Luke Rainbird

Understatement of the f**king century Edit; I should probably comment on your actual post... Good to see the seats back in the car, makes it all seem so much more complete. Drive looks like it should be a heap of fun too - buy a 172 cup for it then instead of selling it leave it at my house with the keys and V5 yeah?

Clicked on it in the slim chance of something interesting, perhaps a new piece of information that'd come to light or a well-written thought on things as they progressed. No such luck, clearly

Removes interior to save weight. Fits three tonnes of P-clips Looks lovely work mate, great progress. Looking forward to a ride

That's the one which celebrates erections, right?

Have you looked where you last remember having it?

But do you really need one for every day of the week?

Douche Don't get me wrong, TF still has it's proportional share of dickheads, but some of the gang who've been here a while (usually those who lurk in here and no longer ride bikes, coincidentally) just go to show there are some decent folk about which is nice to see

This. This is why I still hand around TF. Well, this and the slim chance one of the Pete Wrights resurfaces, but mostly this.

Cheers folks. Unlikely to have a trials bike with me at any point John, but may bring the MTB up for a week or two - shall let you know if so

Not now the engine's in the car, at least Glad to see things are pretty much where you want them, Mike

Convenient source of sheet metal

A lot of the guys with that was that they were "launching" the policy that day and after the Diane Abbott situation they should have had fairly significant details like the cost of the thing pretty well in mind. It's not like he was asked for the protected costs of the scheme in Yorkshire alone for a 30 month period starting Q3 2018. I appreciate he wanted to give an accurate figure, but that's the headline number and one he should rightly be expected to know. The fact he didn't even have it quickly accessible is a bit shit really. Naylor Report is just as much of a joke.

About 98 IQ points and a drugs test.

I worked in the sector over a 5 year span at various levels, so saw it from all angles and from the changes to the system from £1k fees shortly before I went to uni myself, through to £9k when I was working for a couple of them. Afraid I don't have the figures to hand, although I'm sure a little hunting online would pull them up if you wanted them - plenty of studies from a number of bodies all pretty well correlated to show that more thought was going into deciding whether or not to go into HE. If people want to go to uni for the hell of it then they're more than welcome, but the taxpayer in general isn't going to be quite so keen to pay for Billy to go and get crunk for 3 years than someone who's going to bring a little increased value to society Current threshold is £21,000 at 9% of the excess yeah. When fees were £3k the threshold was £15,000 at the same percentage. As a result, and bearing in mind that you pay back relative to your earnings, not to what you borrowed, the monthly repayments on the newer (current) scheme are lower than they were previously. Obviously there's the likelihood that students will be paying them back for longer due to the increased amounts, but you have the option to overpay if you choose (though why you would is beyond me) and it still gets written off after 30 years if you've somehow not paid your dues by then.

Not really sure why it's taken me a month to realise this but I'm currently working in Carmarthen and rather than heading back to my B&B each night, it'd be nice to get out and about to make the most of my time here. I've spent a few evenings driving through the Black Mountains which was very nice, but if anyone is in the area and fancies a pint one evening let me know. Will be around on and off for the next 6 weeks or so. I'm staying in Brechfa, so to the NE of Carmarthen itself, but happy to head further afield, down to Tenby, Milford Haven, up to Cardigan etc. for a social.

The introduction of tuition fees actually had a pretty significant impact in HE in a few ways; 1. Students put a little more thought and consideration in to whether or not it was worth them going to university. Some of those who were juts planning on going "for the experience" decided against it as their hopeful career path post-uni didn't require a degree, so it seemed counter intuitive to spend those figures on something they didn't need, ad they could go and work whilst still having friends and getting pissed a few nights a week. Those who either wanted a career requiring a degree, or genuinely wanted to learn more about a subject which didn't absolutely insist on one were still able to go to uni and do so, simply valued that opportunity enough to justify the cost. 2. With increasing tuition fees, universities themselves found themselves under increasing pressure to justify their worth and provide more value for money in order to get students through the door. I'm aware that some rested on their laurels a little here, but the vast majority of UK courses were analysed and reshuffled in line with a number of changes from HEFCE and the like to meet new guidelines. The more proactive institutions had no issue with the extra workload here as for many it brought in higher numbers (once caps were lifted) than they'd previously seen, though of course there were issues with costings here as despite tuition fees going up, may were left with lower net funding as the money was taken from elsewhere. 3. More and more apprenticeships started popping up, and are continuing to do so to this day. The quality of these is also increasing, which is partly to do with the above but also to do with the introduction of the "work or education until 18" mandate. Those who leave school prior to 18 would typically find their way onto apprenticeship schemes, with many of those leaving after 6th form going down a similar (though typically slightly higher level) scheme if deciding not to work/go to uni as it offered a valuable way into a career which was more vocational and offered OTJ training. Bear in mind the way the student finance system works, and is effectively a graduate tax in the way it's paid, the vast majority of folk who suffered at the hands of the increased fees were actually better off than those who were on the older (lower fees) system due to increased payback threshold. Many aren't ever going to fully pay back their loans, but it's an effective way to subsidise an expensive level of education. We're not talking primary school teachers here, we're talking experts in their respective fields in most cases (not to take anything away from primary teachers of course, who face a very different set of challenges) I've waffled on a bit here and about to shoot out the door so I've not had time to proof read (apologies if the spelling/grammar are a bit iffy, or if I've worded things poorly) but to summarise, tuition fees alone aren't a bad thing, you have to take into account the level, application, and impact on the sector before deciding that.

The current political arguments are bad enough, let's not start that one too...

Seems relevant.

Running a catch can at all? Would help to reduce oil through the PCV if that's where it's coming through (I only skim read your post on FB about it, you might be looking elsewhere by now)

On that note, worth reiterating that 2359 tonight is the last chance to register for those that wish to do so. Get on over to https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote and register. Even if you're on the fence, it's better to have done it and not vote, than to want to vote but not have registered. https://voteforpolicies.org.uk/ are currently updating things to reflect the current situation - if you want a bit of clarification on who best represents your personal views and not just who can buy the media or shout the loudest, it's a pretty good tool, though as usual do your due dil and fact check/do some extra reading too

It's all a bit of a clusterf*ck really. Of the two most viable options, neither is really putting forward a particularly viable "solution". Labour are writing a lot of cheques that they can't cash, but then the Tories haven't really costed anything at all in the grand scheme of things. The former certainly seem to be doing everything they can to crush any incentive to push things forward, with punitive taxes left right and centre mind. Tax the "rich" (surprisingly the thresholds are not so high as people seem to think) and they'll start putting considerably more money/effort into taking their money elsewhere, risking having even less funding than at present for the numerous schemes they're hoping to bring in.

Looking good, Josh

Shall have a look on Monday when I'm back there. From similar threads it seems a similar issue was patched with new firmware but got to be worth a try. Cheers dude