Huguenot

Aaarggh! Google!

Bimingle is an interesting site for pre teens? It appears to have a higher age limit? When you say it taught you that you were bi, did you end up there by mistake? Or was that the place where you found both men and women attractive? On a more intriguing note, can you have a first 'bisexual' moment? Or do you have to be hetero with a flash of homosexual inspiration or vice versa? Can both thoughts occur simultaneously? Do we flip flop or are we like Homer Simpson caught between Moe's and the Donut shop, fated to remain forever in a recursive loop?

Possibly MM, but I reckon that's a bit simplistic. The RDA brief goes beyond job creation, and also covers job retention, business leadership and advice, environmental development, research and accountability. Since government is an experiment without a control, we don't know what would have been achieved without this resource. However, there's plenty of evidence that SMEs find RDAs a key local resource. Most business people aren't hard and fast tub-thumpers, they're everyday guys who need all the help and support they can get. There's massive variation in regional economics, and the RDAs are a mechanism to support and lobby on behalf of regional issues that local business people feel are not being addressed by a national government.

Spot on Lard.

Shock! Agency set up to say quangos are crap says quangos are crap

PRC? Have you informed the local coppers? All becomes clear, I'm now laughing hard!

Aussie, that's crazy! Was Sainsbury's genuinely the only place you'd ever used it? Never used an ATM? I can't believe we've got a cloning issue at Sainsbury, so it would suggest they got your data from somewhere really quite extraordinary - the bank?

Sorry Steve but the rumours aren't accurate. There's a good layman's summary on Northern Rock here. I can sympathise with your views on banks and bailouts, but I reckon they make better politics than sense. The financial system on which we all rely is built on confidence rather than metal. If we let the system collapse on point of principle we'd really be cutting off our noses to spite our faces. They go down and we all go down ;-)

It's Singapore not Tower Hamlets!

In the nicest possible way, I'd have been right royally pissed off. Apart from being fugly, I'd not really want industrial-chic invading my rural idyll :)

I'm not sure that Northern Rock went belly up because it was unethical? It went belly up because it was exposed to international credit markets to support its mortgage loans. The markets caught a cold in the US, and NR was collateral damage. NR probably didn't have enough strings to its bow, but its chief crime was trying to sustain investor confidence by not coming clean quick enough. We'd all have done it. They weren't guilty of high risk gambles or cocaine, just of being a one-trick pony. Had Co-op also been dependent in this area, they'd also be pushing up daisies. Your first 35 grand is covered by HMG, if you've got more than that in the bank then you need better advice :)

Oooh blimey Amelie - spiky or what? Best of luck with that interview ;-) Hell hath no fury eh? "I won't be reliant on public transport, which is notorious for breaking down" :) (A sort of hooting noise) Please don't drive your car xx

Do they rust?

:) And you don't write jingles just for love Bob, but doesn't mean you don't have any. Thant's the spirit Candj, but you don't need to leave the crumblies behind! If it wasn't for 'the family' they'd have bogged off to the sun years ago. Bring them with you, more the merrier. *Reconsiders...*

Lol - you're going to drive through central London to Paddington at rush hour? At 8 quid a day++? Are you new in London?

I love this debate because it's never transparent ;-) The initial enquiry seems to be based on establishing a place where the gay community can go to socialise and feel unthreatened, which is not an unreasonable request. However you'd imagine that most bars in ED met this requirement. The view is contested because the gay community feel they'd still raise a few eyebrows if they started a few more physical antics, again not an unreasonable observation. However, the argument loses focus because you'd raise an equivalent number of eyebrows if you started getting physical in ED bars if you were hetero. Hence is the real request for simply a 'get physical' bar in ED which in the interests of inclusivity could include both hetero and gay couples? Apparently not, as the gay community is more angling for a 'special' place. The only challenge with this is that any sort of tribalism in social establishments creates resentment - whether it's Claphamites in the Bishop, Yummies in the Chandelier or Chavs in the Uplands. This kind of resentment isn't about homophobic predisposition, it's about rejecting any kind of social demarcation imposed by 'exclusive' self-appointed groups. An ego-centric streak often enters at this point, as the gay community argues that a little social pain is more than justified by the fact that gay peeps can now socialise in an establishment where their personal advances are more likely to be reciprocated. This creates indignation amongst hetero communities who know well that just being in a pub full of other heteros doesn't mean that any of them are going to like you ;-) This confusion is then bundled with romantic views of the gay community as all Abba and Julian Clary. Personally I find arguments based on a 'threat' to gays as a little bit disingenuous in ED,and more likely to be exacerbated by an exclusive establishment. I find arguments based on an increased likelihood of pulling and extrovert sexual behaviour a wee bit self-indulgent and don't justify creating dislocations in an easy-going community. I find arguments in favour of more Abba and dancing as thoroughly reasonable, but unlikely to find sufficient clientele or neighborhood support to be successful in ED.

LOL Involved or the major influence? Cash is involved in every decision, but the differential between home & abroad was never enough to make it the number one motivation in moving. In Beijing income tax is over 40% and the bracket started lower. The tax thing in Singapore was lucky break, but owning a company in the UK and earning on dividend meant that the differential wasn't as big for me as for say, someone on PAYE in the 40% bracket with 11% NI. Cost of living in Beijing was lower, but hardly a reasonable trade for the collapse in quality of living - water ran brown and the visibility averaged 100m. Both roles were a kick up the career ladder, but that's also not purely motivated by money. Some people are motivated by using a greater range of skills and stretching themselves a little further. CED's point is a good one about the family, but that depends on what kind of family you are and your own personal situation. Bumbalina's Canadian, so either way we'd be long distance from half the grandparents, I'd hazard it's quite a smart political decision to favour neither one nor the other...? But also the perspective can get a bit skewed. I saw my grandparents once every three/four months growing up and it's perfectly plausible to do that from abroad. Even if something comes up quickly it takes less than 12 hours from Singapore to London - that means a 9am call can get a visit at 9pm. For sure if you're the kind of family that likes to live next door to gramps it's a different situation.

S - Specific M - Measurable A - Agreed R - Realistic T - Time-bound

Just for the money? How about the experience? We only live for 80 years or so, and the alternative doesn't bear thinking about.... ;-) Posted by: Brendan July 29, 09:38AM Quote: These families, which we still call middle-class, usually have two jobs (the British norm), two or more cars (the norm), a small semi-detached or large terraced house, and a combined income that pays for the mortgage, food, fuel and a couple of holidays a year (one of them somewhere warm). Put like that the mundanity of it all seems so depressing. As Alexander the Great would have it, surely we should only rest when there are no other worlds to conquer? (That's figuratively, not literally for the more bellicose amongst you)

Ah quids, you have your hate-tinted spectacles on again ;-) It is so difficult to find an aspiration that you haven't pissed against like an incontinent dingo. Are you so embarassed by your lack of bowel control that you justify it by sneering at the rest of us...? "I'm doing this schplatt because shplart I hate you blatt not because I am weak zhzhpurrrt..." As Sir Walter Scott said, ?Better that they had ne'er been born, Who read to doubt, or read to scorn?

House prices??? There are more things twixt heaven and earth, Dalatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy MacRoban and Dale's like watching two yokel's critiquing a Model T "Oi dohn no, nod ged no soilage in thaaaht..?" Go on, turn the key, let's see what's over the hill. *evil glint*

I live in a 3,000 sq ft terrace shop house over 3 floors - freehold is now around 1m quid (S$3m). On that basis prices are pretty similar to ED ;-) The bubble was much faster than UK, and I missed it. Front Back Pretty in a cute way! :D (I rent!!!)

Ha! SMG,almost right - I'm working from home at the moment, that's why I've been on here more often recently ;-) I'm drawn like a moth to the flame by the marvellous chit-chat and myriad personalities... 30-something expats in Singapore tend to be of a certain type, more Clapham than ED, but the full cross-section if you know what I mean? It tends to depend where you are, Holland Village/Siglap have quite an ED feel, a bit like a London suburb in the sun. The shops/pubs/bars are local with regulars etc. mostly Brits. Joo Chiat (where I'm at) is more like a dormer suburb with restaurants rather than bars. The turnover in expat locals is no different to the yuppie element of ED/London on the whole. Average stay is about 4 years, but a lot are 10 years or more. I've rediscovered mates over here that I was best buddies with in the mid 90s in the UK. There's a lack of 'high-brow' culture like theatre (only 2 venues), or large scale sports like footie or cricket. However the band scene is big here both on a small local scale and international level. Mainstream this month we've got Alicia Keys and Travis in outdoor concert at Fort Canning Park. We've just had Jools Holland. Plenty of classical, and even a two week Guitar Festival. I don't know about off-beat music, but I recognise several of those silly names that come up on the music thread. No smoky jazz bars unfortunately, but I figure the UK lost those as well? Food is miles better here on a pound-for-pound basis, although it did take some searching for the right places. Telly's b*llocks. I think the big difference with your experience LL would be numbers and internationalism. You'd be describing Beijing well - it was a real hardship posting. However Marmite and PG Tips aren't an issue in Singapore - 'Cold Storage' stocks everything you'd buy in ED and then some. They've even got Waitrose ;-) I can't say I've ever got homesick, although we all miss our mates :). I've been in Asia on and off for four years and don't really see any point in returning to the UK at all. We didn't get posted out here, we chose to have a look-see. I reckon change happens all the time - people come and go, friendships wax and wane, and neighborhoods mutate (consider ED long termers' complaints). I prefer to initiate that change as a voyage of discovery rather than let it just happen! South America next I think...

Had my 2007/8 tax bill through yesterday. Nice and easy to understand: transparent progressive taxation, no national insurance and no wierd double counting. Came to 7%. Singapore's where it's at ;-) Unemployment is 2.3% Last year 236,000 jobs were created (approximately 10% growth in total workforce), of which 61% went to expats. There's massive demand in these areas. I work in advertising and media and skills shortage is really quite dramatic. Not much demand for expat roles in nerdy administrative areas though, locals are very good at IT support themselves ;-) Salaries are a little lower than the UK, but tax is so much lower that net household income is much higher. You need to be culturally open-minded and sensitive as although everyone speaks English, 70% of population are of Chinese descent. If you have a nervous disposition when you don't understand everyone then don't come! The climate's terrific if a little invariable: it's either sunny or rainy, sometimes several times in the same day, but it's always 35 degrees. It never gets searingly hot as it's on the sea. We spend weekends in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia which are all an hour or so's flight for 70 quid on a Friday night. I hear that whilst the Asian Tiger is roaring, the UK economy is taking a nosedive? If any of you guys are interested and have 5 year's plus experience at something useful, then have a look at the government employment site here. It's possible to apply for 5 year employment passes from the UK that allow you to be unemployed and still resident in Singapore for periods of up to 6 months. Hence plenty of time to job hunt (although you'll be better paid if you get the job whilst you're actually in the UK).

It's much easier to blame the 'nation' and the 'race' because it provides a convenient excuse to sustain the conflict. If we didn't blame the nation then Cromwell's crimes would have died with Cromwell, and perhaps somehow that's just not fair when murderous rage is so much more fun! It is invariably the innocents that suffer in any conflict, and hotblooded misinformed twenty-somethings lacking wisdom that perpetrate the crimes. It's the power elite that does the misinforming. If you were taught at school that every born english person bears a responsibility for the behviour of others past and present and deserves to have revenge visited upon them, then yes I'd probably be inclined to consider that claptrap. Converseley if you were taught that understanding our history is the foundation to improve the future then those lessons were about as far from claptrap as you can get ;-)