I've got two Architecture degrees (Undergrad and Postgraduate) and openly admit that I am buggered for the time being, I recognise that am not owed anything, but I resent what was a promising career going down the drain because of other peoples excesses

I would have thought architects were one of the main beneficiaries of the property bubble binge, hardly surprising they're one of the ones with the hangover. Other people's excesses (i.e., too much lending) created the ugly apartment blocks that architects spent most of the 00s inflicting on our city centres.

At O level, history was merely a case of remembering lots of information, rather than being expected to analyse or apply anything

You must be pretty old then, I did my History O-level in 1985 and it was very much about analysis and very much not about remembering dates.

It's a shame some of our political leaders weren't better aquainted with the history of, say, Afghanistan and Iraq, or of financial bubbles and their inevitable end… but no, you're right, history is pointless.

Well if she's got a good degree from Cambridge then she's obviously pretty bright and probably quite hard working and organised. A lot of employers would like those qualities I would think – if they were hiring, which perhaps they are not in a recession.

This thread is like some sort of meta troll or something.

How about……………you're more likely to catch a train if you can jump in a taxi at the other end ?

Or, how about the fact that you won't have to leave your car stationary somewhere for hours,
leaving roads and parking spaces clearer for others ?

Yes, much better a taxi driving round in circles trying to score a fare and spewing out diesel fumes than a car parked in the station car park. Yes I see that now.

Hmmm, got a tape somewhere I think. Didn't realise it was a rarity…

Graham – just like to maintain my safe distance, that's all Not all cars have a high level rear though either. It's not a major issue, just mildly annoying at times.

I've never confused brake lights and normal lights I don't think. Also, I don't hit the brakes every time the person in front touches the brake pedal – I find a lot of people spend a lot of time riding the brake pedal without slowing down whatsoever, so I don't brake just because there's a light on, I brake if they are slowing down. If you're too close to do this, or to see what's in front of them so you know what they are doing, you're too close.

Never use the brakes if you don't need to, they use petrol. ;-)

And then trust people to turn their fog lights on when it's actually foggy as opposed to drizzly and then importantly turn them off again so the following cars cab actually see the brake lights.

Now that would be a good automatic feature – something that recognises whether it's foggy or not and turns the bloody fog lights off if it's not.

Could it be retro-fitted to all body-kitted Corsas?

Wolverine, or undercover Team America?

I think we should be told.

There's something to be said for the "de-skilling" argument, but IMHO it has more to do with maintaining the car (mechanics only replace sealed units half the time rather than fix something) than driving. I can choose whether to turn the lights on as I see fit or leave them in auto, normally I leave them in auto. If I want to override it for some reason (lights on in low sun for example) then I can.

ernie_lynch in "in charge of universe" shocker ;-)

But new species moving into an area is a natural phenomenon that happens all the time. Why is any change meant to be bad? Change is normal, it doesn't matter whether humans were the agency or something else.

A glowing satnav screen is the modern day equivalent of a flat cap in the car in front – you know the driver will be an idiot. ;-)

Yes I have one, no I don't use it, it irritItated the whatsname out of me when I tried it…

I hated auto handbrake on a Focus hire care I had once, took me the entire week to get the hang of bringing up the clutch at the right time as there was a delay. I can see it working well in an automatic.

Best feature is the auto-dimming rear-view mirror I have on my new car, I absolutely love it. No more glare at night, just started noticing how useful it is now the nights are drawing in.

http://www.dadrl.org.uk/

According to that Audi have done DRL properly by using LEDs, so when every other car is blinding you a passing Audi will be a relief… ;-)

It's superb. Whether very small children will be that interested in the (very sad) first 20 minutes I don't know (but it did shut up some boisterous teenagers when I saw it which is impressive).

3d is also very well done – and not overdone (you kind of forget because it's not in your face, but it certainly adds something).

a requirement that ALL companies run final salary schemes. …
I'm trying to start a business and one of my ground rules is that all my turnover will go through the books.

Well firstly I should hope everything does go through the books ;-)

Secondly though, are you saying your start up company is going to offer final salary schemes to your future employees? How will you guarantee to pay out if you company goes bust?

I work for a small company myself, naturally I have a personal pension since there's no guarantee my employer will be around in 5 years, never mind in 30 years' time.

Scorched earth policy?

Best bit is this:

Ahead of the speech Lord Mandelson told BBC Radio 4's Today the sell-offs, which he said was an alternative to "savage" cuts planned by the Conservatives, could include local authority-owned airports.

Er, yes, clearly the Manchester councils will be wanting to sell Manchester Airport Group. Is he proposing to compell them to do this?

however there is no free market in nurses salaries as it is a monopoly employer and the salaries are capped by a quango.

Err…

;-)

Doh – to see the importance of numbers, read any of RobS' posts. Various claims unsubstantiated by numerical information. If only he looked up some numbers we'd be able to know if what he says is right or not.

I can't be bothered to contribute to this thread other than to point people again at David Mackay's book, which you can read for free on the Internet. in short, numbers are important.

Hopefully now he's been appointed chief scientific advisor to the department of energy we might have a bit less short term thinking on government – though I doubt it personally with the current encumbent at number 10.

A pound. Or at least it was four or five years ago. My son checked with all his mates at school too so knew what to expect.

I've been on the IT supplier end of this, and the poor old government really don't have a clue (but they certainly do like a game of golf with the salespeople).

Interesting you should mention this. I used to work for an IT company that provided computer systems for the public sector (NHS and Local Government).

Given that public sector types aren't supposed to accept corporate hospitality, it was a mystery why the company I worked for paid for a box at [a very well known football ground] every year to entertain clients. Complete mystery who these clients were.

Oh and on the NHS side, the people we had to deal with had no knowledge whatsoever of computers. A lot of them were overpromoted medical records types who would have known a lot about filing 20 years previously but really had next to no IT expertise.

This is why government contracts put out to tender fail / go overbudget, etc. It's not that suppliers try to rip anyone off, it's that the people buying the stuff have no clue what they want half the time.

neglecting to point out that every person who is forced to stay in work is denying a young person a job, so the same numer of people are being paid not to work.

Hitler used that logic to claim that Jews kept Aryan Germans out of work. It was nonsense then, and it's nonsense now. It's not a zero sum game.

Besides, you seem to have forgotten what you said immediately before:

In next 6 or 7 years, NHS Highland will run out of midwives as the bulk of their midwives are now approaching retirement age and not enough new ones are coming in to replace them.

If that is the case, keeping them on for a few extra years makes sense, doesn't it?

Confident female cyclists like Jane Hornsby, 49, from Oxford, says it's not just safety that puts some women off getting on two wheels.

Practical issues like changing facilities and bringing a spare outfit also play a part.

Women may also have less time than men, she says, because they tend to have the responsibility of looking after children before and after work, and are often carrying shopping.

Women are allowed to say sexist rubbish though, it's only bad if men do it. ;-)

I can remember when you got post in the morning, even two deliveries on week days. Now it comes at 1pm.

Plus at my previous house I regularly got mail for the same number on a nearby street, and regularly didn't receive important letters, in one case an extremely important one. Complaining about this to the post office got me nowhere.

And why can't you collect parcels at a sensible time?

Just on this public school thing – didn't Blair go to public school?

And is it not the case that the last three Conservative Prime Ministers didn't? (Heath, Thatcher, Major).

beeswax – or just leave them

It's been very nice and dry for a month or so, but rained quite a bit yesterday. Should still be pretty good though… (especially compared to "summer")

I thought agile /scrum etc. was just a myth put about to keep product managers confused ;-)

We used to all start our contributions to weekly team meetings with the words "this week I will be mostly" in Fast Show style but it didn't seem to help, we still had to do them…

As well as running/cycling socks for cycling/running, I also have special football socks for football and skiiing socks for skiiing/snowboarding.

Imagine! I realise now that I should just wear my work socks at all times and not worry about keeping feet dry, cool, warm, shinpads in place or calves from being cut to ribbons. After all, these highly specialised socks can cost upward of two or three pounds a pair…

:-)

Junkyard – of course he can't sing, what's that got to do with it! ;-)

I also prefer it to The World is Yours, but not as good as Music of the Spheres or Golden Greats. It's been in the car for several days now though…

I've got coolmax socks from endura that I bought for cycling and some decathlon own brand that I bought for running, but I use them pretty much interchangebly. When I once wore regular cotton 'sports' socks for running it was very uncomfortable. For cycling I'd be less bothered except if I got wet feet – but as there's a stream to ford through half a mile from my house that's quite often ;-)

The vast majority of private pension funds are used by the better off.

Depends what you mean by "better off". Better off than who?

The trouble with New Labour is they have squeezed the ordinary working people in the middle who are neither rich nor poor, while letting rich people off scot free.

The last descent on the north loop with all the berms and jumpy bits is well worth the slog up the hill IMHO

This is then followed by some sort of bizarre triple affair which doesnt really have a take off to speak of. Not a clue what your meant to do with it.

Pump it?

hence it effectively was a transfer of funds from general taxation into the pockets of the well off.

No, it was a disincentive to save.

Let's all just borrow money and spend like there's no tomorrow, yippee! What can possibly go wrong?

That's what the UK has done for the last 10 years, and now we are up a creek.

Does anyone know if it's still a good idea to be contracted out of SERPS or not?

Remember folks, if you disagree with someone it must be because they are idiots, it's the singletrack way ;-)