The Lion King. It was the first thing showing when the cinema was built in my town.

Well in parts of South-East England even a fairly modest house will be worth that, and in London prices are even higher. Many people are only liable for inheritance tax because of the value of their homes - I think it's the reason that the allowance was made transferrable, because of people who were unable to afford inheritance tax when their spouse died without selling their home.

I'm no expert, but I think Inheritance Tax works like this: there's a tax allowance of £325k, and then it's 40% of everything in the estate above that. The allowance is transferable between spouses too, I think. I've just found the official explanations on the HMRC website, which should give you everything you want to know and more! http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/intro/basics.htm

Well I took A level a little while ago, but I've just looked, and it doesn't look like a whole lot has changed. If you are planning on reading maths at uni in the UK you would normally take 'double maths' or 2 A levels of maths - so you'd usually do about half an A level of mechanics, half an A level of stats and a whole A level of pure maths. Some future engineers or physicists will also take double maths. Otherwise, if you're only doing a single A level you can choose, depending on your future plans, to do half pure & half mechanics, or pure & stats, or half pure with a little bit of mechanics and a little bit of stats - this is the easiest option, and it's what I did, but it didn't hold be back particularly as I read Chemistry at a very good university.

It worked fine for me - the reduced prices were shown on the product pages, and carried over to the checkout just fine. (Though I only bought downloadables.)

Oxford interviews are definitely an experience! I've had one myself and seen a bit of the other side of the process, as my husband did some interviewing & the subsequent selection meetings. The important thing to remember is that how you think the interviews went doesn't necessarily translate to how well you did - you can think you did terribly and still get in (and vice versa). Wishing Calvin all the best!

We have both Carols by Candlelight and the little paper hats in crackers in England!

My first thought was from children's cartoons when I was little - the robber running away with a huge fat bag marked "SWAG".

I'm no expert, but can he say the word after he sounds it out with pauses? If he can blend with the pauses, then it is surely a non-issue. My daughter often sounds out new words with pauses between sounds (or often syllables now she's older), but she can still blend just fine.

Levels A & B are listed as for 'Infants', which is UK school classes Reception, Year 1 & 2, or ages 4-7, and C& D for 'Juniors' which is Years 3-6, or ages 7-11, so I'm fairly sure the books aren't designed to be one-a-year.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with forum OCD! I absolutely have to read top-to-bottom too.

I've 2 undergrad degrees - an MChem in Chemistry (a 4 year undergrad course in the UK) and a BA in Maths and Statistics. My DH has a BA in French and linguistics and an MPhil and DPhil (silly local name for PhD) in theoretical linguistics - I'm looking forward to 'outsourcing' languages (which I'm rubbish at) to him!

You can get real linoleum as tiles - they're sold under the brand name Marmoleum (at least they are in the UK) - they even make tiles that click together.

I think the font is Sassoon (it's what most UK stuff uses).

Nook can read ePub can't it? An ePub version of the 3rd edn is certainly available at Kobo books and probably some other ebook sites, and that should be downloadable to a nook using Adobe Digital Editions.

Me either! I've never owned any makeup, never worn any makeup, and wouldn't have a clue what to do with it. I've sometimes worn nail polish though, particularly on my toes.

Well a very common handwriting font used in lots of workbooks here is "Sassoon Primary" - that's certainly what I was taught at school (in the 1980s), and it's in nearly of the workbooks I've ever looked at. It's not free though, so I've been using "Briem Handwriting" (very close to Briem Script), which is fairly similar, and downloadable free from briem.net.

Yes! We normally sleep together in our (UK) double bed (unless I've got a sick kid in it with me, then DH is is the spare room). However, my parents always used to sleep in separate single beds pushed up together, so they had separate mattresses, and separate duvet covers. It was one of those things that you think is normal as a kid, and then get a surprise when you find out that it's not how anyone else (or at least, anyone else I've ever come across) does it!

Well the cottage your describing is the type of place that we usually go on holiday - sounds nice! I'm definitely in the minority, in that I don't think internet is necessary (if we *need* to look at something, we use DH's phone - assuming you've got some signal there, otherwise it's more important), but dishwasher is very desirable, as we do self-catering as self-catering, and it's nice not to have to do the washing up when you're on holiday. Otherwise, laundry is occasionally handy with children, but everything else I can take or leave, and it doesn't bother me much. I terms of decor, I just think that you need to be consistent about whatever you do (although obviously something like Scandinavian minimalist isn't a good style for a stone cottage!).

I'd be interested - but not on facebook.

I'm not an expert on this, but surely if the pauses aren't hindering him working out what the word is, then it isn't a problem? I think the reason for teaching the blending without pauses is that some kids can't 'find' the word with the pauses, but if he's happy as he is, then I don't see an issue.

Explaining my 'other' vote: I started my little one out on a (6 week) free trial of Reading Eggs, but once I realised she could blend well, we've been using Letters & Sounds, plus the Sound Phonics workbooks from Schofield and Sims. I've also been pleasantly surprised how many phonics readers I've managed to get at our local library, and we are using the I See Sam and Progressive Phonics readers too.

If he's enjoying Roald Dahl, then there's also "Esio Trot", "The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me" and "The Twits" that are short (all <100 pages, I think).

I've also got the GBC Clickman (since I'm in the UK) which is sized for A4 paper, but I'm guessing the Proclick wouldn't work for A4 as you wouldn't be able to get the page in the slot - the Clickman only has a millimetre or two to spare with A4 paper (and when I punch US letter, it gets 2 fewer holes punched in it). I can't say for certain though, because I've not got one.

I voted get out - but I've had quick normal vaginal deliveries, so I didn't feel the need to stay in. I actually felt fantastic for the first few days post-partum both times, until the sleep deprivation kicks in. With DD, the midwife convinced me to stay in overnight, which was dreadful - I got no sleep, and the midwives on the ward were not very nice. Even so, I was out 24hrs after I arrived (20hrs after the birth). With DS, I arrived at 8pm, he was born at 11pm, and the quickest they would let us go is 2am - so at 2am we went home! 6hrs all in. It was great to have put DD to bed before we left her with Granny, and next morning when DD came in to our room to see us, DS was there too in his cot.