Julian Bassett

So far, so good, 29 Nov 2011

This is my third dishwasher. My first was a Hotpoint that bore the proud words "Made in Great Britain". It gave 8 years of good service before needing a new wiring loom, which by then had become unobtainable following the takeover by an Italian firm, Merloni (later restyled as Indesit) which replaced all Hotpoint's parts with its own (the service engineer assured me they were "rubbish"). But I still bought another Hotpoint, a FDW60, which was occasionally faulty and lasted less then 6 years, when it developed a serious electrical problem, melting the plug. Thus ended my relationship with Hotpoint.

I wasn't sure what to get next, when up popped White Knight, makers of my reliable… Read more

Sometimes it works, partly, 9 May 2009

I can't get all channels with this aerial, and for those I can the reception isn't very robust - often pixellating for no reason. That's on a good day. The next you don't get anything at all, which is irritating. What's the point of buying a product that only has a 50-50 chance of working? All right, there is some risk in buying an indoor aerial because the quality of reception varies, but what's really bad is the terrible instructions for the 9151, consisting of several pages telling you not to eat the product, set fire to it etc in about a dozen languages, then one cryptic diagram on it's use. And the coax cable is ridiculouly short so you can't experiment with the position much. It also… Read more

Not compatible with my machine either, 15 Feb 2009

As another reviewer said, this book looks great and the recipes are varied and inviting. Unfortunately I also find they just don't seem to work, at least not with my Morphy Richards Compact. After experimenting I've decided the yeast level in the book is based on fresh yeast (the Compact uses dry, which is about half the amount as fresh), and the proportions of flour, sugar and water are different. My Compact uses a lot more flour and more sugar to bake the same 1.5lb loaf, which is odd. I think you have to use the recipes in your breadmaker as a basis, and modify them with the ingredients in the recipe book. I still haven't got the procedure quite right yet though.