Insuflo

At Poundland, you’re just paying for the name. Time will tell, I suppose.

That’s strange because the planning application to turn it into a Tesco Express, complete with ATM and alcohol licence is still current on the Southwark planning portal.

This seems to be the end of the road for now: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c36594lr29ko.amp

Driverless cabs have been coming next year (“he’s 10 minutes away, mate”) for at least the last decade. I think they remain as unlikely as the other things which are always just over the horizon, such as NASA sending men back to the moon or Musk sending men to Mars. Or driverless Tube trains. They won’t happen, not because they are not possible but because the preposterous expense and effort in achieving them is totally out of whack with the possible advantages. What is the point of driverless taxis? So, Uber has to pay drivers now but they don’t have to pay for vehicles, maintenance, fuel, insurance, depreciation or downtime, all of which they will have to cover in an autonomous fleet. Is there an advantage to customers over the present set up? Other than that some women travelling alone might prefer it, I can’t see any other benefit. From a passenger safety perspective, I’d be happy to use one. They would surely obey the speed limits and seat belted into an NCAP rated vehicle you are unlikely to come to much harm at 20 mph. The dangers would seem to be to pedestrians, cyclists, dogs, street furniture. It’s the planters I worry about.

Does anybody absolutely have to do a school run? In private cars? And how could all planned work be staggered without having a cumulative effect, delaying everything indefinitely? I’m currently retired , so don’t have to commute but I don’t have a car and use buses daily. I’ve been walking a lot lately precisely because of the delays caused by all the works and I’m resigned to having to do that all summer. It’s annoying, without doubt. But I’m not presuming that it is somebody’s fault and looking for someone or something to blame. It’s just one aspect of life in a big city. This is not Poundbury.

Sorry but this makes no sense whatsoever. It could only make sense if we lived in a small town or village, not in one of the larger conurbations on earth. The scheme by ED station is 2km from the South Circular work and nearly the same again from Rye Lane. If all roadworks in London had a 2km exclusion zone around them, nothing could get done. To say that there can be no works in Peckham/ Denmark Hill/ Forest Hill because there are works in East Dulwich, imagines that London revolves around East Dulwich. If we extrapolate this policy, then if there are works in Forest Hill, there can be no works in Catford or Sydenham. If there are works in Catford, there can be none in Lewisham; gas works in Peckham would rule out water works in Nunhead, which have been delayed by resurfacing in Brockley, which was waiting on BT to finish in Ladywell. The knock-on effect would soon break London’s infrastructure. Some works are essential, some desirable, some possibly even contentious but they will all cause disruption to some extent. Sometimes we just have to put up with it.

No, you didn’t write the article. But unless you’re a Telegraph subscriber, you haven’t read the article either. Have you read it? The psychopath Telegraph lives behind a (rubber) paywall but using this kind of sensationalist, accusatory headline gets it traction on social media. The headline becomes more important than the article; many will see it and some will take it as a statement of fact. And it will be shown on endless “let’s take a look at the papers” segments on TV and radio for 12 hours or more in every news day. And so, a tiny number of reactionary, right wing hacks has a vastly disproportionate influence on the popular conversation despite the papers they work for being bought by almost nobody these days.

It seems that The South London Press has gone to the great recycling bin in the sky: https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/regional-newspapers/south-london-press-closed/ I’ve not seen the printed paper in years, admittedly.

The application in Tesco’s name is on the council’s website dated 23rd May. I’m presuming Tesco couldn’t make an application for a property they don’t already control? After Poundland refitted the place, I would imagine Tesco would only have to change the branding and they’ve got a ready made new branch.

I thought I’d seen one there. I suppose that the key to operating this scam is having another ATM close by, so the card can be used immediately. Could be that they’ve used the same routine in that location before.

“54 Ea” must be 54, East Dulwich Road? Which is the other side of the road. Isn’t there a combined pay phone/ cash machine kiosk outside the Londis?

The estate is owned by Southern Housing Group, a housing association. They have a media enquiries link on their homepage: www.southernhousing.org.uk

Something to do with sheep, I suspect.

Not really fussed about the sex parties but The Daily Telegraph is disgusting.

What the hell has any of this to do with the council? The council has no power to prevent the gas company working on the pipes which they own, even if the pipes are under the council owned road. The gas company, SGN, is a Statutory Undertaker, that is, they have a legal right to undertake works which involve digging up the road to access their property (the pipes). The council can negotiate or coordinate with SGN to try and minimise the disruption but with a project this big, how could serious disruption be avoided? You may as well blame the council for the cancellation of my M&S order. Bloody council!

“Mechanical vehicle” is old London Transport speak for a broken down bus. All very Reg Varney…

No. I’ve read the Guardian and the Observer for forty-odd years but I haven’t bought a printed Observer this century; I only read them online. I haven’t bought a Saturday Guardian for at least twenty years and have bought a printed weekday Guardian twice: once when it went to a berliner format and once when it became a tabloid, just to see what they were like. I might buy an Observer one Sunday this summer to see what it’s like before it inevitably disappears for good. I subscribe to the Guardian but there is zero chance of me taking out a separate subscription for the Observer. It and the Graun have been declining in standard for a long time and are ever more padded out with lifestyle crap rather good reportage and analysis. My Guardian subscription has gone up 20% this month but its worth to me is lower than it has ever been.

Penguin, I broadly agree, except that the Girobank was a genuinely innovative and successful operation. It’s rather ironic that after all these years we are now back to banking at the Post Office due to all the bank branch closures. I agree that the roots of the problem go back further than 2012 (?), when the PO and RM were separated so RM could be sold. I’m willing to blame Peter Mandelson, Margaret Thatcher or even Keith Joseph. But none of them will be standing for the local council, hoping to make capital out of the possible closure of Lordship Lane PO, as if they are in no way responsible. The Lib Dems can’t be let off the hook that easily.

I am not disputing that the Post Office remains publicly owned. But the Lib Dems’ decision to separate and privatise Royal Mail has fatally undermined the PO. It is within the power of the Labour government to save what is left of the PO and the service it provides to the community, if they care enough; I suspect they do not. However, the appalling postal service is a constant reminder of the Lib Dems’ duplicity on this matter. It is actions taken under the Lib Dem / Conservative coalition that have brought us to this point.

The Post Office has been heading for extinction since James Barber’s Lib Dems split it away from Royal Mail so that they could sell off the latter on the cheap. We’ve all been paying the price of that decision with closure of Silvester Road and the dreadful deterioration in the postal service locally.

Vladi, you are wrong. The single wheel tag axle is fitted at the rearmost, behind the twin wheel, driven axle. This is obvious from photos of the upturned vehicle.

Dear God. I thought this sort of thing only happened in Streatham.

I think the 19.99 refers to the price of two pints in there now.

If you fancy an affordable lager, head to Watson’s General Telegraph on Forest Hill Road. I forget the name of it but a 4% lager, brewed in east London somewhere: £8.20 a pint. Form an orderly queue…

You are a cynic and you are wrong. The scheme has been planned a long time and TfL Streets will have set aside funding as part of a long term plan. The idea that a rush of public sector works take place toward the end of the financial year to use up money that has been found lying around is a myth.