Ian Jackson :
Apart from the direction of turn, and the red and blue colour coding
(of the top, and of the bottom rubber seal), is there any difference?

I'm asking this because my wife and I both prefer the taps to turn the
opposite way to the 'standard', which is, when off, with the handles
jutting forwards, across the sink bowl. We much prefer the handles to
be parked folded pointing outwards (-o and o-).

Same here. I don't understand the "standard" - it makes no sense to me,
on any level. Anyway I swapped the inserts round in our downstairs loo
about a day after the plumber left. They've been fine. The handles are
separate from the mechanism so there's nothing on the insert itself to
indicate hot or cold.

--
Mike Barnes