and you tend to listen to advice. I would now advise not to take advice, but to find out everything for yourself – it's not as complicated as the financial industry likes to make it sound.

Humphrys on Radio 4 in the morning is the worst, he quite often asks a question then interrupts again before the other person can get a single word out. Snow on Channel 4 news is nearly as bad.

You can buy an OS map at Fairholmes, along with the Dark Peak VG book.

At which point I would consider doing one of the other loops in the area instead, at this time of year, after all the rain, especially if I was on my own and / or not very bike fit and didn't know the area…

Wish they'd move it back to late Sunday night like it was for the previous 30 years though… I keep missing it.

I could have done without James Corden's contribution personally…

Control panel, user accounts and family safety.

Defintely create a new user account for her that is not administrator.

Goodfellas?

Best recent purchases:

Ian Brown – Golden Greats
Mezzanine Owls – Slingshot Echoes
Eels – Hombre Lobo
Doves – Kingdom of Rust

The Waggon and Horses pub in Langsett is a good place to stop too.

"Funny How" by Airhead.

Sorry but I'm going to have to stick up for TJ, to say he is trolling is ridiculous.

If you read this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/8245144.stm

It would appear it was the perverting the cause of justice offence that was the more serious than the careless driving offence, perverting justice would normally carry a custodial sentence.

If people are unhappy that he didn't get more for the driving offence, then you have to question why he was found not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and only guilty of careless driving. Presumably that was on the basis of the evidence that the jury heard at the trial, rather than what was reported on Look North.

Perhaps he should have been done for causing death by dangerous driving and got an extra year or two – I don't know, I wasn't on the jury. But neither was anyone else here.

I had TCR… no Big Trak though (think my cousin had that). And a chopper, instead of a BMX (hence my impressive bike handling skills… err…).

But then I got a ZX Spectrum and that was that for the next 4 or 5 years.

Bought Scalextric for my son (honest) when he was about 2…

Easiest might be a building society savings account in her name – kids don't pay tax.

Premium bonds are rubbish:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds

100 miles was the norm and it would have to be over 200 (each way) before I'd stay over (basically if I could get home by 9:00pm I'd drive).

You get used to it. The majority of people I know do, or have done, the same kind of commuting. It's normal.

It might be normal for some people, but it's still crazy ;-)

Well I thought it was funny – poor choice of title though.

Then again I only own one set of tyres…

If you know the lengths of all three sides then you know (can calculate) the angles – assuming the triangle is on a flat surface (of course you can also work them out for other surfaces like spheres or cylinders too).

Not falling for that one – you tell us what you were offering first ;-)

the disproportionate amount of traffic calming measures such as speed humps in nice leafy middle-class suburban areas, when compared to the lack of them in poor inner-city areas

Is there any evidence for this assertion?

trouble is, everyone on either side of this argument sounds like a tosser because the answer is that, in general, every group should GrowTFU, stop whining and MOST IMPORTANTLY behave a bit more considerately toward the others

I think this is right. Is it just that the British are an inconsiderate lot compared to, say, Nordic countries?

Reminds me of Bill Hicks on the pedestrian right of way law in California: "only in the USA would you have to legislate common courtesy". And perhaps the UK?

It's all about control – she's got a way to control you and so uses it.

My ex used to be like this but she stopped in the end – she realised I was cheap childcare from her perspective and also she presumably no longer felt the need to control me. And yes, any new relationship alters the dynamic and can lead to issues resurfacing. If she gets a new relationship she may alter her behaviour based on some comment he makes, if you do she may feel threatened and behave accordingly.

mtbfix – it's normally women that behave this way simply because they are the ones most likely to be in the situation that enables them to behave that way. I've seen men do it too though when they get the chance.

The solution of course is presumed shared care rather than the adversarial court system we have – but the lawyers are earning way too much for anyone to want to change.

Through taxation policy, our Government have made diesel far more popular – all on the (flawed?) basis of environmental benefit. These benefits are largely down to the higher mpg economy of diesel (ie lower CO2 per mile), but ignore PM10s, PM2.5s and SOx / NOx…

This is a very good point – not only that, but all the people I know who commute long distances have switched to diesel. Arguably the extra mpg they get is just encouraging them to drive further – meanwhile people are dying of asthma because of diesel.

This forum has a bit of a hostile climate to it!

I am only a placement student here, so don't worry, I don't quite have the power to kill us all yet.

I posted quite late, sorry if it seemed a bit tetchy…

3) what if you use a bus – 30 people at rest with good mpg per person, vs a human during hard exercise.

But the bus is using fossil fuel, so it's adding to the total amount of carbon in circulation – the cyclist isn't.

Aracer – no different to the fossil fuel burned going to the cinema, having bike bits delivered or to power your computer. The only important point is, are you adding carbon from outside the system or not. That's the issue with fossil fuels.

Like gwaelog I can't understand how an engineer can miss the fact that CO2 released from burning fossil fuel containing carbon that was fixed from the air millions of years ago is different to the regular carbon cycle. What are they teaching in schools these days?

Have we fixed the hole in the ozone layer yet then?

Let me google that for you.

The hole has stopped growing and it will take 50 to 100 years to return to its original state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_depletion

If you could have 'offset' your trip to the US on the SS Great Britain back then, would they have gone for it?

Many offsetting schemes involve paying someone in the third world to stay poor while rich westerners continue to enjoy their jetsetting lifestyles guilt-free. This is a form of economic imperialism, and therefore right up the Victorians' street. IMHO.

Being able to download podcasts directly on the touch via wifi is more useful than I would have thought, before I started doing it.

The Thames used to regularly freeze over in the Victorian's day, so they'd probably welcome the idea of a slight increase in temperatures.

I often cycle past 50s throwback crooner Richard Hawley taking his turnups for a walk in the local park. No-one seems to recognise him.

it's a small, shallow-ish trench across the trail to clear water without causing erosion.

Although in this case it appears to have been covered with an upturned halfpipe and covered in earth.

I like that japanese lad F1 needs more people like him

Presume you mean Kobayashi – funny you should say that just then as he took out Nakajima ;-)

Well I'm typing rubbish on here _and_ watching the telly. And they say blokes can't multi-task…

Blimey… and 5 places up for Button!

That pic above doesn't really do it justice – the rocks seem bigger than that and always off line. It's like an annoying jigsaw puzzle that I for one just can't do, every 5 or 10 metres I get myself stuck. Perhaps I'll try it after four or five pints one day and see if that helps.

ernie – we're still confused, you're going to have to spell it out for us. how can a taxi going both ways twice be better? and that's without them sitting in ranks with the engine on or driving around aimlessly looking for fares.