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Again, please let me shed some light on the true situation regarding testing in hospital labs by removing any current politics. I work for one of the largest clinical diagnostics companies in the PCR section. The virus is detected (from swabs taken from the nose and throat) by PCR. Not all hospital labs are set up to do this specialist test. Let me assure you that the company I work for (and others) and NHS England have been putting additional capacity for this type of testing in place all throughout the summer as well additional biomedical scientist staff being retrained from other areas

Hi, Just thought I would post an update. DVLA have now (today) withdrawn the threat of prosecution, and say the response to the GDPR request has been despatched to us on 17th Sept - still not arrived. They are awarding £100 for the stress and anxiety all this has caused. All this in a fairly apologetic letter. We had to ask our MP to intervene in the GDPR request, and that must have caused someone sensible to finally look at it. It will be interesting to see what the GDPR dump contains when it finally arrives, as this may shed some light on DVLAs policies which will require further investigati

Thank you for the responses to my post. I'm pleased that it has given you an insight into what the media aren't interested in telling the public. I think a news special showing people what the inside of a molecular lab looks like or a day in the life of would be helpful. Good question. You are already (I hope!) doing this in a way. Firstly for those who aren't sure let's call the virus by its correct name because the media often are not: Covid-19 is the term to used for the disease state or illness not the virus. Covid-19 is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 which is severe acute re

So ... Moderation to me means housekeeping - we are all adults and no one died from being offended, but I don’t think we should be offensive to each other either. We have more in common than not. So I would suggest that we either wrap it all up here or I do some housekeeping - and maybe that is moving a load of this out to a thread to discuss the management of JLR.

been out this morning for a test drive at the Landrover experiance at dunkeld, more offroad biased than on road & can say that it does gentle offroad well for a "standard" vehicle on road tyres, having gone along with every intention to hate it, i cant say i do, its a significant leap forward from the old defender which in reality was welllll out of date when they stopped building it, would i buy a new one? no, would i buy one thats a couple of years old , would consider it, especially with the new 6 cylinder diesel thats coming, just means now that i need to wait &

Maybe the moderators could open a ‘slag off Tata/JLR’ thread. Then elsewhere we could have sensible debate all the time and anyone who wants to moan, groan, gripe or slag them off can do so in the corner. They could even have as many likes available as they want. I know several ex colleagues and friends who are working their butts off at JLR to improve manufacturing and quality. They have been successful elsewhere and have a huge task now at JLR. They don’t do design, so can’t be blamed for the product. Even in the most senior positions it isn’t possible to steer the ship or change co

Yes, you are right as PCR is so sensitive it is important to establish a cut off to the test so it only flags clinically relevant infections. I'm afraid the studies are still ongoing as to where this cut off should be as the tests which usually take months or years to develop were all developed in a few weeks and given emergency FDA clearance. There have though been studies on where to take the sample for PCR. Typically in most people with the infection you can detect the virus in a nasopharyngeal swab (the one up your nose) within a few days of infection. After a few weeks post infectio

Well we have them cold with a contravention of GDPR; not only on the slow response but also the content was incomplete, despite their insisting it was all they had. They made a completely false accusation of a further offence after the first letter of complaint. They had numerous opportunities to sort this out months ago. It begs the question of whether they try to just intimidate people into paying up whether they have actually committed an offence or not (incidentally if anyone has knowledge of such a thing happening to someone else I would be very interested to hear from them). We had reach

☺️ Gotta love a Benz...Love my Wolfies more though U1000Ag Steve

5" thats average isnt it? Oops wrong forum!

Hoping it won’t need much heating at all Aaand... done! The loft has been a truly horrible job that has seen me procrastinating significantly, but I’m glad I designed it in. Going to be a very useful storage space.

Right, we're setting off in an hour or so... here's the plan; Fri 4 Basingstoke to Preston Sat 5 Preston to Inverness Sun 6 Inverness to Cromatry Mon 7 Cromatry to Windhaven Tue 8 Windhaven to Durness Wed 9 Durness to Ardmair Thur 10 Ardmair to Sheildag Fri 11 Sheildag to Bunchrew Sat 12 Bunchrew to Aviemore Sun 13 Aviemore to Dumfries Mon 14 Manchester to Basingstoke Not sure I'll be on here until we get back but will try to take a load of photos as usual - thanks all for the

Interesting article in Autocar, (much the same as the Coventry Telegraph), written by Steve Cropley, (Well known motoring journalist and ex editor of Autocar), which fills in some gaps and influences. Autocar The Q&A with Toby Ecuyer is about as far as you can get from our favourite JLR stylist:- So you’re not a car designer? “No, at least not until now. I grew up on a farm in Derbyshire around tractors and Land Rovers, but I was interested in cars. “When I was about nine, I wrote to Austin Rover with some car sketches. They wrote back poli

Of course all batteries benefit from regular use Nige

I checked the original competition etc other day and "Independent Minds - Shared Ideas" was the one, I see no need to address it all again. I quite like the ambiguity, if this forum is to survive it needs to cater to a broad cross section which is one reason why we now have a section devoted to the Ineos Grenadier.

before I do any more work, comments re this, Good to go or tweak(s) needed ?...if so what ? Nife

Also I should mention another thing people are rightly questioning as we are going into winter which is peak season for respiratory viruses: if you have a high temperature, cough, sore throat etc. It isn't necessarily coronavirus. True. Diagnostic companies are starting to release variants of their SARS-CoV-2 tests on the market that multiplex other targets into a single test so they can detect other common respiratory viruses like Flu A/B, RSV (common in small children), human metapneumovirus and maybe even rhinovirus (common cold). This would be helpful if you test negative for S

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49319450 After an accident & investigation the US Navy are ditching touch-screens for controls on ships... who'd have thunk they're not as good as actual physical controls?

This saturday I managed to obtain a full day test drive with the new Defender D240. Well equipped, including ATPC and the rear locker. Some background: I've personally had a '95 RRC 300TDi and now a '99 P38a 4.6 V8. My daily driver is a '17 (MY18) Mercedes E-class Coupé. I like driving, and I like well-executed technology. Now, on to the Defender. Picked it up around 10 AM from the Land Rover dealership in Leuven. The salesman didn't say a word about not taking it off-road, and it already had some battle scars, so of course I took it off-road. First impressions were good. S

No but it's old enough for only us old farts to remember their perfect creation's not plagerised from anyone else.... Mike

Ferrari Daytona....

I've covered nearly 1000 miles now since the conversion has been on the road. Still plenty of little things to finish off but I'm really pleased. It has totally transformed the land rover and it's such a pleasure to drive. Here's a quick walk round video and short test drive.

No Grenadier will do nicely thank you. Subject closed 😉

Just to let you all know replaced the master cylinder all is now well brakes have returned to normal, thank you all.

Okay I need to put handles on, and the centre trim on the outside. But otherwise done It’s currently too full of mess to work in, got loads of spare insulation which I am going to relocate to the house loft for the time being. It will be handy when I come to build the compressor shed. That’ll free up the floor space again to get the 90 in and do a few jobs before the next trailer trip to pick up more bits.

having spent roughly 30 years flying a desk with 4 phones, a work supplied cellular telephone and 4 computers. I have no desire to engage with them in my private life. Other then in the room wherein this particular device is located

Subtle way of asking for tiny condoms Mo 🤣

We have completed a successful camping trip and around 200 miles Couple of snagging problems to sort. The central locking locks and then immediately unlocks so irritatingly need to take door cards off to investigate and resolve. Second issue is a vibration on the front prop which feels like a uj binding. I think I changed one of them so suspect the other one is starting to seize Other than that everything is good!

A little surprise off my good lady for my keys regards Stephen

Pardon ? 🙂

Depressing as the topic is, it's refreshing to see some people (even on a Land Rover forum!) have big enough vision to see what's really going on. The logical extrapolation of what has happened over the last few centuries is that, one day, the only thing left for rich people to eat will be poor people. While that sounds ridiculous, it is inevitable that anything that stops the rampaging effects of of increasing human populations (and their increasing levels of indulgence) will be very painful at best. Wars, famines and natural disasters are swallowed up with barely a bump in growth or activ

Except that graphite dust from a pencil in a spacecraft can get into electrics and cause short circuits and fires, and the Russians ended up moving to pens too... http://www.hoaxorfact.com/technology/nasa-spent-12-billion-for-space-pen-while-russians-used-pencil-facts.html

A fair point. But I'm still not sure what scientific backup there is to say you should only use 70% of a vehicles official rating. As for towing on a hitch.... well I took this over the weigh bridge the other day and it said 18.8 tonnes loaded. The MB Track only weighs a little over 7 tonne. Not the same thing I know, but still.

Me too. I see the skills of my colleagues and my own at work being eroded through mandated use of “clever technology”, but when that stuff fails, it’s more confusing than the simpler equipment and and compounds the problem, as well as rotting the capabilities of the operator.

The vehicle has the full gamut of towing safety tech as standard, same as all other Land Rovers. Further options are then available including the reversing aid auto-steering wotsit. By all accounts it tows very well, as you’d expect from the same base platform as the very well-regarded Discovery, and the increased torque from the new 6-cylinder engines will be an extra bonus I would think.

I found the red/black wire taped up behind the dash, fitted it to the hazard switch and when switched on the triangle now flashes with the indicators 👍. Thanks for all your assistance.

I bought new Defenders, I may by a Grenadier ....so what does that prove? Anyone who calls it a "Grenny" needs a serious talking to.

Working vehicles...... 🤣

I expect to buy one and the price is not the most important consideration as I would expect to keep it for decades. (Although over £40k will make it too costly and I will have to go secondhand*). For a few years I have been trying to follow "reduce, reuse, recycle", so I want to buy fewer manufactured goods but of a higher quality/ease of maintanence/longevity. I bought a Durite toaster; it was 5 x the price of a usual toaster but so far it has lasted 17 years instead of 18 months to 2 years, (and I can still buy spares). It is the chrome deco classic one - the plastic ones are not so gre

I saw a couple of Velars the other day parked together at the airport. They looked very smart, but even as a LR enthusiast, I didn’t realise what model they were until I read the badging. If enthusiasts of the marque can’t identify the cars, then what chance for the main market?

I think it must be me getting old, but I just think all of the LR products are overpriced and unappealing. I gave up buying them ages ago, so I’m not really qualified to judge, but I find they’re not much value compared to estates for a vehicle that for me spends practically all it’s time on road. For the last ten years my three new purchases have alternated between Skoda and Mercedes. Mainly because the Superb and E-class estates are the biggest on the market, so plenty of room for the two dogs. The first was 4x4 superb 2L diesel, then E-class 2L diesel RWD, then the latest, 18 mont

Is this going to be instead of the new Pretender forum ? If so, good choice 👍 Might be an idea to sell the Evoque forum on there too ! Mo

I'm sure everyone lost interest in this long ago, but some news from the rebuilders: The block passed the pressure test. There is a water mark in one of the cylinders, it's much better after a light hone and they don't believe it warrants a new liner. The wear in the cylinders is very good, the worst one is 2 thou worn, The crank just needed a polish, no grinding The piston that was tight really was tight but is no longer tight. Tight. The oil pump rotor gear thing is worn out and needs replacing. They have cleaned out the block oil galleries. They are f

Yep, it should be with me early November

Wow what a transformation, just done a 90 mile round trip and the brakes are great 😄

Two batteries wired in parallel will give you double the CCA of a single one. Most big trucks have at least four batteries wired in series parallel to increase the ampage. Optimas are pretty carp really considering what they cost. Wire a pair of 072s in parallel and you’ll be better off. Mine are just Halfords ones and nothing special - they don’t need to be. Just pick up a reasonable quality pair from your local factors. As I say the key is wiring them in parallel. You do not want split charge or anything like that - just permanently hard wire together. ive run this set up for many

I knew that, I do know you . It was more for those that haven't had the pleasure (?) of meeting you.

I agree fully with all that has been said. I am glad to be reaching the end of my life rather than just starting, as it seems to me that the future is not at all rosy. But mankind is fundamentally a selfish nasty creature who always wants more than he has. Not surprising really; we are descended, so I am told, from a couple who did not know when they were well off, stole the one thing they were told not to touch, and lied about it.

To me, the thing that matters most is what taxation-class it falls into. 'Cars' worth over £40K get stung with swingeing VED for the first few years; they're also subject to CO2-emissions-based VED thereafter. Vans/Commercials don't get hit by the first-years luxury-tax and pay a fixed VED irrespective of the CO2 emissions. This can make a difference of at least £4K to the running-costs in the first four years!