KidKruger

Rodney - possibly it's just my extended family, true. However I grew up in a small town in the 80s and being working class was part of a community where my peers (and in many cases their parents) were milking the welfare system for all it was worth. One friend even got the DHSS to get him a mortgage on a flat that he was renting, because he demonstrated the mortgage payments would be less than rent was. Many could survive on welfare at that time, and, with a bit of cash work on the side, quiet a few had quite comfortable lifestyles in this pleasant coastal town. The only definite exceptions in my extended family were the Pakistanis who make up 50% of my family, who'd come to UK in the 1970s - they worked (and roped their kids into the work) all hours and had market stalls / shops etc. while being accused by white locals of stealing white people's jobs !!

My white working class extended family expect benefits, housing allowance etc and when they do have a job play sickies etc. basically milk it to the hilt, as do there peers. The Gujurati who runs the local corner shop cannot read or write, never takes a day off and of his 4x kids two are in medical school to be doctors, one a scientist the other an accountant. By comparison white working class from this country (and obvs I'm generalising, so please) are lazy, expect too much and will be pizzed all over by those coming here who recognise (and appreciate) the opportunities. 'We' seem to have lost grip of the basic precept that all you need to do is an honest days work, in a large part the fault of continuous Govts allowing the population to abuse what was meant to be a welfare structure for those in need, as opposed to those who can't be arsed. Same applies to attitude towards school. Generalising but not a million miles from truth if you're honest. ETA: let's see if this gets accused of being racist, if I was generalising about non-white it would take only seconds !

I'm sure it'll be blamed on immigrants !

So is the race card being played that the culprits were identified as white ?

Ridgeley, I've re-read the thread but don't see the colour card being played - do you mean in the Daily Mail link ?

Bugger the parents. Who cares what they would say ? These scum should be locked-up by the state. There is no excuse for what they did. The relatives of the elderly lady should be left with the scum to do dish-out their own justice for 30 mins, to help the girls get some context on what it's like being punched in the face.

..And then sell the new council properties off at a discount no doubt.

It's for the land obvs.

I think all species are tribal or exclusive (on an individual basis for some species).

I'll be out on the Rye. Looking for chanters. Or other shouty people.

Sorry Sue, I overstepped the mark. But you get the just innit. RD - Soggy bottom. No. Just no.

Well good luck to 'em. Beats X-factor, strictly come blah blah, and the cake baking bollox.

As mentioned before, without talking to dog walkers you're not going to fix owt. How are you going to engineer dogs walkers and their charges not walking together by talking about it on the internet ? The dog walkers know each other and from what I've seen are pretty knowledgeable, open-minded and care about dogs. You seem to be expert in making judgement calls on what the dog walkers should or should not be doing and also in what is best for the dogs (theirs and yours). With so much confidence in your knowledge why don't you talk to them and have a reasonable conversation with them ? You don't consider dogs that attack the 'pack' a dog walker is in charge of, I've seen this happen in Nunhead. Do you know or can you understand how traumatic it is for a dog walker to see a dog in their care savaged by a lone or pair of dogs ? FYI: the term 'pack' is a convenient tool for your argument perhaps but I really don't think a pack, and the pecking order / hierarchy involved, are formed so easily as sticking a bunch of dogs together for a walk - though if you choose to believe it that's on you. Dogs don't behave like people though it's nice to think they do because life's simpler that way isn't it. Some dogs will trade and the owners will often try and attribute blame one way or the other, without understanding what is in the dogs' heads or the wider situation on it's own merits. Nothing childish about thinking (and declaring) that subjective conjuncture is a load of old w@nk, which is what I was doing earlier. But do carry on, it's the internet, so anything goes, right ?

If you've gone to the CSA and had the maintenance calculated by them then the amount they set is it, and: - If he had to pay travel costs (and accommodation) to visit his child, he wouldn't be able to subtract that, or part of it, from the amount due to the CSA. - If he had to buy clothing for the child because you refused to give an overnight / weekend bag of clothes when staying with him, he could not deduct it from amount due to CSA. I'm assuming when you say 'legally required' you mean CSA. Therefore, you'll need to discuss your needs with the ex if you want to increase from the 'legal amount'. I understand that recently the CSA introduced a 20% 'admin cost' to be added to the monthly amount due from the parent paying maintenance, if this is the case for him perhaps you could agree to not go through the CSA and fix maintenance at ?720 (if that would help you). Couple of options there but I'm making assumptions and don't have time to caviat everything I've said to handle all possible situations you may actually be in. ETA: My understanding for the reason the CSA started adding the 20% is to try to get the couples to agree maintenance themselves (and reduce workload on the CSA, which is creaking at the seams and totally overwhelmed). Be interested to know if that 20% IS actually being enforced.

Pretty wanky opinions being expressed here TBH.

Lot of conjecture in the OP. If not making sense with planning contact then ask for an alternative person to deal with. If still not happy then escalate. Also look for similar local applications and do your history on the people you're dealing with, Or just join the masons and sort it that way.

Have you spoken to the dog walkers themselves, i.e. the only people who can actually do anything about this ? They do not own the cemetary and may be willing to work with you to improve the situation for your dog.

May not be frugally perfect, but as long as Fixed rates aren't excessive I usually fix going forward just for the certainty in outgoings.

....which is a sort of lazy prejudice in itself. Cat calls the dog hairy arse.

Yeah Uncleglen, it's directly your fault that all those nasty things happened - don't you feel ashamed of what you did 200 years ago ? You should feel ashamed !

Cheap shot

What WoD said. Sell by dates are one thing, but leaving meat out is another though ! Lucky it's cool at moment during eves.

Horses are huge and intimidating to dogs

If it's a stack on your roof you can get away with it not quite perfect pointing, but do try and practice if you can, mix of cement is important and YouTube should have loads of instructive clips.

My next door neighbour recently had a tree removed from outside on the pavement. Pavement is about 1.2m wide, his yard is about 1.3m deep. Tree was planted like 16yrs ago, nobody was asked. After 5yrs the pavement was lifting all around the tree and neighbours front yard wall was starting to lean - council said nothing to do with tree. After 8 yrs the wall was leaning enough to reduce usable space in front yard and council, although they had by now replaced / levelled pavement which was lifting again, said nothing to do with tree. After legal threats tree was removed. Why anybody would want to plant a tree that grows higher than a 3-storey building so close to a house bewilders me. I can see a potential argument where there are properties with proper front gardens, but 3 metres away from a house is just stoopid.