barrymarshall

Free wine?! I'm there!

I'd be up for book-swapping! But how would the book-swap work at the Canning? Would you just bring a book and stick it in a general pile for people to pick through, or swap with someone/thing specific?

The thread just started about Turkey and terrorism made me think of a book I just finished about al Qaeda, which I wanted to recommend. Anyway, the book is called "The Looming Tower: al Qaeda's Road to 9/11" by Lawrence Wright. Wright is a New Yorker jounralist who tells the story of al Qaeda from the early days of Said Qtub and his reaction against 1950s American society, through to the terrorism in Egypt, the Mujahideen and so on, up to Osama bin Laden and the formation of the modern al Qaeda network. He is particularly good on the story of bin Laden's family (whose company was, and is still, involved in most of the civil engineering sector in Saudi Arabia) and his wives and children. Wright is good at portraying the 9/11 attackers as nihilistic terroists who got lucky. The other half of the story is an account of the intelligence serivce operatives who were on the trail of OBL and co and who were thwarted at every turn by their superiors. I havce been recommending it to everyone. You think you know the story, but this meticulously researched book shows that you really don't. I am looking for something else to read now - anyone any ideas?

Snorky - be more worried about other "peak" resources. Mining compnay BHP Billiton recently calculated that over the next 20 years the world must produce as much copper as has already been mined since the industrial revolution. And after that ...?

CWALD - you might be right. Stock markets also took a battering this morning: http://business.guardian.co.uk/markets/story/0,,2196641,00.html

I more recently, post-fag-ban, heard talk of the 72 getting an outside area at the back. I believe they have the space, but it would be a question of knocking through somehow. It would be great though if they did get an upstairs...

Domitianus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I a\gree with Keef and PeckhamBoy that this rant > against chain stores is often misplaced. It seems > to stem from some rather perverse and ironic > anti-capitalist perspective that the ranters can't > quite articulate - perverse and ironic because > many of the critics of the chains are local > businesses and, therefore, capitalist themselves. > > Chain usually have become chains because, having > started as a small concern, they became SUCCESSFUL > (oh, how the British despise other people's > success!) and were able to expand. Can we extract > a written, legally-binding pledge from all the > local businesses who attack the chains that, no > matter how successful they become (as if they > don't want to be) they will NEVER open a second > outlet? After all, if chains are so bad they > wouldn't want to become one, would they? hear, hear! All the mega-brands people love to hate, eg Starbucks or Gap, started out as small businesses that grew into global giants. And yes it is odd that self-styled "anti-capitalists" support local businesses and small scale shops. If nothing else this is entrepreneurialism and capitalism at its most pure form. I have worked for small companies and mega corporations, and while we may not like the idea of big bureaucracy, etc., give me the paid holidays, insurance, clear-cut working hours, overtime and bonuses, none of which I ever got wokring in shops, where the money was always crap and the hours long. Most "anti-capitalists", despite the rhetoric and geniunely good intentions, are really just romantic reactionaries. [PS, I don't think capitalism is the be-all either.]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cft0cl-j_JE

didn't they all do a cover of "Walk on By"?

I've been here a year and have yet to patronise places like the Magdala, Harvester and the Plough - and a couple of others

I know - so when are we having a Forum pub crawl, to make sure that we have all duly visited each watering hole in SE22?

Domitianus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am amused at the fact that whilst people refer > to the apparent over-pricing of M&S food, they are > also repeatedly calling for a propagation of the > over-priced 'organic' food fraud and > scaremongering! Ooooh, let's have an organic > cafe, let's have an organic bakery, let's pay way > over the odds to fall victim to a cynical > marketing ploy. yeah, organic produce is middle class aspirational lifestyle food as much as M&$ is ... Everyone knows you're just paying more for the muck.

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > but in a bad way ;-) mmmm ... naughty but nice!

wot, all breathy and faux-sexual fawning over "not jhust fhood, but M&S fhoooood" Food porn.

blinder999 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > I remember seeing a comparison of supermarket > prices for a trolley full of popular items a > couple of years ago. M&S food was one third more > expensive than the competition. Yeah - I think I heard someting similar. You are paying an "aspirational" premium. It's absurd: you pay more because you aspire to shop in a place where you, er, have to pay more. Madness! No, we defo don't need an M$S. Still think we need a cake shop - you can get a nice sticky bun at the blue bakery on the corner, but there's nowhere to get good cream cakes, chocolate sponge or cheesecake, etc, etc.

landellite Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > We've just moved to ED from Blackheath, where an > M&S Simply Food opened a few months back. Those > who have had to suffer M&S being their local > 'supermarket' will I'm sure share the frustration > of 1) it being vastly overpriced for the basics > and 2) it not having anything like the range of > ANY other supermarket chain (aisle after aisle of > microwave meals and 'picnic food' -- the culinary > equivalent of the LL 'tat shops'?). I actually > think the Dog Kennel Hill Sainsbury's is > exceptionally good, compared to their usual > offerings. Well-stocked, good range, and > well-priced. Be grateful for what you have! > Is it just me, or, whenever you go into an M&S food place, you always a) spend a fortune and b) come away with loads of goodies you never intended to buy in the first place ... Still, they do a nice line in chocolate crispy cornflakes in a big plastic tub :) EDIT: But yeah, just the food equivalent of LL/NCR tat shops

Lancashire's very own Thwaites Bitter, Lancaster Bomber being particularly good Also, there's a dark Belgian beer, I forget the name, but it comes in a big vase-like glass sat in a wooden frame.

yeah - a cake shop would be good

A while back it would have been the 72, no contest, but I've recently been frequenting the CPT more and more ... hmmmm ... HST, about half the pubs on the list I haven't been to. You know, the one's down the "wrong" end of LL. Think this weekend there might have to be a bit of sampling done - all for the purposes of research, you understand. :)-D

I think gentrification can be linked to social and psychological conditions such as status anxiety. The gentry were historically a status group, straddling the "middle sort" of wealthier artisans, traders, merchants, lawyers, the minor aristocracy and greater yeomanry, etc. I would, however, relate gentrification as a phenomenon of advanced capitalism, consumerism and the commodification of everything. Gentrification is just one of the cultural phenomena of complex economic change. EDIT: You might like to use the concept of "cool" (which I think is vital when considering cultural gentrification). Bingo - "cool" as a symptom of status anxiety.

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- I only cry at > songs about men being shot to bits in wars. Like a > Real ManTM . GRRR! this song, covered by Billy Bragg but written by someone else (I believe) is one such song: "Everywhere" (lyrics) http://www.lyricstime.com/billy-bragg-everywhere-lyrics.html

Aw, Keef ... You are spot-on about the lyrics tho. I once reduced a mate (who's a black-belt martial-arts type) to a blubbering mess once when I played him Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Memories of the Alhambra. Anyone else got a particular song that makes their eyes water? (ie not in a cringeworthy way!)

I'm a big softie and that song often makes me cry if I listen to it alone :(

I read somewhere once that the upshot was that people should shout "Emergency!" or "Fire!" instead, as passersby would be more reactive to it.

Ganapati Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yeah, but it's a bit like saying Surrey is London. > Well, maybe Croydon? last time I checked, Ganapati, Manhattan and Brooklyn were part of the same city. ;-) You mean it's more akin to thinking ED was part of Lambeth borough.