Quintus

Python and varieties of C++, C# command a higher salary because they are in common use in capital markets, the higher paying sector (though lots of coding is now offshored) - many of the extensible legacy trade processing packages are in C++ and quantitative algorithms commonly written in C. In those cases you need the financial / mathematical knowledge as well as the language in order to command the salary..

My son is good friends with his grandson; they were at prep school together during the Harry Potter years - major credibility points for him at the time! His Churchill was memorable, but I imagine for many on this forum the first association may be All Creatures Great and Small, where he was wonderfully testy.

I imagine that Ms R has leveraged the fact that she has had an extraordinarily successful few years with significant recognition from awards bodies and public alike, and that the governing board are anxious to keep her. Who would blame her? Salaries in the £150-250K range for people leading prestigious institutions and managing a crazy workload are not excessive in my opinion. You do not have to be much of a second division footballer to earn that, or in business you'd get it for slapping in ERP systems or being an entry level partner in a tier 2 consultancy. Compare the depth and range of talents of Tamara Rojo to those (whatever they might actually prove to be, which is a complete mystery to me...) of Claudia Winkelman, who earns twice as much from the Beeb. If Kevin O'Hare had been found to be earning 60K more than Ms Rojo, there would doubtless be howls of anguish about the gender gap - sometimes you just can't win! As a footnote, I think the PM's salary is irrelevant in these and other public pay comparisons as the prestige and unique insights and connections gained guarantee hugely lucrative contracts in later life - just look at the £30 million plus that Tony Blair has amassed since stepping down....

Begona

I went to the qualifiers at Edgbaston this year. I think I booked about a month in advance, at which point there were still plenty of 'proper' tickets available throughout the main draw week, via their website. Considerably easier than Wimbledon!

It was blisteringly hot - the Pimms just seemed to evaporate within seconds Thankfully from about 4pm onwards we were in shade on Court 1. We got a great seat to watch Garcia, who has clearly undergone some serious physical conditioning and looks spectacularly athletic as a result; she played with real flair and risk taking, but made lots of duff mis-hits off the frame. Konta had a good win, though I find her rather irritating to watch as her service routine takes about 8 seconds and never varies a jot. I'd love to see Garcia beat her in their upcoming match, but I suspect Konta's consistency will win out. I saw Venus Williams for the first time against a very promising young player Naomi Osaka, who gave her a good run for her money. Cilic v Johnson was a little dull - I must admit I prefer women's tennis as there tends to be more rallies and variety of shots, too much of the men's game is a just series of aces or a serve and a single return. And of course it wouldn't have been Wimbledon without seeing poor old Laura Robson lose a match - this time in the mixed doubles. Here's Caro Garcia looking ripped..

Thank you Fonty, no - just a keen amateur. I only try sports photography a couple of times a year, tennis and hockey. Wimbledon on Friday, fingers crossed I'll get to see Garcia, who is very expressive and makes for great pics.

Can I have the appearance of the rubber snake in Bayadere? OK, as we've already had the Woolf Works arm waves I'll go for the Khan Giselle, where the Wilis interlace their sticks around a hapless Hilarion. Also, Frida and Diego's pdd in Broken Wings, watched by the skeletons.

Supermarket staff rummaging in the baked goods with bare hands. I had just bagged a couple of pains au chocolat in my local mini-Sainsbury, using the tongs, when a bakery staff member wandered over to the racks and started rearranging all the croissants etc with his bare hands. Subsequent customers would of course be oblivious of this. I pointed out to him that this was not very hygienic, and asked whether he should not be wearing gloves. This took some explanation as he did not speak much English, but the gist of his response was that it was Ok as he'd washed his hands. Is that really the standard? Isn't the expectation nowadays that unwrapped goods are all handled using plastic gloves, or implements?

Maddie Keesler will indeed be much missed; she has been a very mature and polished First Artist and a polite and very pleasant presence on her social media. I guess as a California girl who trained at the SF ballet school, she is 'going home' with her move to San Francisco Ballet. Their press release showed her joining as a Corps de ballet member. I hope she thrives there.

Only about a tenner - and you get centre court seats for that as well as access to the other courts, so I didn't begrudge it.

I caught this one as Camila Giorgi came out of the tunnel. Her expression reminds me of the actress Lena Headey

We went to the Aegon Classic in Edgbaston yesterday for the first time - it was qualifiers weekend, so attracted players in the 100 - 250 world ranking bracket. Very cheap, a really nice location and we saw some cracking tennis. I was particularly impressed by Camila Giorgi, on many levels. I recommend it. The main draw is on this week, with plenty of top 20 players, if anyone is based that way. Queens tomorrow, and Wimbledon on the horizon...

I had something of a Twitter war with Virgin Trains yesterday - they held firm that it is their policy never to refund or replace lost or stolen tickets. All they will do is let someone else pay remotely so the victim can collect a ticket. The person at the ticket desk my son dealt with was really quite offensive, telling him they couldn't know whether the ticket was actually in the wallet that was stolen..... I pointed out on Twitter that they actually profit extensively from this, as they sell the same ticket twice.

The attacker's car was found a few days ago about 150m from my son's uni flat, he was moaning that all the shops were cordoned off... His area of Moss Side East looks pretty much like jihadi central casting, but our feeling is he's safer living right amongst them than in somewhere that they see as the 'decadent Crusader West'.... He's never had any trouble in Manchester but last night he got mugged by a bunch of Somalian youths right outside our flat in East London. They approached him and his friend offering drugs then demanded their phones and wallets. After a tussle one of them threatened to stab his friend, and when my son was diverted by that they took his phone and wallet out of his pocket and started asking for pin codes etc. He then decided the threat was a bluff as no actual knife appeared and gave a couple of them a hiding, at which point they ran off. Police were excellent, taking them round in a car to look for the gang (and having a road chase with a different bunch of youths, which story he'll dine out on for some time). I was particularly angry with Virgin Trains today, who despite him producing an email confirmation of the ticket order and the police crime reference paper, refused to reissue his stolen ticket and charged him £60 for a single back to Manchester. So Virgin get to sell the same ticket twice and profit from the crime committed..

Thoroughly enjoyed this last night; I always go as I like the atmosphere at this event, with pretty much the whole company turning up to holler for their friends. I had predicted a different result before the night but then thought Rina might get it based on the performances, so at least I was half right. The DQ was excellent - fireworks from Cesar and what I thought was a very polished performance from Katya. Not sure about Cesar's emerging 'hero hair', but it seems to become de rigueur as fame develops! As a footnote, I spotted a much-missed Begoña Cao near the bar during the interval - she looked absolutely radiant and must be very near her happy event.

We were relieved to hear from our son within minutes, and for once he was in his room. He's currently at a hospital giving blood. He's saying there's been a huge amount of support from the public, with free taxis, people offering beds etc. The mentality of these terrorists is beyond comprehension.

I went tonight - I concur completely with Mummykool's summary above. It wasn't helped on this occasion by having hundreds of kids with mobile phones and noisy bags of food there - the Second Circle was much like the one in Dante's Inferno.

It's a common area to get it; both my sister and I have it in the base of our thumbs. It can feel like someone has stuck a knife in there. Mine only emerged after an injury to both thumbs during karate (went for three claps in the air in a press-up session at karate, landed on my outstretched thumbs and ripped them backwards.....) while hers just came on with age. She has had surgery recently to remove a small bone at the base of each thumb, which seems to have worked well. I just live with mine, but I had to give up karate as a result. It's worth getting the doctor to check it as there may be changes in diet etc that can at least alleviate it / avoid aggravating it.

They'll be in my autobiography "Fifty shades of sludge"

There's a fleeting projection of a ballet dancer in the new trailer for Blade Runner 2 : 45 seconds into the clip here Is this Mathilde Froustey? Or maybe just a random extra... Anyway, good to see that ballet will survive into the dystopian future of 2049!

I was kneeling to paint a door frame today and the tin of paint slipped from my fingers - the subsequent bounce and slosh saw my face and chest drenched in half a litre of paint. Luckily I had plastic down, but I daren't move to get paper towels for fear of dripping it on the carpet, so I had to scrape it off my face and back into the tin with the brush, then wrap myself in a dust sheet to go clean up. I said rather more than 'oh heck'. Farrow and Ball Lime White, before you ask...

they're the replacement for Trident; it's not just North Korea that can put on a parade!

OK, bit political but this drove past me this morning and I just had to snap it ?..... http://s5.photobucket.com/user/lotusthrasher/media/FullSizeRender 7.jpg.html

even Putin can't be bothered to hack this one