malumbu

Sorry if this has been raised before. I am on the TPS which screens out the big companies cold calling. I of course still have several a week on my mobile and landline - fake accidents and that mortgage protection thingy being the main one. In the past I tried to report dodgy calls but felt nothing was then done. The focus of many fraudsters ten years ago was to get you onto premium lines. Perhaps this is less common now. But I was struck by two recent, very friendly calls, from British call centres with geographical numbers about my supposed recent accident. I advised the latter one to get a job where they were not deceiving people, but oddly they put the phone down. This is not a nusiance call, this is encouraging someone to commit fraud. That is surely a criminal act. I doubt whether the police would take an action but before I make enquiries from my quite knowledgable network any views out there?

I don't understand stuff like FB where people 'like' postings, or Twitter. But I do like JoelLeg's above post.

A brilliant ITV sitcom "mum" "waht" "its the Dustbin men" Dududududu dududududududududu dududduddudududududduddudud du.... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159868/ Full of great British actors, not sure if there ia a DVD box set

Well what an exciting few days. Farage in the Speaker in Westminster (pub) Now two Lords in a row, one giving an argument for staying in (this was specific to the event I attended, rather than a Euro debate). Then one arguing in a private conversation out. A chap I was with explained that regarding the said issue that as this was an international agreement (a) we wouldn't have any influence from outside the EU and (b) the internal market for this sort of product was too small (and we stopped manufacturing years ago in any case). The Lord's view was mainly about Sovereignty, fair enough. Apbremer - a must amusing post by the way. You've either been spending too much time South of Penge or I expect are being rather witty - which may have had the desired effect. John Cooper Clarke - a twiddly dee a twiddle dum, the day they brought back hanging for everyone (and you never see a nipple in the Daily Express) coupled with a bit of Atilla the Stockbroker - Libyan Students from Hell The subject matter was very narrow, and as said the Euro angle whilst relevant was incidental. And last night, again with Europe not the subject, we discussed the rather poor 'in' leaflet which seeemed to be about reduced mobile roaming - a pretty trivial thing in the great scheme of things, and studying/working in Europe. Not the substantive stuff that is generally debated here. A shame because the leaflet is rather playing to the common denominator and rather patronising/simplistic.

hmmm. Does an ex pat allow you to be racist, homophobic etc? Based on my sample of two out of three of the Kiwi's I've known well. And according to the Grauniad only white people can be ex pats. I thought it was all rather colonial anyway - Brits moving to the areas of the globe formally coloured in pink. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/13/white-people-expats-immigrants-migration

Umhh is this a polic matter? Fraud? Seems to me that this goes beyond a civil contractual issue. I had a similar experience with a very well known local builder. The project manager was English but spent all the time on the phone as he was going through a divorce. The Latvian builders were fine but complained that the person being paid twice as much was not doing what he shoud be doing. Needless to say mistakes were made and I wont be using this very well know builder again. There was some rectification but not satisfactory. Breaking my rules on going off at a tangent so please stick to my first two lines!

Thought that this was a site where there could be good debate rather than a mutual appeciation society. Why has nobody posted about national service yet, and bringing back the birch. And why has my thread been hijacked?

A fad Style over substance Bring back chicken in a basket What a strange thread

Wow this thread runs off at interesting tangents. So I guess many of you posing have many years experience in the job market. I've asked my son whether they have lathes at school. What is a lathe he asked? We had loads, and woodworking tools. That was then. There is no manufacturing industry now where I am from. My father thought that I should get a good aprenticehsip, and perhaps become a tool maker. Tools aren'd made by skilled craftspeople any more, they are done by computer (CAD) and even then there is little call for this particular skill nowadays. This wasn't labour failing to train up the working class. It was the general change in society, the move away from manufacturing and the like. Successive governments not a Labour party conspiracy. And the other thing we dreamed of was shorter working weeks. Which was sort of happening but seems to have gone horribly in reverse, which I can't really understand (and shorter working weeks in our neighbouring countries, who manage to be more productive. None of the above seems to involve immigrants as far as I am aware. Oh they are taking our jobs by working longer? They are taking our jobs by being better trained?

I went to Wetherspoons in Bromley South one Friday night. The gene pool was pretty restricted as all the young blokes were about 5'7" tall. It was one hell of a meat market but on the positive side the youngsters weren't bothered by a group of middle aged men drinking in the corner. Now in North Kent there would have been a few threatening stares. My kids also joke about the Bromley haircut which they think is about ten years out of date. And how boring Beckehham and West Wickham are. Which they are. Am I being xenophobic, racist or what? Back to North Kent for some reason I was looking at a Gillingham FC fan website once and they were discussing homophobic chants against Brighton, in retaliation for the Shitehawks calling the Gills Pikeys. Ah what a lovely tolerent society we live in. See my immigrants thread.

Interesting debate with thankfully only a few rabid contributors. Most excellent, Blah Blah. So two things happened to me this week. Firstly I started this thread before Question Time and I knew that this would be the big issue. I was disappointed but not surprised that there was a big anti-immigrant sentiment amongst the audience. Secondly a 'mate' from an outer borough told a joke within earshot. What is the similarlity between sperm and immigrants. You get millions of each but only one works. It wasn't even funny forty years ago when manuy of us indulged in sexist and racist jokes (think Irish for many of us). The irony of the situation was that this was a badminton match with two or our team immigrants (Iran and NZ - the Kiwi is proabably the most racist/homophobic of the lot of us) plaing a team with three brown people. Two of whom were recent immigrants, in high end jobs, from India. So forty years ago it would have been six white vs six white. But now chappy lives in a much more intigrated and multiracial world yet still sounds like he is from the 60s or 70s. "Oh Malumbu doesn't like these sorts of jokes" Malumbu replies "you know what you are". Sadly my experience of Bromley is that this is common behaviour and if Bromley is representative of middle England we really are screwed when the vote swings to exit due to xenophobia. Back to the thread, FFS we are the class/generation who want things at rock bottom prices, which of coures means low wages for those prepared to take them. One could take a stand and pay more. But then as the thread debates would be unlikely to get better quality. Like an episode of Family Guy when they insist that everything is made in the USA, and it is all faulty. Except my brilliant British made HiFi of course

My apologies if there is a thread already. I did search honest guvnor. So much of the debate on Brexit on this site is on the economics. From my understanding the economic hit either way will be managable, Exit presenting the greatest risk. As a casual observer (I dunno why we are having this referendum in the first place) I expect that the nationwide debate will shift more and more to immigration. I was just having a casual thought when looking out on building work every bladdy where. We have a low interest rate. We have spiraling house prices. A logical outcmoe is that home owners will invest more in their properties. We have less stringent planning laws. This is what we (or some of us) voted for. So with all this building where does the labour come from? Compare that to the 1950s and 60s. Booming economy. Manufacturing industry needs the labour. Where does some of this come from? Much of manufacturing goes on exports so a win win situation. Yes we also needed labour for the expanding NHS, to build the roads to connect our towns and cities, to drive the trains and buses to get us to work. Is this an overly simplistic assessment from someone who has not studied post war history and politics? Anyway my concern is that this is going to get very polarised on the impact on immigration. I expect scare stories in the media, particularly the more rabid aspects of it, will grow. From my limited engagement with acquaintances outside of the Metropolis they are already full of views on how it is all the EUs fault. Do reassure me otherwise. And do educate me too. Preferably before questiontime.

I understand that Clarkson hung around with numerous other BBC celebrities in the news today. OK my apologies for a poor joke and I haven't named anyone!

Both frightening on a Saturday night but West Croydon as ace South Asian restaurants so wins hands down

Bottom of the range RP1 Playing with a 1982 amp, 1950s speakers, 1997 CD player and 2016 turntable. Still sounds good though. I binned by 1985 tape deck and my 1970s tuner. No valves sadly.... Nice to go to a specialist and talk it through. Richer Sounds were OK but not as helpful

I hadn't followed this thread in recent posts, but was about to conclude that I had bought a British made Rega from Billy Vee Sound Systems in Lee. Found details in part by accident on line, should have just read the above recommendation, Anyway brilliant, enjoying my old vinyl again. Thanks all. And now gone up one further on this thread to find Billy Vee. Serendipity!

Even Jezzer can see common sense. Or maybe his lawyers! "I would like to say sorry, once again, to Oisin Tymon for the incident and its regrettable aftermath," "I want to reiterate that none of this was in any way his fault. "I would also like to make it clear that the abuse he has suffered since the incident is unwarranted and I am sorry too that he has had to go through that. "I am pleased that this matter is now resolved. Oisin was always a creatively exciting part of Top Gear and I wish him every success with his future projects." Mr Tymon's lawyers said the case had been settled but did not give details of the settlement. It is understood to be in excess of ?100,000, an amount to which both Clarkson and the BBC contributed.

It's a nice place. Glad that it has been recognised. Do I sense a little bit of jealousy from SE22. You have to go to Sydenham or Honor Oak (Querce) for Italian food Forest Hill (Blythe Hill Tavern) or Nunhead (Ivy) for pubs. And all you have is flat pack by design generic bars and eateries, where any character has been airbrushed over. Don't panic, but move fairly quickly.

zzzzzzzzz Move on people, nothing to see here

The Kenny Burns comment was from a time when chants were generally less-malicious, but there was more violence. The exception was racism - it was a different world sadly. Now the chants can be far worse (Beckham in the 00s used to get some pretty disgusting ones, yet society is a lot less violent. Odd.

It was funny. He messed around with his wife. She left him. We sang about it. We didn't hate Kenny Burns. We sang it after they got back together. Don't take life too seriously.

Question I have is wtf we are having a referendum in the first place. It didn't bother me and it was only my mate Farage stirring things up that this happened. They had a really nice referendum in Ireland, with an even nicer outcome https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/5/18/1431950742563/c509c6a1-ab75-4367-8908-13f623eaf26a-bestSizeAvailable.jpeg That makes me feel good. Out one doesn't.

Ho ho - that amused me! But was worried about the side bar about dating Russian women. Clearly we need to leave the EU. Oh that is a separate thread.

Actually I've now changed my mind slightly. (1) Britain had an energy policy in the 50s and 60s and were leading the world. Sadly it was down hill from the late 70s onwards as we embraced the 'market' - that is the reason (a) we are still dependant in part on coal (as well as wasting so much natural gas) (b) we want the cheapest source of supply. Without researching I expect that the EU watered down some of the environmental regulations that would further discourage the use of this dirty evil stuff. Nobody who posts on this forum would ever want to work down a pit. (2) The EU outlawed methylene choloride paint strippers. I bought the last can ever on sale. And I have kept it for a precious time. Sadly it has coroded through the tin and all evapourated. And why was it banned? Because a few silly people died each year from aphixiation. Just have a label and say don't use it to clean old bath tubs unless you are working outside. Still wont change my mind though. The power of Russia - a spurious argument, we cowtowed with the yanks to use market economics as a lever to end communism. And what did we get - another evil single party state (with heaps of natural resources). Better tackled by a united EU rather than a sovereign state.

I thought that this was a thread about good Graffiti My faves were "Lets fick Thatcher in '89" on a wall in Loughbourough Junction. It was there for years and I wanted to add - the Howe and Hesser did it in 1990 Just down the road was NUM win. And we had 'Whatever happened to Slade" then followed "Whatever happened to Terry Waite" by the Oval, lost when they did the Bedser stand twenty years ago. http://s3.amazonaws.com/imgly_production/3525268/large.jpg