Marmora Man

Helena - particularly when it's Plymouth with angastura bitters and no ice - the classic pink gin.

Ah, the old "alcohol as as a disinfectant" approach. I tend to use this with great success in the winter - a glass of good Scotch disinfects the upper throat, keeping colds and coughs at bay - or alternatively contributing to curing colds & coughs. It's a multi functional excuse to drink good Scotch.

Is it safe to drink Pimms with cucumber slices? This could seriously affect my summer bar b q's.

That's brilliant - the house at the right hand end could even be mine! Do you have any details of where it was taken from? The topography might idicate it's from Brenchley Gardens looking down and roughly north.

The houses on Marmora Road were all built toward the end of the 19th century. This means that there will have been at least four and perhaps 6 or even 7 generations of occupants for each house. I'd be interested in finding out more about my house - I understand there are websites and other agencies that can help but can't seem to locate them via google. I therefore throw myself on the EDF for advice and guidance - how best to do this??

Strafar - You're probably right, exchanging e-mail addresses is what I've been doing. The server issues is, I suppose, a problem of success.

Frankito, nearest CV is on Chancery Lane - so a bit of a walk. If we're talking small chains tho' shouldn't forget Monmouth Coffee House's - again usually very high quality. Around ED - I only drink expresso in my own kitchen - otherwise filter coffee from Blue Mountain, Luca's and Green & Blue is usally OK.

Caffe Vergano is a small chain (3 outlets in London). Provides the best expresso I've drunk outside of Rome. Beats any other chain - including Neros into a cocked hat. The coffee machine they use is a fantastic piece of machinery, cross between functional design with brass "Heath Robinson" elements to it. Worth a visit to look at this alone. I tend to use the Charing Cross branch.

There have been occasions when I'd like to attach a picture or document to a Private Message - but cannot see a way to do this. a. Is it possible? b. If not, is it a facility that could be added?

TT3 - time will tell. Your cut and paste job is neither surprising nor any more accurate a forecast of the future economy than any onne of thousands available from various financial pundits. On balance I believe the Coalition's approach remains correct and will be validated over time. You have certainly not made any case for the title of your thread - the Conservatives are not broken and the idea that they are "loving this" is some kind of strange left wing fantasy based on an unreal caricature of the Conservative party.

Love: Marmite, Malt Whisky & novels of Patrick O'Brian Hate: Petty minded bureaucrats, taxes & boiled tripe

James Barber Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > MarmoraMan could you design a residents survey to > test the waters on potential options? > I'll hapilly print and help deliver if you need a > hand. Will give this some thought and get back to you - designing and delivering are not, necessarily, much of a problem. Achieving a sufficient return needs a pre-paid envelope and / or a second round of leafleters to collect responses or a web based survey. The former has a low response rate, if we got more than 10% - 15% I\'d be very surprised - the latter depends on access to the internet and the demographics for the area would mean disenfranchising maybe 40% of residents? If you / the council can help with collating results then this is a runner.

henryb Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > I would suggest that we simply close Scutari > Road > > at the junction of Mundania Road, so that all > of > > our roads on this wonderful 'estate' become > > 'residential access' only. I did propose this > when > > the council was planning the speed bumps and > went > > into consultation with residents a few years > ago. > > The problem with this is it would just shift the > problem onto Shelbury/Dovedale and the end of > Mundania - certainly not welcome. To shut off the > rat run you would have to block off all three. Henry B - I don't think it would shift the problem. Shelbury / Dovedale are, effectively, self policing in that they are relatively narrow, unlike Scutari & Marmora. So drivers would rapidly appreciate that trying to "rat run" would lose them time rather than gain it. EG: 1. If turning off Peckham Rye / Cheltenham Road into Homestall & Colyton today a driver can turn left onto a wide and clear Scutari, right onto a wide and clear Marmora and left back onto Forest Hill Road without encountering traffic lights or have to manoeuvre around parked cars or squeeze through narrow roads. 2. To achieve the same via Shelbury & Dovedale they would have to make two further turns, one left off Shelbury (or Dovedale) onto Mundania and then right onto Scutari. The Shelbury (or Dovedale) & Mundania roads are not easy to drive through due to parking on both sides and effective narrowing of the roads.

I would support this option. Is it worth a local poll to determine support - I would be happy to help leaflet all the houses in the immediate area Marmora / Scutari / Therapia / Mundania / Shelbury / Dovedale / Homestall & Colyton - but we would need help to collate replies and then lobby the council to make it happen.

She: Is my cleavage a bit too much in this dress? He: Do you have a hairy chest? She: No He: In that case your cleavage is a bit too much.

TT3 "vast majority of the country" - your logic remains flawed. Even if you are speaking for that 500,000, which I doubt, that figure represents less 1% of the entire country, albeit a slightly larger majority of the voting population.

I think you confuse your small group of like minded friends for the "vast majority"

Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I should have thought that the only people who > don't like the word 'Europhile' are 'Europhobes'. > > I haven't come across any association between > 'europhile' and idiocy, and even if there were I > wouldn't let the cynics win by trying to make > their prejudice come true. I'm a europhile and I'm > proud. > > As for the wishes of some europoliticians wanting > a tramway to an sovereign Europe, I don't really > see the relevance. They can want whatever they > want to want. Doesn't mean they'll get it. The BNP > want a white Britain, but they won't get it. > > The fact is that the European institutions > portrayed by europhobes don't exist. I haven't succumbed to Daily Mail "itis" about the institutions an won't rise to that bait. However, it is hard to argue that there hasn't been a steady move toward a United States of Europe since the early days of the six nation European Coal and Steel Confederation in the 50s to today's single currency 27 state (with four more candidate countries including Turkey) European Union. The idea that it is "some" European politicians seeking ever closer union is weak - it is the majority. You're trying to underplay the momentum they generate. Drawing comparisons with the political progress of the BNP is either careless or wicked - their progress or, more accurately, lack of progress toward their aims - which we would all applaud, is hardly a sound political parallel.

Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > James Barber Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > > > Harris Boys has absolutely no thoughts about changing to coed > Hearng about the Harris federation confirmed my understanding that they are now bigger than many education authorities > > Oh what a shame that they are not subject to the same democratic process as a Local Education Authority, and the coalition govt is determined to lay waste to our education system till the majority of our schools are overseen by the> private sector and the unelected. Did you not read the full post? That last sentence sums up why academies and other non LEA related schools can perform better - focus on what's important, teacher performance - something local authorities have been abysmally poor at (reportedly less than 25 teachers have been dismissed for poor performance over 25 years across UK - given that I can identify at least one in every school my children have been to this is a ridiculously low figure) and controlling costs to get best value.

StraferJack Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- But do you believe the EU is pushing much further than that? I know proposals get mooted... Such is the nature. But strategically you believe it is pushing much further? Yes - very much so. If you listen to the central bureaucrats, aspiring European politicians, the European parliament and other spokespersons there is a view that the EU is on a moving, "progressive" tramway toward an inevitable destination of a fully integrated entity with a single financial and political settlement. There is no sense that there is any agreement to settle for the here and now. I can be persuaded that, over time, there may well be increased integration but it is not something that should be forced by an artificial and accelerated timetable. National integration should take place gradually over timescales measured in generations, not a few short years.

StraferJack Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- It's perfectly possible to live unfettered under a "rigid umbrella" tho. Again, look to citizens of the us The US is scarcely a rigid umbrella - they take the boundaries of federal responsibility and authority very seriously - and tend to resent Washington DC centrally imposed regulation.

Because, Hugenot, as you know very well all words carry meanings and baggage over and above the strict interpretation of their origins / roots. Europhile has become a word associated with unthinking Euro enthusiasts - hence the smear that it carries. I doubt you would line yourself up with the unthinking. Like ??? and Strafer Jack - I can live with where we are - I'd prefer it to be more federal, trading partnership than a grandious programme for inevitable political, financial and cultural union that some Euro enthusiasts appear to want. However, if it stops in the here and now I wouldn't eek to reverse, very, much of what's currently in place. I will argue against further and deeper integration - not because Britain does it better - or Italy does it worse but because I prefer smaller, decentralised, less bureaucratic, more personalised, more free minded, more flexible and less statist arrangements. I mix and meet with many people from all levels of society and from many different countries - most prefer to be left to get on with things at their own pace in their own way. Sure, they like to know that society will look after them if things get tough, but few are asking or seeking to live under a huge rigid umbrella of European state with pettifogging rules on nahviour and actions.

Ted Max Wrote re Top 50: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have read 25 of those. Looks quite US-focussed. Ditto and ditto. My bookshelves hold - all Patrick O Brian novels, all John Le Carre, some Wodehouse, lots of Graham Greene, some William Golding, temporarily held - lots of airport thrillers, police procedurals etc - these come and go to / from charity shops, some John Fowles (quite 70s - not for today's reader but the Magus is fun as is French Lieutenant's Woman), masses of military history & biography, travel book, walking guides, maps, way too many bibles for an atheist - but better to know thine enemy, political biography (but NOT Blair's Journey).

For more on Europe see Europe, Euroscepticism & the Big State

Transferred from the "Ken Clarke" thread to avoid confusion. In theory no - but the reality is that the integrated and consolidated Europe on offer is the petty, bureaucratic, detail obsessed big state the consequences of which we all are having to learn to live with. Something I do not want. Ken Clarke's sensible and generally balanced political views have ignored the reality of life in Europe in favour of the theoretical utopia that political fantasists and dreamers insist will, one day, come about.