EAI is anti-ice so I agree it's a belt and suspenders thing. You asked for plus 1,000 kg fuel anyway, why not turn those heaters on? You don't want the ice until it's for the scotch at the hotel after the flight.
I pull the speedbrake lever when I need to kill the speed due to ATC restrictions. I've been hopelessly confused in the airbus for a long time so I leave it to the engineers to decide how many degrees they want to deploy which panels. (Aren't the speedbrakes those thingies that open up on the tailcone?)
