Jeremy

Two weeks on full pay for me.

uncleglen - would you buy a Japanese car, then?

My second "rung" was a three bed maisonette (which needed a lot of hard work to make into a liveable home). The jump to a good size house was just much too far. I wouldn't rule out something similar if I were you. As for how you manage it? Everyone is different but I guess a combination of appreciation, rising salary, saving, and willingness to take on fixer-uppers.

A voluntary sacrifice would have achieved nothing meaningful. But it might at least give him a little credibility - a department in which he is seriously lacking.

"Helping people change lifestyles" would involve public transport improvements and cycle infrastructure. Not pointless road closures that just funnel all traffic into choke points. Net result is probably an increase in pollution!

Problem is that every half baked new build is being marketed as some sort of exclusive "luxury" development, with developers determined to push the prices to unheard of levels for the area. When it comes to housing, the market is not always your friend...

Imagine going out to dinner and not seeing a croissant. How refreshingly unpretentious.

You are right. Croissants are really fancy. Right up there with... ooh... yogurt, for instance. And bananas.

4 kids with only 100K household income? Might have to put the ski trips on hold (or at least downgrade to Italy).

Jah Lush Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Jeremy Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Quite (although to be fair Portillo is on the > > moderate/sensible side of the Tories) > > Are you kidding? He was considered the 'darling of > the right' when he was in office. A total > Thatcherite in every way. Maybe at one point. When he re-appeared on William Hague's front bench he'd had a bit of a shift and was considered more of a moderate/compassionate Tory. In fact both Hague and Portillo seemed determined to distance themselves from their predecessors. Although hard to say how much was genuine and how much was an attempt to woo the electorate..

My 20-month-old loves croissants. In fact when there is one in sight, she will point at it, shout, and refuse to eat anything else until we've allowed her to stuff it all into her face. Is this a) because croissants taste really good or b) because she's specifically choosing to annoy/patronise the working class? I'd like to think it was b), but sadly she's not quite that advanced. Not got her started on coffee yet, but it's probably only a few weeks away.

Pingu/FirstMate - yes agree. I am not pushing an anti-car agenda, I own a car for all the reasons mentioned... just saying that most of us need public transport to commute into town, so roads/parking aren't going to make any difference to public transport load at peak times.

Penguin - not 100% with you on cars. I do own a car, but most of us can't use them for work. Commuting into the centre of London by car is a thing of the distant past. I don't see the car an an alternative to peak hour public transport. A cycle infrastructure would help a bit, but really what we need is new public transport infrastructure opening up under-developed areas of London and the suburbs.

Coffee and croissant - more like ?4 surely. Similar price to a pint. Most people cannot make a good espresso/cappuccino/etc at home. Most people do not have a supply of tasty fresh croissants at home (even though Louisa could whip one up in 5 minutes).

BTW if you t-cut it you're supposed to wax afterwards to protect the bodywork where you've effectively removed the lacquer. But saying that I've never bothered. I guess it depends how much you're "into" your car.

Quite (although to be fair Portillo is on the moderate/sensible side of the Tories)

Yes quids, I think we all realise bb is a wind-up... it's hardly subtle...

Can you "upcycle" it? Brush your teeth first, then polish out scratches with whatever you spit out?

You can get touch-up paint, but unless your car is very new it will probably look pretty obvious. I'd go for the t-cut..

Tell the missus to get on Ashley Madison. Not only does that take out the grunt work (you're not getting any younger Bob), when the new arrival turns up, it will be a nice surprise. Kind of like a tombola. Or being Prince Charles. As for the practicalities, buy a 7-seater for your nanny and put your feet up (would suggest importing an Escalade if possible).

I had a peak through the shutters yesterday, would be surprised if it's open before December but you never know...

Actually I do agree that some small pockets of SE15 are East Dulwich in all but name, but at the end of the day you've got to draw the line somewhere innit.

Plenty of (wealthy) counties are broadly "with" America without needing a nuclear arsenal though.

There is, apparently, such a thing as quinoa milk. Anyone actually tried it?

On nukes, I think there's a wider question. Whether we want to continue in this pseudo-American "World's Policeman" role, enforcing regime change, taking sides in civil wars, etc. Or whether we should be taking a step back.. and why exactly it is that we feel we need a nuclear deterrent, while other countries do not.