cambsaint

In Cambridge BMW dealer labour is more like £120. I go to an ex BM mechanic who only does BMWs. His set up is small but absolutely immaculate. Unfortunately the complexity of new cars is even forcing these highly skilled guys out as some of the stuff is just too complicated. I would recommend asking around and taking personal recommendations.

Took my fairly recent BMW into my local private BMW specialist. The loan 5 series, y reg has done 261,890 miles. The engine and transmission are still very smooth, it's quiet and comfortable-much less road noise than my run-flats, yes its showing its age but still very driveable!!

Don't blame the Unions for the woes in British industry. In many respects it was a reaction to the officer class in WW2. The poor bloody infantry saw the privileges and power they had and tried to make sure that they didn't continue in peacetime. There were a lot of problems after VE day that were brushed under the carpet. management was woeful, no trained managers -mainly a mixture of ex officers from WW2 and family and friends; who managed to cock everything up. Watch the film about women in Dagenham and ask yourself did they have a legitimate case. Think on this -One of the most talented engineers in Britain - Issigonis designed the Mini and 1100. BL never made any money out of the Mini-hopeless mis-management -not the workers and VW copied the 1100 ironed out the faults and produced the Golf. What did BL do- produced the Allegro-only remembered for a square steering wheel and its awfulness. Of course there were lefties and commies in the Unions but the vast majority of members just wanted a fair wage and respect. As for Thatcher- why didn't she send Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire mounted police into The City of London to baton charge the thieving bankers who ruined the country so effectively over the next three decades. Instead she destroyed industry, brought about big bang in the financial industry which led directly to the recent Banking crisis, although aided and abetted by B Liar. What did she do with the oil billions-wasted them on Social Security payments on the workers she had made unemployed by closing industry down too quickly and unbalancing the economy in favour of service industries. She couldn't even support those high-tech industries which might have provided high-tech jobs. NB Ex Army Officers weren't all bad managers- I believe that VW in post-war Germany was saved by a British Officer!

Or press the DTC button. Which I assume means disable traction control. First time I hit an icy slope- went three inches, stopped, three inches, stopped. I then realised that the traction control (which is almost too sensitive-sometimes cuts in if you try to enter a stream of traffic on a wet road-embarrassing) was cutting in immediately the wheels slipped. Still the emergency braking and traction control worked well when my son came round a corner at 50 to find somebody stopped just past the apex to admire a horse and carriage go. He couldn't believe he stopped in time and didn't skid.

Never ever forget goal difference. At the end of each season it is always a remarkably accurate predictor of final finishes. I first noticed this in the late nineties when we often used to look like relegation candidates, but goal difference is almost invariably bang in line at the end of the season. Accordingly without bothering to do the predictor I am confident we will stay up, finish above Norwich and I would hope for a position about 11th to 14th. It also worked in each of our promotion seasons. I'm now back to white underpants and confident I won't have to do a Puncheon!

I too would thoroughly recommend a BMW. If buying a late diesel though be careful of fancy flywheels and all that junk. If you don't do many miles then get a torquey petrol instead. A beautifully balanced car but not the best in the snow! Try to find a reputable BMW specialist.

Unfortunately you're working in million pound territory. Best of luck if you manage to get a decent let in the near areas. Kings Worthy has some less expensive housing as does Harestock, Weeke and Teg Down. All convenient for Crawley. You can also cut through Hursley/Pitt Sparsholt from the Badgers Farm and Stanmore area. That part of Winchester is just very very expensive-my parents and sister used to live there. I'd love to be able to afford to return to something equivalent, but can't; and believe me South Cambridge isn't cheap, unless you compare it with likes of the nice villages around Winchester.

If youre only spending 3K and putting your kids in the back, then you should buy something safe!!

I have been a staunch Labour supporter all my life. No longer They cannot be forgiven for three things: The Iraq war- B Liar was a disgrace and a criminal. Allowing the debt to spiral, and leave us in the financial crisis we are in. Allowing even encouraging uncontrolled immigration. That's before I get onto the mess they made of the NHS, and the asault on personal liberties. Unfortunately who can I vote for: The idea of voting for a bunch of public school Tories is still unthinkable, The Libs have disappointed in the coalition. Probably UKIP as a curse on all your houses- now start thinking about the electorate.

Worrying, QPR look to have two very useful additions, and were very unfortunate not to win. Newcastle look to have bought well, and Reading are winning. It could be very very tight: I think that Villa will go down, but I don't know who'll go down with them. Wigan aren't good enough for the Prem, but how long has that been true, they know how to escape. Just listening to Maloney saying that Saints were far better than them. Squeaky bum time!

I'll be very pleased if I'm still alive!

I am very happy with my 3G Kindle. i've had it for nearly two years now. It works well in most locations in Uk and in the Algarve. I only use it to read books. The need for a night-light is inconvenient, but you can buy a clip on LED for next to nothing. The classics are available for nothing or very little-for your Dad, and the Kindle Daily Deal has a good selection of 99p books. I wouldn't be without one. Holiday reading ie several -lots of hours a day-lasts 3-4 days before charge, normal usage weekly. I suggest your Dad -(I'm 65) buys a Kindle with free 3G connectivity- if he's anything like me he'll only use it for reading and won't bother with any other functions. I'm too technologically illiterate to suggest anything for you.

The Sky summariser said when he played for Celtic he was one of the best one on one. He's certainly not going to be pushed around though.

Looked quicker, more direct and more aggressive. The last would be expected from his playing style, and may be a good thing. But its too early, however it doesn't look as of it will end in disaster.

Another piece of useless information-the legs in the very famous advert for The Graduate weren't Anne Bancroft's, but Linda Gray's who at the time was an unknown lingerie model. Also Dustin Hoffman is only six years younger than Anne Bancroft. Still faking it has a lot in commom with our fishy friends.

Brilliant! It used be law that it couldn't be sold on Sundays in Scotland. (No off-licences open). Many years ago I had the misfortune to work where a large plastic barrel of blue meths was kept in the back outhouse, and it was decanted into customer's bottles for use in those spirit stoves that were popular before central heating and during post-war austerity. The smell made me gag, I can't imagine how anybody could ever drink it. Mind you fresh coriander leaf has exactly the same effect, and the ponsy-bullocks chefs all love the disguisting stuff!

Hardly the first part, I'm certainly not an impatient youngster, exactly the opposite in fact. I agree wholeheartedly regarding your second statement, but if you were a good footballer and quite reasonably wanting to earn as much as possible, wouldn't you want an agent to ensure that you got the best possible deal. Your skills are on the pitch not negotiating in the boardroom! It's simplistic and self-delusional to imagine that a club can avoid dealing with them in the Prem. Just think how we would feel if say QPR avoided relegation by successful transfer dealing and we didn't. I also consider that our summer dealings could have been better, which is also part of the basis for my worries.

We know that if we don't substantially strengthen our squad then it is probable that we will be relegated, as QPR under Redknapp certainly will, and our other competitors may. While I imagine that dealing with football agents is similar to swimming with crocodiles, they are regrettably not going to go away. We know that some of our rivals have considerable expertise in the transfer market. My concern is that we don't have the necessary knowledge or skills to compete in this market. I hope I'm proved wrong, particularly as rumour states that we have the resources and that NC is determined to stay in the Prem.

Frank Lampard -but we can all dream can't we. He'd have the same influence that Keegan and Ball had in the old days, but the wages-never going to happen nowadays.

In the sixties and seventies most players used to smoke. I think Paine smoked like a chimney, but he could skin any left back and keep going for 90 mins. Of course nowadays fitness levels are much higher and training more scientific, but there's no reason at all why smoking would prevent one being a goalie-even though you probably wouldn't get to be a very old goalie!

Totally agree, I've never seen a better header of the ball of any club, or country in the past 45 years. What does surprise me is that Davies and Channon would usually stand at the edge of the box, McGrath or Gabriel would be in the goalies face causing problems, Paine would take the corner and presumably they had a signal-he could put the ball in very precisely, they would run in and it often ended up in the net. I cannot understand why this tactic which allows the header so much power running in and was difficult to defend is never used in the current game. George O'Brien used to say that Paine was so accurate that all he had to do was be in the right place and pop it in, Paine did the rest.

I'm sure the first wasn't a dive, but a perfectly reasonable loss of balance, it wasn't a pen though. The second right at the end was definitely a penalty. If referees are going to accuse a player of cheating-which is what a yellow for diving is, then the logical corollary of that is that the referee can be accused of cheating if he get's it wrong. They must be absolutely certain before making such a serious accusation, just as I must be in order not to make a libellous comment and accuse a referee of cheating. While writing this I have just seen a blatant dive by Adebayor which resulted in a totally unfair yellow card to the City player. I believe that the one thing that ref's hate is being called a cheat-they don't mind being insulted but they would hat a chant of "Cheat", or "The Referee's a cheat, ditto, We all say the referee's a cheat." It might make them think a bit more. I know it's a very difficult job, and they only have a fraction of a second to decide from their view, but this season I've seen so many bad decisions already that something has to be done. Why can't the fourth official be a TV reviewer, and if and only if play has stopped review the slow-mo and other angles. Almost every sport has adopted this process, in cricket it has removed false LBW decisions, in tennis incorrect line-calls, and in rugby most of the really nasty dangerous fouls. The referees and umpires in these sports don't consider their authority is being undermined. It won't happen until Blatter goes, but I hope Platini may have a more logical open-minded approach.

The IoW 1970 to see Hendrix-all my mates went but I was in Oslo. Cream's Farewell Concert-I saw them at Man Uni but missed this one. The Stax tour in 67-68, to see Otis Redding and the rest. The Rolling Stones when they played Winchester Lido Ballroom in 1964.

Difficult- I'd buy from a dealer at the top end of their age- if a car doesn't move quickly then there are bargains to be had as I believe that BMW dealers can't keep a used car for more than 90 days then its off to the trade. My 57 ex demo 3 series has been a great buy £750 in servicing in 4.5 years. Run flats are expensive especially if you have fancy low profile tyres. For a workhorse I think any of the good manufacturers are good buys-just don't bother with fancy expensive tyres/wheels; and remember comfort and quietness, if you're in the car a lot. I think that the BMW 3touring is the best car on the roads-does all you could ask, unless you need a huge load bay. These days all speed gets you is fines and disqualifications, so you don't need a fancy spec. My daughters Golf GTI diesel is ten years old, 150K and still super to rive-only signs of age -rust on front wheelarches. Just be patient and remember there are plenty of good cars around at good prices.

I love my cruise control and silky smooth 6 speed auto gearbox. How I would love to plot in a GPRS code and just lay back in comfort and read while everything was done for me. I used to love driving but now I find it a chore. Unfortunately I doubt whether I'll be around when it comes, but just imagine- no more impatient twits up tail, no more idiots racing up my 30mph residential street, no more queue jumping, just orderly computer controlled smooth progress.