WorcsWuss

I have tried twittering and cannot get on with it at all, find it a loathesome development... my sister loves it... @hamlikes.... WTFlip....?!?! and why on earth do we need another bastardisation of the English language...? #notputtingspacesinphrases .... I don't even know what these things MEAN...?!?!?!

Humanist! That's the one! I read about that once on the internet, it's a pretty good philosophy I reckon...

Interesting thread Butler, didn't you say you were going to bed an hour ago..?! I went to schools where we had chapel every day and twice on Sundays until the age of 12, my next school was attached to Worcester Cathedral. My wife is Catholic, my kids go to a church school, we got married in church, my kids are all baptised [littlest at harvest festival last year], I'd class our local vicar as a close family friend, we do christmas, easter, pancake day and I like to support our local church. Our best friends are heavily involved with a evangelical church in Brum and I like to live a good Christian life. All that said. I don't believe a word of it. I dislike organised religion intensely, it is used as control or an excuse or both and the bible is nothing more than a story book. I don't pray when I'm in church, I don't sing the hymns or take the wafer, I don't join in because I feel obliged to because I'm there and the vicar knows how I feel but appreciates that I support the church for what it is, ie a great pillar of support in our rural community for those who need it. It doesn't need to be in the name of god and I don't need to be a hypocrite to support it. So it doesn't mean that I can't pick out the good parts of our current chosen native religion and live by them. I try to put others first and everyone round here knows that if they're ever in need they can always ask us and no matter what, we will do everything we can. In all honesty, I'm could even be a better 'christian' than many card carrying religionists, I don't go in for gay-bashing, I don't discount other peoples beliefs or try to convert them to my own. So, when is a Christian not a Christian....? When they're just a nice human being I suppose....

You've misunderstood this one Tom . This is a charge on top of the legitimate planning fee. Let's say you want to extend your house. Last year you phone up the planning department and say 'I want to put an extension on my house, it's X big, do I need planning permission?' The planning officer, who is paid to be a planning officer by each and every one of us already, says 'I'll call in when I'm in the area, tell you if you need it and what the application fee will be'. You then make a planning application, pay a few hundred quid, everyone's happy. This year, you phone the planning department and say 'I want to put an extension on my house, it's X big, do I need planning permission?' The planning officer who is paid to be a planning officer by each and every one of us aleady, says 'You need to download these forms off our website, submit the form and a full set of plans, pay the fee of £30, we will then process it and tell you whether it needs planning permission and what the fee will be. If we need to make a site visit that wil be extra'. The you make your planning application and pay another fee. NOT everyone's happy! And the most ironic thing is that I'm pretty sure that the additional work in processing all these initial applications for whether an application is needed probably costs more than the fee they charge anyway... which seems fairly typical of LA thinking. Do a job. Then invent another job. Charge for it. But don't charge enough to actually cover the costs of the work involved. I don't doubt for a second that this will be how they approach contracting, ie not really accounting for all their costs and so under selling their service [and ultimately undercutting anyone who runs their business well and DOES know their total running costs and baseline overheads], but one which morally they should not be offering / charging for anyway.... Surely if local councils are contracting, there should be a rebate through our council tax when they make some money out of it, just the same as shareholders get a dividend when a company does well...?

Absolutely! Claim it back, definitely eligible, and as said, definitely do it yourself! The firms who advertise on the TV only use the same method available to you, they just skim off a load of it... balls to them, of only we could find such a convincing argument to get ambulance chasers squeezed out of the market...!

As ever, Precisely the factual and logical argument to put an end to this. No public sector body should compete with private sector companies for private work.... unless the local authority is going make things fair and pay for private companies rent, rates etc of course..... Public sector workers are there SOLELY for the purpose of working without further charge for us all. End of. I have seen this scenario appear in construction recently, planning departments now will not visit your property to give advice on a planning application, you have to fill out what essentially amounts to a full planning application and pay a fee, just to find out if you need to make a planning application. I'm sorry, but they are paid for this service already, that is what they are employed to do by the taxpayer already, I fail to see how it can even be legal for a public office to charge the public again individually to carry out nothing more than the job they are employed to do. If the public sector want to charge the public for their services, or compete for private work, then we should not be paying the level of council tax we do and / or ALL council services need to be opened up to the private sector, including things like the ability to grant planning permission. It seems that the public sector want it all ways. Rather than accepting [granted, understandably] that local authorities are grossly overstaffed and a massive financial burden which needs to be streamlined, they cling onto these massive structures they have created by finding new ways to take money off us to perpetuate their existence. And all the while, they continue to waste money... I got a letter the other day telling me the council had conducted height surveys in all the schools in Worcestershire and purchased booster seats for children who need to use them in cars to use on school buses, my 5 year old included. The letter ended saying that it's not a legal requirement but they thought it was a good idea. I wrote a very strong letter back requested statistics showing how many children died on school buses in the last 5 years and how many deaths or injuries would have been prevented through the use of booster seats. I may be wrong but my guess is zero on both counts. I really do despair. I believe that local government & the wider public spending model we have represents the greatest hurdle to regaining economic vibility in this country [look what it's done to Greece] and the sad thing is there seems to be nothing ANYONE can do about it. Central government tell them to save money and cut their budgets? They just start charging for things. It's not what they're there for and someone needs to be a bit firmer with them and remind them of this in my humble opinion. I'm so exhausted now I just fell off my soapboax...

Not true, council tendered contracts are tragically low margin, because the councils specify them so heavily and then put them out to 6 contractors so that it comes down to who will work closest to cost price. You can only make a comfortable living working for a local authority of you actually work FOR the local authority...

Yup... catches the soots, gets superhot and incinerates them every now and again... that's all it is... Idea is to reduce the black smoke all round the city from dirty old diesel trucks... DPF is the tool they came up with although they do have serious shortcomings...

You can get an appropriate DPF fitted to any non-compliant vehicle and a VOSA inspection will see you allowed to drive into the LEZ. It's all down to soots isn't it...? So if your diesel engine meets the emissions standards after whatever date it is you're OK. If this can be achieved with a replacement engine and that can be proved in a VOSA inspection I see no reason why it wouldn't work. Paperwork will need to be changed though, remember LEZ fines are automated through ANPR!

My wife loves this... I have to admit though I'm starting to get a little cheesed off with it all now.... Seeing them swanking around in expensive cars, flouting the law and generally contributing little except mindless entertainment.... I doubt there's a lot of tax contributed to the public purse, they don't appear to have any moral urge to abide by the laws of the land and glorifying them with a TV series, while genuinely interesting for the first series as an insight into a culture I knew little about, is starting to seriously grate on me now.... Good to ogle a few hooters though....

This is far more clear cut that it sounds, and it's down to language and confusing / overlapping terminology. Generally in the construction industry there are contractually 2 sorts of sub contractors [so the same applies to any industry]: Bona Fide Sub Contractors - These are companies, however large or small, whom are retained by an appointed contractor above them to carry out the task, or part thereof, which they are employed to do. Generally they provide their own equipment, materials, labour and insurances. Labour only sub-contractors - These are self employed people who you employ on an ad-hoc basis, either piece work or day work and some maybe act as gang masters, invoicing for a few other self employed guys and then paying them. So, a bona-fide will provide all their own kit, labour, insurance. A labour only sub contractor, otherwise known as self employed dude or dudess, can be employed for their bare hands and nothing else. The terminology is confusing but when people talk of Sub-Contractors they generally mean bona fide's, but when they say they are subbing to someone themself they usually mean just working for someone on a self employed basis, with or without their own kit and often on their employers' insurance etc. As said, Bona fides have a proper contract, labour only sub contractors are effectively the same as directly employed staff..

I'm concerned that the truck now has a girl's name and you're taking black & white photos of it Sam.... have you ever seen the film 'Christine'...?!

There's a guy who writes for Classic Tractor or Tractor & Machinery who brings old tractors back from the continent, he seems to just rock up with a trailer and bring them home... Could try posting on the British Farming Forum or something like the Farm Toys Forum, lots of tractor geeks on there.... someone will have the definitive. I guess the only issue would come from road registering it perhaps...?

How about this beauty HRG....? If you are VAT registered it's in your price range... Guide price £6850 + VAT in the Brightwells unsold list today.... Brightwells Auctions - Defender 130 Lwb Diesel Double Cab Pickup Td5

Probably this in reality... SAGE Instant Accounts 2011 at cheap prices | PC World Sage is actually very good and intiutive software. Definitely something I will pick up next time I'm in PC World...

Another great tyre, had those on a RR Classic many years ago, with the air suspension that was a brilliant combination... if I could find that car again I'd buy it back in an instant!

My wife tells me I make a mess, my kids tell me I make them embarrassed, I make my parents disappointed, my boss frustrated and myself happy.... I do all of this wherever I am.... I mentioned this before, Surveymonkey....!

My friend has the new General AT's on his GS which I think are 20" and they're brilliant for a dual purpose vehicle... but for serious off road work I'd hunt for a set of D3 alloys or even steels and stick some KM2's on instead....

Ha, not just one!! 3 & 4 are still very good, their biggest handicap is weight. On standard tyres, slick surfaces & a bit of an incline and they're about as effective as a Williams FW on the Network Q. But dress them in the right boots and their driveline and suspension systems make them virtually unstoppable when it comes to negotiating awkward or rough stuff. That said, for what most of us need, ie something to pull across a soggy patch, there are better vehicles out there. Freelander 1 is best in reality! Or Suzuki Jimny! I personally have no real experience of Toyotas apart from a bit of towing with a mid 90's 4.2 LC which I really liked, and a childhood obsession with the Hi Lux & 50/78/79 LC's which, along with Patrol's seemed to be everywhere in the late 80's in Tenerife! I do think they're the king of the oriental stuff, but apart from maybe for belting across the outback I don't think I could go for one over a Land Rover.

Thought about a Disco 2 Commercial...? You'd lose the open pick up bed but gain better security, useful loadspace, spacious crew quarters [could easily install the proper second row seats for full 5 seater capacity] good towing & off road ability and a lovely drive on the road... 2003 Land Rover Discovery TD5 Commercial | eBay Or this one... ready to go! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Landrover-Discovery-2-Commercial-2004-87-000-Epsom-Green-/220957240588?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item337213ed0c

Wonder who will be the first to get one of these then...? I'm going to add it to my christmas list jst on the off chance!

I'm not the only one then....

It's a good forum, I used it extensively when I bought my Disco to sort out little odds & sods, it saved me a fortune I think! Haven't used it for a long time because nothing's gone wrong but if and when it does I'll no doubt be back!

Best place to ask this is probably Land Rover UK Forums - Land Rover UK Forums... I remember this coming up once upon time... think it's somewhere behind the instrument binnacle...

The rear shocks have gone on the wife's car so whilst trying to find 'shock absorbers' in the internet, Google threw out this little gem. http://www.shockabsorber.co.uk/bounceometer/shock.html For purile idiots like me it's 'hours of fun'. However, in all seriousness it may be useful for any lady arbs who suffer discomfort? It may not though, I don't have them [not yet anyway...] so what do I know, and you probably already know all about this stuff.... In fact, any tubby boys feeling they lack the support they desire might find it interesting too...!