@Caucatc I'm sure we have plenty to natter about. Glad that I've found someone "on the inside" I'll PM you.
@Heathrow Director I understand that ATC works hard to expedite traffic and by and large does a very good job and us pilots are unaware of the big picture. In the case of my aircraft (bizjet) since we're not the usual traffic, ATC frequently don't know where we're likely to park. Therefore we'll ask for a specific runway as a prompt to ATC. We'll usually wait for the initial clearance and if it's not ideal, just request the best runway. If it's unavailable, then fair enough. Some places (e.g. Hong Kong) the terminal is in between two runways. It makes a couple of minutes difference which runway the airlines land, so it doesn't matter which one they get. However, the GA terminal is South of the Southern runway, so we'll always request the southern runway to avoid a long taxi and a runway crossing, saving 5-10 minutes. If we can be slotted in, it saves us time and probably saves ATC time too. It just seems that they need prompting somtimes in stead of just putting us on the "usual" runway.