ScoobyChris

English?! Isn't their call centre in Yorkshire? I gave up on Plusnet after being a loyal customer for 7 years and watching them grow while the level of service dropped (including comedy traffic shaping/capping) and the price continued to rise, and moved to Sky and then Virgin Media and would rate them both much higher than Plusnet Chris

We've gone through Moneysupermarket and looking at the quotes and levels of cover, we decided on http://www.holidayextras.co.uk/holiday-insurance.html to cover our 10 day holiday next week. No idea how good they are, but if the worst happens and we end up claiming, I'll be sure to feedback Chris

We've been with Virgin media almost 2 years now and have the 500Gb Tivo (currently on 2nd one as they insisted on replacing it when we moved house and took our a new contract!) and Superhub with the base 30Mbit connection. The Superhub wifi could be a bit flakey on occasion, but there was a recent firmware update a few months back (R37) which seems to have resolved that, although the admin UI is now more form over function Moving house again in the next few months, hopefully, and we'll be weighing up Virgin against the other options. Tivo certainly knocks spots off Sky+HD and I'd be reluctant to give that up Chris

This certainly makes a lot of sense, plus you have the convenience if there are problems that it is local to get to. I'd also be checking local independent specialists too as most of them seem to be staffed by ex-main-dealer people who are familiar with the cars and care about customer loyalty. Saying that, though, my Panda got serviced where I bought it (an hour's drive away) as 1) it worked out a similar price to the dealer 20 mins away, 2) the dealer was excellent and 3) it was a fantastic route over the twists and turns across the Salisbury Plains. Obviously 3) outweighed the other two Chris

I think modern cars are much more reliable and resilient, but as a consequence the concept of being able to do a "roadside repair" is much rarer and if anything does go wrong, there will likely be a significant repair bill. The home mechanic also now needs a computer/fault code reader in his toolbox Chris

Shame it will not be a change for the better (imvho) Chris

Interesting - what language(s) are you a fan of? Chris (hoping you don't say Lisp )

Just don't mention the war Chris

An interesting site I found, although no idea how representative it is of the industry as a whole (wherever I've worked you've been expected to be proficient in a number of languages!) -> http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/default.aspx?page=1&sortby=0&orderby=0&q=&id=900&lid=2618 Imho, Java/C# are good languages to learn to familiarise yourself with the world of object oriented programming, although they're a little too high level to necessarily encourage you to write efficient code (which something like C/C++ is very good at). I've been doing Python just under a year now and found with a C/Java background it was very easy to pick up and I'm a big fan. The main thing though is being able to identify and use the most appropriate language for the job at hand. I'm always concerned when I see someone firing up Eclipse to create reams of Java code where a handful of lines of shell script would solve the task more quickly, more efficiently and with much lower maintenance overheads Chris

I think the biggest hurdle you'll come across is competing with people who've been in the industry and got experience under their belt so you'll need to be thinking about ways you can set yourself apart from them when you apply. As said above, look for emerging technologies or areas of lower saturation (if they interest you!) to improve your chances and try and gain real-world experience, even if it's unpaid, as well as doing the courses. Wrt the courses, don't be taken in by the ones promising untold wealth and look at industry recognised qualifications (as per job specs). There seems to be a trend in the industry to be moving away from home/remote working back to office-based working so if you're a keen snowboarder, it may be worth looking at multi-nationals who have sites in the areas you want to visit Good luck! Chris

I always read the reviews section with interest - obviously I'm in a bit of a minority Chris

I've never heard they were especially tricky to drive and most of the fast BMWs seem to take quite a lot of provocation/driving like a tool to get out of shape A nice review here -> http://www.donpalmer.co.uk/press/7-days-z4m.html Chris

Another recommendation for Dell/Dell outlet and Quidco. Got my laptop (think it might be a 15R too with i5, 6Gb RAM, 512Gb disk) this time last year and bought at a time when there was free delivery and cashback running at Quidco. Only thing I didn't have a choice of was the colour which turns out to be a metallic red - still, at least I'll never lose it in the house Solidly built and had no problems with it, but for the price I paid, it's still been excellent value for money if it breaks after a couple of years Just make sure they don't send it via UK Mail (after seeing Dispatches on C4 last night). Chris

I had a few issues with it on Firefox but on the second attempt, I did manage to get a quote out. Shame after all that it wasn't very good though Chris

Which average tyre is lasting 10k miles - sounds like you've tried 2, both from Michelin? I ran Primacys and then replaced them with Falken and then Kumho mid-range tyres. Grip levels felt better in the mid-range tyres, they were less noisy and they both lasted around 6k longer. Oh and they cost quite a bit less too. In their favour, the Primacys were better than the Conti Sports (2 and 3) I had which were woeful and eye-wateringly expensive. YMMV Used them a few times - great price, cr@p fitters .. all imhe. You're better off going to Protyre who are part of the same group and have the same prices but employ better fitters (based on my experience of the Eastleigh branch ) Chris

I'm going to (randomly ) guess that it's a Honda Civic 1.6 diesel in EX trim. I also guess it will cost £20 less a month than the equivalent Octavia or Audi A3 Chris

Only omitted as I'd completely forgotten about them. Good call, and I quite like the look of the turbo, although I've never driven one... MG TF was omitted on purpose though Chris

Chris

More to the point, don't bother with Michelin Primacy's and get something better *and* cheaper Chris

What do you mean by "beginners" RWD? Imhe, with the short list you have, you're going to have to be doing something pretty daft to get them to let go. If you want a bit of a safety net, you might want to buy something a bit newer with ESP, but as a result you may lose some of the fun. A few you might want to consider: - MX5 (seems to be the defacto standard but could do with more power imho - option to supercharge further down the line) - Caterham (or 7 clone) - Elise - MR2 - N/A or turbo available - Z3M - M3 engine in Z3 - a cracking combination - S2000 (early ones didn't have ESP IIRC) A shame you've discounted the Boxter as it's a great driver's car with far better balance than the 911 and the 3.2 S is no slouch. Chris

I like the idea of incentivising, but one of the hurdles with insurance is that there is insufficient statistical data to show that those who have taken further training are "safer". It was unclear whether this was down to an insufficient sample size or whether there was some other reason - it would be interesting to see the number of claims via the IAM's own Surety insurance scheme. I'm guessing it won't be zero Actually, speaking of the IAM Surety scheme, my experience of them is that they only seem to be competitive when they price-match other quotes (which didn't offer IAM/RoSPA discount) which seems to suggest that I am not a better risk, even having done their course!?! Chris

You're correct - you can only drive on a motorway if you hold a full driving licence, irrespective of who your passengers are... Chris

I like this analogy and I've had some involvement in the under-17 car club (http://www.under17-carclub.co.uk/ ) who get kids driving on a private course from the age of 11. Having driven with a few of the 17 years olds who've done it, the results are impressive and they're all fairly level headed and confident drivers. My only complaint is that the environment they learn in is a little utopian in that everyone is obeying the rules, etc, which means they can get a shock when they join the "real world". Another thing which plays a large part, imho, is the role parents play as driving role models and I think it's important to be aware of how easy it is to impress bad driving on younger children such that they think it's normal. Chris

I suppose the counter argument to this is that dual carriageway driving is (should be?!) covered by the driving test and so high-speed joining, lane discipline and overtaking should be instilled. I think one of the problems is that people identify lanes on the motorway by speed, ie "I don't want to be in the slow lane" rather than by number and I've even heard instructors on these be a better driver style programmes who really should know better referring to them as such. BTW, nice overtake Chris

I'm surprised with those qualifications and the replies in this thread, you still think that undertaking in this country is illegal. Chris