Ekona

I suspect it's very high. Bearing in mind they'll also do business deals while in office as well. Paddy Ashdown gets wheeled out all the time, and he hasn't been an MP for a decade.

It's sets you up in life for afterwards. Look how much Blair earns from public appearances. It's not what you know, it's who you know and being an MP means you have some serious clout and can make a lot of friends in high places. High placed friends who can get you a proper job schmoozing once you get binned as an MP...

So about WIll... I jest. Colin's right, move on folks, nothing to see here.

I wouldn't become an MP for £69K + expenses. 24/7 on call, zero private life, zero job security... No thanks.

Yup, external drive is a must have. They no longer do the one I have, but this is the replacement: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Station-External-Desktop-Drive/dp/B00HZDRCRO 4TB is going to see you well into the future on the Xbone, unless you buy every single game ever.

I'd argue that spinning into a wall/ditch because you think you have massive downforce because BFW isn't particularly cool, but there you go.

The more I hear of Nick Clegg, the more impressed I am by him. I don't like his policies, but I'd rather him as a PM than Dave. Again, I thought he was excellent last night.

Yes.

Another pearoast. Must be the day for them.

If he's running OEM sizes on MPSS at 32psi, he can have some flowers.

What tyres are you running? Make, model, size and pressures please.

I'm going to get one now, just to keep up.

Pearoast

Something you two want to share?

I'd not seen it. That vid does explain nicely why strapping random bits of aero to your car is not always a good idea.

I've been on both sides of the ban thing. Sometimes it's a good thing that people know exactly why folks have been banned, but then I've also seen it when the posted reason for the ban wasn't the actual reason for the ban. There's no winners really.

Maybe someone should write to MSN News, get them to do a story on it. I think Will would want it that way.

You do realise that the car is yours, and they have no legal right to keep it? Cancel the claim and the car remains your property to do with what you will.

But yours is grey, so that hides a lot of the imperfections. It never looks dirty, but it never looks shiny clean either. I can promise you that it's not as good as you think it is. That's okay though, for most people a quick wash is fine. They're the lucky ones, it means they don't spend half their earnings & spare time trying to make their cars perfect!

When Cameron speaks, he has an air of authority about him. Whether you like that air or not (and it can be off-putting and smug), it's there and that's what other countries want to see. Miliband just looks gormless, and has an incredibly patronising manner when replying to a question. He'll get rolled over on the international stage, so forget any deals with the EU to strengthen our position there. Out of them all, Clegg is the one who has both the air and the down to earth chat. That's why a lot of people voted for him last time, based purely on the TV debates.

Hah, clearly me and Matt are separated at birth!

Right, I'm with you now. I think you severely over-estimate the ability of any one to be President in the US though: That's highly unlikely unless you know the right people and have the money to back that up, and then you need the right education so essentially you're back at square one. If you want the best, you have to pay for it. Given that most people seem to think that MPs are grossly overpaid, would you be happy to pay them more? Put it another way: Imagine you're a successful businessman, running a global company. Your wages are in excess of £300K PA. You're good at your job, and are well respected. Would you want to step into politics with all the mud-slinging and media intrusion, being on call and under watch 24/7, for less than half that amount? I wouldn't.

Well now you mention it, that Aussie dwarf thing in charge is quite cute...

Hah, I just put that up to provoke the discussion, there's a couple of my friends who I was hoping would bite but didn't sadly.

Technically it's one and a half, with all the bits of old ones I've still got!