Sue

HeadNun, have you actually read what other people have posted on here? Could you perhaps respond to their points one by one, instead of making generalisations and assumptions? Eg what exactly do you mean by "the true motivations of those who march"? I posted above about why I marched, and I find your wording "true motivations" extremely offensive.

Nor me.

I also want to say that I was horrified to find a detailed description of a particular atrocity in a post on this forum. I go out of my way to avoid seeing or hearing anything like this, for the sake of my mental health, because it stays in my mind for a very long time and causes me great distress. I don't watch or listen to the news. I read it online where I can choose what to read without having something like this suddenly thrust at me before I have the chance to turn it off What exactly did you think you were gaining by posting that on here, HeadNun?

Unbelievably, I got a letter for a medical appointment which had been posted only three days previously 😮 I had told them not to bother sending a letter as it would not arrive for weeks! It has arrived before the date of my appointment at the end of the month! Amazing!

This was already discussed on the thread. As to the comment re "virtue signalling" on a previous post - I'm speechless. Virtue signalling to who? I went on the march because I feel strongly about the issue. I feel strongly about the people equating Hamas with innocent Palestinians who have nothing to do with Hamas. For me, that calls to mind the people who say that those who disagree with the government in Israel are anti Semitic. I don't know much about some aspects of all this. But I feel strongly about thousands of people, including thousands of children, being killed who have nothing to do with all this except that they have the misfortune to be currently living in Palestine. I went on the march to stand up and be counted. There isn't anything else I can do about this terrible situation except to do that. To be part of a gathering of thousands of people calling for a cease fire. To be part of a gathering of thousands of people showing their feelings and views to our (mostly) pathetic politicians. My daughter and her husband came to the march from Oxford. They were there because it was important to them to be there. They weren't "virtue signalling" either. And of course there are many other terrible situations in the world, individual and collective. I can't do something about all of them. Each of us can only do what we can when we are moved to, and a lot of people were moved to show their feelings about the present plight of the people living in Palestine and to try, however faint the hope of being heard, to do something about it.

Bottom end is very near Peckham Rye park and the playground. Top end is near the library and quite near Dulwich Park, also near Lordship Lane buses and the shops at that end of Lordship Lane, eg Sainsbury's Local, a pharmacy etc Buses in Barry Road go to Peckham Rye station, but it would be a bit of a trek to East Dulwich station whichever end you were. Pub at each end - Plough at the top, Clock House at the bottom. Both child friendly so far as I know. Convenience store and small coffee shop in the road, both ok. I would think the main drawback would be that it's a very busy road with traffic and traffic noise. Don't know how noisy it would be in the garden (if you had one). Personally I'd rather be in one of the quieter side roads, especially with children, but I don't know how prices compare. No idea re schools. There's a very large one opposite the Rye, just round the corner from Barry Road.

The food at the Plough must have vastly improved since I last ate there. It was absolutely appalling.

I have voted for some green potential councillors in local elections, but how to vote in a national election is a different kettle of fish, as there are more far-reaching consequences 😪

Probably a better bet would be to make a complaint to Royal Mail centrally, and copy it to Helen Hayes to add to her mass of evidence? I can't see complaining to Peckham making any difference, as it seems to be seriously badly managed, but you could try.

I don't know about that, but they used to do a really tasty and reasonably priced veggie sausage and mash with gravy. The last time we had it, the sausages were small and dry and practically inedible, and the menu had completely changed. Apparently there is a new chef. Who uses a different supplier for the sausages. Don't think we will be eating there again. It was suggested at one time that what became The Cherry Tree would be a good place for a Wetherspoons. I can't now remember whether Wetherspoons actually put in a bid for it, but anyway if they did it obviously didn't happen. Shame! I like Wetherspoonses 😀 Good range of ale at a cheap price 😀 Though they are usually in interesting old buildings, and the previous incarnation of The Cherry Tree, whose name I can't remember, certainly wasn't that 🤣

You could try offering it on Freecycle for spares?

Yes, I've just read that - screenshot attached. I feel very let down by her. I left the Labour Party after Starmer's treatment of Jeremy Corbyn, but I think Helen Hayes has always been an excellent constituency MP, although she was never a supporter of Corbyn. I don't know how to vote now. I suppose Green.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/15/commons-gaza-vote-labour-defy-starmer-ceasefire-israel?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other Yep - I was just about to post the same. I had been intending to write to her.

🙄

We were at the march. All we saw was peaceful and friendly. Everyone, at least around us, seemed to be there to call for an immediate cease fire. There were chants against Netanyahu, Sunak and Starmer, all unsurprising and all deserved, in my opinion. However there appeared to be a real failure of communication on the part of the police. Having joined the march at Park Lane, we eventually got to Vauxhall Bridge to find it had been closed off. There were a large number of police there, but none of them seemed to be doing anything, and nor were they advising people to turn back or directing them in any particular direction. In any case some of the side roads were closed off by police We heard variously (not from the police) that the bridge closure was due to too many people on the other side of the bridge (what had they expected, FFS) and/or due to anticipated problems with a large group of right wing thugs who were approaching on that side. Anyway, whatever was the reason, nobody (police nor stewards) was telling people coming down Vauxhall Bridge Road towards the bridge that the bridge was closed. So there were still large crowds of people approaching quite fast, with nowhere to go. We thought that this situation could become quite dangerous, so we decided to call it a day and just to head back towards Victoria. When we came to a group of police at the Victoria end of Vauxhall Bridge Road, I asked why nobody was telling people that the bridge was closed and directing them elsewhere to avoid a massive build up at the entrance to the bridge. Unbelievably, they did not know that the bridge had been closed 😮 So they then took steps to find out what was happening - at the other end of the road they were on 😮

There's a Best Western hotel in Peckham.

I can second this recommendation. https://www.trooneyheating.co.uk/about