Patrick Bateman

I've already said WE'll be finding the nearest bar showing football

Valentine's Day was never a problem, but it's unfortunately my other half's birthday and we've already booked a holiday :-|

It is sad, but give it 6 months or so and I'll happily snap up a fully Saab as a work/commuting wagon!!

It's obvious that BA will continue to be affected with the threat of strikes, which is why it's ridiculous that they are still talking about action. Completely absurd. I still don't understand why they want to strike, it makes no sense either - the company is struggling, they need to make changes, the staff ARE lucky to still have jobs. Most other people I know have had pay reductions and are doing twice the amount of work for less pay, with less time at home - it's the current economic world we live in. I was going to book a holiday in Feb half term, you can rest assured I won't be booking with BA ... I can't see there being a BA by the end of 2010.

Seats now booked online, itinerary printed out, taxis booked, game on!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8418805.stm The right and just decision, phew

In fairness, based on my experience, American Airlines staff win that award hands down!! I wish I'd gone with my instinct and flown with Virgin Atlantic as my last flights with them have been brilliant, but unusually, plumped for BA on cost (they were cheaper?) and also the flight timings were better. Serves me right for not sticking "on brand".

Sorry, your post has made me fume. Simply, if I don't get to New York next week with my girlfriend for Christmas, then I'll be going to court and getting Unite to refund everything I've booked. And I will go through the pain involved to do it. "a ruined Christmas will be forgotten" - what arrogance. How dare someone tell me that it'll be forgotten. There is NO place for striking, especially in the current climate and especially by BA cabin crew. In the last 3 years, I've had no pay rise, and a 10% cut in Feb. Did I, and the 1000 other people affected complain? NO. Has the cost of living gone up, yes. I'm lucky to be employed and have a job in a company that is just about making money, so your lot should think themselves bloody lucky to be in employment and not be facing more job cuts or pay cuts in a company that is spewing cash left, right and centre. FFS, when will unions wake up? For the record, as said earlier in the thread, I know someone who works as BA cabin crew, and before I ripped her head off for voting yes, she told me she's working after all as she didn't realise how long she'd be out of work for and can't afford it. I wonder how many other people are like that, hopefully a lot and hopefully most/all will still have their plans unaffected.

Brilliant pictures! You should get them blown up on to canvas if the scans are good enough quality? Minus twelve in North Hampshire Sunday night apparently. Then if BA so actually fly me to New York on the 22nd as planned, it'll be warmer there than here, bizarre!

Having spoken to someone to who IS BA cabin crew (and no, I didn't go off on them as they voted against it) - she fully intends to work as she really needs the money this time of year and thinks that many others will follow suit despite the "80% for" vote. So we'll see what happens.

Unite are idiots, morons of the highest order and the cabin crew are complete tw*ts. It's a changing world, people's job roles need to change, cut backs need to be made. Many people have been made redundant, had pay cuts, taken rate cuts, not had rises, not had bonuses paid out - yet do you see the majority of the British work-force striking because they are now over worked, under paid and having less of a home life? No. Because the majority of the British work-force, myself included, are thankful that we've still got an income. Unite and the cabin crew are shooting themselves in the foot. This will damage BA long term, meaning more losses, meaning more cut backs. Many people, myself included, will NEVER book with them again. I'll stick to Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Quantas etc etc etc. Oh, I'm supposed to be flying to New York for Christmas on the 22nd. So I'm well happy.

Brilliant, exactly the sort of example I mean; do people no longer proof read? I must sound like a broken record at work with it as well, our esteemed colleagues in Internal Comms are forever putting appallingly badly worded statements with wrong spellings/grammar.

This isn't a go at the Echo, but the press in general; but as the standards of writing and grammar get worse and worse, I refuse to buy the papers and therefore, wouldn't care if it didn't exist in the future either. The BBC has got a lot worse recently too with bad pronunciation, often Amercianised for example, saying 'pri-vacy' instead of 'priv-acy'. Just annoys me!

I gave up at 3am at mine last week. Somehow got a taxi home, got in, threw all my tux on the stairs and landing (!?), turned the bedroom light on, jumped on the bed and (all apparently of course) insisted I tell my other half how much I loved her. I was popular of course the next day I later learnt that a large group of people stayed in the hotel bar, then went straight to breakfast from the bar, then in to the office

Why bother reviewing anything from the worst manufacturer there is? Foul cars.

Last night's show was awful, really awful. I know they "ran out of time to film anything decent" for this series but it really did show. The piece with the Twingo was stupid, but, I do like that car - would be perfect as a town run-a-round! Ponty ... you may become my new best friend

Excellent

Hope this helps: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080824001157AAwbrkw Seems like 100Hz is fine for gaming? Not being a game player myself, I wouldn't know.

Firstly, forgive me for being picky, but it's almost as annoying as someone saying "can you put in your PIN number". Grrrr. It's just "blu ray", not "blu ray DVD". They are entirely different formats, Blu Ray (BD) or DVD. Sorry, had to pull you up on that ... Anyway, may I recommend this: http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/530905/PANASONIC-TX-L32S10B?cm_mmc=Google-_-PPCPM%7c%7cProducts%7c%7cTv%20%26%20dvd-_-Lcd,%20plasma%20%26%20led%20tvs%7c%7cPanasonic%7c%7cPanasonic%20tx-l32s10b%7c%7c530905-_-panasonic%20tx%20l32s10b&_$ja=kw:panasonic+tx+l32s10b|cgn:Lcd%2c+plasma+%26+led+tvs%7c%7cPanasonic%7c%7cPanasonic+tx-l32s10b%7c%7c530905|cgid:1373985876|tsid:12089|cn:PPCPM%7c%7cProducts%7c%7cTv+%26+dvd|cid:41031516|lid:11862394034|mt:Exact|nw:search|crid:3868365486 As verified by this review: http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-televisions/1012905-panasonic-tx-l37s10b-user-review.html You'll have no problems with motion blur and it's JUST in your price range. I have a Panasonic plasma with built in Freesat HD and it's a superb TV, so I would have no hesitation in recommending a Panasonic.

Totally agree!! Top Gear for general entertainment and titting around with motorised vehicles and Fifth Gear (or a Fifth Gear-esque program) that deals with facts and normal cars that normal people drive. I am actually interested in whether the new Mondeo is better than the new Vectra and whether the up and coming Toyota FT86 will be as good fun as it looks like it'll be etc.

I've been using one for the past 7 months - it takes reasonable pictures (certainly good enough to use on Facebook and display on a laptop screen, not sure about printing them off, but could try?), the camera has an LED flash which isn't great in low light and the pictures are grainy, however, it's good enough if you're not wanting to capture amazing, clear shots at night and as a lot of phones don't have a flash, it's good! Internet browsing is very easy and good on it (plus it has HSDPA, '3.5g', which makes browsing even quicker). Messaging and predictive is good - normal approach, fast and easy to use. The touch screen is good, nice and clear and bright, but sometimes lacks responsiveness (compared to an iPhone of HTC Hero). Call quality is fine with good call functions on the screen whilst making calls. The mapping is great, I've even played around with the satnav, plugged in to the bluetooth system in my car with the directions coming through the stereo, seems to work well enough, despite a few random road selections at times. Overall, I think it's a "very good" phone. I certainly prefer it to many others I've played with, including the Tocco and LG GT500 etc. Next on my list as my 2nd mobile line is up for renewal this week is the Sony Ericsson Satio ... however, it has been withdrawn from sale this week due to rubbish software, grrrr.

Now that I'd love to see! However judging by the driving standards of most of the "stars", I can see a fair number of Veyrons being trashed

Totally agree - I watched the first couple of Big Brother shows, but now they are dull, tedious and dare I say it, even more dumbed down than before, if that's possible? I don't mind X Factor if I'm in and don't fancy a film - but what does annoy me is the fact that (you can stick 'apparently' in this sentence if you wish) they audition all the contestants before they are auditioned in front of Simon etc. The TV crew pick the best and worst contestents and anyone who won't make decent TV viewing doesn't get through. I have no idea if this is true or not, but I can imagine it is and therefore makes more of a mockery of the program. I know what you're saying, I guess you can replace X Factor with Noel's House Party? Either way, they are still intended as family entertainment, which is fine, but what bothers me is the silly bickering and the way it's all acted out.

Do you like 'Grumpy Old Men'? I have visions of you sat in a high, wing-backed chair, with slippers, in a dressing gown, complaining about every TV programme on air whilst your poor family all sigh and tut at you In all seriousness, I agree that most TV is complete rubbish, awful in fact. I enjoy the news but I will admit after a day in the office, it's acceptable to cook, clean the house, walk the dogs and then sit down to watch mind-numbing rubbish on TV for an hour or 2 to unwind. So I guess that's the purpose? On the subject of the thread; I thought Top Gear wasn't as funny this week. I laughed at the Dacia being presented, but that's it - I was actually more interested in Romania having gone there in 1994 to see how much it had changed.

On an additional note, anyone wanting a cracking red for £10 ... Morrisons have in Jim Barry's Cover Drive currently. Great value!