so, bit the bullet and went for the L-N, figuring that if I saved a few quid on the Veritas i'd always wonder if i'd made the right choice...
Bought it mail order from a very helpful chap at Tilgear, tenner cheaper that APT as Tilgear have dropped their prices slightly given the current exchange rate, and it turned up less than 24 hours after ordering over the phone.
I don't have much experience with hand tools - mostly the stuff they had at the night school course I did a couple of years ago which was old but fairly well looked after considering - but this thing is amazing. Beautifully engineered simplicity and cuts better than anything else I've ever laid my hands on, straight out of the box. I always thought that these claims of long, translucent-thin curly shavings were a myth....