My gentle explanation that in Scotland it is customary to climb behind rather than on top of other teams initially fell on deaf ears!

And a great example of how not to equalise two ice screws. They were nice chaps though!

Nice crisp shop!

Its funny you should mention the equalisation of the belay. Though none of my British friends do it, this method is standard practice in the Alps and called 'Reihenschaltung'. The German alpine club (DAV) suggests using this on solid anchors (eg. bolts and according to them good ice screws). Details here (though in German): http://www.alpenverein.de/chameleon/public/ff83cab8-dcf3-4a2b-3c70-f40b9b3a0a34/Panorama-2010-1-Eisstand_18410.pdf. The first figure shows how it is set up with a rope, however, it is mentioned that this can be constructed with a sling as well.
As far as I've once been told, one of the advantages is the fact that the top screw isn't loaded so wont melt out as fast (feel free to correct me on that!).

Interesting. The key phrase there is "solid anchors", in which case, provided they're bolts and pretty much in line and you use a dynamic rope rather than a sling to connect them, it's just about justifiable and has the advantage of saving on rope. Here, however, with dodgy screws (very plastic ice that day, so great axes and crap screws!) and a sling it's just plain stupid: 100% of the force of any fall will be applied to the bottom screw rather than a sensible normal set-up whereby it might be, say, 60% on each. And if the bottom screw rips, the top one will be then be shock-loaded. Re screws melting out, in >0C temps or in sun, one could imagine this would indeed happen quicker with a screw that's being weighted. So either avoid a hanging belay or, if you need one, for goodness sake don't apply 100% of your hanging weight to a single screw which, if it rips, will result in a shock load to the one above! Applying less force to each screw in this circumstance seems infinitely preferable. Avoiding placing screws exactly where another team's leader is likely to kick her feet is also recommended to minimise the risk of their ripping :o)

Incidentally, temps well below zero that day, so melting-out screws not an issue as far as I'm aware.