tzijlstra

In Sweden you will see many old model Saabs and Volvos, having done well over 400k kilometres. We sold our 850 in the Netherlands with 240k on the clock (2007) to a Polish friend who recently sold it on with 390k, he had it maintained to schedule and it never had anything wrong except that the air-con didn't work any more.

Yes it is, well in the Netherlands, but I can't imagine it being different here. A deaf acquaintance of mine passed her exam the first time, special attention was paid to the fact that she checked her mirrors frequently. In the Netherlands they teach you to check them every 10 to 20 seconds anyway and you can fail your test if you don't check them before performing ANY manoeuvre, from turning off the road you are on to setting off.

Step one, buy an ocean-worthy yacht we could both live on and that could sail to where we'd want it, hire a crew to ensure it is in the place we want it to be when we want it to be there. Step two, buy a huge building plot up in the Highlands, hire an architect (got one in mind) and build a very nice house with mooring for our ocean-worthy yacht. Step three, buy a nice house on the water (preferably the PM Kanaal) in my homeland Friesland, again with mooring for the yacht. Step four, set up a scientific trust, researching things that we'd like to research, from social interaction and social media through to education and social research methods. This would probably cost around 8 million, needing another 15 million to ensure it is all financed until the end of our lives. If we won significantly more than 23 million I'd consider buying a football club (depending on how much over 23 we'd have), I reckon I'd need about 40 million to turn Wednesday around, so that would be a bit of a stretch I suppose.

The best thing to do is to keep driving and safely pull over at the first opportunity. If it is a dual carriageway, make sure the right hand lane is cleared as soon and safely as possible. Also ensure you indicate your intentions clearly and in time. My dad is a paramedic in the Netherlands, so I know what I am talking about. Braking is often the worst decision, as it slows down the emergency vehicle. As an aside, certain roads in Sheffield are likely to get emergency traffic all the time, think of Penistone Road for example, if you drive there make sure to pay extra attention to your rear-view mirrors, so you don't get surprised.

The UK spends an enormous amount of its GDP on defence, but the arms industry is also one of the most important manufacturing industries, so it balances out I suppose. In the Netherlands they have been tossing and turning over investment in the Joint Strike Fighter for years and years. The issue there is that they agreed to be a developing partner long before the crisis hit, getting contractual commitments for Dutch defence industry (I believe Stork and Fokker are involved) but as soon as the budget was in decline they started to turn and other partners pulled out, increasing the cost per plane exponentially and frustrating the Dutch. The big question of course is: do we need these toys? They last used the RAF at large to bomb the living daylights out of Libya (whilst maintaining a no-fly zone, interesting combination....) but the reality is that most of the time all they do is track unidentified Russian long-distance bombers on practice runs.

I believe the biggest problem with improving battery tech is the limited availability of the elements required. It will be interesting to see if China will be able to find them on the moon, they are rather serious about trying to exploit rare elements there.

Let me interpret these results a bit more accurately, last election Labour got 2300' LibDem got 275, UKIP, greens and Tories all got more votes than LibDem. With the lower turn-out, that means the LibDem vote stayed stable, yet the Labour vote got slashed as a percentage. UKIP gained a bit and TUSC is clearly eating at the Labour vote, so this result says more about the inability of Labour to convince its traditional voters than it says about either the Tories or LibDems.

Prisoners should have the right to vote.

I believe this means I am not looking any more, thanks anyway though!

Congrats Blades, and CB in particular, you did call this, although not in two instalments with over time if I recall well Now your lot had better learn to win in League One or it will all be a mere gloss over a dreadful season.

I was really excited to go and see him play against Sri Lanka some years ago, he went out for 5 or 6 if I recall well. As pointed out, he is one of those marmite players, I still have massive respect for what he achieved, although he should of course have chosen to represent the Orange I think he will now get a nice pay-packet in the IPL and then call it a day.

I am largely of anything sweet, bar the occasional bag of sweets in the car. As a teen I used to put sugar in my coffee, on my toast (delicious!), on corn flakes and whatever else I thought would need sweetening. The way I came of it was by learning to drink my coffee black and slowly changing my taste to prefer savoury, if I want something sweet I now eat fruit, which does well for me. The good thing is that I now don't really like anything overly sweet, I don't have desserts any more, rarely eat a Mars-bar type thing etc. My best advice is to replace the sweets for fruit, whatever you like really, I am now eating a couple of apples or tangerines or bananas a day. If I want snacks I usually eat nuts or seeds, but that might be a step too far for you

Shocking decision to be honest, so Swansea are in their second season slump, it was to be expected, you don't sack a manager that was linked with a move to Tottenham and several other big clubs just six months ago. Swansea are living above their station and this, in my opinion, will see them go down for sure AND start turmoil. Shame cause Swansea is one of the few clubs that got promotion after simply being very well run by a large consortium of investors including a lot of real fans.

Fair enough, but in the end there is no real reward in a cup-run that you aren't going to win, not even financially, today we won 90,000 pounds for getting out of the fourth round, take tax and player-bonuses off and there is not a lot left, if we win the next round we get 180,000 instead of the 90,000, in other words, we get 90,000 for an extra match IF we win it. Of course there are ticket-sales to keep in mind, probably some extra sponsor money, but if we end up with about 200,000 net gain at the end of both cups we've done well out of it. Frankly, I don't see the point. As far as winning it is concerned, look at Millwall, they were runners-up and qualified for the UEFA cup, great. Just what we need, the condemnation of playing Thursday-Saturday and whenever else we can fit in another game each other week, might make some money, but: No thanks.

Did the report mention the savings due to all the British pensioners moving abroad 'for sun'. I bet it didn't, it therefore is a nonsensical number-glorifying study.

So because I have a different opinion than you means I am not a supporter? funny that. The other day I got accosted for not going to every match. Screw that, I am a poor PhD student with very little disposable income at the moment, if that makes me a lesser fan than go and do something to yourself. The reason I don't like the cup is because in the end it doesn't matter, whereas a good cup-run can and will have a negative impact on the season. Especially with a squad as narrow as ours, the only goal I have for Wednesday in the short to medium term is to establish ourselves as a solid Championship team that actually produces some players of our own, if that makes me a bad supporter, than tough biscuits.

poor opposition? are you drunk as well? the 4 wins under Gray: Leicester, Watford, Blackpool, Leeds, current positions in the table respectively: 1, 15, 12, 14. Poor opposition would be Barnsley, Yeovil, Doncaster, Charlton and Millwall. It is so easy to dismiss the results, but frankly this fella has done well, much better than most and not appointing him would be a travesty.

It shouldn't be, that is yet a further step to desensitising society, we've been on a downward spiral since the sixties and it is time we had the balls to break that spiral.

Ah, how long did it take for this to turn into a muslim thread? I knew it would be this that drove you, call me psychic or drunk, I don't care. Fact is that you should go and talk to some muslims and ask them if they were offended by the cartoons AND if they felt they should go and murder the cartoonists. I think you will find the answers refreshing and aiding your life-experience. Don't forget, that life-experience is what makes you satisfied, not a single god can achieve that.

So you enjoy being offended? Not quite sure I get what you mean.

alcohol, reading does not mean absorbing in my case.

You come and tell me in my face that I am a [random but very accurate insult], for no other reason than that you want to offend me, I will be offended and get my retribution in one way or another. Fairly sure that applies to you as well.

No what you mean is, that it doesn't have a lot of relevance with the discussion that you are trying to provoke, which is different. Let me put this in your frame (as you are clearly on the warpath) if you offended me on the basis that I am a different race, sexuality or something else equally divisive, I would choose between ignoring you, offending you back, finding out who you are and threaten you or suing you (and possibly sheffieldforum.co.uk for allowing me to be offended by you) depending on the severity of the case and the amount of alcohol I consumed.

I think it is bloody mardy of tram/bus drivers/conductors to moan about money, it actually made me use the tram a hell of a lot less since I got moaned at three times in the space of a couple of weeks for paying with a fiver to buy an all-day ticket. It's a service, get used to serving people in the way they expect.

I think it is hilarious, half my wives family are Man U fans (other half LFC, toasty!) and it is wonderful to read their moans and groans, I simply reply with: Wednesday. (to be fair, if I replied SUFC they would probably die of agony, I wanted to spare them that hardship).