Marmora Man

VALFR59 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Wherever it was in ED/WD or willage, but able to > walk to access or to do short driving to get > there. > > Food/restaurant: > - a "Paul" bakery with a restaurant/ Thea room > - a proper JAPANESE (fresh and yummy) > - A marrocan restaurant > - a local McDo > - a M&S (as waitrose deliver in all Dulwich now) > - a real/ good quality tapas bar > - a good Mexican restaurant > - a new wine bar with cheese and charcuterie board > at any time in the day if the green&wine will > close as I've read on this forum > > Shops: > - Baby/kids GAP, eventually an adult one > - Office shoes > - Hobbs/french connection/vero moda/oasis store > - A body shop or Occitane en Provence > - a Tikka Maxx with home department > - Another shoes shop more fashion for adults and > kids > - Boots > - H&M for kids and adults > - A house of fraser or John lewis. > > Nice B&B and/or boutique hotel. Try Cheltenham / Tunbridge Wells / Harrogate - all likely to meet all your requirements.

There appears to be long overdue developments at this site. It was once an off licence, does anyone know what it might become?

Buttercup - you might consider buying him membership of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society - initial membership includes a cask strength malt. I was given this as a present 15 years ago and continue to enjoy it. Includes access to two elegant private whisky bars - one in London, one in Edinburgh plus opportunity to attend tutored malt whisky tastings across UK. A web search will find them - can't give you link from phone. Edited to add SMWS Website: http://www.smws.co.uk/memberships/membership-as-gift.html

Parkdrive Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Lets hope any of you that enjoy this odious > product never have a funnel shoved down your neck > and are force feed. Disgraceful. Unlikely. I plan to enjoy some tonight with a good Sauternes from G&B.

It worked - thank you. 60 mins of BBC Perisher is now saved to my hard drive.

Any Islay would be good, my particular favourite being Caol Ila (pronounced Kaleela) - and I have a fondness for Talismer. However for me at the moment a 25 year old Highland Park would be hard to beat. The Royal Mile Whisky shop may be able to direct you to a cask strength single malt which is the post graduate step in Malt Whisky drinking and again I'd recommend Highland Park.

Thanks everyone - will experiment.

This is an ASLEF strike not RMT - so Bob Crow not at the helm for this strike - unusually.

Is it possible to download You Tube videos permanently? There are a few old BBC records available on You Tube that, for various reasons, I'd like to retain as a permanent record fro family history. Any advice will be received most gratefully. Thanks MM

To clarify - I generally take a libertarian stance. For a majority of EDF readers Libertarianism is roughly equivalent to a s wiggle eyed, right wing, carpet munching Europhobe. I wanted to draw attention to the fact that my kind of libertarianism is the more nuanced and liberal kind that prefers small government with a minimum of state interference.

Well by date 25/12. - Use by 27/12. Sale 26/12??

Is Mr Shelbrooke MP stupid? What matters more is how stupid he thinks we are. His proposal to restrict access to booze & fags for those receiving welfare benefits is insultingly worthless to achieve his stated end. Make his proposal law, and, if If I'm on the jobseekers, and I want a drink or a smoke, all I'll have to do is buy half a dozen chicken legs for a friend, who will then buy me a bottle of own brand gin or a packet of twenty. Also, how are shopkeepers to know who's on benefits unless we're all kitted out with ID cards that will let anyone and everyone know our employment status? Or, if the unemployed are to be paid by giving them some kind of charge card, it will simply be another step towards the abolition of cash transactions. Another point worth making is that being out of work or generally poor and on benefits is no fun. It's plain sadism to try blocking those on benefits from drowning their sorrows. By all means, cut down on systematic fraud by largely foreign gangs and by those working inside the welfare system. Also, make it easier for people to get off welfare - by cutting taxes on low pay and cutting regulations on micro-businesses. But leave the genuinely helpless to enjoy the few pleasures that are still not illegal.

Foie Gras available @ ?100/ kilo -Fortnums & Mason. Fill yer boots.

First Mate: It takes about two or three hours at the most to review a planning application. Roughly equal to a god night's homework for a 6th former or some light take home work of a busy executive. If after that short review you feel there are matters that require more detail, information or investigation you can: a. Commission the work yourself b. Ask the council's planning dept to explain the points to you. c. Raise an objection that these particular points are bot defined clearly enough and ask the Council to give more time for those affected by the application to research and consider them. If your point is sensible and well made the Council has the authority to do this - if it is frivolous they will dismiss it. It is, as Hugenot has implied, wrong is to frustrate the normal process of a normal planning application by a normal business thru' inappropriate delaying tactics and crying foul.

There used to be a need for a dog licence but it was discontinued as being irrelevant because those that were law abiding, good carers and careful dog owners bought the licence and those that were not, necessarily, good and careful dog owners didn't. Since the penalties for not owning a licence were limited non compliance was seldom prosecuted - making the whole concept of licensing pointless. What exactly do you think a new licencing regime would achieve - that current legislation doesn't? We should all strice to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy.

MMmmmmmm Pork - yum yum. Get perfect crispy skin on your slow-cooked aromatic pork with this recipe Serves 4 INGREDIENTS 1kg pork belly Sea salt and black pepper 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and roughly sliced 4 fresh bay leaves 3 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed 1 tsp cardamom pods, bashed 4 star anise 1 tbsp fennel seeds Olive oil 325ml white wine 500?750ml chicken stock (depending on the size of your pan) 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard Method . Preheat the oven to 180?C/gas mark 4. Score the pork belly skin diagonally in a diamond pattern at 1? cm intervals. Season generously with salt and pepper, rubbing it well into the skin. . Put the fennel, bay leaves, garlic, cardamom, star anise and half the fennel seeds into a hot roasting tray on the hob with a little oil and heat for about 2 minutes until aromatic. Push to the side of the tray, then add the pork, skin side down, and cook for at least 5 minutes until turning golden brown. Turn the pork over, season the skin again with salt and sprinkle with the remaining fennel seeds. . Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the bits from the bottom (be careful not to get the skin of the pork wet). Bring to the boil, then pour in enough stock to come up to the layer of fat just below the skin and allow to boil again. . Transfer the tray to the preheated oven and cook for 2? hours. . Transfer the meat to a warm plate and set aside to rest. Meanwhile, spoon off any excess fat in the roasting tray or drag a slice of bread along the surface of the cooking juices to absorb it. Heat the tray on the hob, adding the mustard. Mix in with a whisk, then taste and adjust the flavours as necessary. Remove the star anise and cardamom pods and pour the sauce into a jug. Serve the rested pork with the sauce alongside.

First mate - items 1 - 6 are within your remit to comment upon if you are a close neighbour.

first mate Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > But if an application is dealt with "expeditously" > isn't it fair to speculate that this might be more > to the advantage of the developer, particularly if > they have had a pre-application meeting (though > all perfectly above board) to iron out any > problems on the prior application that was > rejected? Who does the time limit on objections > and the positing of the application over a major > holiday period work better for, in this case? It depends upon the reason for the original rejection. If, for example, the original application was rejected because of a technical issue relating to the size of windows, the height of any new plant on the roof or some other similar matter then the "second" application may need to only consider these aspects and nothing else. Having already spent time (and no doubt money) on the original application and knowing that Iceland is intent on moving out the freeholder may be keen to obtain the necessary consent to make the property more attractive to a potential new retail business so as not to be holding an empty and unproductive property for too long. The fact that there is a second application does not, necessarily mean that every single issue arising from the original application has to be re-considered. So, if the council's planning committee considered and rejected local residents objections regarding noise and / or traffic movements they wouldn't need to reconsider these points just to assure themselves that, for example, the windows now meet technical requirements. You persist in seeing some form of conspiracy - I see a freeholder seeking to make a business work and using the planning process in accordance with the rules.

macrobana Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Who is the council officer nominated to assist the > residents? Is there such a role in / on the Council? It is the Planning Committee's function to weigh the objective pros and cons of any application with respect to planning legislation, guidelines and take into account local residents legitimate (ie that take regard of the legislation & guidelines - meaning the simple "I don't like it" objection is not sufficient). Neither the applicant or the local residents should be assisted by the council.

first mate said "We also know that there were pre-submission talks between the developer and planning, where it was agreed that the application would be processed more quickly this time round....whatever that means." A pre-application meeting between the team submitting the planning application and the planing department is a normal and routine part of a planning application process and provided for in the legislation, the cost of which is recovered from the applicant. The applicant(s) are not allowed to lobby or politic the planning committee but they can, for example, heck with the planning dep't the detailed requirements for the submission, what extra information would be useful (EG: traffic flow analysis, traffic tracking [ie will large lorries turn a tight corner without clipping parked vehicles], shadow patterns as the sun moves around the compass, noise surveys, environmental surveys and so on). Given that there has already been one application made if I were the project manager I'd be asking at the pre-app meeting whether previously submitted surveys would still be valid, for details of reasons behind previous refusal, for advice on what needs to be modified to meet objections of local residents, councillors and others. None of this is indicative of corruption, conspiracy or the evils of big business - it's just how the planning system works.

The US is not alone - Dunblane, Hungerford and Cumbria in the last 15 years here in UK.

The judge was bound by the rules of sentencing and I think his comments were meant to indicate that he had his doubts but could do nothing about a possibly faked illness. Agree tho' that she has "got away with it" - other MPs have been jailed for the same offence and non MPs found guilty of deliberate and repeated defraud of their company (let alone the taxpayer) to the tune of ?53,000 would probably face the full force of the law and a maximum sentence.

Concur The current fashion for apologising for errors / sins of the past appals me. A pardon today will have no impact on Alan Turing's. rightly deserved, place in history as a mathematical genius who played a key role in WWII and in developing the logic and philosophy that led to the creation of modern computing. A related point for consideration - if AT is "pardoned" what does that say about all the others throughout history that were also prosecuted, imprisoned and belittled for their sexual orientation but were not famous? Either all must be pardoned - which is completely foolish (how would we identify them?) or we leave historical convictions alone.

I was aware of that decision BJL - which, on the whole, I deplore. The Brasserie Blanc chain has been running for nearly 10 years. To the best of my knowledge it has always offered a lambs liver dish and always cooked it pink (at least they were happy to do so on the occasions I've eaten it there). So roughly 18 restaurants x 10 years x 52 weeks x 6 days x 5 portions a day (estimate) = 281,000 servings and two (2) reported cases of food poisoning - which cannot have been that serious if the fine only amounted to ?3,000. That's a 0.0007% error rate - something close to perfection. As I understand it Raymond Blanc took the dish off the menu as he refused to serve lambs liver well done - in the style of 1960s school dinners. ETA - I have experienced food poisoning and I know its not fun. I met a bad oyster at my 60th birthday dinner - making for an uncomfortable start to my 7th decade. Even at the best of restaurants seafood, rare cooked meats, unpasteurised milk and cheeses - all carry some, very small, risk but the flavour and quality make it worthwhile. The risk inherent in eating a "well done" kebab from a van outside the pub at 2.00am is far, far higher.

Westminster Council's Environmental Health Officers are insisting that restaurants serve meat that has been cooked at 158F (70C) for two minutes. James Armitage, a council EHO ?This is about making sure customers are eating meat that is not a threat to their health. It is possible to produce burgers that can be eaten undercooked, but strict controls are essential. The council has engaged Prof Hugh Pennington, the UK?s top expert on E. coli and he has outlined that rare minced meat that is not correctly cooked and prepared can kill. A court case is pending where Davy's restaurant is challenging the council's approach. I have always eaten my burgers and steaks; I also enjoy steak tartare - it has become increasingly more difficult to find restaurants prepared to serve meat the way I like it - I have even been asked to sign a waiver before e restaurant would serve my order. This degree of concern about safety far outweighs the danger. Keep meat bloody and rare.