Rapha, nice but a bit pricey?

the present perfect is still a past tense though

Surely not? Present tense plus perfect aspect, isn't it?

What BMMF says. It's explained more fully in the links I gave; the present perfect is for past actions with consequences for the present. The actions are in the past, but the aspect under which they are considered (when you use this tense) is not.

I like the fact English is skewed towards the present… the here and now; all things relating to the current moment. We don't even have a future tense, FFS.

Proof:

http://www.lfgss.com/thread53332.html