DJKillaQueen

I do own a pair of overalls........anyway moving swiftly on............!

Anything that glorifies the use of violence, weapons, and so on is irresponsible imo.

HA HA good one Hal :)) ........without Jennifer Tilly in tow of course!

PK you are referring to the Bow group survey (did you read the telegraph for that one?). Even that report, and it's one of many, shows that more than half of working class black boys can not read and write properly by the age of 14, some 54% of them, and the same can be said for white boys at 63%. Other reports show the difference to be the other way round but just as close. Both are shocking stats and shouldn't be so high. When you have that many poorly achieving boys (from lower socio-economic groups) who can not read and write properly you are bound to get problems elsewhere. There is absolutely nothing wrong in highlighting that and nor is it racist to do so. My interest is only that ALL schoolchildren, black or white, leave school equiped for life as productive members of society. But how can any of us have that conversation if we can't tell it like it is.

And not everyone on this thread had been racist either, or inferred that only teenage black males commit knife crime. Invaiably though, the moment anyone tries to talk about 'culture' there are going to be references drawn on ethnic, or national or gender based lines even. It's complex.

As rightly pointed out, a child doesn't just wake one day and start carrying a knife and be prepared to use it, or worse still a gun. Something has already gone very wrong in that child's environment beforehand (whatever it may be) to get to that. Lot's of energy has been put into trying to pursuade children not to carry knives and take drugs etc and all the other ills that can lead to trouble......but too many are taking no notice. Something that is a fact is that there is a problem with the education of teenage black boys in schools (accross the board). They have the lowest levels of achievemnt and highest levels of illiteracy (usually because of truancy). It is a fully recognised problem area, not just for boys of particular ethnic origin but boys as a whole. The problem is even more acute in America and Canada. A lot of things are being tried to address this but imo this has a direct correlation to what is then happening in our communities. To pretend otherwise is going to do nothing for those most affected.

PS It was only a few days ago that I overheard my neighbour talking about what a great bargain he'd got (false teeth btw) on the "big, fat, feckin' East Dulwich Forum" ... That is the best post of today so far....made me chuckle.....!

LOL Loz..... It's probably just limed up, after years of not being turned. It's possible to remove the spindle by turning the gland nut anti-clockwise) and try and clean it but you need to be able to shut the supply off leading to it. If you can't turn it off elsewhere you can use a pipe freezing kit (costs about a tenner from screwfix). That'll freeze the inlet supply for about 30 mins giving you time to dismantle the stop tap and see if it can be cleaned to work.

KK is right. DIY is not rocket science.....just patience and the right tools. Taps are notorious for seizing is they haven't been turned in a while. You'll get there. If you are changing taps - you might want to put a couple of isolation valves under the sink running up to them anyway (standard now in plumbing refits). They are easy to fit and mean if you ever need to repair the taps you can just turn off the water there.

lol...ewwww........:))

It's possible but unlikely. All you are doing with the basin wrench is trying to turn the tap with extra leverage. It will turn eventually but the idea of heating the tap is to loosen anything that is seizing the thread. You can try oil and wd40 but they won't really get into the thread unless it turns. I'd persavere with the hairdryer and wrench. It will turn eventually.

Check East Dulwich Raod too....there's at least one there.

I know a witness penguin who was on the bus and saw everything in relation to that attack....and more importantly knows what the ethnic origin of the attackers (and there were lot's of them) were. That in itself may not be significant or simply reinforces an 'assumed' stereotype, but a group of teenagers/ young men mob handedly murdering someone is something that can be explored from a human perspective. It's an inexcusable act of aggression no matter who carries it out and as a society we need to have better ways of discouraging some young people from engaging in voilence as a solution to everything.

There's no question it is a complicated issue and involves controversial aspects with redards to culture, nationality, ethnicity and so on (mainly because of the socio economic groups those affected sterotypes tend to be found in) and I have to agree that in order to combat anything we have to look at the cold hard facts instead of pretending it isn't any other way. Culture is not something that evolves overnight and similarly it takes time and lot of intervention to correct or change. Gang violence is also nothing new. Have we forgotton the organised punch ups between rival football fans in the 70's and 80's for example, or the mods and rockers of the 60's......all English born and bred. Parenting is definitely important but we now have a situation where parents have lost many rights to discipline their children. Many young people have no respect or fear of adults, even for those in authority, like parents, teachers and Police and they all know their rights. In reality....it is actaully very difficult to do anything about unruly children and many parents just give up. And children who do get into criminal activity have to commit hundreds of burgaries etc before they lose any real freedom. The truth is that for the majority of young people that behave anti-socially....they get away with it.

I wouldn't hit it directly with a hammer......use something like a basin wrench and try turning it with that, wedging the tap head in the wrench gives extra leverage to put weight on. If you hit it with a hammer you risk breaking the tap altogether or cracking any solder...never a good idea and especially not when it's your main stop tap to the house!

That is a very good point. Many of those working in poverty are paid by the day and whether they eat or not on any given day depends on whether they can get work. The saddest cases are orphaned or abandoned children, living on the streets, either begging or scavenging on other people's rubbish.

Thank you giving me a view from my sick bed......and costing me nothing lol.....!

Gently warm the tap with a hairdryer and see if that will shift it. Also, when you open the taps up again, turn them back a quarter turn once opened (helps to stop them seizing in future.

Wow...what a great view!

It won't be gas if it's thinner but it may be an old rising mains pipe if you have or had a tank in your loft.

It actually says scribe, that a driver can ask for a deposit if he is asked to wait at a destination. It says nothing about asking for deposits up front. So it seems that the journey was less than six miles, and couldn't be refused and that no deposit could be asked for in this instance. © If a driver carries a hirer to a certain place and the hirer asks the driver to wait, the driver may ask for his fare for driving there and ask also for a deposit against the waiting time. After accepting such a deposit, the driver shall not drive away without the consent of the hirer. (Section 57 Town Police Clauses Act 1847).

Go to the southwark website and look up the boundaries for ED ward.....it includes Peckham Rye on the west side ofthe park.

It's a good question H and the website is equally vague. What is the point of any demonstration if the cause isn't clear and forms no sensible debate (including proposed alternative options)? Governments have to make decisions, but where those decisions are one set of choices over another a well organised campaign and lobbying can alter the choices they make over others. In other words...it's about the detail. This demonstration isn't doing any of that. It's simply an act of saying 'we are not happy with cuts per se'. It will mean nothing to those with the power to affect any change.

It says on that site that if the fare is moer than six miles they can refuse it but not if they take the fare from a taxi rank. I think (but may be wrong) that Peckham Rye is eight miles so if you flagged him down then he can refuse the fare but if he was at a taxi rank then not.

Even organising community and voluntary work has a cost to it. Materials, transport etc still have to be paid for. Who will pay for that? After all, the work that needs doing is work that no-one can afford to finance often.