chrisp65

ooooooh, stay behind for some extra work and a special one on one session Tony

Well, I've quizzed the kids and they've had to read whole books and plays. Just like Tony, I skip read sections and blagged it back in the O Level days (The Long, The Short, The Tall / Merchant of Venice / Kes / Ozymandias), grade C, good enough for a fluffer. One thing I'm already confused about, the current system is A*, through to G grade. This is being changed to 1 through to 8 in order to give more clarity and properly differentiate standards. Forgive me if I've got this wrong but don't both systems have 8 points of differentiation?

Common sense. Well done, sir. Basic Marxist theory. Improve working conditions, improve productivity.

pinko subversive liberal gayer communist

I endorse this campaign.

I had a situation a good few years back where one of my mates was Cardiff City through and through, fanatical for years, but they played Barry in the Welsh Cup final. His home town team with his mates in the team. He was sat in amongst the Barry fans but cheered and went loopy when Cardiff scored, joining in the singing from the opposite side. Stewards all got a bit edgy and tried to eject him but we persuaded them otherwise. The fact that he was a body builder and clearly drunk help persuade them not to get all physical and just 'monitor' from afar. A short time later Barry scored two and he was delirious. He actually cried. Drinking buddies have scored goals that put us into Europe. Game ended with a Barry win and he went home very happy, in his Cardiff shirt.

Its very difficult not to just stereotype here, but from my vast and superb experience: Women do tend to have more sick leave than men. This is for several reasons. They take their health more seriously and will visit the doctor because of a ‘funny spot’ whereas a man will tend to leave the spot until his leg falls off and his wife notices and sends him to the doctor. Women, very often will have to take leave to look after the kids and grandparents and their illnesses and crises. It’s often easier to phone in sick than try and negotiate a day off to take gran or little Timothy to the gum clinic. There are very few men that would consider the health of their children of immediately more importance than processing that order for flanges that was supposed to go out last Thursday. Saying all the above, the basic point still appears anecdotally true in my experience.

Having arrived in work spectacularly early this morning to get some invoices issued whilst it was quiet, I've done that, had a coffee and then I've awarded myself a giant weekend clear out crap in the executive lav. whilst it was still all nice and quiet. Not wishing to be anti social I've then attempted to spray the place with the aerosol air freshner. Nozzle was the wrong way round or defective in some way and I've shot myself. I'm now sat here, first of the staff coming in and I smell like a cheap chemical version of a Spring Meadow.

It's the first half of June and we're doing business buying and bidding on players. Frankly its all a bit unsettling. Why can't we just leave it until 2 or 3 games into next season like usual and panic buy someone.

I know a few people that have used their new found property wealth to draw down money and buy a car. If ever there was a bad economic model, it would be to buy an item that devalues like a car (or holiday) by increasing the risk on your home and paying interest on that decision for 10, 15, 20 years. I think it's fair to say they'll be paying for that car long after they've traded it for something else. To a great extent, we still haven't grasped what happened five years ago and we are all sat here, waiting for the cycle to kick on again.

Yeah true, if only mortgages weren't so massive due to high house prices, we could invest in our savings and pensions. Having houses going up perpetually to give a pay off by downsizing at the end of the cycle can't be sustainable can it? Don't get me wrong, I'm currently set to benefit from this crazy system, my house has trebled in value since buying it, but that doesn't make it good for society. Oh yeah, sod society, I'm alright.

I've been to several, it's always vicars and tarts. You can trust me on this one.

In the 6th year, you'll be charged a fee of 1.75% of the loan's value. After this, the fee will increase each year by Retail Price Index plus 1%. The retail price index is going up by at or about 3% at present, so 3 = 1 is, er, 4%. Not much, quite competitive, just make sure you can afford a 4% rise in repayments of the govt subsidised element of your mortgage. Shouldn't be a problem if your earnings go up and inflation doesn't. Shouldn't be a problem for the tax payer as long as those taking out the loans don't default due to redundancy. Subsidising house purchases rarely goes wrong for a country. Right? I'm really really not resenting the perceived help of others, I'm eligible for the scheme too if I decide to buy in england. What I'm suggesting, quite radically admittedly, is rather than temporarily subsidise the purchase of expensive houses, why not make houses cheaper? We have a need to boost the economy, we have unemployed people, we have land banks not being used and we have a housing shortage. Surely its not beyond our ability to get people in work building houses which would give more people an income whilst solving a problem. Here's a thought, use some empty factories to make super efficient super insulated modern prefabs.

a decent programme on 12 noon today on BBC 6 about Wilko Johnson http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02qtj1z quite a nice light run through, no deep new revelations, but a good listen for an hour

It's the type of music I really didn't like when I was a younger. Thoroughly opposed to it in my own inverted snobbery way. Having said that, it did form part of my 'special library' of three records I kept to hand for entertaining the ladies once I got them back to my penthouse bachelor complex. Well, my bedroom in my parents house actually. The three records, Eagles, Wham! and Holst - Planet Suite. I figured slipping one of those babies on would show the ladies I wasn't all ska but had hidden intellectual depths. This would get me the deep intellectual and spiritual connection I so craved as a teenager.

The bit of brick panelling at the far end is making it look a bit fancy - but yeah, that's the sort of garden I'd give most people*. Makes cleaning up the daily cat shit a bit easier. With a bit of care at the joints, you're also responsible for your own rainwater run off rather than sending it down the street to flood someone else. *being a conflicted fan of brutalism and loving the odd blank self finished concrete wall in stuff wot I've helped design. I've recently convinced somebody to strip out their naff neat and essentially fake plaster skim ceiling and leave the original concrete soffit exposed, showing the shut lines of the original build process, the bumps lumps and even timber indentations across a basically flat grey surface. Awesome in my opinion, she's hoping it'll grow on her!

The black box at the foot of the greenhouse in the picture has 4 artichokes in it, they're probably going in the ground today. First time we've done it so a bit clueless.

spot on

Ownership of land is a fine stream of discussion to go down, my guess is that the system isn't going to fundamentally change any time soon and I've got kids. So yes, the basic principle of ownership (and the Queen actually owning everything), would be addressed in my ideal world. But that's all a bit abstract when you have a real life happening now and you want a garden and a garage. Well, you seem to have given up the dream of absolute power rather too readily might I say. On a more serious note not all 'ownership' is the freehold which allows you ponds, apple trees, gardens and garages of your wish (and even then always - Pickles not withstanding) so I don't think it's just a (slightly) inebriated diversion that takes me into the concept of ownership. Also, if we aren't on VT politics threads to throw in to the air a mix of the banal, the serious, the innovative and the wistful then what are we here for? Still working on the absolute power, I'm convinced it would be for everyone's benefit. I'd love the system to be fundamentally fixed to bring in the ideals of The Diggers, a little Luddite attitude, a bit of what William Morris was after. So, how do we solve the land ownership / family home for life thang?

Ownership of land is a fine stream of discussion to go down, my guess is that the system isn't going to fundamentally change any time soon and I've got kids. So yes, the basic principle of ownership (and the Queen actually owning everything), would be addressed in my ideal world. But that's all a bit abstract when you have a real life happening now and you want a garden and a garage. Well, you seem to have given up the dream of absolute power rather too readily might I say. On a more serious note not all 'ownership' is the freehold which allows you ponds, apple trees, gardens and garages of your wish (and even then always - Pickles not withstanding) so I don't think it's just a (slightly) inebriated diversion that takes me into the concept of ownership. Also, if we aren't on VT politics threads to throw in to the air a mix of the banal, the serious, the innovative and the wistful then what are we here for? Certainly not the glamorous women. I can do glamorous, big boy.

Allotment in the picture, but you can see it from my house so I was lucky to get it*. House has a decent size of flat garden, mostly lawn, that's where the apple trees and the pond are. Only set up the pond 14 months ago and it's going great guns and has cockney frogs (last year's tadpoles were imported). Seriously nothing going on with the carrots for some reason, no matter how hard I stare there's nothing there. Trying out cabbages in the greenhouse between the toms this year following an accidental discover of this technique last year. looks to be going well. * I say lucky, it was a wreck when we took it on, last person had been kicked off a long time before for, er, 'growing their own' and presuming the old guys around wouldn't know what it was.

beetroot on the rise, raddish ready, spuds doing fine new squash bed looks like a success, sweetcorn planted out, brocolli, broadbeans and cabbage all netted peas and runner beans are happy, corgettes are going to be good roma, pomodoro, plum and cherry toms all happy first batch of garlic and onions nearly ready, leeks are tiny, no sign of the carrots chillies and peppers still in the green house only three cucumber plants - but how many do you need? counted 5 frogs in the pond today, apple trees have apples growing on them it's the nearest thing to keep fit I do anymore

Ownership of land is a fine stream of discussion to go down, my guess is that the system isn't going to fundamentally change any time soon and I've got kids. So yes, the basic principle of ownership (and the Queen actually owning everything), would be addressed in my ideal world. But that's all a bit abstract when you have a real life happening now and you want a garden and a garage.

Stefan, I do feel for anyone trying to buy a house these days, we thought we had it tough when I was buying. First time round, I bought at what turned out to be a peak, buying a house for £33k that 10 years later I sold for £30k. The next time I bought, I bought for £68k and that house has since tripled in price. It's basically the same house and shouldn't be that sort of stupid money. But, in my opinion you are right about buying and renting. Yes you have some flexibility with rental and you don't worry about the roof blowing off. But 25 years down the line you've paid out £250k in rent and you have nothing. I've stuck a pond and some apple trees in my garden, I didn't have to ask permission from my landlord. There are vast tracts of land capable of taking vast amounts of housing and its all locked up in rich companies land banks. It costs about £90k to build a house, but they all know that with restricted supply they can sell them for double that. Why make £90k by going to the trouble of building 10 houses and selling them for £9k profit when you can build 1 house and demand will drive that price up. It's a rigged market. I don't envy you lot, and I worry for the next lot.

this tory house buying scheme is about as bad an idea as its possible to contrive first time I heard of it I genuinely thought it was a wind up What we have here is a scheme to give people access to credit they can't truly afford at market rates on the hope that when the reckoning comes money will be worth less or their income will have gone up. What could possibly possibly go wrong with that idea. I mean, it's not like that's previously gone so tits up wrong in the last 5 or 6 years that we've had a western world in a state of collapse. This is a policy dreamt up by a fuktard. I seriously hope that those taking advantage of the scheme fully understand what it is they are buying into. They are buying ito a gamble that, whilst many are now forecasting this whole pile of economic shit will last until at least the year 2020, your house buying needs it all to be better for you personally by 2018. Well, I wish you luck. Then, to top it all, they had 'proof' that reducing interst payments temporarily was working. Yes the proof was.....house prices appear to be going up! Absolutely fracking awesome, who'd have thought subsidising house buying would cause prices to rise and that could somehow be described as a good thing. Supply and demand. Build houses, build towns. That will get people into jobs and earning money and reduce house price pressure. Oh no, I forgot Britain's full isn't it.