tog_in_sox

Everything started so sweet then seemed to sour.... ahh bless. UDT and ACM on the Rye at dawn with pistols and sabres. Underwater Demolition Teams vs Air Combat Maneuvering... perhaps they're console jocks? Just kidding boys. Back OT. PR, unless a new day brought you a new computer I take it you are still after opinion, recommendations and suggestions? Firstly the hardware: ?500 buys you quite a lot of shiny nowadays even new ipads so you should be able to treat yourself to something quite capable without breaking a sweat as you prise the purse open. "Notebooks" and "laptop" have become pretty much synonymous in hardware terms if not terminologically(!?) speaking, especially since netbooks arrived on the scene to confuse us punters further. You've not mentioned how large the screen is on your present pc but I'll guess at 15" and I get the impression that you'd like something similar for the sake of legibility and size of display area. If you're not a tinkerer and wanting a decent after sales support then I'd strongly suggest a known brand purchase (manufacturer or retailer) with additional years warranty added. ACMs suggestion of the Tosh can be bought with 3yrs next day on site service but that will push the price to ?500 inc VAT. No idea on how good their service is but worth considering. A similar spec Dell with 3 yrs nbd service is about the same on offer from their website. Have a look for voucher sites that get you additional discount or moneysavingexpert.com Just had a look at the JLP website and they have a current generation HP laptop with 2 yr guarantee going for ?499 (i.e. faster chip, better graphics, bigger disk, better battery) and again you may be able to get an offer on that in store. Bootup times for current gen laptops with Windows 7 should be comfortably no more than a minute. (I just timed my older one : 80secs to switch on and start browsing internet) If you fancy something smaller, faster, different then ask away and will be happy to give some steerage. Happy hunting Re: Tablets. If you're really tempted by their portability then I'd wait till Xmas (or after for sales) as there are better processors and screens due to be announced that should mean that performance, capability and features could justify the ?500 sticker price. Re: Office document compatibility. It doesn't sound like your library of work was created on anything more recent than Office 2003 so you should be able to get something like Open Office for your PC which will happily work with them provided you haven't used particularly esoteric Microsoft features or macro coding. If they're predominantly formatted text with say tables and embedded pictures you should be fine. Will need to know just how fancy your compositions are to advise further. That means you don't have to buy M$ at all. If you really want to be up to date then you could copy your documents up into the "Cloud" on services like Google docs and again avoid paying for Office.

rah, rah, rah, 77% What're the odds that of that 77% the majority had no clue about the actual terms of the proposals and where that left psws? What're the odds that once apprised of said new terms and their meaning that <77% would be supportive? What're the odds that a fair %'age of the 77% actually support the cause not because they care about the inconvenience and impact to psws but because people like to object to whatever the government of the day propose by way of change? I have some other observations and questions: 1) If we managed to restore respect from and authority over students for teachers and lecturers would they agree to a significant pay and benefits cut because their lives were now much more rewarding and far less stressful? Would we be justified in asking them to? 2) Is it only the Government's (not just this coalition) responsibility to pursue this utopia for teachers? 3) Who is to blame for the behaviour of pupils and students? 4) How much support is there truly for the civil service bureaucrats anonymously processing into implementation both rightly and wrongly the multitude of constraints we are bound to live under? Would you rather continue to subsidise their above average existence and prosperity or that they chose to strike because they objected to all the crap they were being asked to do in their day jobs that made everyone's life that bit more demanding? 5) Given that the next generations appear to have an even greater sense of entitlement I dread to think what the future psws will be like if this and future governments are unable to staunch the rupture that is public sector spending inflamed by overly generous benefits and staggering fiscal incompetence at both national and local levels. 6) Is more respect shown to teachers in private/grammar school classrooms? Do they have more authority? 7) Just because a whole bunch of people scream their lot is unfair does not make them right. True righteousness is not brought by force of numbers alone. US anyone? USSR? China? Ghandhi? Aung San Suu Kyi? 8) Anyone prefer numbered lists over bulletpoints? 9) When reading instructions or information would you rather just the salient points be presented concisely or rather have swathes of irrelevant prose spun all around from which to extract the facts? 10) There are many worthy professions and trades represented within the public sector and there are plenty more that are extremely ordinary, some even less so. On the one hand why should they all be entitled to the same generous benefits whilst on the other why should any be entitled to more than anyone else? 11) Is there an irony in the fact that many of these psws claim to be liberal or socialist whilst at the same time they are attempting to protect their elite status? rah, rah rah average pension ?10275 ... 5023... These are only low because the AVERAGE is calculated across all civil servants many of whom may not have spent 40+ years contributing whilst attaining great responsibility and remuneration. Those persons who didn't spend all their working lives as a psw will likely have continued to seek and gain employment in the private sector and guess what paid into a pension if they were the least bit responsible for their own old age. Most of us will retire with a patchwork of pension plans we've held together with what little spare we thought we had in the (vain?) hope that it'll be enough to keep us in shelter and health for the 15+ years of retirement without employment earnings. If you intend to be a fully pensioned PSW just sit down and think this one through: Say your pension entitlement was ?30k pa. Your final salary was ?45k after 40 years of service, of which you only set aside 3.2% for pension. Even if you had been paid ?45k all your years of contributing you would have set aside c. ?58k, not enough to cover even 1/8 of your years of retirement, how reasonable and fair is it that everyone else pay for your elevated upkeep for the remaining years, having paid you above average earnings your entire career?

Having waded through the IR also I too cannot see any justification for strike. This guy has at least done enough to be subject to disciplinary proceedings and threatening behaviour whilst on picket is clearly a breach of strike rules. So he has broken both LU and RMT regulations. His words of excuse and contrition are clearly insincere and simply legal placatory remarks that ring exceedingly hollow, note no mention of apology or restitution to the offended staff. With 29 yrs service he stands to lose a lot from dismissal including travel benefits as he would be entitled to free travel on all trains (yup he could commute from anywhere in the UK for free, new employees can only ever graduate to a 75% rebate on train fares), buses, trams, tubes, DLR and overground. He's also on probably well over 30 days hol entitlement plus bank hols. Unless he's been hopeless in job his salary plus o/t, etc is probably well north of ?50k. CM, you've made no compelling or substantiated argument for the improvement of labour laws . More particularly what particular rights are truly unjust? Being bound to non-violent, unintimidating and non-abusive picketing? Having to show that all genuine members were balloted? Not having to have a true majority of the membership vote for strike action? Being able to strike for up to 12 weeks without threat of job loss? What part of TUPE is weak or unfair? I've been TUPEd twice and my pension, salary, holiday and privileges have all been protected so I've never lost out. I may not have gained the privileges of others but why would that be unfair? I signed an original contract without duress for a set of conditions I believed to be reasonable in the first place. "Thatcher's anti-union legislation hasn't exactly made us in UK a shinning example of growth. Our economic performance lags behind that of Germany, and even reputedly public spending-addicted France. " We've had over 20 yrs to repeal anything Maggie did so laying this at her door is Unionist platitudes rather than constructive collaboration with employers and government to address genuine injustices. How many years of Labour rule did we just have? "...formally recognise a trade union and workers on the shop floor often know what makes a company tick" - Point of order, a union is not mandatory or a pre-req to successful working practice or competitiveness. A will to work hard even in adversity and having the right product (a capable product giving best value) are key. In these austere times more than any other that's about keeping costs down rather than over-delivering on quality. Good relations come from mutual respect between the management and each employee. This is what's needed for a productive workforce as is a collective pride in product, competitive drive to as able as possible and a true sense of what is a fair reward for one's labours. None of this needs a union, it all stems from the values and beliefs of each individual in the organisation. "The law in Germany and France, for example, makes it much, much harder for a company to sack people or simply up sticks and relocate - we just need that level playing field to compete fairly." That "level playing field" would prevent companies from changing their circumstances to increase their competitiveness, thereby driving them out of business. Employment is not a right. A worker is not entitled to have a job near where they live. Address the cost of living and financing and perhaps then we'd have more competitive industries. "If the only way of quantifying an individual's worth is how much we pay them then we're all doomed!" It's a fact that a Tube Train driver's worth has been set at a minimum of ?30k+ by continued Union militancy that is our downfall. "UK labour law is some of the most restrictive in Europe and the developed world." I think if you examine the law a little more closely you will find that unions have had a significant and arguably anti-competitiveness impact on our labour laws too. Health and safety strictures born from a "compensation culture" are also to blame. "Strikes aren't at an 80-year low because of our anti-trade union law, it's because people are fearful for their jobs as the government's cuts kick in." By inference if people weren't afraid for their jobs we'd be having a lot more strikes in the UK? This of course making us hugely competitive in the international arena! "increase compensation for discrimination" and the wider compensation culture does not enhance labour relations or increase competitiveness. It is absolutely deleterious to a business entity's ability to deliver a best value product. Compensation should be limited to lost earnings to date. Officers of the company suspected of discrimination should be wholly accountable at their own disciplinary prosecutions and equally liable to lose their tenure with full loss of exit privileges and full culpability for any criminal proceedings thereafter. Companies should only be compelled to improve their processes to prevent further discrimination. Punitive financial damages serve nothing more than to threaten the prosperity of a company and its remaining employees. Back to OP. This matter should be solely between the guilty individual, LU/TfL and the tribunal. The union has no reasonable justification for inflicting inconvenience and cost on millions of unassociated people., indeed their only justification should be deemed criminal extortion. I would be wholly in favour of the ability to lodge a class action suit against the RMT for the full compensation to both individual travellers and their dependent employers. All workers and employers should be legally bound to resolve their disputes through mediation and to abide by the rulings handed down. I say this personally, as a non-unionised employee of LU proud of the service it is commissioned to provide in the face of militant sabotage and infrastructure legacy. The irony is that a large no. of the some 20,000 employees of LU depend on their colleagues and "bruvvahs" to get to work, how's that for fostering good working relationships. What're the odds that Bob and his Crow-nies will hatch something in the run-up to the Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee? The sooner this serpent is made impotent the better. The RMT leadership recently rejected a pay offer above inflation for TfL staff thus thumbing their noses at the 20,000+ non-member colleagues that work there. The sooner we can automate the trains the better.

AGW, Did you have specific models/sizes in mind? Did you want a particular version of Android software e.g. 2.2 Froyo or 2.3 Gindgerbread? If you're concerned about after sales support then there are caveats to both brands you mention. Most of the discussion boards indicate that Samsung has poor software support so unless you get the version of Android you want at purchase you could be waiting ages or in vain for the official update. Also their connectivity software for PC is generally accepted to be cr@p. HTC have better rep for updating phones (I've had 2 OS updates to my Desire HD since October and am now running 2.3.4) and their sync software is better, although I don't use it. However they seem to be incapable of maintaining their HTCSense web portal which at the moment has knackered some of the convenient integration with online services like Facebook. Thankfully you can get round these inconveniences by using another App. Personally for these expensive smartphones I'd prefer to deal with a real world sales outlet so I know that I can take it back somewhere in the event of a problem and cause a real person grief until they fix it. Most people I know who've had probs and returned by post have had nightmares. Also my OH has had a bunch of probs getting Carphone Warehouse to repair her iPhone experiencing dreadful communication and ridiculous procedural incompetence. She hate it so much she went through it twice !! Nothing to do with her silly ass dropping it in the loo twice! ;P If you plan on rooting your phone (ie upgrading the software yourself to unofficial releases) then you're obviously more free to brand choice and mostly cut-off from after sales warranty support. In which case just hunt on the web for the best price for the model you're after. I've happily used Ebuyer.com for computer bits and they sell Android phones. Hope you find what you need and let us know what you get. Nothing like a bit of Droid envy ;)

Hi Alan, Sadly if the motherboard of a laptop goes and it's out of warranty then it's likely to be game over. You or your computer handyman could try finding the same model on Ebay (or the like) being sold for parts. Depending on how popular it is you might find it elsewhere too. Consumer grade laptops (not business ones) are rarely sold to be robust traveling items (unless you pay well north of ?1k). Because the sector is all about keeping up with the Jones and tempting you with the latest shiny they're not supported well beyond warranty expiry of their launch date so key items like the motherboard, casing, keyboard and LCD aren't stocked highly for repairs. Sure if the disk goes, the WiFi card, perhaps the screen back light they might be more readily replaced. Motherboards in my experience usually expire from heat fatigue of a key component and because they're typically so compact most of the parts or not easily removed and replaced even by very handy support techs. Unless really poorly designed this heat fatigue is usually more to do with how it's been used so watch out for: - repeated lengthy usage in hot/humid environments - blocking off the vent grilles e.g. by setting on the bedding or on a cushion. Also avoids fire hazard from the likes of Macs ;) - repeated lengthy use in dusty environments that causes the fans to clog and cease to vent the machine. - Some batteries get quite hot whilst charging so lengthy use from the mains whilst charging can also make things worse. I remove the battery if charged and use the device from the mains. Upside is it's lighter and may actually cool better without the battery obstructing a cooling surface. The battery may well also last longer as they too suffer from "memory" effect (regardless of what the techs say) and heat fatigue. Downside you can't wander about and it may be unbalanced without the battery in. As far as recommendations go, it's down to what you use them for. If you're going to be traveling "rough" to variable climes then definitely go for a business grade item and read the extensive reviews. Personally I've thrashed several Thinkpads in my time and each has lasted a good 5 yrs and they have good extended warranty service which I needed for one of them. Dell business computers are generally fairly robust if a little lacklustre but the warranty service is pretty solid. HP is another. Apple if you're free to switch to their operating system without having to re-purchase a whole bunch of necessary software for your work. Of course "light" isn't cheap, especially if you want robust, with all brands worth considering you'd be looking at ?900 - ?2k with a minimum 3 yr warranty and I'd hold out for an onsite, next-day service. I couldn't afford this last time round so I went for an end-of-line HP model from Peter Jones with a 3 yr warranty for ?300 off. I'd only do this with one of the business players. If you are on a budget then look for their end-of-line products (with good reviews). All have sale and reconditioned offers on their websites which can throw up some worthwhile buys. I've been tempted by EBay several times but always baulked at forking over ?1k to a stranger. Desktops (not the all in ones now gaining popularity) are a slightly different kettle. You can replace anything pretty easily, upgrade piecemeal when you want/need and choose the parts from mostly what suits your fancy. Getting the ball rolling it's probably worth buying a working bundle that has the aesthetics and form factor you like. If you know you want to enhance it then obviously budget for that and determine whether that's something you're prepared to do yourself or will need to pay to be done. Obviously tinkering voids warranty so again do you want to depend on others or go it alone. What will you be using it for? Plenty of deals if you're prepared to look.

Unless you're saving stupid money on the e-tailer price or you have to have a specific brand/model just go to Sainsbury's on DKH once you're home (open til 00:00) or pop out to Curry's or Comet, etc as most are open past 7 on at least one evening. I've used Peter Jones in Sloane Square on a Thurs eve to avoid the crowds and ensure a decently warranteed product and getting back on the train after 6:30 is easy. Any particular reason you need it delivered other than the commute home with a large package!?

The only advantage to using the CD or DVD is that they won't get wiped/corrupted by stray magnetic fields (although these are less likely now that so many people have flatscreens nowadays. That said a dodgy power supply very close by could do it. As you're dealing with mhtml files I'm presuming that the pictures you're dealing with are most likely JPGs (or similar) rather than CRW/RAW/NEF (much higher quality but larger). Most walk-in photo print labs are likely not geared up with easy-use facilities that recognise mhtml so you may need a skilled technician to manage this for you if they can deal with them at all. Otherwise you will have to extract the photos from the mhtmls as plain old JPGs/PNGs (I'd avoid TIFF and BMP). Don't know what application you have on your Sony that might do this. Presumably you can see the images when reviewing your emails so hopefully you have the option to save the images to your USB stick or PC as a JPG. There may be a menu option enabling you to save all the images (attachments) in an email at once or you may have to do it one by one. How are you viewing your emails?

Have you taken advice about your daughters rights as live in landlord and the couple's rights of residency? From the links I posted they have very limited rights. Where did your 28 dyas come from? If they were on fortnightly terms then I don't believe you're obliged to anything more than that by way of notice. Were your "threats" of eviction verbal or in writing? You've not mentioned what terms were laid down in the tenancy agreement signed. Have they breached any of these? Talk to the Housing Benefit office about what's happened to your missing payments and how non-payments affects the terms of tenancy and the couple's right to claim. Definitely check with the Creditors and possibly the Credit Reference agencies to see about whether your daughter's address has been used by them to establish any credit agreements. Fingers crossed for you but for Heaven's sake don't bury your heads about any of this, better to worry about everything and have your fears allayed than to blunder into a world of credit troubles.

So sorry to hear about the nightmare. Definitely get someone to go stay over and definitely an assertive, physically capable male or female with a level head. It's not much point having someone else who might cave under duress and it's not much point having someone who can't physically assist or intercede as waiting for the police or a good samaritan might be too late. Definitely change the locks on all exterior doors. Definitely refuse bailiffs access, unfortunately if your lodgers are stupid enough to let them in you're compromised :( See here for various advice about rights: spareroom landlords Good luck on a safe and civil resolution.

Jeremy, IF the repair install option didn't work then you're kinda stuffed unless you: a) Get a new hard drive (doesn't have to be expensive, say under ?40 for 160GB IDE if your PC is that old or ?30 for a SATA drive b) Get a USB memory stick over 2GB and make it a bootable Windows XP drive installed with AV to disinfect your main drive. You'll need a another functioning PC to build this. Alternatively you can create a bootable CD. c) Remove the drive, get someone else to hook it up to their PC and then use AV on it to remove the virus(es) Too sleepy to think of other options, sure others will be forthcoming.

What make and model? We can then perhaps assist you better. If the 400 are indeed all the shots on the camera then using the format option within the camera option menus would be the quickest way. If they are a part of the total inventory then using a PC/Mac to do it would be best. Either way until we know what kind of camera it is we can't provide any reliable instructions.

Be daring, buy some killa Louboutins and go in nothing but them. Tell them you're meeting Spencer Tunic for a special project. ;-) Or that you're expecting Dita dahling to arrive any moment. B)

Bit of a crap weapon if it nuked just blackbird but didn't touch any other flora or fauna in the built up area. Not exactly a device for winning a war of possession or deterence. Wondering if anyone woke up with premonitions of their future? Did Billy Boyd somehow feature as the bad guy? Joseph Fiennes in there anywhere?

Hi DJKQ, agree with you, much of the argument is made with selective memory. When I went to Uni my parents were fair enough to not try and re-jig their finances to make me eligible for a grant so they stumped for all my expenses barring what I could earn in supplemental jobs. MP, According to NSO publication here and associated docs available we do have a naturally growing population. The overall statement of an ageing pop is because we had higher natural expansion previously so the distribution is skewed to adults and aged. Whether this will continue to the point where more people are dying than are being born in the pop (to citizens or not) is not yet fact. What appears to be fairly level is the year-on-year fertility rate so the expected domestic youth pop projection is fairly stable for the future (barring acts of God). All, Why is having a degree so important to the future welfare of our youth? Presuming it's for the intellectual well-being of the individual and potential benefit to society of said happy individual, why the expectation of higher earnings and the offering of higher remuneration? Having such a high proportion of graduates in the workforce appears to merely force employers to use HE qualifications as another means to filter applicants regardless of how relevant such a filter might be. Seems to me the implementation of our lofty ideals has gone awry. I fully endorse that all should have the opportunity of higher education for the betterment of self BUT I do not endorse the expectation that having such a certification bequeaths an entitlement to higher pay. Given that taking a gap year to volunteer or travel is also said to be a good thing for mind and spirit should we perhaps not encourage our youth to do that? Fund them for doing so? According to (via Prospects.ac.uk) " 1.According to latest figures released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the average salary for full-time first degree graduates from 2008 whose destinations were known and who were in full-time employment in the UK six months after graduating was ?19,677. This figure covers graduates in all roles across the UK economy, including those occupied by graduates but which might be considered 'non-graduate', and comes from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, which is the annual survey which explores graduates? destinations six months after graduation. DLHE covers all graduates from UK higher education. 2. Figures derived from the latest 2007/08 issue of Prospects Directory revealed that the average starting salary offered to 2008 graduates is ?24,048 and the median salary* is ?23,500. Prospects Directory is an annual graduate recruiters' directory published by Graduate Prospects and features thousands of jobs and hundreds of employers, and the salaries are therefore derived from job advertisements. The latest 2007/08 issue is aimed at 2008 graduates. The salaries offered ranged from ?14,732 to ?39,000. " So according to this the average graduate (not just the lowest quartile) can expect to be exempt from repayments at least in their first year(s) of their career. Is it possible to elect to begin early repayments irrespective of earnings subject to the same timescales?

Oh dear Brendan :( ?1000+ on council tax? Although I pay ?950 in not the dearest or cheapest area for a 2 bed flat more than sufficient for 2 adults + child the tax could be halved as it'd be split between 2 earners. 10% on pension? If they chose to have one in the first decade of their career then why your "mandatory" 10%? I'm not subject to such. Are you saying the couple need ?40k or ?80k deposit? If it wasn't possible he wouldn't have already managed a year. Besides he is pragmatic about having to make adjustments to his budget and giving based on the uncontrollable factors affecting his costs. His aim? ?1m in his lifetime. My point was that much can be done with around the average wage so the ?30 or ?70 being asked is not a lot at all to sacrifice. It's only when you insist on the likes of ?30 pcm for fags, ?80 pcm on drinks, ?30 pcm to cost of going to gigs or festivals, ?40 on latest game title, etc that you have to admit that the cost is small. Bemoaning the priviledges of the past without acknowledging the harsh realities of a student proportion 10x the % that went to free Uni, in a larger (and growing) population as well, is petulant. Take into account the inflated costs of providing this eductation and their willful ignorance swells and the suspicion of blind reactionaries comes to the fore. Self-righteous? Nope, just trying to establish a realistic context. But if it needs to be said, I've had debts far greater than those they face, from which I could have "run away" by declaing bankruptcy but I chose to accept responsibility for my spending (not even investment) and paid it down by paying hundreds per month for over a decade. My wage? Not much more than the average wage. If Billy Bragg's point is that this generation will create a better future where rank capitalism in the form of selfish indulgence and self-promotion were burnt at the stake in favour of humble wants for personal gain and huge compassion for the truly needy across society then I'm all for it. Somehow though I truly believe that most of them will be as self-absorbed and self-serving as any previous generation. Cynic is my middle name though I wish it were not so.

Thanks Huguenot for digging up the numbers. So basically on ?30k a yr (or future equivalent) I'll be committed to the "crippling" sum of ?68 per month with no real lender expectation to pay off the debt in 30 yrs so I just "tough" it out and have it written off? I can still save money in the meantime because as I understand it there will be a penalty for early redemption to discourage the wealthy from playing the system. So to bring in figures from another story: * Income: ?25,300, rising to ?33,000 in coming year * Giving to charity: Everything above ?18,000 * Outgoings: ?5,000 rent, ?4,000 living expenses, rest on savings for house and holidays * Plus: Eating out twice a fortnight, coffee once a week * Interests: reading, listening to music, photography, meeting friends * Gadgets: Apple Mac, iPhone, no television I could be on ?21k, give away ?3k pa to charity, never have to repay my loan, enjoy the above limited lifestyle and still be putting aside money for a deposit on a house. Methinks the protesting youth of today are beyond rational thought and I'd like my tax money back please! SMG if I were asked to put up another ?70 per month for the sake of future generations of graduates I'd want to be damned sure I was funding useful graduates who would be contracted to serve the country for a minimum time. I'd gladly pay for more scientists, engineers, doctors, nurses, legislators, foreign aid and development workers and teachers, but I outright refuse to pay for more media (and other non-options) students given the current glut of them, who believe friending, poking, blogging and tweeting is a credible contribution to society. I'd also pay for apprenticeships for more skilled plumbers, joiners, carpenters, tilers, roofers, thatchers, brickies, electricians and gas technicians; all of who are free to study part-time for degrees for their own edification whilst they continue their vocation.

My naivete here (althought perhaps still a little more enlightened than most of the undergrads so far interviewed by the media who made my blood boil!) but could someone clarify the effective difference for me please between: Paying Graduate tax until debt repaid vis-a-vis paying off a Graduate interest bearing loan ? Figures I've seen in various recent research papers from the likes of LSE are that student's on average out-earn non-grads to the tune of ?100k plus, in the case of the professions and finance of course it's considerably more with dentists and docs some ?200-300 k better off. Asking any student with such prospects to pay ?30k towards this is hardly unfair. To my mind they're just going to be ?30k less richer than the rest of us. Can anyone find: GDP figures for the past 20 yrs Student proportion for the same period State HE budget for same period

Hi pk, thanks for the link, great to see so many exerting their consciences and humanity and despite all the bad press and mis-steps looks like Mr Zuckerberg is showing his. H, sure a progressive tax is a convenient imposition and it's morality can certainly be disputed but I hope that the majority of the wealthy will and do contribute according to their ability to pay and support the communities upon whose shoulders they have been elevated. Off to huff and puff at the gall of those pesky "students"...

Hi zeban, I'm glad we're seeing more eye-to-eye than toe-to-toe. 'bout now, I'm not trying to hold PG up as some unsullied saint. His infamous actions are morally questionable to say the least but the fact that he's being made such a target only supports the radical nature of the protestors, thus detracting from any measured yet momentous attempt that they might make to rally the electorate and it's servants to a march for true fairness. Something far more effective would be the Wikileaks of Evaders, Avoiders, Fraudsters and Exploiters. Mass marching in the real World is too easily co-opted and subverted. It's time for Revolution 2.0 (perhaps that should be 3.0 or 9 or 2011 to follow the erratic nomenclatures of the tech world and the irony that they deal in computers that supposedly know how to count), it's time to show what social networking and the exposure by Internet media can truly, democratically do. My point about BG? Yup despite putting more than $38 billion into his charitable foundation his current worth still stands at $54bn. Hence my question towards the end of my last entry. This man and his wife are irrefutably doing amazing things for the betterment of millions of people BUT he still has at least $16 bn of his own or perhaps $54 depending on how the foundation is accounted for. I'm inclined to let him off the hook but how much do you think he's managed to avoid in the 23 yrs he's been a billionaire? Perhaps rather than protest and occupation we should instead instigate a love-in at John Lewis? Or transfer all our banking to the Co-operative Bank?

zeban, It's a shame that my "pathetic" attempt is simply dismissed in your rabid need to persecute one wealthy person. What exact harm has he done to you or I? Arcadia Grp is not Selfridges or Harrods or any of the luxury marques, he sells to the masses those affordable goods they find attractive and useful enough they buy it, whether at full or sale price. The Independent profile on him includes "Hence acts of spontaneous generosity such as the ?60,000 he donated to charity for a one-minute kiss with Kate Moss which he "gifted" to Jemima Khan to enjoy, though detractors saw it as evidence merely of his genius for self-promotion. He gives ?1m a year to the charity Jewish Care, donated his private jet to Madeleine McCann's family and gave ?100,000 in cash and ?1m in clothes to help victims of the tsunami. He has also spent ?5m setting up the Fashion Retail Academy and ?1.25m to promote business teaching in schools. " I'm an ordinary bloke with an above average job but with bills and debts to repay I have bugger all to give without living in penury, am I therefore more reprehensible because I help very few and employ no-one? Personally my socialist temper is more greatly piqued by the spongers (not the genuinely out of work, actively wanting to find new gainful employment or otherwise participate in society), the welfare fraudsters and the bone idle who are able to take from our system because we seem incapable of running it effectively enough for the good of those who truly need a leg up or helping hand. Just because I chose to raise what I believe to be greater moral affronts you chose to rudely respond. What of your contempt for tax evaders (~?70bn)? PG may well be a Tax Avoider or perhaps a Mitigator but what of all the others in this country? What about Tax protesters and resisters? Fair tax is indeed what we want all people to adhere to but squandering of tax revenues is a far greater priority. We could do so much more with the amount we do collect if we spent it more wisely. Then the Government (whatever it's colour) could stand expectantly before us and say "Are you willing to pay more for what we want to provide?" Perhaps you should direct your ire at the likes of Mukesh Ambani, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, George Soros? Where is you invective for all the purveyors of super luxury goods and brands, the oligarchs who have wrested the natural resources from the former Soviet peoples to obscene personal gain, the various criminal overlords on all the inhabited continents, the bankers, the car makers, the plane builders, the sports moguls, the tabacco pedlers, the Sainsburys, the alcohol makers? There are so many more people in the world to despise for their wealth above and beyond one little man called Philip Green. Some may indeed now be seeking to assuage their guilt by great works of charity but they remain fabulously wealthy and secure. Do you forgive them their former avarice and exploitative ways?

Errata: Arcadia paid ?300-400m in tax over past 5 yrs. I'm not so much worried about privacy of PG's taxes but that he is due the same absence of interference with his legal affairs as any other private citizen, so perhaps I should have said "private individual". Again if you want to prevent his and many others' exploitation of the regime then please vote for those who will change this. N.B. the ?1.2bn dividend everyone seems to be so outraged by took place in 2005 under a Labour government. The legality under scrutiny may be questionable but it remains officially legal. Anyhoos, I'd like to raise some connected questions ;) What's more contemptible, claiming what you're not legitimately entitled to or not paying what you're not legally obliged to? Who would you rather see brought to book, someone who profits from the labours of those gainfully employed by them or someone who profits from our labours by refusing to legitimately labour at all?

Well said Reggie. Finally had to pipe up. Arcadia paid ?200-300m in tax last year Somewhere between 28000 and 45000 employees (don't know how many FTEs but suspect no more than half) - paid a total of ?500m plus company benefits No figures for sales staff but junior HQ buying and merchandising staff start on ?18.5k. Management in store and HQ on more. Some of these companies would not be here today if not for PG (or another canny entrepreneur's) involvement. Can anyone definitively state how much personal tax he paid? The hypocrisy here is that ask any of those protesters if they were in his shoes how much tax would they pay and a minority would truthfully pay the full due. This is about people not of fortunate circumstance (predominantly employed by the state) bitching about their lot at the expense of the privacy of an individual. PG is prime target because he's the one tasked with shining a light on Public sector excess. They should take a good hard look in the mirror and question: How much tax is wasted because I don't do my job in the best interests of the taxpayer? How much am I really worth for what I'm asked to do? How much of what I do is really worthwhile? Should I really have bought that and expense it? The reason the housing market is up the creek is because we wanted a house and to profit from selling a house as many times as we could. The reason the cost of living is so high is because we choose to buy unnecessarily whilst our fellow citizens sold it to us for as much as they could (not just PG). The reason the NHS is so overwhelmed is because too many choose to live unhealthily and we don't do anything to actually stop them The reason the Welfare State is so poor is because too many (not PG) choose to exploit it and defraud it by claiming more than they are entitled to and we don't stop them We choose to consume more resources more wastefully rather than efficiently and thus drive demand and price of said resources. It's time to face the realities and responsibilities of a libertarian society and an overly permissive one at that. Beating up on a few wealthy people is so simple to do and so futile. ?120bn tax gap of which only ?25bn is down to the super wealthy entities. PG is legally entitled to pay as little as he does. Morals have nothing to do with it. You want to do something about it? Vote for people who will change the laws so that no tax loopholes exist and no wastage takes place from the Public purse, but to do that you may have to admit that you don't deserve the job you're in.

Had the HTC Desire HD for 2 weeks now and am more than happy.. mostly... Pros: Good call quality both ways, good speakerphone. Slick interface via HTC Sense UI and Froyo. Big screen with good visibility even on as little as 25% brightness Happily plays wmv's, avi's and divx's without having to resample and supports sub-titles. Built in browser works well (fine with YouTube, fine with BBC, TVCatchup). Better than mobile FireFox (more glitchy with vids) and Opera mobile. Dolphin pretty good with loads of controls and add-on features, like "proper" FireFox. Plenty of good free apps and games Removeable battery! (Spares <?16 from Play.com) 32GB max micro-SD card. Recharges and connects via micro-USB (like Blackberry) so dont have to drag proprietary cables about. Cons: Eats battery for breakfast and lunch if you hammer at it with all the media and networking features as well as the screen turned up. (8hrs became 36 on light use incl 60 mins talk, 90+ mins browsing, 30 mins streamed video). Need to acquire a couple of system management tools to flush out memory every so often despite what Froyo is meant to do to keep itself working. This will prevent slowdowns and battery drain. Can't seem to stop it from loading up some apps I never use every so often, hence need for tools mentioned. Only 1+GB onboard It's far superior to my LG Arena for keeping connection but still can't vouch for it being solid as T-Mobile 3G coverage so flaky and it's "accelerated" - B*||*#?$ it is.

Amazing maybe. Incorrect, definitely! Photo taken from Centrepoint. Look down to base at Tot Ct Rd - Oxford St junction and follow South along Charing X Rd and you will see that the tog has "built" across the rd. The "BFI" is actually the NT. Oh well, back to the panoscan... (6)

Jeremy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Standard Chartered have already started giving > employees iphones instead of Blackberrys, > apparently. UBS and JP Morgan are both running > iphone/Android trials, hooked up to the company's > mail servers. Interesting! Give your kiddies crack then record everything they do in your server logs... Nice! Guess they must be bulking up their Security and HR teams for all the disciplinaries they'll be managing over the coming months. Then again it'll probably only involve the back-office staff as the traders and money boys will still be able to surf porn, harass female colleagues with upskirt photos shared around the desks and irritating the cr@p out of each other with dumbass ringtones. Would be very interested to see how this affects productivity at work. Anecdotal evidence here at work after the arrival of iPhones was a hell of a lot of people browsing the Web and watching media during work hrs, not so much for those without these media joy toys.