unfortunately one of the pedals came loose whilst out riding.

Pedals self tighten through precession. If it comes loose, the thread's been pulled out.

Two or three days I think. It was wrapping UPVC profile (the stuff they make windows out of) in a factory. 12 hour days and it was about 35°C in the factory in November.

Instruments, indicator stalks (same part as the Pug 406 I believe, £150 to replace), automatic wipers etc.

it doesnt appear to be anysort of real analysis of teh article

I've no interest in analysing the entirety of an article which anyone with basic knowledge of economics and logic can see is incorrect. Hence I've drawn a couple of points out – no understanding of the multiplier effect, or that what is acceptable in one context is not in another. I think once you've exposed such basic flaws in the argument, there's no point going any further.

Everyone knows how the bladeless fan works. There's a bladed fan in the base 😆

is a very bad idea, who's going to call the ambulance? Your hoby is riding an antiquated mode of transport round muddy woods and fields and your worried what a few kids you don't know will think?

Going when it's packed with kids who ride it every weekend isn't going to be a good way to learn – I'll spend more time dodging people doing twice my speed than thinking about technique.

Anyway, I don't fall off. 😆

I've explained repeatedly to you what is wrong with the arguments in the article. I really don't see how you can fail to understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGex0kLgNok

I'm not suggesting that everything is hunk-dory – I'm suggesting that the scale of the problem has been grossly exaggerated to suit the Tories idealogical position.

Oh, I thought you were suggesting that Red Pepper article was something that should actually be taken seriously by people. I've explained to you why it's a badly argued piece, but you seem to be unable to understand my arguments. What other conclusion can I draw?

so perhaps a more telling stat would be to compare our levels of debt/gdp with a number of similar countries now, on which we are also far from the worst?

I said earlier that I've no interest in getting into a huge argument about this. For me to explain the problems to you, it's pretty clear that I'd have to teach you the basics of economics.

Here's a very rough list of what would determine whether the government has an acceptable level of debt:
Level of multiplier effect – dictated by public opinion
Current level of Debt
Level of Deficit
Growth predictions
Likely future currency movements
Future spending plans
Growth predictions for trading partners.
Likelihood of default.
Current interest rates.
Likely future interest rates.

I think you should be able to see that taking a TJ line of "we've got less debt than XYZ" is an incredibly narrow way of looking at the issue.

Why doesn't it stand up as an argument though? Just repeating that something is wrong but not saying why isn't an argument either.

Because the facts quoted are not relevant to the argument being made. I do not know how to make it any clearer than that.

Whatever level of debt is acceptable is dictated by market conditions, what the normal level is, what the prospects for the future look like etc. You cannot say "Well it was 100% in 1842, therefore it would be fine at 100% now". One thing does not follow the other.

If you cannot understand that, you're either wilfully misunderstanding, or really shouldn't be allowed out on your own.

Any kind of spray oil – WD, GT85 etc and a scouring pad or wire wool. Chrome is hard as, no worries about scratching it.

You still haven't actually said why you think it's wrong though.

It's factually correct, but it doesn't stand up as an argument. I believe it's what my philosopher mate would call a non-sequitur.

Another example would be me saying that mountain biking is unhealthy, because I concussed myself doing it once.

Even someone earning 100k a year isn't paying anywhere near 50% in Tax and NI.

Tax is not just Income Tax and NI. To talk about tax rates, you really have to consider all the other taxes paid – VAT, Fag & Booze Duties, Fuel Duty etc.

Still, if you find the graphs for tax as a %age of income, it's roughly a U shaped curve.

Boowull? Stuff that, I want to come back with my bicycle 😆

The level of inefficiency and mindless overspending I've witnessed over the last 6 years has shocked me.

I do wonder if some people work in a different public sector the one I worked in, and the one my girlfriend currently works in. 😆

Sleepless nights?

I'd suggest you get your head sorted 😆

Them Marzocchis with open bath and titanium bits would be my choice.

So broadly speaking, no you can't really find much wrong with it.

I can find plenty wrong with it. As I said, it doesn't make a cogent argument. On the surface, it looks fine, but the facts quoted are not relevant to the points being made. And the theory behind the article is very poor.

Take the point on what historic borrowing levels have been – it's about as good an argument as saying that Land Rovers are relatively good for the environment compared with Ford Mondeos, on the basis that the smallest engined Land Rover emits less CO2 than the ST220. None of the facts are incorrect, but it's not a good argument.

Care to dispute the facts in any of the points they made then?

Having given it a quick scan:

Most of the facts are picked up from reputable sources. However, they're not presented in cogent argument, and many of them are irrelevant to the current situation – ie, acceptable debt levels 60 years ago.

A lot of the cause and effect stuff is way off too – for one, the effect of government spending is affected by public opinion, so increasing spending into a recession can have very little or negative effects as the public realises that they're going to have to pay for it sooner or later, and start saving rather than spending. I'm not going to go through it point by point, as I'll be here all day, with TJ asking for journal references 🙄

By the way TJ, you seem to be on here almost constantly. Is it your day off or something?

Some don't have the luxury of having anything within that distance.

I'd just ride around the local woods. If I had to drive several hours every time I wanted to go mountain biking, I'd take up road riding…

Anything beyond an hour in the car is testing my patience. Don't see the point.

You're clearly mistaken. Roger Red Hat came before Billy Blue Hat. Billy's nothing but a two bit copycat.

I thought you might find te Mail harder to refute.

You must be gutted.

And at the time I read it, lots of people in this country even believed this.

Some still do 😉

Roger Red Hat.

Oh, and the various biographies of Reagan, Thatcher, Bob Diamond, Marie Antoinette etc. 😆

TJ quoting the Mail. We've got about 5 minutes before the universe self destructs in a massive cloud of WTF.

He had people plan out 40% cuts. He also had people plan out 25% cuts. Maybe, just maybe, he wanted to see what the effects of both might be? Or he wanted 25% all along, but asking for 40% first would make 25% seem a far better proposition? Or he wanted an absolute worst case scenario planned, in case our credit lines were pulled?

Buy a new one. Pauls Cycles sold me a sq. taper non-drive crank arm for the grand sum of £7 a couple of years back.

5% a year for 5 years = 25%

It isn't you know. Compound interest, GSCE maths…

40% cuts in budgets

25% overall seems to be the figure according to the BBC. If anyone here is conned, it's you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11207297

The above BBC report suggests that cuts of 25% are to take place over 5 years.

Hora. My shed has a proper door, is made of bricks and has the same windows as my house. It also has a concrete floor and a ground anchor. My house doesn't – it has carpets.

You will be sorry when poverty, crime, illhealth all rise as a result of this and the country is impoverished both financially and socially.

I suppose that whilst I'm crying in the corner, you'll be waving the red flag and posting "I TOLD YOU SO" 18 hours a day…

The figures don't stack up. You don't understand the figures, so you can't see why we need to make cuts. Simple as that.

I was beginning to wonder about Hora. He said some fairly sane things in the thread on running your own business.

Now he comes out with this, and all is well with the world again. 😆

I'll spell it out for you.

Debt is what we currently owe. It's fairly regularly measured in telephone numbers, or as a %age of GDP.

Deficit is what we're going to be short of this year (ie, going to owe). Again, it's expressed as phone numbers of a %age of GDP.

This year's deficit goes into next year's debt figures. As far as I can see, the sums work out such that you can add the %ages together for a very rough estimate (obviously GDP changes over time). But if we start with a debt of 70% of GDP, run a 10% deficit, it's only matter of a couple of years before we're approaching 100% debt/GDP.

It's no good saying "Oh, we have a relatively small national debt, so let's carry on as per" when doing so means running a deficit of approx 12%. That 12% goes into your debt figure at the end of the year.

Anyway, don't take my word for it. See what our competitor countries have to say:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8569418.stm

Errm – the competitor countries have larger deficits as % of GDP

Debt != Deficit. Try again.

The competitor countries who have smaller deficits as %age of GDP, due to the fact they didn't have the economic genius that is Gordon Brown to dig a big hole for them?

We are not in the same position as our "competitor countries".

As for the wonderful lefty quotes about what's considered a normal debt for a country, if 40% is the current norm, then that's where the good interest rates are going to be. Not heading towards 70-80%. What the norm was 50 years ago is neither here nor there.

Whoever got in would have had to swing the axe. That was clear to anyone with a brain before the election.

All they did was throw data at a spreadsheet without taking into account the fact people often live and work in different places

Ah. The southern end of Mansfield is practically a dormitory town for people who work, shop and dine in Nottingham. Mansfield's still a shithole though 😆

The thing with an ASBO is, they're very bad news if you're a council tenant (eviction), and breaking the terms is a one way ticket to jail.

What's a Body Control Computer?

As far as I know, it's a fairly important part of the multiplexing system. It's like an ECU for the body systems – indicators, instruments etc.

PSA is Peugeot / Citroen

You're correct. I had them lumped together in my head as they all had Body Control Computer problems at about the same time. I almost bought a 182 myself, until I heard about it…