coldel

There is some serious talent there...fantastic work

I went for this http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/das-6-dual-action-polisher/das-6-dual-action-polisher-menzerna-intro-kit/prod_721.html out of stock now though. Great deal, just what you need in terms of polish and pads...

So when a teachers strike is on all parents can fine a school for a lost day then as it is seriously harming my child's education. Or when my child has to go into school for half a day for 5 1/2 weeks when in reception I can fine them for 2 3/4s weeks of lost schooling time? I totally appreciate teachers as previously mentioned, but I do not appreciate the lack of understanding of parents and how little sometimes they are listened to. In Europe and across the world most kids do not start school until 6 years old, do our kids excel vs the rest of the world for an extra 2 years in school? Of course being in school makes more sense, missing a week in a year, if someone can point me at conclusive evidence that says kids that miss a week a year get worse jobs and get worse results then happy to take that on board, I doubt that evidence exists though.

...and having been a teacher for a short time I do bow down to the time and effort they put in. However, I think an appreciation of the real world is required from some of them some times. The school Alfie has been selected for says that he needs to do half days for 5 1/2 weeks whilst every other school does 2 weeks half days for reception - I am going to ask some very tough questions of the school as to why that is when I visit them in a couple of weeks because I find this somewhat farcical. I will also very much challenge Head Miss on the school leave thing, law is not on her side, lets see how much she can bully parents with this news...

Was actually waiting for Rich to come in on the conversation The report says that 90% attendance is the threshold, in any case, what if the child breaks their leg, does that mean being at home whilst they recover means they are going to fail? I personally believe application has more impact on capability to pass than some sort of blunt measurement like attendance. Kids can turn up 100% of the time but if they do 'eff all whilst they are there they will fail (hence why teachers can sign off performance as above) and I would be more likely to want to fine parents who do nothing to motivate their children than those that have high performing children who take a week out. Rebecca went to a school visit recently that I couldnt make and raised this, the headmistress came back very much with 'NO CHILDREN TAKE TIME OFF IN TERM TIME IN MY SCHOOL I WONT HAVE IT', this is a school rated Outstanding by OFSTED. Rebecca described it as the sort of response she would expect from a sergeant major - yes she needs to communicate the message she would not encourage it, but I think there is a high horse she needs to get off, these people you are talking to fund you, and your school, and my desire for my child to do well at your school makes you look good, respect that.

What it seems to ignore is also the needs of the parent, I need a holiday also sometimes, and not always in half term when school decide. Just seems too draconian, I took holidays when at school in term time, I worked out ok.

You sound like Boris Johnson there Floyd Not sure what you have said is FACT, I think its an opinion, there is no legislation in place stating that the UK will have to become part of the 'Superstate' in fact nothing in law at the moment. Part of the conversations that Cameron had recently included that to stay part of the EU is that we retain an ability to remain at arms length from fully integrating. You could argue that is rubbish and just political talk, but its no more political talk than what Boris is saying (and to be quite frank I have very little faith in Boris talking much sense given his agenda on this is completely to jump the rungs in the party)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36277940 Personally I agree, its a bit of a farce giving out fines illegally. I wonder how many of the fines would have to be paid back in theory? Given my son is off to school in September (and even more of a joke, 5 weeks of half days to let him get used to it - again farcical) I have no plans to be crowding into over priced resorts, we will be going in term time.

I try to ignore all the political games that are going on, as you say there will be someone else paid a few quid to give their view one way or another tomorrow. There are a few you can look to with some insight, certainly the BoE announcement was unprecedented and unexpected and came out of nowhere - they have opposed sitting governments in the past so are certainly not yes-men to the leadership. The thing is that I would say half the country will simply vote one way or the other based on a meme or something shared on the internet. Happily go tell their friends that we suddenly will have £350m in the bank each week and we will suddenly see hospitals springing up left right and centre (no offence to any members posting these to date intended!) and that superficial view is enough and they do not care enough to look further and thats their choice I guess. I guess a few things I believe I understand are correct are: 1. We do not pay £350m a week into the EU 2. Of the two types of legislation of law we have EU input on is 50% and 10% - and this is not law being passed down to us, its often them agreeing to law we have decided to implement 3. There is no precedent for leaving the EU apart from Greenland that had to bi-laterally negotiate its fishing trade deals, this took more than two years for this one deal alone to agree 4. I haven't read anywhere were any country trades tariff free with the EU that is not a part of it Happy to be told otherwise on these, but I am trying to get clear in my head what risks I am voting for on either side, and which in my view, is less risky and more likely to give an outcome I want. Statements like 'take back control' do not actually mean anything on their own...

Gross payments are something like £18bn, net payments after rebate and other reductions are something like £8.5bn - so the £350m a week being banded around stating that it could buy a hospital each week etc. is incorrect (it's less than half that) so I really do hope people are not falling for it, simple sums (and supported by the document above) show that. What we put in net, then generates various funds, one is to support agriculture for instance which we benefit heavily from, other countries need help from funds that affect different parts of their economy such as infrastructure. There are also various support areas funded by our money that help to build capabilities in other countries in the EU, now this might sound like we are giving money away but building efficiency and better standards into other countries mean they are more capable to trade with us both import and export. By also improving the industries within other EU countries, they must in turn create better working conditions (reduction in sweat houses for instance) and adhere to the EU working codes and standards in their products which we adhere to - this puts countries in more of a level footing in terms of product quality, safety and delivery. There are thousands of other ways the money gets used - maybe you are right and the EU doesn't use it effectively enough and that needs sorting (note we can only affect this if we are at the table) - but there is I am afraid no simple equation that says "8.5bn not paid to the EU = 8.5bn in our pockets"

Two things on the pound fall, firstly why is it falling and secondly, the impact of the UK credit rating. Its falling because the UK is being seen as more and more of a risk, potential impact on growth inflation and interest rates all in potentially bad places push the value of the pound down. So the fact that you could say exports are cheaper to sell which is good, but also it means that to achieve that our country is seen as a risk to foreign investment, which longer term is not a good thing. Secondly, is the UKs credit rating, our country issues bonds which have high ratings, because of our creditworthiness. This makes us able to sell our country as an investment but also to allow the government to manage budget deficits - if we take a hit on our credit rating, this impacts our budgets and ultimate consumers pockets as the government has to hit us with costs to manage our deficit.

The slow down began last year with the impending referendum, its already on us. As mentioned, uncertainty is what causes bad business, lower investment, reduced growth and so on and so forth. If I were a foreign investor would I put money into a business in the UK that could potentially see my product hit with levies not in place in a European country? This is what the bank is highlighting, and for what you might think of bankers, they are in some way more impartial than any journo with an agenda to sensationalise in a newspaper to sell copies.

Aye fair comment JP, hence why I said take the risk. I would rather take the risks that you pointed out vs the risks briefly mentioned in my post, we could argue the toss about which are more likely but I think its sensible to leave it there. I guess personally having lived in Europe, Asia and the UK maybe I like the idea of some sort of economic integration.

I think I despair about the idea that we leave and 'take control' and that people do not want to understand what that entails. The idea that there is switch that gets flicked in the summer if we vote leave that does this is ludicrous. The idea that we could be in a free market and 'shut up shop' in terms of immigration is equally ludicrous. What makes me fear for my child is growing up in a paranoid and isolated society with some sort of island mentality. Sure immigration is something that needs to be looked at and current process is probably not suitable, but that is better achieved being part of the EU I think. The idea of 'shutting up shop' to immigrants and all the negative economic and social connotations that come with it don't bare thinking about. So fine, we 'shut up shop' and in response EU puts 10% levy on all our imports and exports, which pushes up prices from manufacturing, agriculture to food stuffs in Tesco. Are you willing to take the risk that your child will have to pay more for food, power, cars? That their disposable income could potentially be much worse off? If so then fine.

When we were in the anti-natal classes one couple were planning on a 6 month round world trip 3 months after the birth of their first child, and they did!

Well done matey, the 'difficulty' does go up and down and different ages bring different challenges. It is funny but I found I just couldnt stop watching my son when he was a baby, just watching him sleep, it all sounds odd I guess but until you have been there...

...and you can just about fit an SMD and a Humpy in as well, who says its not practical

I would imagine there is very little swing left in the voting, it just seems like one of those things where 80% of the leaves will shout leave till they are blue in the face even if someone pointed out the errors in all their 'facts' they will shrug their shoulders and just say leave regardless - same for stay. There may be a few that are open to being pursuaded but I doubt its many.

I still hanker for a VX/Elise, just getting in, settling yourself down, key in, hitting the starter button and the whole car fires up - you really can imagine you are about to tear off into the distance on a race grid when in fact you are nipping to the dry cleaners to pick up some washing. You sit low down, engine revving inches from the back of your head, legs horizontal out in front of you, all the feedback from the road coming through the wheel...takes some topping! Shame you didnt have these thoughts a couple of years ago could have popped over for a spin in the VX!

Its a civil war, although 'terrorists' exist in the country and are part of the conflict, it was born out of militia vs the government - the legals I imagine in terms of taking sides in some way must be a bit more difficult to deal with. No Big Uncle Sam invasion is possible as far as I can see?

Wuss! I used to jump into my VX220 to nip to Tesco's all the time and at 40 years old

Exactly what Dan said - there is a mixing of issues here, Syria is a war zone that our press kindly shields us from the realities of because its suits us, there is a serious and genuine humanitarian crisis going on. Hundreds of thousands of civilians who just want to get on with their life, dead, crippled or injured. Then there are people that are genuine work migrants, then there are a tiny minority who are after the benefits (of which there multitudes more that are British born-and-bred but have never paid a penny in income tax either). The press will group them together and the pro exits will shout 'control our borders' but with no plan of how to actually do this (or even try to work out the bureaucratic cost which no doubt everyone will be up in arms about when it starts totting up into the hundreds of millions to implement) - there are probably a dozen steps to any implementation of a policy, but people only look at the first one i.e. control the borders, then ignore the implementation, cost, impact on social wellbeing, humanitarian issues, foreign policy, economic relations, change in legislation, trade rules...the implications are massive.

Yes I agree on the 'salesmen' Farage love or loathe him talks a good game on the EU and immigration (although probably has the fiscal knowledge of a small plant hence the reason why he is a protest voters dream but someone you wouldn't let near actually running anything) - Boris is a complete farce and people vote for him because he is a bumbling Mr Bean type character. The sticking two fingers up is often in business terms the worst thing you can do. Burning bridges and all that in business is well known to generally leave the finger flickers in a much worse position financially and frowned upon by the masses, it helps to have some friends out there sometimes...

Yeah a few hundred quid for a full set?

Aye its quite a nice compelling video isn't it I mean according to that nothing could possibly go wrong in an exit As you mentioned, some of it is clearly made up as previously discussed, although not heard the bit about the spurious stuff at the end in ditching the pound etc. Didn't realise that had been agreed...must have missed that government announcement That all said, on a serious note, it does bring out the Brit in you, its a much better video than previous rubbish that has been banded around.