Starslight

There is no 'sort of' about it. If you put money into a properly regulated bank or building society you are, in the case of its collapse, protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and should receive 100% of the first £2000 you lost and 90% of the next £33,000. I very much doubt anyone had saved over £35000 with Farepack and they would have therefore been far better off with a proper savings account. The obvious question is why weren't farepack regulated in this way!

This is very ambitious and if it was anyone else but Urban Splash doing it I would be highly sceptical. They have, however, worked near miracles elsewhere and I think they have a chance of turning Park Hill around.

you will, B&Q often have a night crew, if you try going after closing you may find their idea of customer service is beating you with a Christmas tree!

I do have some sympathy for those who lost money, after all they were doing the right thing (saving) even if I think it is a silly way of doing it. They were also royally screwed. That farepack were allowed to carry on collecting money when their shares had been suspended and it was obvious the company couldn't meet its commitments is staggering. Having said that a lot of people suffer a lot worse and will this Christmas, they don't have to 'cancel Christmas' and I don't think the majority of customers have done themselves any favours on TV. And the coverage and importance of it has been exaggerated beyond belief! Hundreds of people die in Iraq or storms in the Philippines and we care more that farepacks customers are going to get 15p in the pound back, we need a sense of proportion. Also I think some education for these people would be very helpful. For example I have a 'regular saver' account with a building society, for the first year it gives me over 8% interest with a minimum amount of £90 a month (and of your saving £1500 with farepack you can afford that and some similar ones have lower minimums) and to deter taking it out before the end of 12 months there are penalties on your interest. A far better way of saving if people only knew it existed!

Which historical buildings are you referring too? Please give me some examples. Sheffield is already sadly lacking in historical buildings to see any more go is indeed a tragedy. I don't see that there is no need for high rises. You seem to be unaware that the population of Sheffield is growing and on top of that more people choosing to live a single lifestyle. More homes are needed. Where we should build these homes is a matter of opinion and I'm of the opinion that Britain needs more sustainable high rise development, not an extension of the sprawling suburbs which are often built without sufficient infrastructure, thought and on top of green space. The original question regarding whether they will become the tenements of tomorrow, well I think that's up to the council to insit on high quality buildings so that they don't.

Are you suggesting Sheffield concrete over the Peak District? I much prefer modern highrises being built in the centre than endless estates slowly turning Britain into the worlds largest conurbation. Also these houses are much needed due to the change in demographics in this country with more single people living by themselves ever before. Hopefully also the availability of flats in the centre means less single people living in 'family' houses, freeing those up for others. I personally think that some of the developments could be of better quality, some seem top range, whereas others look like cardboard boxes. However, I feel the idea of these flats is correct and that most will fulfill their purpose, but they are let down by a minority of poor buildings.

I once had such an interview with Debenhams and the most importnat thing I would say is smile and be friendly. Thats all they want form their customer assitants really as its not the most taxing job in the world. I was aksed to things like sell something that was very mundane (a stapler I think) and had a short chat. I seem to recall spending a long time sitting round doing nothing.

Was there 03-04, had a great time, can't actually remember doing any work and made many, many friends. though it was a bit prison like, the food was inedible (we spent so much on catered accomidation and then lived off takeaways, what a waste) and the responsible older student in our corridor was an idiot. Came out with classics like, 'you can't sit in the corridor, you're a fire hazzard'. Apart from that arguably the best year of my life, though those either side were dam fine as well.

In a way that mucky picture thing wasn't far wrong, and I think it was spot on in that it recognised it was the people and not the architecture which makes Sheffield special.

I know the best Beer festival I have been to was Ipswich's and that was based in the Town Hall, so maybe you should look for a similar venue, for example the city hall or Cutlers? I know it might be exspenive but you would be almost certain to attract far more pople with a decent venue in the city centre. Oh and you need to advertise more, especially at the student unions. When I first went I only found out about it due to a random converstion with a man in the Frog and Parrot!

According to a report a while back goths/rockers/emo kids are apparantly more upwardly mobile than average and grow up to become doctors/lawyers etc. So perhaps berating them in future for their choice in being 'alternative' (though i hate when they claim to be different as they are just the same but in a different way) you should encourage them. There an article on it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4828230.stm

I hope Onyx get fined for thei failure to deliver on contract as well as for causing these to be left on our streets. Also hope the council don't get over-zealous on this and just use it against repeat offenders, use a 3 strikes system or something similar.

Thats very true. A surprsing amount of people who are wanted for other crimes are caught when being stopped for traffic offences. After all if your happy to rob someones car your not excalty going to worry about the speed limit or pakring on double yellows.

I found that true as well. The only problem I ever had was once I had pulled the women, many didn't like it. I told them that my beard will never be sacrificed for a woman. However, it my current post-student days the beard has had to disappear as I try ever harder to look respectable in the vain effort of trying to find a decent job.

Tootsies is quite a large chain, with places all over the south east and they are spreading north. So get in there quick before they move into town and take all your business as I think it is an excellant idea and I for one would at least try it out! (Having said that tootsies was bloody lovely)