Marmora Man

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In the spirit of keeping the debate open.. Sean, not worth playing political ping pong - the Boris Watch thread should suffice in future as we see what Boris Johnson does in fact, rather than what he has said, or others have said about him in the past. Just to expand my point on museums - the government scored an own goal, to my mind, by: a. Providing a massive subsidy to the demographic that was prepared to pay for entry (bit like abandoning 10p tax rate for a 20p basic rate really). I remember applauding the decision as it reduced the cost of entertaining my children on wet weekends, but I had been content to pay in the past. b. Not achieving the aim of expanding the demographic c. Depriving museums of funding (he gov't subsidy never equalled the original income and is probably now far less in real terms); the loss of funding made necessary the populist exhibitions - which I don't object to in themselves but see as a diversion from a museum's prime function.

Columbia Flower Market If you haven't been - GO! East End of London, just off the Hackney Road. Starts at approx 7.30 every Sunday - begins to wind down about 11.30. Lots of cut flower and plants for planting. It's a riot of colour, crowds and noise. Bacon rolls, sausage sarnies, smoked salmon & cream cheese bagels, coffee & papers available for Sunday breakfast, plus a few curio shops. The sales patter is of a high quality; Petticoat Lane and Spitalfields are only a hop & skip away if you want to carry on the day out. We've been using it for last three years, I'm not a gardener - I lift, shift and finance the purchases but Mrs MM assures me the prices are up to 50% less than local garden centres and far better quality. Map More Info

macroban Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I assume that Mr Brown still has access to the > nuclear button even when he is unwell. > > Does anyone know different? Perhaps Mamora Man > knows the answer. He will have access, but there a number of safeguards. The Dr Strangelove scenario is not possible.

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > walking across the North side of Trafalgar Square > yesterday - looking at all the tourists bimble > about and enjoying the sights - and reflecting > what a traffic-choked hell it used to be. Heaven > > Something Boris wouldn't have done... Sean - low blow. You cannot say, with any certainty, what Boris would or would not have done. In fact, given Boris Johnson's quoted appreciation of Pericles and Athenian politics he may well have supported the creation of such a great public space. I certainly do - Trafalgar Square and the galleries are now a great spot to meet, greet and generally people watch in London.

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > some truth in that MM, and thanks to Blair/Brown's > performance in the 21st century it's almost nigh > on impossible to talk about the "difference" a > Labour party makes/would make. > Sean, Thank you for a rational response. When I have time I'll develop my views of the Tory position a little more fully. Three immediate points: 1. I never did, and never could, support Section 28. It was a late administration aberration, chasing "core (right wing) vote and a total mistake. We may see aberrations from New Labour chasing it's core vote over next 24 months (makes the time to a real election seem less, measuring it in months) 2. Free entry to museums - notionally a good idea but .......... it was meant, I believe, to extend access. Yet if you wander around the Victoria & Albert Museum, Natural History, Imperial War Museum etc you will, probably, see two things. Firstly, the visiting clientele have not changed that much from the era when admission was charged and secondly there is a proliferation of populist exhibitions, for which there is a charge to raise funds for the museum's core work. EG: Bond at the War Museum - it doesn't lift my spirit to see a fictional pot boiler character being feted in the surroundings of a museum dedicated to real suffering and sacrifice. 3. Minimum wage - probably a good thing. The Tories certainly won't repeal it but I'm not convinced it has lifetd anyone "out of poverty".

This thread is more like a football fan's correspondence page. My team lost / my team won. Boo / Hurray. What, precisely, are the Labour policies that are so good and what, precisely, are the Tory policies that are so bad? Please don't tell me that "they" (the Tories) will return to Thatcherism - she left office 17 years ago, I suspect a good 50% of posters on this thread were barely teenagers or not even in the country then. Modern conservative policy is about practical management, reducing the cost of the state, more efficient public services, improved schools. This country is, like it or not, effectively a two party state - if you demonise one of the parties and the other fails to satisfy - people will turn to small, divided fringe parties that cannot gain real power but make a lot of devilish noise - and Keef's concerns about BNP and NF are fulfilled.

See new thread Boris Watch

In the spirit of openess I propose a new thread - Boris Watch. Record the good, bad and indifferent actions of our new Mayor and his new administration. It will take time but we may be able to build a pattern to determine whether my views of Boris, or those of others, are most correct.

dulwichmum Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Mr Marmora Man darling, you sound like an ED > version of Daniel Craig! Do you mind if I sit on > your knee while you tell us more? Regret I now have less hair and more belly than Daniel Craig - and thus may be a disappointment to a nubile young wench like yourself DM. Were we to meet tho' I could tell salty sea stories to while away the hours.

annaj Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm sure you are Mamora Man, but in Southwark at > least you're in a minority. > 48% Ken 29% Boris in Southwark and Lambeth. > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/elections/lo > ndon/08/html/10.stm > > Small comfort for those of us who still believe > Boris to be very bad news. Practical experience, rather than beliefs and prejudice, will now tell - Boris has four years to prove me right and others wrong, or perhaps the other way around. I agree I was in a minority, but I'm sticking to my guns. Boris Johnson and conservative policies will benefit London more than Ken and his divisive ideology. Some left of centre commentators seem to pursuing an air of "this can't be right, the right is wrong so how can the electorate be so wrong headed as to vote for the Tories". It happens, many Tories felt the same in '97. Local elections are not a great guide to how the electorate will vote in a General Election but they do indicate a major change of opinion. The New Labour "Emperor's Clothes" are beginning to be revealed as nothing more than an illusion. Power for power's sake (the Third Way?) is not enough - politicians must do something with their power. I would argue that 11 (and ultimately 13) years of New Labour has achieved far less than the the previous 18 years of Conservative government. Like many I was fed up with the last conservative administration, it had grown old and tired. Despite this I cavassed for the Tories in '92 and '97 as I had no expectation of anything good from a Kinnock led Labour Party nor of a Blair led one. Neverthless, when Blair won in '97 I hoped that New Labour would take its opportunity to make a real difference, it could have done deals with public sector unions (including the Royal Colleges and similar professional bodies) that would have been impossible for a Tory government and might have truly transformed the NHS, education and social services. They failed - merely throwing buckets of money at them without reform. The quote "the new money was more like a tsunami than irrigation" was an apt description.

Rather pleased actually! Not a narrow win - a marked one.

Looks good to me.

Dolphins, swimming vertically around the periscope as I brought submarine to the surface.

bon3yard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You got me, its a bladerunner quote so Philip K > Dick actually @marmoraman. Knew I recognised it - great book, better film.

bon3yard Wrote: > Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I like the way you slipped this surreal / sci fi reference in. Your own words or Isaac Asimov?

bignumber5 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > To meet Boris ... To meet Ken (which I haven't > done > > A fair trial? Not your usual standard of debate, > MM I know I'm too tired to argue politics today. Try my other thread- it's more fun.

Ant has just reminded me - when I lived in Devon the view, driving westward on the A30 after Exeter when half of Devon seemed to open up below with Bodmin Moor in the distance, just after the Whiddon Down roundabout. In rain or shine it was beautiful. I'll also add London at night - from One Tree Hill.

I've just had a personal call from the manager of More London - apologising for the behaviour of his security staff. There are no rules about sitting on the riverside wall, staff are told to advise people about safety if they are acting unreasonably (drunk on the wall, walking along it, fighting on it, playing on it) which seems fairly sensible. Sitting on the wall in the sunshine with legs "landside" is perfectly OK. Of course this message needs to get thru' to junior security staff in polyester outfits but it was nice to receive a personal apology. Sorry we now have no reason for a sit on demo! We'll have to find another cause.

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Dulce et Decorum est > > The mini Son & Lumiere display of this poem in the Museum at Ypres is very moving. I'd agree it's not perhaps "cool" but it does capture the realities of war - did anyone see pictures (I think in Sunday Times mag recently) of soldiers returning from patrol in Afghanistan - hollow eyed, filthy and tired - not quite "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks" but very close.

I'm tired of political argument - let's try something new. My beautiful things are: Sunset & sunrise at sea - ideally alone The view from the top of an unnamed mountain in Norway that I climbed with a friend in 1974 An iceberg The Aurora Borealis A pub, nestled in a dale beside an old church in Yorkshire, after a long and grueling walk in high summer Kota Kinabalu The Eiger & Mont Blanc (looking not climbing) Mrs MM on wedding day - walking under an arch of swords held up by friends Son no. 1 - playing violin at a wedding Son no. 2 catching his first trout The River Test in May with trout running I may think of others later

lozzyloz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > To meet Boris is to believe he is a genuinely > caring person. > > I'm sure his wife thought differently when she > discovered his affair. > > I've not met either of them but at the end of the > day they're both politicians so not 100% > trustworthy. There's not much between them even if > their ideology is different. > > On drink and drugs: Ken-Likes a Whisky, Boris > prefers Cocaine > On political cohesion: Ken was kicked out off > Labour's National Executive for being radical, > Boris was sacked from the Tory front bench for > lying > On misquotes: Ken misquoted on the 'Nazi' affair > and Boris on the 'Water Melons and Piccannini' > speech > On love life: Ken has kids out of wedlock, Boris > got caught > > The only major difference I can see is that Ken > (who was born and brought up around the corner) > has run London, pretty well IMO and Boris has no > track record and was born in the US and educated > in Brussels. Neat analysis - but I believe Ken has done little for London and, if re-elected, would be for the worse. I'm too tired of this thread to argue - I'm clearly in a minority, so I'll just cast my vote for Boris late tonight and we'll all see in a few months time whether Boris is failing or succeeding. Of course there's a real possibility that the Mayoral position has far less power than Ken claims* and we'll see very little difference at all. * EG: Ken claiming that his policies have attracted business and capital to London - they were here well before Ken and they'll be here long after, unless the ever increasing congestion charges / zones and Labour's Non Dom policy (stolen I'd agree from Conservatives but given an inevitable level of added complexity and bureaucracy by New Labour) drive them out .

Alan Feedlebra Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Boris: Idiot. Simplistic analysis : Narrow thinking

The bakery currently selling bread outside Moxons are supposed to be setting up there - but it's taking a while.

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > But do you think that Borris really gives a toss > about the poor in a city that has 3rd world levels > of social inequality? Yes I really do. To meet Boris is to believe he is a genuinely caring person. To meet Ken (which I haven't done - so this is less certain but what I infer from his own statements, observations and my prejudice) would be to meet a scheming egotist who uses all sections of society to pursue his own ideological ends rather than to serve and support different sections of society.

For reasons I don't quite understand the following information was sent to me - all details from the Land Registry, so accurate but perhaps a 6 / 8 weeks out of date. There's enough variation to give a flavour of real prices in the area. 226a, Friern Road, SE22 0BB - Sold for ?322,000 on 17-03-2008 206, Upland Road, SE22 0DH - Sold for ?863,000 on 12-03-2008 Flat B, 130, Barry Road, SE22 0HW - Sold for ?348,000 on 07-03-2008 42, Hillcourt Road, SE22 0PE - Sold for ?550,000 on 28-02-2008 20a, Barry Road, SE22 0HU - Sold for ?380,000 on 27-02-2008 Flat 161, Ladlands, Overhill Road, SE22 0PW - Sold for ?235,000 on 15-02-2008 Flat C, 122, Barry Road, SE22 0HP - Sold for ?368,000 on 01-02-2008 119, Goodrich Road, SE22 0ER - Sold for ?499,995 on 01-02-2008 Flat 18, 214 Rye Court, Peckham Rye, SE22 0LT - Sold for ?275,000 on 18-01-2008 Flat 1, 218, Dunstans Road, SE22 0ES - Sold for ?175,000 on 17-12-2007