Michael Palaeologus

A) Four jobs: Butchers boy, Battery Chicken operative, Cinema Assistant, Business Consultant B) Four movies: A Canterbury Tale, Apocalypse Now, Lawrence of Arabia, Ronin C) Four places I have lived before ED: Cannock, Brighton, Brixton Hill, Camberwell D) Four television shows: A Town Called Eureka, Morse/Lewis, Northern Exposure, QI E ) Four places I have been on holiday: Lake Garda, Loire Valley, Crete, Turkey F ) Four places have been on business Kathmandu, Addis Ababa, Barbados, Bangladesh G) Websites I visit daily: EDF, BBC, Facebook, Wikipedia H) Four of my favourite foods: Indian, Thai, Roast, Shepherds Pie I) Four places I would rather be right now: Thailand, Lesvos, Tuscany, clasped between the muscular thighs of a beautiful woman

Am croaking nicely this morning. Good to meet everybody and glad I fell off the wagon last night with some style I like to think, I have memory of Guiness with a Baileys chaser before leaving The Dog. As Mockney noted a group of us ended up in the Oriwisu Spot, its essentialy an African pub, run by Africans for Africans. It took seconds for them to welcome 5 strangers into their pub and just minutes before pool playing and interesting conversation had started. Great place, great people. This followed by Wii bowling - sorry Sean, Piers popped my cherry on that one!

We usually tell somebody behind the bar to send people who ask over or just look for the biggest cluster of people.

I used to work in Avonmouth House. Calm down.

Im afraid that I used all of the tape - it took some learnin' Its ony ?2 - and the ship is round the corner from my office so I could get you some? If so - what colour?

I am happy hitting! I have this very day purchased new tape (black) and fitted it - next week I will be magnificent as a result. Also I bought some day glo green shuttle-cocks - so that Baggie can see them :))

I am, for once, not wearing a dress in The Lounge.. and dont call me Shirley.

We need another person as well Asset and Mr and Mrs Keef - next Wednesday 7 pm - who is up for it?

*Wanders in wearing a stove pipe hat and a large bushy beard* "I seem to have lost one my giant Galapagos tortoises, has anybody seen one sprint by?*

I have read the threads re the places that do a good Sunday lunch - Rye Hotel, Nuns Head, Bishop, etc. Strangely I have only ever done Sunday lunch at the Crown & Greyhound and the Star cafe on Peckham Rye (I dont think that they do this anymore), but this Sunday that will change. I have friends with me at the moment, one of whom is Veggie. So, do any of the recommended Sunday lunch venues also do a good Veggie option? Ta.

Which of you has a pension? You are shareholders in the global blue chips, unless you have invested in a pension that explicitly exludes such investment.

DM eats lions.

Yus.

Can I involve fantasy lions and pregnant donkeys?

Can I involve in fantasy lions and pregnant donkeys?

I picked on Greenpeace because they are one of the highest profile global organisations with green credentials and because of their size make a useful comparison with private sector global organisations. I will have a shufty at the other thread :)

I agree with your second point Sean, but I dont see a problem with global business targeting a particular area, any more than a UK business doing that. Business is business, it is Darwinian to its core. There have been some moral amiguity in the actions of Greenpeace at times, currently just why arent they cooperating with the other anti-whaling protestors who are chasing the japanese fleet?. I support many of the things that Greenpeace believe and do and champion their right to exist, but that support is not without reservation - ditto Starbucks. In that, they have equivalence. I dont think that Morality is an issue here and I think that trying to identfy which organisation has the moral high ground is not possible, it depends on your definition of "moral". Starbucks may flex their corporate muscle to gain competitative advantage but Greenpeace will also push the boundries to achieve their objectives. The issue is how the observer views the objectives of the different organisations. Those who support either organisation will concider any questionable actions as "worth the cause", those who are against will view any questionable actions as evidence further demonstrating the fundamental duplicity of said organisation. As you say Sean, there is no black and white here - but i think that my reasoning evidences the fundamental ambiguity and contradictions in the big vs small, global vs local argument; and I do think that these are often linked to the environmental cause.

"Hectoring" as in people who say that because they dont like Nero's coffee - it should be shut and so denied to the rest of us or that Starbucks shouldnt be allowed open because of ... why? Its an global brand - so is Greenpeace, it exploits developing world farmers - they sell Fairtrade coffee, it replaces local independent shops - not if they provide the same level of service, we dont like their coffee - so go to the independents. Nero's is busy, its family friendly, people like it. Some of the criticism starts to verge on the "holier than thou" variety - all brands bad, all indies good. it annoys me because these views seldom get challenged and when they are the challengers are condemned as reactionary, anti-envirnmentalists. I studied the green-house effect and the fundamental threats to the ennvironment 25 years ago - awareness of the issues has been around for that long amongst the academic and professional communities. Over the past 10 years more people have come on board, which is great; but there is a thread of the wider public discussion which becomes hysterical and anti-everything, a view that wont be satisfied until we are all living in mud-huts, never venturing further than village boundaries and eating nothing but pulses and grains. I for one will put a marker down - i have been an environmentalist for 25 years, I recycle, I limit what driving I do, I do my bit BUT I shop in supermarkets, I drink Starbucks coffee, I support fox hunting. Go ahead and tar and feather me.

Good fun last night and I hesitate to say it, but i think that we were a little better. There are a number of courts available so would anybody else like to play? We have one court booked for next Wednesday, Bagpuss, El Gekko, Peckham GC and I are up for it but of we could could book another if more people are interested.

I could do the Quiz this Sunday! Last Sunday Allycat, Floating Onion and I did a valiant effort to keep the Forum end up.

Pish tush and nonsence, what is said in the Forum stays in the Forum. Come along and discover that we are all really card carrying members of the Conservative Party called Tarquin.

Clearly none of these things is "bad" if they were people would stop buying the coffee, the paper, the burger, the lads-mag, the single in question. They just dont appeal to you, whoever "you" happens to be. That doesnt mean that they should be denied existance. The tendency to condemn the mundane, the mass produced and the common and demand that only the organic, the hand reared, the local, the environmentally benign should be concidered verges on the obsessive and hectoring. Folks of the lentil-weaving persuasion might wish to allow the rest of us to quietly enjoy our mass produced, internationally branded coffee in peace.

The Quiet Room is still not updating and taking itself back to the top if the Forum when a post is made.

I fell of last night - still, 3 weeks dry - thats quite good really.

I fear you will be disappointed as we do little more than sit up the corner sipping port and lemon watching Mockney Piers and Sean McGonaghal play dominoes. In truth, CWALD spends her time telling us about her adventures at Roedean School as a girl for the 100th time while Lozzyloz strokes her Whippet.