I’m at risk of soon appearing inside the covers of Heat magazine! Not only have I been invited to Decathlon’s VIP opening on Wednesday and have a potential visit to Siena on the cards to talk about my cycling adventure, I now have in my possession a ticket for BBC Radio 4’s flagship discussion programme, Any Questions? OK, I’m biggingย it up a little; it wasn’t very difficult to get hold of the ticket. The programme is being broadcast live from Gillotts School (where I work) on Friday 3rd December and the school secretary thrust one into my hands as soon as I asked. It is some kind of compensation I suppose for not winning some Strictly Come Dancing tickets in the ballot; I received an email informing me of the devastating news at the weekend…
But back to Any Questions? If you have any questions that combine cycling, education and perhaps even the Olympics, then let me know; you might even hear a bunch of politicians avoid answering it on the 3rd December. ๐ย ย
Categories: Cycling
Yep. the taxmans earlier two rulings first putting the final purchase plans of the cycle to work scheme up to about 25% market value (Which wiped the smiles off the faces of the good people at evans cycles and halfords to such an extent that they had teams of lawyers looking for a loophole) and the second one that the employer can keep hiring the bike to you for free after the end date thus avoiding the final purchase date at one year and extending it to year five where 2% is a fair market value provided usage conditions are met.
So not a great question at this point in history as the main beneficiaries under the old ruling are people who don’t realy use there bikes to get to and from work much and those on the higher tax rate.
Under the new ruling you need to get full use of the bike to make it worthwhile.
Can’t comment on cycling england as I know nothing about what they do or who they are.. Sorry was that a comment? ๐
Environmental Questions are always good, and, if you have not already read it, Sustainable energy without the hot air is a good starting point.
http://www.withouthotair.com/download.html
For the formings of an informed opinion.
Now that Cycling England body is to be abolished as announced in the recent cull of quangos (an emotive name being banded about more than usual at the moment to increase public feeling against these bodies) what will the new home of such cycling issues do to improve conditions for cyclists in the UK and promote cycling further?
Or you could look into the cycle to work scheme changes that are coming and ask about that as it is going to be made a whole load less attractive, something you have benefited from in the past and gets loads of people onto their bikes. As you kow cycling to work (or outside of commuting) is really good for your body and mind. Should they not be doing more to promote such simple schemes that give such good returns?
I’ve a whole load of spleen regards the cuts at my work and the impact of them but the immigration topic too often descends into an argument based on ill informed opinion from the Daily Mail reader. So not worth bringing up.
Yes, shame about Cycling England; my boss’ father is the chair of the Quango. I asked her about it earlier and she thought the functions may be transferred elsewhere….
I’ll stay clear of immigration I think.
How was Switzerland btw?
Switzerland was good. A little colder than I would have liked but mostly dry (just rained quite heavily for an hour or so one day and that was it when I was cycling along with a couple of scottish guys that I met so felt like I was back home!). Snow on the Oberalppass and so cold in Andermatt that I spent my only night in a hotel there. Covered 400 miles in 5 days of cycling, a bit quicker than I planned. the Rhein route was really easy to cycle with lovely flat paths for quite a distance and the occassional rough track which gave my bones a good rattle but not so bad to pull a wheel apart!! Such a pretty, clean, organised, quite and easy to travel in country. I might blog about the trip, I’ll let you know if I do. If I don’t you can see some photos on facebook!