The CRB business is a tricky one, as there's a lot of FUD flying around about it.

A CRB check never goes out of date. Try explaining that to councils who've decided that if you're employed again after a break of six months they have to run the check again, costing public money for a bit of paper which, after all, only shows that the applicant hasn't been convicted of anything they'd be interested in.

In general CRBs are poorly understood and quite often policy related to them is decided by people who haven't a clue, but are petrified of being sued if something goes wrong. Cue paranoia!

There is a huge and profitable industry surrounding "security" in its various forms. All of those scanners, private guards and indeed the safeguarding/CRB business are making a few people very wealthy. It's in these people's own interest to scare the rest of us into accepting further erosions of our freedom, as every new measure simply hands them more of our money.

Or just use Google Streetview. That covers pretty much everything visible from a public road in areas which terrorists would be interested in and leaves no CCTV trail when used.

Remember:

The 7/7 bombers took no photographs and showed no interest in trains beyond that of a normal tourist during their recce, which we have seen CCTV footage of. Maybe they should arrest everyone who carries a backpack, stops to read timetables, or indeed uses public transport in London? There's more evidence of those as suspicious behaviour than there is of carrying a camera being such!

If you see a K 55mm f1.8 cheaply then go for it, but I wouldn't spend a huge sum on it as I've never got much use from 50mm lenses on digital. They're a bit too long for a walkabout lens and a bit too short for things like motorsport where you'd like a fast telephoto. You're more likely to find an M 50mm f1.7 cheaply though as they're more common. The 55mm was only made for two or three years while the 50mm was a standard lens for about a decade.

Also worth looking at the Samyang 85mm f1.4, manual focus but auto aperture. It's astonishingly good considering the price compared to other fast 85mm lenses and in some tests has embarrassed lenses costing four times as much.

To be fair I've found the opposite - it's the easiest lens I've ever owned for manual focus and very good hand held providing you either stop down a bit or make sure you don't unintentionally lean toward or away from the subject. Mine feels much the same as my K and M series lenses although I suspect those are suffering from old grease now, as I have one which seems to have been treated perfectly and has a very light focus ring.

Once again it's rent-a-cops who generally seem to have a huge chip on their shoulder about failing to reach the standard required to become a real Police Officer.

In this case I would wonder if the victim has grounds for proceedings relating to false imprisonment and wasting police time against the "guards"? They have no right to detain anyone in a public place other than that of citizen's arrest, which you must state clearly that you are using. Using this right is not the best of ideas unless you have seen the crime and are completely certain that it is a crime and that you have the right person, as you can end up in a lot of legal hot water should you grab the wrong person.

It also once again shows corporate doublespeak. XScape (and make sure you always mention them as they deserve to lose money over this) got it spectacularly wrong and two of their guards reportedly harassed, assaulted, and unlawfully detained someone for committing no crime whatsoever. They should be making a full apology, disciplining the guards in question, and compensating the victim. Not attempting to wriggle out of it!

The best way to damage these idiots? Hit them in the pocket! Make sure people know that XScape employ security staff who have no understanding of the law. Do you really want your money to go to an organisation like this?

There, that should get the Google search bots to find this page when people look for XScape...

My experience with the K-m is that it's pretty much on the money with K or M lenses down to about f11, but starts underexposing horribly when you go below that. On the other hand it's hopeless with M42 lenses and simply fails to expose correctly whatever settings are used. I'd therefore suggest that more recent bodies have better metering.

I'd be amazed if someone could fix separation for £40 - from what I understand this problem is caused by the breakdown of the glue used to cement elements together. At the factory the parts will be glued on very precise jigs in clean room conditions, both of which the average repairer will struggle to match. Unless the elements are precision glued to within a fraction of a millimetre the lens will be useless.

I've got one with the Samyang branding and love it. Superb for taking low light shots handheld without a flash.

Just think they could have done better with the lens cap - the one supplied looks like the Jessops cheapies people buy if they lose the original and need a replacement straight away. Would it have hurt them to put a decent centre pinch one instead? Their ultra wide angle lenses look to have a much better design.

AFAIK all the Pentax ones have the "A" position, so you need to tell the camera what focal length you're using for shake reduction but after that you can use all exposure modes. f1.4 makes it really easy to focus manually as you get a very bright viewfinder and knife-edge depth of field, so it's either spot on or miles out.

The new DA 35mm f2.4 is well worth buying. Cheap, sharp, lightweight and compact. I find it much more useful than a 50mm lens on digital and it makes for a superb standard lens.

Nothing wrong with a Freelander, a chap I know had two in succession and got both of them out in the mud. Yours will really surprise you on snow and ice if you ask for BF Goodrich All Terrain tyres next time you need new ones (get a set of four as it won't do the 4wd system any good otherwise).

Despite the name they're very quiet and extremely predictable on tarmac in all conditions as well as being handy on everything else apart from thick gloopy mud. I really wouldn't see the point in buying normal road tyres for a 4x4 as it's just setting you up for a lot of embarrassment when you can't cope with a muddy parking area at an open air event or a bit of snow.

The Discovery centre diff isn't like the Subaru ones. My brother has a Legacy B4 which apparently has viscous couplings for centre and rear diffs, the Discovery has plain old open mechanical diffs with a locking mechanism for the centre one (when you pull the lever it moves a collar to lock the two sides together).