David Peckham

Danny Thompson, really, but I suppose it could apply to both of them. Reading through his (partial) discography on Wiki, a couple of names came up that I recognised through the biographies you sometimes post about the artists at 'Goose' gigs. I kind of hoped he may have turned up unannounced to help out a mate whose regular bass player had double booked. Or he just fancied a couple of pints and a night of folk. Something like that.

I'm blue-skying here, but you did ask. In the US, there's a franchise called 'Ripley's Believe It Or Not!' It's an 'Odditorium' - basically a museum of the strange, bizarre and barely credible. They always seem quite busy - I reckon a British version could work on that site and bring some cash into the area. They also offer an affordable, quality casual dining experience. It could be called something like 'Dave's You're Shitting Me?' or 'Bob's I Shit You Not!' or 'Jimmy Hill's 'Yeah? Chinny Reckon!' And I'd like to see a helipad. And a 'Koala Kuddlery' And a windfarm. And a Mini 'Spoons.

I never took to the Thompsons - maybe it was something to do with Richard's hats - but I still listen to 'Solid Air' and 'Five Leaves Left' fairly regularly. It's incredible to see the volume and breadth of stuff he contributed to outside of 'folk-rock'. It'd make a pretty eclectic playlist. Clearly a very talented bloke. Did you ever get close to having him at one of your 'Goose' gigs?

That's a shame. I first saw his name on the sleeve notes to more contemporary stuff in the mid eighties like David Sylvian's first solo album and a couple of Talk Talk albums, then traced his work back to John Martyn and Nick Drake. I feel like I owe him a pint for that.

There was a few around Loughborough Junction which were similar. The Green Man, Harrier's and The Loughborough Hotel come to mind. Harrier's could be a bit, erm, lively at times, but they were okay for a couple of pints early doors. A rough rule of thumb was, if someone puts The Wolfe Tones on the jukebox, you've probably outstayed your welcome. I was in one in Dalston Junction some years ago when a very large Irish lad mistook the home-made Scotch Bonnet sauce for tomato ketchup - and he obviously really liked tomato ketchup. I've never seen such a big bloke shed so many tears.

Cheers for that. Surprising to see it's over 25 years since it closed.

I was the opposite of you. I never felt particularly happy around Brixton late at night - I didn't know it that well. Do you remember the name of the late- night Irish pub opposite the railway arches near the BR station? Was it Mulligan's? Brannigan's? To be fair, until the East London Line extension, Rye Lane walking south wasn't a favourite of mine after dark either. The only pub left on there was The Hope, which was in the other direction. It felt very bleak. I think that makes a huge difference. When The Gowlett was boarded up, Amott Road felt very different. It's like a beacon now. Pub violence does seem to have had its day in inner London. Maybe it's a result of the disappearance of pool tables, flat-roofed pubs and cheap Stella offers. I bet you could still find a Saturday night kick-up in New Addington or the Becontree estate in Dagenham. Definitely. Pubs next to stations, kebab shops and ironically named nightclubs are all to be avoided in smaller places. The weirdest place I've ever had random trouble was in a club in St. Ives in Cambridgeshire. I think it was called 'Options'. It was the only club there. See also 'Jekylls' nightclub in Hyde, Manchester - a truly dreadful place where getting thrown out for fighting was infinitely preferable to spending the evening in there and coming out stinking of stale chip fat. I took a kicking in 'Kingsway Kebabs' in Swansea after a night in 'The Aviary' (so named because it was 'full of birds') nightclub. But that wasn't so random. It was a local girl, who gave me a leathering because I'd run off for a large chicken doner, rather than dance with her to 'Criticize' by Alexander O'Neal. Sorry, Sue, I've digressed a little. To answer your question, I think London feels relatively safe overall.

Central London, partularly Soho and Fitzrovia, seems to be more about sneaky crimes like hugger-muggering and pickpocketing rather than anything violent these days. I'd never wear a decent watch if I went into town in the evening. There are a couple of places, like Tottenham, Hackney'and Harlesden, I'm particularly on my guard in - mainly because I don't really know them too well. Bits of New Cross and Deptford can be a bit hairy, as well. The parts of central London which were dodgiest twenty or thirty years ago, King's Cross or Shoreditch for example, have changed beyond recognition. Statistically, London is safer than it was thirty years ago. Wobbling around the Elephant after a heavy night in the Ministry of Sound wasn't a great move around 2000; it wouldn't seem as idiotic these days. It's still not pleasant though and you have to keep your wits about you in Camberwell after midnight, even now. Overall, most of London is far safer, statistically, than the smaller provincial cities and larger towns. Middlesbrough is genuinely scary after dark, which is strange because the people are lovely during the day. Likewise Bradford and Hull. Apart from the lovely people caveat, clearly. Other than the 'Unite the Kingdom' march last week, I've never really seen the drunken flag waving you mention. Not in London, anyway. I'd avoid the Medway towns, if I was you.

By images of Epstein? Doubtful.

'Many of you have also asked, though, about how you can help ‘welcome’ Donald Trump to Windsor when he arrives there tomorrow (Tuesday) evening. So here’s the plan:' I'm just watching Trump's arrival at Stansted. Apparently, he's spending tonight at the US Ambassador's house in Regent's Park. 'The world’s media will be in Windsor to cover the state visit, so showing visually that he is not welcome will send an important message far and wide.' Not really. They're in Essex. Could be a long wait for some quite pissed off people in Windsor. He's not due there until tomorrow.

Camilla's sinuses are playing up again, so she's missing the Duchess of Kent's funeral this afternoon, but plans to 'participate fully' in the Trump visit. Mmm. She wouldn't be looking for an excuse, would she? An afternoon bent over a washing-up bowl of boiling water and Olbus Oil, with a tea towel on your head should clear that up. Maybe a dab of Vicks on your nightie tonight.

Ricky Hatton. Very sad.

Requiring a provisional licence seems like a very simple start to a complex problem, and one which could be implemented by Lime pretty quickly without recourse to be being dragged through a regulatory process. I agree with you about equivalence with motorbikes, but I'm not clear on why the rules differ between Lime e-scooters & Lime bikes - they're both limited to 15.5 mph but one requires a licence, one doesn't. Legally, at the moment riding an e scooter over the limit could result in a similar outcome to driving over the limit, but riding an e bike is a different offence and generally wouldn't. It doesn't seem to add up to me. That makes sense for various reasons, not least basic profitability. Lime (and let's be honest, they're going to be the only ones in the market soon) could hugely improve the perception (and the safety) of e-bikes by keeping a far closer eye on the identity and behaviour of their legitimate users and improving the security of the bikes to cut down on illegitimate use.

My understanding is that you must have, at least, a provisional licence to hire an electric scooter and be over 18. Surely the easiest thing would be to make those the conditions of hiring a Lime bike? They're heavier and, potentially, more dangerous if you're hit by one. Wouldn't that add more accountability? If any Highway Code, or other, infractions (including riding drunk & 'Furious Cycling') resulted in points on your licence and/or a fine, I would think most riders would take more care. You have to be 18 to hire a Lime bike anyway, so it's not a great leap and they must have a parallel system already in place to register licences for e scooters. Seems a pretty simple start.

Christ. When the licence fee is under such scrutiny, this doesn't seem like a great time to spend cash exhuming this pair of swivel-eyed loons, even for comedy value. Spoiler alert: Boudicca Rising (!) left Tony.

Well, I made £50 out of it and Alice owes me another bullseye, so I had a good day Clearly the thread has moved on, but just a final few words on Rayner (from me, at least). If she hadn't gone like this (with a chance to revive her career at some point in the future) there's plenty of other stuff loaded up and ready to be fired at her about the motivation, finances and machinations of her move down South. It's not pretty reading. Tawdry doesn't come close. I was born in Ashton Hospital and grew up in Tameside, I've got a lot of friends and family who weren't as lucky as me and didn't make it out, some close to her constituency party, and there's been a lot of bad feeling around 'Our Ange' for a long time. My favourite quote was: 'She should fuck off back to Stockport.' And that was from a party member. The writing was on the wall for her. Moving from Ashton (majority c6.5k, large Pakistani minority, but predominantly white working class and targeted by both the Independent Alliance and Reform) to Hove (majority c20k, neither of these issues with the electorate) was a pretty cynical move, and she's fucked it royally. 'The Honourable Member for Hove and Portslade' will be sleeping a lot easier in their bed tonight. This thread was never supposed to about Labour bashing, and I'm not sure it is. It's definitely descended into 'Whataboutery', and that seems to be the problem, in my mind at least, with British politics. It's playground stuff, he said/she said, blame-game bollocks. Watch PMQs and ask yourself if you'd accept this sort of behaviour amongst toddlers, let alone in an elected parliament. One thing that does stand out is the opposition to Reform across the board, and yet we seem to be sleepwalking towards a likely scenario where Farage could head up a minority Reform government. I've 'followed' politics since the late Seventies - mainly because the BBC News came on right after 'Roobard and Custard' or 'The Magic Roundabout' - and I can't remember an era where both major parties are so bereft of leadership, direction or ideas. There's a certain irony that we'll all be getting a test text on Sunday to warn us of an impending 'National Emergency'. Seems quite prescient.

They're a supplement, usually made from whey, which are used after weight training. The theory is that weight training tears the muscle fibres (Feel The Burn, No Pain No Gain, etc), protein helps repair this and aid lean muscle growth. The faster you can get protein into your system, the better, so obviously liquids are absorbed faster than solids Beans, poached egg or peanut butter on toast, are pretty typical post training meals to achieve the same thing. They're much like a very thin milkshake or Slim fast, so nothing anabolic. I used them when I was training three or four times a week and the results were pretty good, if I do say so myself. Cross-post with Ianr

So, are Dulwich Roads saying that there is 'a bell bollard to stop drivers going on the pavement and flipping their car over'? Because, that really hasn't worked. I'd say the design needs a little fettling.

That's my mate Richard in the blue T-shirt. Lucky escape there.

She's come in slightly, Reeves has lengthened. Joint favourites at 15-8. ETA Rayner in front by a short head at 7-4. Looks like some fairly questionable stuff is going to come out about where the cash to buy out her share of the trust, which then provided the deposit on the Hove flat, came from. That's on top of the Stamp Duty issue.

That's all a bit complicated, as well. She was voted in as deputy leader, not deputy Prime Minister, by the party. There's no requirement to have a deputy PM, so she could be sacked by Starmer by simply ending the position I'd imagine The housing secretary role is down to appointment by Starmer, so he could kick her out of that. I'm not sure that the housing minister, or any minister in fact, has an automatic right to a seat at cabinet. I think it's the attacks she's made on Tories that are her problem here. Mistakes do get made, but she's given little credence to other's 'mistakes' in the past and called for resignations. Let's just hope the enquiry gets published soon. There are a lot more important things to be getting on with.

I'd change your bookies if you're only getting 5s. She's out to 7s at most places. She's shortened to 2-1 to be next out of the Cabinet now, that's a hell of a shift in a morning. I'm glad I had a tenner at 5-1. I reckon she'll be evens or odds on by lunchtime tomorrow. Reeves is still favourite to leave next at 11-10. Let me know if you fancy £50 on whether she's out or next leader.

Her odds have come in from twelves to 5-1 to be the next Cabinet member to leave. Still worth a little punt, I reckon.

Can Rayner survive this? "Angela Rayner admits underpaying stamp duty on £800,000 seaside flat | Angela Rayner | The Guardian" https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/03/angela-rayner-admits-underpaying-stamp-duty-on-800000-seaside-flat

Is it a Sam Smith's? A genuinely hilarious place to watch tourists get lost. You can smell when somebody's been in there because of the smoke from the fires. I almost put it on my list, Sue. Would you call it Holborn, though? It's a bit of a no mans land around there, but the walk from The Seven Stars to The Ship, near Holborn station, via Lincoln's Inn Fields is one of London's great WTF moments. It's a toss up as to whether the upstairs toilets in The Seven Stars or the downstairs ones in The Nell Gwynne are the more difficult to negotiate. I reckon the pub you're thinking about on Richmond Hill could be The Roebuck. It always reminds me of The Prince of Wales in Highgate. She used to have The Three Greyhounds in Soho, around the same time as Norman had the Coach & Horses and The French House was run by a very tall bloke with a bow tie. I think he was called Lesley. Roxy had a very brief career as a TV chef. I've got a signed copy of her cookbook somewhere. A great pub. Any pub that serves whitebait, pork pies and gammon, egg & chips is doing many things right. The Nag's is fantastic. Run by an ex Grenadier Guard called Kevin Moran, who will boot you out for using a mobile phone, not showing proper respect to the bar staff or putting your jacket on the back of a chair rather than using the coat stand. Opposite Ghislaine Maxwell's old place as well, which made things interesting. A slightly more difficult to find pub around there is The Grenadier. The only pub I've ever found that sold 'Bar Sausages'.