civilservant

my challenge not aimed at you, rh. thanks also for looking up the stats! re loz's posts - yes, maybe men are arrested/convicted/sentenced/jailed more frequently than women, but this thread is about racial/ethnic disproportion. gender disproportion is a whole different kettle of fish, and yes, women are jailed less frequently than men, but if you're so keen on exploring that, we can start a dedicated thread disproportionate prison numbers - I wasn't intending to compare directly with BLM. but I was pointing out that we have enough issues in this country to build a case about racial disproportion. but fortunately not as stark as in the US

oh dear! that was one lucky fox cub - well done you!

I understand the reluctance to jump on the BLM band-wagon, but we need to look at the UK figures before getting too complacent According to the Prison Reform Trust, "Out of the British national prison population, 10% are black and 6% are Asian. For black Britons this is significantly higher than the 2.8% of the general population they represent. (...) According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, there is now greater disproportionality in the number of black people in prisons in the UK than in the United States." I'm sure that I can find the figures about UK racial disproportionality in toughness of sentencing if you ask nicely. so if we want to craft our own band-wagon, there's plenty of material from which to build it. the question is, do you want to, or is this thread just a convenient stick with which to beat the 'political correct'?

a strong and definite no from me too to glue traps - they are appallingly cruel

I did and have (in Dulwich Park as it happens!!!) just need to get on my bike again!

now you mention it, me neither. I hope they're ok. We did hear a couple carousing in the wee hours last week, though. they woke up my daughter - she was petrified!

thanks, that's what I thought you were asking for, but it seems to have blown up into Kennedy v Khrushchev! good luck to your wife - I can sympathise from being in a similar situation. I do hope she's soon confident enough to venture onto the street!

rendelharris, a pity that your polite request has spawned war, but as a timid cyclist myself, I wouldn't choose a park to practice my moves, and I especially wouldn't expect special attention from grown-ups in a park, let alone children and dogs the park-user hierarchy is the exact inverse of the hierarchy of road users - parks are the only public apace where children and dogs can hope to have priority of use, and be able to run around freely and safely off lead, so long as they are not actively being a nuisance. surely you can't disagree with that? I agree with the other posters - just as pedestrians and dogs and children have to look out and defer to cyclists on the road, it's up to you (or your wife) as a cyclist to do the looking out in the park, not the other way round!

it's not about being able to control one's dog or not - it's yet another hazard for people in charge of dogs (or children or any other beings with more energy than sense) to worry about. perhaps the gates could be fitted with self-closers. while we're on the subject, a gate at the corner of East Dulwich Road and Adys Road would be good too.

i sat in on a case conference today at a GP surgery offering services to the homeless - one of the cases they discussed was a Polish builder. He'd been given a good kicking the day after the referendum, sustained three broken ribs, a pneumothorax and other injuries, hence unable to work and homeless ever since. this happened in Central London. makes one proud to be British...

Robert Poste's Child Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I just finished crocheting a bag. No English word > for crochet. actually there is - it's "hooking"...

edcam Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > All set up by Vine. agree but as for the return of Boris, he really is damaged goods this time - there will not be any forgiveness for the disasters that he has brought onto his party and the country as a whole

it takes a lot of courage to post as you did above, Louisa - we need to stop recriminations among us voters and look ahead to work out what can be salvaged. but we can feel justified in our anger against the political classes - from Remainers for the complacency and lacklustre campaigning and from Brexiters for being fed a pack of self-serving lies.

good luck - let me know if i can help, and who knows, i might ask yours instead!

DF, Louisa, et al are convenient local scapegoats - i know they love being contrary, but its not worth beating them up. i'm sure that I'd also have an up-yours reaction if loads of EDF posters started wagging their fingers at me in a blaming sort of way the point is that they are just the local reps of the more than 17 millon people out there who voted Out; the Remain campaign and supprters were unable to find a water-tight and convincing argument to subvert the up-yours vote, which is what we've ended up with. petitions aren't going to help. democracy has spoken and there's nothing we in the minority can or should do now. an object lesson in why there are so few referenda, except in places like Switzerland, another 'Out' paradise which however has the advantage of being smack in the middle of Europe. this is why there are ever more elaborate voting systems being continually dreamed up, to ensure that the final result is representative and workable. bloody depressing. yesterday, grown men and women were in tears where i work, and not with tears of joy at being 'back in control' nothing we can do until a new Prime Minister is found - resigning was the best thing Cameron did, rather than limping on as a lame duck. anything that we do in the mean time is just marking time. and something else to hope for is that Osborne also calls it a day and hands over to someone less hung-up on the benefits of austerity

WM - a great post on the other thread i am sorry that i don't have an answer to your question, but as i said before many in my immediate family are in exactly the same situation. this applies to loads more people, and will be a real issue for whoever takes over from Cameron (and Corbyn). Farage's wretched mob and their allies and supporters chose to paint them as scroungers and burdens, but they are irreplaceable within this country's economy for all sorts of reasons - this is the unpalatable (to them) truth that the Brexiters will have to face up to. so any future plans for EU residents will have to factor these economic realities in. we are going to go through hard times and we can ill afford to lose skilled and committed and well-integrated people. i expect that there will laso be a lot of legal challenge to any attempt to shift people, which will slow the process down. i would say hang on and see what transpires, and don't lose heart! that's what we plan to do.

I think you are right, Penguin, but clearly the stipulation that Siduhe mentions is no longer necessary to get planning permission for new builds in Southwark - the aim seems to be to encourage development at any cost, and environmental concerns are dropping down the priority scale I wonder too how many of these expensive new houses and flats will find buyers in the post-referendum economic climate, and how many are fated to be the HMOs and tenements of the future

I ran into a canvasser at 8pm as I was on my way to vote who told me that he was worried about the turnout it couldn't motivate to vote me more than I was already, but it got me to the polling station that little bit quicker previously we saw a few leafleters on NxRd market and Lordship Lane, had a few leaflets through our letterbox - on Crystal Palace Road - but no doorstep campaigning. would it have made a difference? perhaps...

these are all high-end new developments - on Lordship Lane and Crystal Palace Road - so they have had to go through the planning process. from what I can see, the surface coverings look non-permeable, mostly concrete tile hard standing and another concern is the lack of off-street parking for most of these developments - I'm doubtful that their future owners would be full-time cyclists or users of public transport!

> Someone will be accountable and we can vote them > out. like you managed to vote them out last time? get a grip, Foxy

why all this talk of separatism and wall-building? that's the province of the Out-ers. the EU was (is) about bringing down borders and allowing free movement and free trade. People like these for themselves but not for others - it was a selfish vote. so sorry to hear about your predicament, Working Mummy. there are many paradoxes - I've also got several European in-laws with British families who live and work and pay taxes in this country who weren't able to vote, unlike UK expats who could and may have even voted 'Out'. we can only wait and see how things work out for them and their families.

yes, Louisa, I agree but the point about the EU was that it was a dream of a better world - utopia in Europe - and part of the project was taking from richer countries and spreading it out a bit to poorer areas. that's why I think Project Fear and the unrelenting focus on the markets was so wrong. a lot of the people who voted Out live in communities that actually gained as a result of EU membership - the money that was sent to Brussels was divvied up and some of it went to Poland and Portugal and Romania, but some of it came back home again, to Sunderland and Suffolk. I'm waiting to see how much of the savings are now diverted to the NHS as opposed to tax cuts prior to the next election. Angela Merkel welcoming in refugees was an example of a brave act in support of that utopian dream. The sad thing is that people felt that a. Merkel was wrong and b. that there was less to go around for themselves as a result and please don't get me started on Corbyn and the Labour party...