bridge too far

I tried to turn mine off on Weds but that facility wasn't available. I wasn't able to try again until just now and that option has gone! You now have to go into the Apps and Websites bit in the bottom LH corner of the Privacy page instead.

He might have Type 1 diabetes but I'm guessing he's got Type 2 diabetes and that is usually caused by being overweight in the first place. The medical advice for controlling diabetes is to lose weight and to exercise. If he doesn't control his diabetes, there's a good chance he will have a heart attack, lose his sight, and / or possibly lose one or more limbs.

We did this when we were offered a 'free' lunch in Malta many years ago. They did turn quite nasty but we stuck it out However, a couple of years ago and after I'd bought some new specs with Lotus frames, I got a call from Lotus to say I'd won a day's driving experience and lunch for two at Lotus HQ in Norfolk. It was genuine and Mr TF and I had a grand day driving Elites round their testing and racing tracks with Martin Donnelly (ex F1 driver) as instructor. So a real prize, but then I had made a purchase.

Not just sheep, it seems http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-12309654

JB, I'm no accountant, and I have been opposed to PFI since it first came in (early 90s) for a number of reasons, mainly ideological. I still am, so I'm certainly not looking to justify it! However, this might go some way to explain how the whole 'off balance sheet' pans out, far better than I ever could. You need to look at 'Annexe (a)' about half way down the page: http://www.statscom.org.uk/C_1061.aspx

Johnny B - I think the issue about PFI debt is a bit more complicated than just 'hiding' debt. The received wisdom was, and still is, that the buildings / bridges etc were rented, not owned, by the state. The state rents lots of buildings. i You could argue (and they have) that the state doesn't own the building until the end of the (usually) 30 year term. I guess it would then appear as an asset on the state's accounts. The other part of PFI (and the main source of profit for the SPVs) is the service charge for hard and soft FM.i

The pro PFI lobby would argue that its chief merit is the transfer of risk. In the past, many capital projects overran budgets and programmes, leading to huge increases in costs. Some of this was due to unidentified risk. I can remember a publicly funded scheme I worked on that was hugely over budget because a previously unknown gas main (dating from before WW2) was discovered and it cost a lot of time and money to work round this. With PFI, the successful bidder takes on such risks and, if the programme isn't delivered on time, the hospital / school etc. can charge for delays. Also the 'deal' is usually for 30 years, with break clauses at 20 years. The private company 'owns' the building until the 30 years is up, at which point the building transfers to public ownership. This makes sense in many ways, as who knows what healthcare buildings are going to be needed in 30 years time. It would be up to the private company to dispose of what could be a white elephant. However, balance sheets aside (and believe me, John Major's government spent a lot of money consulting lawyers and accountants about the off-balance sheet issue), one major downfall was this. At the outset of any scheme, the private company had to pay high interest rates on its borrowing because of the risk and this was reflected in the 'rent' it charged for its yet to be constructed buildings. Once the building started to go up, the risk was revised downwards, together with the interest rates. The resultant saving was not passed on to the client. This was sharply addressed by the incoming government and rebates based on changes to borrowing rates were introduced into the contracts.

According to the BBC, Keys is at Sky's HQ as we speak and the speculation is just that - that he'll throw in the towel.

Same here (obviously I wasn't at Taunton's but at the girls' school across the Common ). We had Catholic and Jewish girls attending the school and they were allowed to miss assembly. I tried to argue my point that I was an aetheist but I didn't get away with it But, addressing the main point. We should be a secular society and that is the end of my point of view.

But try to wean yourself off if you possibly can. Do it too long and you run the risk of stomach ulcers etc. Hope you feel better soon.

You can intersperse paracetomol and ibuprofen i.e. paracetomol then two hours later ibuprofen, then two hours later paracetomol and so on. It stops that gradual onset of pain at about 3 hours.

Perhaps something should be posted on the Burnley message boards, if it hasn't already?

There was a boiler scrappage scheme in place. I don't know if it's been discontinued by the current administration but it would be worth checking out.

We could throw your argument back at you. What about the thousands of dubious, if not downright ridiculous, decisions given by some male officials. Does that mean that all male officials aren't up to the job? If the officials get through the courses and perform when they're refereeing, does it matter what's in their shorts?

He was a lawyer, I think http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12175980

Your memory is playing tricks then Trousers. Wrong leaves / snow etc is a recent phenomenon and certainly postdates the nationalised rail industry.

I like this quote from Len McCluskey of UNITE: "George Osborne sounds like a rail boss trying to blame delays on leaves on the line," he said. The blame lies squarely on this government's policy of massive spending cuts with no strategy for growth."

Well, I admit I've never watched Loose Women so I can't really make a reasoned comment. But I think over the years, there've been any amount of comedy-type programmes where blokes make jokey remarks about women. Even these days it happens. And I don't have a problem with that (I'll even laugh along where the observations are in fact funny and true). I don't think you can compare a discussion about a man's ability to deal with a cold with a discussion about whether a professionally qualified official can do the job JUST BECAUSE SHE'S A WOMAN. Huge difference.

Absolutely and she did very much show them up for the idiots they are. But, at the time, she didn't know what they'd said about her, did she? To her credit, AFAIK, she's kept a dignified silence. If someone questioned your ability PURELY BECAUSE OF YOUR GENDER, and you didn't know about it, but subsequently found out, I guess you'd be a tad annoyed.

But in neither of the two examples you give, is a man's or woman's professional ability called into question on the basis of gender.

And, presumably because of the hornet's nest their antediluvian comments have stirred up, this happens: Massey, meanwhile, has been withdrawn from her duties as an assistant referee for Tuesday's League Two game between Crewe and Bradford. from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9373280.stm I do hope that's not the end of a promising career

You don't deserve to have a considered debate if you use that as your argument. In any event, consumer confidence is hard to quantify but is probably the driver for the downturn.

A good guess would be that 'the man on the street', worried about forecasted job losses in the private and public sectors, might have decided to spend less, regardless of the weather (after all, the eonomic forecasts had factored in the bad weather when optimistically predicting 0.5 percent growth). The imminent VAT rise didn't stimulate the economy in earlier months either Whilst the weather will have affected the construction industry somewhat, I think it's generally agreed that the 3% drop in output is attributable to the reduction in public sector capital programmes as well as the problems with the housing market.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9373280.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12275821