errr…it'll be flooded to ****?

That's precisely the point – it is already flooded, twice daily by the tide, and would continue to be so….

And it would wreck an internatinally protected, unique habitat

How so – this is precisely the bit that I don't follow the logic of…

So, can anyone explain to me why we shouldn't have a Severn Barrage??*

20% of the UK's energy demand in one hit

Junkyard – Member

And whats so bad about nuclear waste

LOL what a daft question.

On one level it is….

But there is a coal fired power station near me – surrounded by hectares of landfill containing PFA (pulverised fly ash) – which is reputedly contaminated with asbestos dust. The large city located downwind is unable to achieve air quality standards on the days when that power station is operating….

We deal with human health risks at work, including excess cancer risks.

It is undeniable that radioactive particles wash up at Dounreay (very low population access to that area), and that there are cancer risks associated with civil nuclear power programmes.

However, this is all about risk perception. The numbers (in the UK / W Europe) affected by radiological contamination are incredibly small – especially when compared to other anthropogenic contamination sources that are widely overlooked by society and the media.

The use of coal and oil as fossil fuels (and chemical feedstocks) also has a legacy of carcinogenic contamination – but these are chemical carciongens, not radiological carcinogens, so do not attract the same dread factor as the N word.

How many people have died of asbestos related cancers (mesothelioma) as a result of exposure to asbestos lagging material in thermal energy plants??? (power stations and boiler / heating plants). How many people are exposed to combustion residues and poor air quality as a result of oil and coal burning??

I don't claim that nuclear is energy generating panacea. Personally I would like to see a mix of hydro, tidal, wind and micro generation – but for the moment we need to address the huge gap between our electricity generating potential and our energy demands.

Wasted energy should be a criminal offence – but how would you set the boundaries?? It really winds me up to see office / reatil space fully lit up at night – but would you also criminalise house owners for leaving security lights on if they are out of the house, for example…??

Postman just delivered my amazon pre-order to work.

So,

Is it any GOOD???

Scotland will not be nuclear free, irrespective of who is in the Scottish Parliament,and irrespective of whatever enrgy reviews or needs…
.
.
.
.
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.until there is no further need for Faslane

No – the first pressurised water reactors were in use at these locations – long before the controversy over the introduction of PWR at Sizewell B.

The navy were operating PWRs in their submairne fleet since 1963. When I was young it was sometimes possible to see 6-8 Churchill and Swiftsure (and latterly Trafalgar) class subs tied up alongside at Devonport.

Because the reactors remain active when the boats are alongside, there was a proposal muted to use this capacity to run turbogenerators to supply electricity to Plymouth

TandemJeremy – Member

rkk – where is there a nuke power station in a city?

I chose my words carefully…

power stations reactors should be built right in the middle of the big cities

Plymouth certainly. Less sure about Edinburgh (historically), but certainly in the past

Its grinding with no end in sight. I read the other day that 100m's outside many of the bases in Afghanistan can be classes as 'Taliban country'. WTF. Years in and we have the wagons overturned in a circle.

Agreed – but how to extricate??? Having read a lot (in the 80s and 90s) about the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the CIA sponsorship of the mujahideen, I was one who thought any operations could only end in a bloodbath

Blair fudged this 10 years ago. The decision to go for nuclear new build should have been taken in the late 90s.

The long term answer has to be energy saving and alternative technology – but we need to replace the ageing fleet of existing nuclear plants, as well as reducing reliance on coal and gas burning.

If nuclear is safe, then the power stations reactors should be built right in the middle of the big cities

I think you'll find that this is already the case

Ohh – and the charge more / energy is too cheap view will not be widely accepted until shareholder benefit is taken out of the equation

One day he will be sat in his big house, with his gilded-pension writing his memoirs whilst the people who voted for him live on a pisspoor state pension and cant afford to heat their own home.

Really – that sounds so naiive. How is any other politician, of any political persuasion, any different??

Quit bleating. Maybe negative coverage might focus his mind on future deaths and more care in foreign policy. He has blood on his hands as does Blair

Again – what would you have done / do??? Unlike Iraq (which was truly unjustified, except in Bush's mind), intervention in Afghanistan had fairly wide international, UK political and UK popular support after 9/11.

I don't remember a loud clamour that the UK should not have committed forces to Afghanistan. We might now be in a total cluster f_ck, but this issue needs consensus to resolve, not cheap political point scoring

FWIW – what do the detractors suggest GB should do about Afghanistan???

Pulling out hardly seems to be an option – and certainly doesn't figure in the senior military leaders views

More / better equipment?? – It takes decades to procure and commission new military equipment (as the Chinook Mk3 debacle has shown). In the decade running up to 9/11 everyone (ie all political parties) was looking to cut defence budgets for a nice post cold war "peace dividend". Many Forces folks I know voted Labour in 97 because of previous Tory defence cuts…

So it probably comes down to cutting our cloth to match our needs. The UK is a small island nation. We already have a defence infrastructure vastly larger than our (normal) needs.

Increasing military spending to provide the equipment that the troops want seems hugely desirable – but we are in the middle of a recesion and neither Labour nor Conservatives want to hike taxes, even though they both know they need to – as well as cutting spending, not increasing…

Pressure on NATO allies to increase their share of the burden combined with a medium term (3-5 yrs??) withdrawal strategy??

I was pretty disgusted by the coverage yesterday – but today gets even worse…

"the Sun has published a transcript" of GB's conversation with the mother – so they were all sat there waiting for his call with their recording eqpt FFS 👿

The mother is understandably distraught, but the Sun have behaved despicably over this

As I posted earlier on this thread – any studies into the benefits or otherwise of helmets have to be considered on the basis of statistical evidence…

… and that really is the problem here. Stats for cycling related injuries, and more particulalry, cycle usage rates to average against, have to be at best – guesswork!!!!

If the evidence was available, and allowed a robust case to be developed, then the marketeers would be all over it. Converserly, the sceptical are equally hampered in presenting a detractors case.

this class of offender is pretty much beyond education and rehabilitation

The Thames Valley Project reckon "97 per cent of those who undertake the programme will not go on to be reconvicted of a sexual offence"

… yes they just become more devious to ensure that they keep below the radar.

URT = Hinged Pig

does anyone live on in THE FENS

give sea level rise a few more years to do its thing

skidartist – Member

Whatever happened to offender education and rehabilitation?

It isn't enough fun for some people

I believe, based on very knowledgeable sources, that this class of offender is pretty much beyond education and rehabilitation

We normally ask candidates what their salary expectations are.

A bold as brass "I want x", is rarely viewed favourably, mainly because the confident person who would make that statement is more likely to over-value themselves. We normally get a range back – ie I'm on this much now, and am looking to move up to etc.

Don't forget, it's not just your salary expectations that have to be accomodated. a good manager will need to try an make sure that your rewards fit well within the ranges paid to the existing team

Pre-ordered on Amazon for £45.

With their pre-order price gaurantee I will be hassling them to reduce to the currently advertised price of £32

freddyg – Member
rkk01 – Why not get back in touch with them?

We did exactly the same (we were the couple without kids); we just couldn't be bothered with all the talk of babies, nappies, puke etc. We'd rather have been in a nice restaurant/at the cinema/on the razz etc.

However, when we finally did have kids, our friends brought us back into the fold. Don't get me wrong, we hadn't detached ourselves completely, but only saw them once a year or so.

Now, we're closer than ever and see them loads – even with the 150mile distance. Or two (aged 2.5 and almost 4) absolutely love their boys to bits – and it's reciprocated. Their boys are aged 10 and 12.

If you really value their friendship, give them a call – I'm sure they'd be grateful and will find your experience with your growing kids invaluable.

We haven't totally lost touch – and I'd hope as theirs get a bit older things will get back towards what it was….

Is there any basis in fact for any cycling statistics though???

Motorcycle forums bemoan the comparison of cycling and motorcycling injury / fatality statistics, becasue the data collection is so very different…

For motor vehicles:

– annual mileages are fairly well understood (important for the per mile / km statistics). All vehicles have an odometer, and disclosure of vehicle mileage is compulsory at MoT and is normally stated for insurance purposes.

– all injury incidents are legally reportable, so if you are a car / motorcyclist (or cyclist invloved in an incident with a motor vehicle), your injury will be counted in the stats.

– all motor vehicles require compulsory insurance – even those incidents that are not reported as injury incidents still get captured as most / many will be notofied to the insuranbce companies.

– Councils / Highways Agency / developers spend a lot of money on transport surveys / modelling to evaluate routes / improvements. provides more data on vehicle miles for each mode of transport.

For cycling:
– No requirement to record bike mileage, register bikes, know the number of bikes in use etc – so very little basis to state bike miles / km for comparison of injury / incident rates.

– No legal requirement to report injuries (except as above with motor vehicle), so many cylcle injuries are either unreported or based on A&E admissions stats.

– No universal insurance requirement.

Surely the No of incidents / mile for cycling must surely be highly conjectured, and even if it has been established, still based on very different data set and population to similar data for motor vehicles.

and that doesn't even account for getting off the public highway!!!!

For our current circle of friends – it's normally kids in tow if invited around for dinner (& vice versa).

We also do occaisional "no kids" evenings, but they are normally timed for kids away / gradparents around type opportunities, and are more likely to be evenings out – pub / restaurant etc.

Unfortunately, we have drifted apart from some very close friends who remained childless as the main "group" started families. They were (rightly) very precious about their uncluttered designer interiors and expensive floor mounted ceramics etc…. whereas the parents of the group learned that all those nice adult things had to be put away.

As it happens, they have now had kids, but the relationship hasn't recovered – while they are burdened down with bottles and nappies, our kids want to be out riding, walking and camping. I don't mean anything malign here – it's about compatability. Where we were all largely compatible with our likes / dislikes, activities, hobbies and way we spent our leisure time. Things have moved on, and sadly now that is no longer the case.

funkynick – Member
rkk… if someone had tripped, fallen and hit their head while walking, would you now be wearing a helmet walking down the street? If not, why not if as you say all the risk management arguments are fatuous…

Ordinarily, no… although that scenario may well be far more common than the mtb one being discussed, especially if alchohol / Friday / Saturday nights are included…. However, if at work, then yes, I might well be wearing a helmet.

ETA – and I don't mean ALL risk management arguments are fatuous – just those that are being put forward about high risk / low risk trails. Yes for a "high risk" fast rocky descent the injury rate will probably be higher than for a flat cycle track. The risk of injury is present for both, but our preparedness might be significantly different

TandemJeremy – Member
rkk – my point is that if you actually look at thee risks involved in some forms of riding they are so low as to be acceptable to me to take – yo really are talking millions to one chances.

I absolutely agree – individually, the chances of being on the recieving end of one of these freak accidents is incredibly low, but us humans are very bad a risk perception, and it is probably risk perception rather than risk itself, that drives the majority on their decisions to waer / not to wear a helmet.

It is, and has to be, all about free choice.

I made my choice in about 91 / 92. Wearing a lid was deeply unfashionable at the time – but a girl where I lived staggered sideways after being passed too close by a car. The car wasn't speeding (busy rush hour city centre traffic). The car didn't actually hit her – she panicked and in attempting to move sideways staggered and tripped, hit her head on a rough stone wall and died of her injuries…

Totally unscientific, but this otherwise inoccuous incident took someone's life. The lack of speed and lack of vehicle impact suggests to me that a helmet WOULD have made a life saving difference.

In another seemingly low risk incident, a colleague died cycling with his family – low speed, country lane, inocuous little tumble and head impact. Other freinds have had higher speed crashes, where they are convinced that a lid has saved them, and like most of us, I have had a few endos where head / rock / stump impact has left me dazed and confused, and thankful for wearing a lid…

SO, I wear a helmet – my choice. The risk management arguments about type of trail, speed, aggressive / cautious riding are fatuous – you believe that you control those factors, but like religion, it is BELIEF, not fact. You may be able to limit the risks, but as has been posted above, the seemingly stupid little low speed fall can do as much damage as a high speed stack

Bus tour of Cardiff prison?????

Sally's Bottom – Cornwall

Goes to show that everyone's different on tyre choice!!

Fire XC Pro – never, ever got front end traction that I could place any confidence in…

Nevegal / Blue Groove – let go suddenly on pretty much every wet off camber rock or root that crosses the trail.

My favourite combo of rolling resistance, durability, and general purpose terrain suitability is the Nokian NBX – works well in 2.1 or 2.3

I think some of the rules come from the third party providers, based on their interpretation of th Govt requirements.

Halfords are a definate NO on topping up – but then it would be: most of their range fits well within a £1k limit…

Surely the scheme specifically does allow topping up?? I believe that there is a specific clause that allows topping up if the Company has a Consumer Credit Act licence, and chooses to offer the hirer an amount over £1k as an interest free loan – although I'm fairly sure that the tax relief element will only apply to the 1000… (and there might be benefit in kind implications of the additional 0% finance). All Companies are given a carte blanche 1000 CCA licence to allow participation in C2W.

As posted by others above – it is a tax relief scheme, and must surely be considered as "under threat" from a hard pressed Chancellor.

That said, I am sure that the cost of giving the relief is minimal compared to othere schemes to encourage people towards greener transport. Council green transport plans anyone? Ineffective cycling infrastructure? Cycle lanes to no-where, blatantly installed to use a bit of year end budget – must all run in to waste millions.

and that's before you get to the money spent on (and promoting) non-green transportation 👿 Anyone for a new runway at Heathrow

I thought the company owned the bike for the duration of the scheme? How can this be if you top up the amount? If they decide not to sell it back then is it tough luck or do you get the wheels?

I'd assume that is at the users risk… ie, it could cost you dearly, but the chances of it happening are low (what use would a used bike be to an employer??)…. and really no difference to being made redundant during the scheme – you have to pay the remaining balance: it's a risk you sign up to.

Regarding value – yes £1k is a perfectly reasonable scheme value to get the relief on. Personally I would want a better bike for commuting (and have used for many years, outside of C2W). My commute is 28 miles per day, approx 50% off-road and with 2 x 1000' climbs. I don't want to do that on a Halfords commuter, which is the very reason I haven't signed up for C2W in the past.

I fail to see how "topping up" is abusing the system. The £1,000 limit (an my comapnies' use of Halfords) stopped me taking part in the scheme up to now. To satisfy myself this year I checked all the background info – and could find nothing about not topping up (except in implementers rules – eg HAlfords)

There is no tax scam here – you have paid income tax on the earnings for the top up….

Always wanted a springer – but we were mindful of first dog experience etc and went for a cocker spaniel instead.

Not quite as energetic as a springer, but still very intelligent, active and a good family pet.

I guess it depends where you are – but we got a shed made up by the local sawmill / timber co, at about half the price of B&Q et al. Most seem happy to sell to trade and public, and as they charge by the wood used, custom sizes don't cost any more.

Ahh, yes – that would make sense. Accounts / credit control will be doing their usual then 😥

I ride an Airborne for enduros / 24 hr races etc. No longer available as Airborne, but van Nicholas in the Netherlands still do frames to the same / similar geometry / spec.

The only time I wish for a softer back end is flat ground over choppy grass – not enough gradient to stand up, and after a long day, too rough to comfortbaly sit down

I willing to accept that pregnancy No.1 is more than likely to be accidental – but based on conversations with friends with direct experience, pregnancy No. 2, 3 etc have been clearly stated as ways of getting more benefit and a larger house