llamatron

what about a 15-16 year old GCSE student that is doing languages because they want to be a translator at NATO taking 2 weeks off to go to France?

education isn't free-we pay for it with our taxes. What about if the holiday is for a wedding of a family member that lives abroad? What about if it is to see a festival that happens at a certain time of year? You don't even think its acceptable for a child under 14 to go? Personally I would do it and if I got fined I would pay the fine. The fines would have no bearing on it but I still don't think they should be fined. We went to an island in greece during term time. It was my first holiday abroad and very few people spoke any English-absolutely none. My parents made us go and buy our own ice creams and things which sounds like nothing but its pretty scary when you don't know the language or currency. We learned why people have siestas (it was darn hot). We tried such different food and experienced a totally different culture (not all good). It was unforgettable. The two weeks of work I missed could not be less relevant.

we had occasional weeks off for holidays and occasional days off for alton towers trips-didn't harm me in the slightest. I don't think it happened during the GCSE years. Lets face it if you are going on to further education GCSEs become pretty pointless. They are barely on my CV now. If you are a kid thats struggling to pass its different but they are pretty basic for a lot of the school population-otherwise there would not be so many A*s. It might be a slight pain for teachers but I think the benefits far outweigh the difficulties teachers face from a bright pupil taking a week off.

I felt exactly the same last year-the worst few months of my life to date. I kept thinking "it can't get any worse" then bam another issue slapped me in the face. Develop tunnel vision and sort one thing at a time whilst just doing the bare minimum to prevent further issues.

Theres literally nothing else I can do-It is distracting and dazzling-I have never had to do it for an ambulance because the light isn't as dazzling. To clarify I am a cyclist and have never noticed this effect other than with this one bloke on a cycle. Its obviously the particular light, angle and flashing pattern (the flashing pattern being crazily fast on off flashing). My bike light points slightly downwards and is flashing irregularly at a reasonable speed. No-one will be dazzled but anyone looking properly will see me.

I am a cyclist and I agree! There is one guy I see on my occasional drive in with an amazingly bright light that flashes so fast I have to angle my mirror away to block him out-it is dazzling. Consequesntly I have to make sure I can't see him so that I can drive:loopy:

of course! sod thousands of years of evolution we should be wearing heels! Jessica ennis looks sexy in trainers-waynetta slob does not.

The advert is annoying and the product is stupid.

This isn't true at all. From video footage you can extract a still image and determine whether something is a gun. Just using your eyes you may well only see something black being waved around or like a gun, you might be focussed on something else. A video camera does not feel fear and adreniline either.

Primary care manager is a bit long winded!

we can't afford it though-it is going to change, its just a question of how. ---------- Post added 11-12-2013 at 10:34 ---------- horse riding, rowing, football, skydiving, skiing all require extra insurance if you are part of a proper league. I would assume every official sport requires extra insurance. It is totally different, don't be silly. Smoking 40 fags a day and drinking a bottle of vodka a day are pretty much guaranteed to cause you long term harm. Falling of a horse or breaking your leg playing football are pretty unlikely and will generally be short term problems and irrelevant compared to the long term health benefits of being active.

No the pasty tax is pretty random in what it covers. Also manufacturers spend a lot of time and money getting round these taxes. My suggestion is to give incentives to people to make good choices rather than to punish people that don't and it is more directed because its based on that persons general health not a particular part of what they spend their money on.

Thats totally different, I am talking about people that make good lifestyle choices. A lot of sports require extra insurance if they are high risk anyway.

but what about people that eat nothing but chips and do no exercise?

A) im pretty sure you didnt read the link as it disagrees with you and i do, cancer treatment is expensive, dementia care is expensive and a lifetime of obesity care is expensive. B) i wasnt claiming that they cost less in nhs care i was simply saying that aiming to be healthy deserves a discount. People that dont make any effort should subsidise heavily the people that do!

Just read this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25303707 I was thinking we should have discounts on our NHS payments for healthy living. If you eat lots of fruit and veg, exercise every day and generally look after yourself you should pay less than someone that smokes, drinks and sits on their lazy arse increasing their belly size by eating rubbish-why not? You could have an annual check up where the nurse or other health checker checks your liver, blood pressure, stamina, weight etc and from that information a discount could be applied. I think it would encourage some people to live healthier lives. ....Although I also strongly feel that lots of sports should be cheaper!

I checked on the bbc one because I have recently lost quite a lot of weight (I am still not quite in the normal category. Even though I am very fit and no longer overweight)-it did not even ask whether I was male of female:hihi: BMI also ignores the fact that muscle is denser than fat-which is a pretty vital part of judging whether someone is healthy. It is indeed rubbish!

I like the banner-we used to have pretty woman on vhs and half way through it announced that we were at war in the faulklands (or something like that) Yesterday though we checked what it was then went back to what we were watching-something that required subtitles. The banner covered the darn subtitles:confused: Also the live interview with a reporter from johannesburg showed him in front of a bright sunny day-I assume this was a picture but it was confusing because it was midnight in johannesburg:huh:

this is the attitude I despise- yes some cyclists are idiots! I am sure there is a point there somewhere but I doubt even you know what it is:huh: Also what does it matter if they don't wear a helmet-that won't hurt anyone but themselves. Are you suggesting that if a cyclist doesn't wear a helmet they deserve to be hit by a car? Headphones are not really a problem either-you just make sure to look around. They have stopped me from swerving into traffic when a pedestrian tries to make me jump by a sudden shout as I cycle past (that has happened at least 3 times now and I have no idea why!) ---------- Post added 05-12-2013 at 15:29 ---------- There is nothing wrong with two abreast-they are no wider than a car and it takes less time to overtake them. ---------- Post added 05-12-2013 at 15:31 ---------- what is this based on-do you think there are more well behaved drivers. What law? and just the one? I feel that maybe you havent thought this through:hihi:

the bit in bold was the only bit that surprised me:D definitely not news though!

just with iplayer? Its really weird I don't understand why everything else seems to be set at some kind of standard level. To a non techie person like me I would assume that all the volume would be set at your computer but I am obviously missing something vital. I am glad its not just me though. ---------- Post added 26-11-2013 at 08:54 ---------- http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/TiVo/BBC-iPlayer-sound/td-p/541013/page/3 this is on tivo but suggests it is the bbc setting the volume too loud which is what I thought might be the problem. ooh and one from the bbc message boards-this sounds exactly like my issue! http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer/F7331806?thread=6956884

Haha to Ed Milibands choices! Like "Angels" by robbie williams is one of his all time favourites. I don't think politicians should be allowed on the show. I wonder how much money was used to decide his desert island discs. "Take on me"??? He obviously had been advised not to mention a concerto:hihi: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/10465689/Desert-Island-Discs-Ed-Miliband-Radio-4-review.html

Does anyone know why the volume on bbc iplayer might be ridiculously high. Whenever I forget to take my headphones out and press play I am nearly deafened. It really hurts! The volume is fine in everything else I use it's just iplayer:confused: ---------- Post added 25-11-2013 at 15:08 ---------- its really only me isn't it:(

I think its a terrible idea unless they reduce the need to see a doctor for repeat prescriptions and regular visits etc-eg using more nurses. It already costs me half a day off work to see mine quite often as I don't work near home. It makes prescriptions for people that pay almost £20 in total. Apart from this we all pay already-why bother with this, just charge the taxpayer more. Its a false economy as people would just go to A&E or get more health problems before going to get anything done. stupid on all levels

darn it, it is really annoying-I was hoping it was my browser:rant: I don't want to link my private email to my work email or the shared calendar I use. Google are sooo annoying!