civilservant

Agree with LondonMix that continental Europe is a better comparator than the US. Having experience of both continental European and British maternity services, I would also agree that NHS maternity services are not in any way exceptional. The views of her non-British EU colleagues would also be affected by the apparent UK preference for midwife-led care - this is not gold standard in most other countries, where women would opt for obstetrician-led care if they can afford it.

Regency cafe Horseferry road - this and more at http://www.greasy-spoon-cafes.zoomshare.com/14.html (this thread probably not the best place to mention today's news about the impact of caff-culture on British health outcomes http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21654536)

once upon a time, a kind mum/wife/aunt/other could have 'turned' the collar for you - the only problem was that the buttonhole then ended upon the 'wrong' side http://unboughtdelicacies.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/how-to-turn-collar.html if you haven't got a friend or relation with the required skills (and few do these days, alas) or if you're too shy to wear turned collars, then suggest you do what esme said

>an absolute paradigm of non-toxic comfort food You're taking this Huguenot-baiting thing really seriously aren't you?:-)

oops I forgot the big one! Cyril Smith

Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Canon rather than cannon. > yep, it's canon of course, but it can also mean a set of standard works e.g. literary canon - hence, by extension, WM's 'recipe canon' to avoid straying off-topic here's an 'iconic' quick recipe for dal: wash one cup of red lentils - make sure the water runs clear to avoid too much of the scummy stuff forming on top chop an onion, some green chillies, garlic and ginger (how much? as much as you fancy) optional - chop up any old veg in the fridge and add put it all in a saucepan with 3 cups water add half a teaspoon of turmeric and any or all of ground-up peppercorns/tomato paste/ground cumin/ground coriander boil for about 15-20 minutes - when you're satisfied that the dal is done, add salt to taste ultimate comfort food when teamed with rice/nan/chapatis and hot pickles

Liberals have always been a rum lot - Clegg pales into insignificance before the likes of Jeremy Thorpe and Lloyd George

Not surprising - I've heard it said that a very high proportion of Russian words are loanwords, mostly from French but also many from English. Some examples here http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Russian/Loanwords

the main hedgehog predator is the badger, but I agree foxes may also pose a (lesser) threat. A contact at the BHPS told me that the main threat to hedgehogs is habitat fragmentation, with roads and garden fences making it difficult for the poor little dim creatures to get about safely. It's a testament to the versatility of the fox (and the rat) that they have managed to adapt and survive the same threats. Aquarius Moon, I know that you are a very kind person and I don't want you to feel that I'm having a go at you, but I think that - like teaching children to manage/avoid the dangers they will encounter in life - we need to ensure that the wild things around us don't run more risks than they absolutely must, one of which is learning to trust humans.

If I didn't have a dog, I might consider a rat or two as pets - I've heard that they make good companions. They're also pretty intelligent. I posted on another thread about some recent research into altruism involving rats that was reported in Science and Scientific American - this involved putting trained rats in the vicinity of a couple of cages, one of which contained a stranger rat and the other contained chocolate. The researchers found that the rats would start by releasing the imprisoned rats, then move on to release the chocolate, and finally share the chocolate with the newly released rat! (Just think how much nicer ED would be if it were populated by rats!)

I'm afraid that I have to agree with Working Mummy. Everything I have read about the fox population in London suggests that a lack of food is not the problem - the problem is working out how to co-exist with humans. Feeding them unfortunately helps them develop not just a culture of dependence but also to lose their fear of humans - which works against their interests in the long term, since the balance of power when they come up against humans is firmly weighted against them

so a liberal pope who appeals to the dwindling numbers of the Western faithful or a conservative African pope to buttress the Faith in the developing world... I'd say that the conclave faces a bit of a dilemma

'dimbo' not 'bimbo'

I think I understand now what you're trying to say, LB But am still perplexed about many things - why you think this young woman is more worth getting het up about than all the other (nameless and un-reported) women who make up the murder and rape stats in SA - or in this country for that matter? How do you know that she was 'bright and talented'? Why should that make her more noteworthy - shouldn't she get equal attention if she was a dimbo? She gets on the front page because a. she was linked to Pistorius, b. Pistorius is newsworthy and c. she looked good in a bikini. Just as Prince Harry's sillinesses make the news because he is the Queen's grandson. End of story. Not worth being beastly to TED for.

WorkingMummy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > They saw us as intruders onto > their territory and frequently showed their teeth. WorkingMummy, I wonder whether you are aware of the irony in your account of the fate of the fox family that denned in your garden. Foxes den only when they are rearing cubs. The unusual ferocity was due no doubt to a female (as well as her mate and possibly her cubs from a previous litter - the extended fox family http://www.thefoxwebsite.org/ecology/ecologylifecycle.html) attempting to guard the new litter against the threat that you presented. Ultimately, your family's needs won out over the vixen's family, in the way that most human-animal interactions do.

or "Reeva who?" to anyone outside SA the only reason why her death becomes international front-page news is because she is/was "Oscar Pistorius's Girlfriend"

like SophieScarlett and DJKQ, I wondered how the fox got into a tiny baby's room in the middle of winter without anyone noticing - obviously more to this story than has been reported For the tally-ho cull-o-philes, here are some facts and figures from that fox-o-philic rag that we all love to hate http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/shortcuts/2013/feb/11/urban-foxes-fact-fiction

"Aging is the process during which microbes and enzymes act upon the meat to help break down the connective tissue, for the sake of making the aforementioned meat object more tender." Even in the US, beef and most red meat is aged - although maybe not for 21 days - as ageing increases flavour and digestibility. I understand that instead of dry-aging or hanging which is the European way, they stick their beef in a plastic bag while ageing to keep the moisture in.

hear hear DJKQ!

Great pic, which is somehow more satisfying to look at than the Google maps views. ED itself looks densely built-up, a sort of human ant-heap, not very green at all. The green bits seem to belong to Peckham (the Rye) or to DV.

The British hedgehog population is in serious trouble - they are now officially an endangered species with some forecasts suggesting that they'll be extinct in this country by 2025 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2006/jan/17/g2.ruralaffairs. The Hedgehog Hibernation Survey has just been launched to try to understand the decline, which gives me an excuse to post some appealing hog pics from the BBC to mark the event - http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21249195 What ED lacks is hedgehogs, so it's likely that none of us in ED is going to be able to contribute to the survey. However, here's a link to things we CAN do to help http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/pages/hedgehog-campaign.html and a link to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society Facebook page here - http://www.facebook.com/pages/British-Hedgehog-Preservation-Society/273196350835 (thanks, Sue!)

Yes, with a baby bulge

Southwark is a smoke-free zone and the council website says Domestic smoke - The recent trend for open fireplaces has raised the issue of domestic smoke. Southwark is a Smoke Control Area. This means that coal, wood and oil cannot be burned in Southwark unless a) they can be burned without producing smoke i.e. using smokeless fuels, or b) you have an 'exempted fireplace'. You can download a list of approved smokeless fuels and exempted fireplaces. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/downloads/download/1992/approved_smokeless_fuels_and_exempted_fireplaces I suspect this means that outdoor pizza-baking or squirrel-cooking will be frowned upon unless you do it smokeless-ly... Sorry, Nette!

LM are you involved in the Lewisham proposals? You sound very knowledgeable about them

> a particularly and uniquely offensive word. he does it on purpose for sure - it's literally the last word in the screenplay!