I'm often waiting 15mins+ for a transaction to get a single confirmation?

I believe this is a major factor holding bitcoin back from being more mainstream

If I was to accept bitcoin in a local store and the customer had to wait around whilst his transaction is confirmed I would loose customers pretty fast...

Also why is the bitcoin client forcing me to pay a 0.01 transaction fee? Surely a decentralised p2p currency shouldn't need to pay transaction fees? Where do these 0.01's go?

Cheers

Am I correct in thinking I can register a .bit domain for 1yr for 1 namecoin?

If so how much do you want for 2.5 namecoins? ( already have .5 from slow ass Nvidia mining @ 5Mhash/s )

I'm looking to buy £50 worth of BTC

All the sites i've seen use awkward payment methods from the UK or offer hideously high exchange rates.

What are my best options?

ps. I cannot use paypal but can pay debit/credit card or any other online payment processor