Dutch freedom party should remain in Holland! Just like the extremeist Imams and other preachers of hatred from other parts of the world. Or leaders of religious cults. Keep Britain British. Let us continue to have freedom of speech and the ability to rant unchecked on web forums such as this!

Apart from cash compensation, they will be duty bound to offer her her original job back when here maternity period ends. If this is not available, an alternative equivalent must be pffered with no reduction in pay.

And Sir David Attenborough has been getting death threats from religious nutters for making a programme about Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

These idiots get so upset when scientists rationally disprove their flawed beliefs through meticulous and parallel research programmes over a very long period.

I’m sorry to hear of your problem.

Good luck with the Paypal dispute process. My experience is that they don’t give a flying fxxk!

If you have the bloke’s address and he isn’t too far away, take them back and demand a cash refund on the spot.

Cheeky toerag fecker!

Ebay dispute resolution is equally useless. I wouldn’t waste your time with their dispute console. It’s so crass and the generic responses are irritating beyond belief! If only eBay had the balls to deliver real customer support by putting a call centre number, or a company address on their website!

Paying customers deserve better protection considering the amount they charge for transactions!

They acted illegally and immorally. Slam them!

We had a nanny many years ago who got pregnant. She decided to leave thank goodness! We were legally obliged to keep her job open, or offer her an equivalent position. We would have needed to pay here maternity pay too. There would have been some government support with this as I recall, but I cannot remember the deatil. Things may have changed since then.

We went through the process of seeking advice, but never needed it. I think the nanny was realistic in that we, as a working coule on average salaries, could not afford two nannies (we could hardly afford one!) and that she could not have done her job properly with her own baby in tow. I felt terrible about the predicament, but as I said earlier, she left of her own accord, we did not make her life difficult and she did nor pursue us for constructive dismissal. I believe she set up her own nursery and everything worked out in the end.

Your wife’s employer has clearly discriminated against her and by saying that she is “gone”, I assume she has been made redundant. I would have no qualms about making a claim for unfair dismissal! The Law is there to protect vulnerable mothers to be!

I read in this thread that she had been told on numerous ocassions not to get pregnant. The employer knows that they can’t dictate which employee procreates! It’s none of their damn business! If they took her on, they will have known the risks at that time and the laws on sexual discrimination and pregnancy. They were clearly happy to employ her because she was going to help their business.

I’d definitely recommend getting a lawyer on the case. Get someone who has a lot of experience in employment tribunals.

I hope the pregancy goes well and that the stress doesn’t affect her, or the baby’s health! You obviously need to take everyone’s wellbeing into account whatever your decision.

Good luck!

The iPhone would be a good bet if it wasn’t locked to O2 on an expensive contract, but this does include unlimited UK browsing/downloads.

The iPhone UI is superior to others and there are loads of additional apps. available, many FOC. I don’t know if you can run msn, yahoo on iPhone. If Apple’s usual tack is anything to go by you won’t. Meebo is the alternative if you need this, but runs slow in my experience.

Blackberry is focused at business users and like the E71 is not as intuitive and user friendly as an iPhone.

However another concern I have about iPhone is what to do about it when it’s battery is worn out. Buy a new one?

Replaceable battery and compatibility with other music formats/media software would be a deal maker for me.

You risk burning it out or setting it on fire!

Can you use your IT skills to do something for yourself?

Can you relocate, but working for someone else in a nicer environment?

Could you live without the money?

IT moves swiftly so a few years break will close the doors if you decided to return to it. The competition out there is stiff!

I reckon a cosy job in IT sounds very appealing in the current economic climate, especially to those who have been out of work for sometime.

The saying “the grass is always greener” is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Don’t make the mistake I did and think something will come up. Look for a viable alternative and make a plan. It could take 5 years to make the transition.

Don’t make any hasty moves or you may regret it big time!

STARTING to lose the plot???

The biker should have been in the queue of traffic, not trying to cut in. The car driver was under no obligation to help him out of the vulnerable position he put himself in! However he was given an opportunity and he failed to take it.

Seeking revenge for the percieved injustice by damaging a wing mirror like this should qualify him for a 6 month ban IMHO!

As biker and a car driver with 950,000 plus miles of experience, I have gotten used to a percentage of road users to behaving like idiots. This biker was no exception.

It can be tough extending courtesy and keeping a cool head on the roads at all times. I really think that there should be some test of an individual’s volatilty/temperament when taking any driving test, as this is what causes so many accidents. If those marked as a risk were aware of the threat they pose to other road users, they might actually kerb their behaviour! Better still, don’t give them a license!

I’m sorry, but Muc-off won’t shift electromagnetic plating. Muc-off may tarnish the finish, but you need to use an abrasive with plenty of elbow grease. If you use a coarse grit emery or wet and dry, you will then have hours of rubbing down with progressive finer grades and polishes to restore the shine.

I reckon blast cleaning would work best. Walnut shell being the best abrasive for the task assuming the original finish was highly polished. Sand is way too coarse but bead would give a shotpeened finish.

Or sand by hand and get them powdercoated.

BTW, anyone know a blast cleaning company in the South East region that can do aluminium frames without trashing them?

Atheism rocks!

Faith; If one has enough faith that there is an elephant sitting in the next room doing the Telegraph crossword, then this notion becomes a reality in one’s mind.

Just like the Tooth Fairy, Father Christmas and God, the elephant is a fantasy in one’s imagination.

Why is only believing in God taken seriously?

In the Old Testament, the story of Noah, God was not happy with all creatures in the World. God instructed Noah to round up a breeding pair of each speccies. They were all loaded on to the big wooden boat and then God flooded the planet to kill every remaining living creature. Reasonable!

Also in the old testament God was said to enjoy the smell of burning live animals. Seems offensive doesn’t it? The word tyrant comes to mind!

What about the meting out of divine justice;

Were all the poor people who perished in Australia bad? Surely God wouldn’t allow this because apparently, some people say he cares about us all!

The only person to ever survive rabbies contracted the disease in a Roman Catholic church. A bat swooped several times on the congregation and was eventually knocked to the floor. The little girl wanted to help the stunned creature and kindly carried it outside whereupon it bit her. Why wasn’t God watching over her? The girl was just a child trying to be kind in helping one of his small traumatised creatures!

There are billions of other cases of human suffering visited upon good decent people. God is supposed to be all seeing all knowing. Especially according to the mad evangelists that drain gullible people’s bank accounts across large swathes of the USA. What a load of tosh! There is nobody watching over you except your loved ones and friends.

The claim by believers is that if you have faith in the existence of a God, he really must be real. Applying such logic would mean that the Tooth Fairy, Father Christmas are also real!

Religion instills many good values. It is a tool of control. It passifies and comforts people. But what about those who dare to think freely, who choose to reject religious beliefs? In some parts of the world, such people are killed! Lucky we are allowed to think and speak freely in this country!

Religion causes more conflict in the world than anything else due to it’s divisve nature. A better world would be one where people find what they have in commone, not what they don’t.

Do we need religion to learn good morals and live a decent life? Of course we don’t!

I have a surplus thule footpack and “Aero” anodized aluminium bars for the mk3 if you are interested.

The mk3 is a sound car and the TDi engine is one of the most efficient engines on the market. You made a good purchase.

This is such fun!

Yep Nugget96, shocking isn’t it!

You can’t beat volcanic erruptions for Co2 emissions either.

It scares the life out of me that so many seemingly intelligent people believe in such mumbo jumbo!

Up with free and logical thinking!

When I call my m8 who is on talktalk, the ringtone i hear when calling is old. Reminds me of the 70’s. Talktalk fit antique equipment into the BT exchanges. I bet that has a lot to do with why their broadband performance is so poor.

I saw a prog. on TV about all the religions in America. My favourite was the one where they sat in a windowless copper pyramid in the front garden and drank alcohol.

I just had the same problem (had to reload a PC). What is wrong with these people at Apple???

Timewasting!

They should also teach in R.E. lessons that, apart from all the religious believers, there are a huge number of people who believe that religion is a load of old twaddle and that there is overwhelming scientific evidence that supports this idea. Noboby should be forced to perform an act of worship in schools and individuals should be able to make up their own minds in what they believe in. More emphasis on science in schools! More facts and less archaic fantasy!

Clarkson summed our PM pretty well last week I thought!

Where did the humour go?

BTW, what job are you quitting? Maybe I could do it.

Watch your spelling. I resigned from Wang UK many years ago. Got the last letter of the firm’s name wrong. I got a lot of funny looks when I went in the office and had no idea why until someone told me. OOOPS!

I don’t think KM has ever done any building work in his life. He seems to quick to apportion blame to any party when things go wrong, or ridicule the programme’s participants for not having the same tastes as him.

It’s very easy to criticise a project when you aren’t financially committed and it must be quite annoying having him poking his nose in throughout the build. It would be much more useful if he imparted his advice to the participants at the beginning of the project, so the same old mistakes weren’t made! I HATE the stupid way that he explains stuff to the viewer, like we are al ignorant. I hope the programme maker pays these people enough to make putting up with him worthwhile!

He seems like a typical architect to me – always enthusing about doing things impractically and selecting very esoteric, expensive, but often unremakable meaterials. I suppose it is just for the sake of making a statement that only other architects and a handful of design snobs might appreciate. Some of the owners have some bizarre ideas too. E.G. How many people would spend £1M on a house and choose polished concrete as a flooring solution? Or spend £1k on a particular style of kitchen mixer tap? Hey, no accounting for taste!!

However I love the show because I love building, creative design and learning about some of the issues of such projects.

I know a guy who is a competitive rider, goes out with a bunch of superfit full on riders. They all ride hardtails and a few have switched to rigid forks due to failures. They get through so much kit it’s astonishing. Some ride single speed too. The focus seems to be on weight saving. Loosing your high-end forks for a pair of Pace RC29’s makes a big weight difference! So does loosing a rear cassette, shifters, deraileurs, associated cables and triple chainset. Less to go wrong and no fancy temperamental forks to maintain. They claim that a fully rigid bike is more challenging and yet more connected to the trail.I like the look – free of clutter. Frankly, reading this thread, i’m sold on the idea myself.

Building a bike is much more fun than off the peg. Surfing all the different stores for the best deals on components, buying and flogging some of the bits on eBay and this is a great place for frames. You get exactly the spec. you want and you can perfectly tailor the bike for your intended use. The problem is when you have done a few bikes, you can’t wait to do another. Can be cheaper if you are careful. The headache is compatibility with the array of different standards.

I like the flood damaged stuff that they got compensated for and are flogging off at a good profit. I bet they bought the salvage back from the insurance company for a 10th of its original wholesale value. Call me cynical!

Not all automatic drink fuel. Audi for example have two types. Old fashioned gas guzzling autos and a variomatic style. Thay claim the variable chain driven auto box uses even less fuel than a manual.

PRINCE2 methodology is of limited use unless you are in a PRINCE2 environment – i.e. if your employer buys in to it. Somewhat like ISO9000, P2 is a set of processes and standards, but unlike ISO9000, P2 standards are not negotiable. I believe it is much better to operate in a P2 environment for a while prior to doing the Practitioner course. Foundation P2 is attainable in 3 days with no prior knowledge. Combined fast track Foundation and Practitioner courses run over 5 days. IMHO, embarking on this course cold is going to be challenging. Your poject experience is what really counts when job hunting, not PRINCE2. The way PRINCE2 is taught is about to change and I am led to believe that an old Foundation certified person would have to attend a whole Foundation/Practitioner course if they wanted to take the Foundation exam after the change. Also worth mentioning is that your Practitioner certificate is only valid for 5 years. After that you have to re-sit the exam. IMHO, there’s a lot more than P2 that maketh a good project manager.

Tax relief – If you get a fixed monthly car allowance and also a nominal sum to cover fuel, you can claim relief on the difference between the amoumt the employer pays for mileage and the tax allowable amount. e.g. Compamy pays you 8p a mile and your vehicle is qualifies for 40p, you can claim tax relief on the diffence.

Don’t worry about it.
Go to the pub for a beer.
Eat what you like.
Roll on summer!

Cycle courierieriering. Wow what a great idea! Thanks

eBay will close his account because they are jointly liable for the sale of counterfeit goods. Copying stuff and giving it to a mate is one thing, but selling copies to the public on eBay is another. Both are illegal. Shop him!

I had company cars for 20 years up until 7 years ago whereupon i took my own car. I managed to slash my mileage because up until this date everyone was hammered if they did less than 18k a year. The new rules regarding fuel cards meant paying far too much in tax. Many employers then were not very concerned about minimising their employees tax liability, yet the company car was overwhelmingly a tool for their benefit! The polluter wasn’t paying, we were!

I worked out that if you buy your own car new, funded by a fixed allowance, 30k a year is the point where the private car becomes a bit questionable because of the depreciation and wear and tear.

For a company paying you 40p a mile, i would be looking at 3yr old diesel cars on average mileage with a view to changing each year. The good news ia that there has never been a better time to buy a new or secondhand car. 40p a mile will not fund a very big car if you want something new so secondhand is the best route.

The benefits of buying your own car for work is that you pay much less income tax. Useful if you are close to the threshold for higher rate tax and have savings. You can claim relief, choose when to change the car, choose what car you buy, keep the car when you leave the company. You can also be creative about your business mileage reporting to offset some of the wear an tear brought about by the benefit you are bringing to your employer.

It doesn’t work well if the company expect you to do 30k a year. In practice it is often possible to cut this significantly.

The ideal scenario for running your own car is a monthly allowance and a job with a lot less driving.

Having a job at the moment is a bonus, so this unattractive mileage offer is not hugely significant in the grand scheme of things.

There are the downsides of running your own car, but you have no choice right now.

You can always look for another job which does provide a car if you get offered this one.

Good luck!

Who cares?