Alec John Moore

Q: Was this successful? A: Yes!

You'd have to look at their audited accounts I suppose to get a specific answer to how much here's the link to the explanation of their business model. http://giveandtakeshop.co.uk/#how-does-it-work

Speaking of unwanted clothing, I spotted this thread in the What's On section: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?6,1598932 Wrap Up London will run their campaign to provide unwanted winter coats to vulnerable people in the capital for the 5th time this year. Follow the link below for detailed information. There are various ways of contributing to the scheme including, but not limited to, donating your garment at one of the following stations this Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Collections will take place 7am-11am on each of these days, so this part is clearly aimed at the commuters amongst us. The participating stations for Wrap up London 2015 are: Kings Cross Victoria Waterloo Canary Wharf Charing Cross London Bridge Highbury & Islington Euston For full information go to: http://handsonlondon.org.uk/wrap-london-2015-our-5th-anniversary

I'd be interested to know the extent to which the contributors, and the readers, to this forum think about the consequences of their spending decisions on a day to day basis. It's not just the big ticket items, that may or may not be seen as extravagant, that are worthy of consideration.

It nevers helps reasoned debate when you appear to come across as moralising in a discussion. People tend to get defensive. But, this thread has raised lots of really important questions for me. Subjective, I know but then it is my moral compass that occupies my thoughts more. In this country most people are relatively well off and have some disposable income to allow them to have some choice about how "extravagant" they are in their retail therapy. This thread has reminded me of something I learned recently about the fashion business in a seminar on global supply chains and which I do find ethically challenging. In some of the garment factories in Bangladesh the woman who is sewing the clothes we might buy for not very much of our disposable income in Primark is sitting across from someone who is sewing a high end designer dress. The same workers in the same factory working under the same conditions getting the same pay producing garments with widely different price tags when they are sold in UK stores. Well, the designer adds value because of their skill and experience I suppose and there's a lot of cachet attached to the designer's name and if we can afford it then, why not?

I don't really understand your point, LondonMix: "its just far too subjective". Do you mean that it's all just too big a global problem for consumers to make a difference in their shopping decisions? A genuine question.

This gives some information: http://dwi.defra.gov.uk/consumers/advice-leaflets/lead.pdf When we moved in to our Victorian house there was a short length of lead pipe from the stop valve outside the property to just inside the basement. We had it replaced with copper pipe. I think we did this when the plumber was doing other work to the central heating system. Alec

A foggy Peckham Rye

Hi redjam I just wanted to pick up on your "golden ticket" point. We have two of ours at secondary school around here and can identify with the stress and pressure of the secondary school transfer process. What I now think is that it's more about the most suitable school for the child rather than the best school per say. Of course, we don't have free choice in this for reasons stated above, and more, so it's difficult to be confident that you'll get the school that is best for your child. We found that even though we got our first born in to a desirable school we still had to stay on their case to ensure that we got the best education for our child. Rereading that makes me sound like a pushy parent but it is more about understanding that even in the best of schools, your child may not get the best unless you help make sure that happens. Hope that helps.

It is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness after all. I had an email today about urban gleaning and a link to the abundance network: http://www.abundancenetwork.org.uk/ There was also a tweet I think with a link to this article by George Monbiot from nearly 5 years ago: http://www.monbiot.com/2010/10/28/the-press-gang/ George is advocating pressing juice rather than going that bit further and turning it into an alcoholic drink. Cider is very difficult to get right it seems. Just sayin.

There used to be one but the people who organised it moved to Manchester a while ago, I believe. There is a "beer equivalent" where groups of people grow hops in their gardens, gather them together on the same day and get a microbrewery to make a green hop beer. They sell some and the hop growers get some. I wonder if we could arrange a cider making collective along those lines. There is London Glider Cider which I think started in the same way.

Hi I have to go to Gypsy Hill tomorrow evening to contribute my hops to the Palace Pint community ale. It's a seasonal thing. I'll try to drop in to the Tippler on the way home. Alec

What a great idea. I tend to have too much rhubarb and too many gooseberries (the purple ones) and my friend who does jams can only take so much. While I'm on the subject of community produce sharing, do you know about the Peckham Palace Pint. A group of people grow hops in their back gardens and pick the hops on the same day, take them to a gathering place - last year it was a pub in Gypsy Hill - they are then given to local microbrewery to make The Crystal Palace Pint. Find the group on Facebook to learn more.

Looking forward to the real bread event at SOAS in a couple of weeks: http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/uprising_2015/ Alec

You can get the Kindle app for other devices if that helps.

"I come from the approach that we should imagine how it could work, rather than why it couldn't?. happy to organise a meeting if enough people are interested." I too like this approach. I'm also up for going against the flow. I'd be happy to meet to talk about how a community bread thing might work. I also happen to have a spare breadmaker that I could contribute for community breadmaking. just for information, there's a Real Bread Campaign event at SOAS in September that I'm hoping to go to. http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/uprising_2015/#tickets There's also the Brockwell Bake Association which helps keep vintage wheat strains in production. East Dulwich has its own food co-op which could be a source of flour. They buy from Suma Wholefoods. I'd be happy to meet to talk about how a community bread thing might work. I also happen to have a spare breadmaker that I could contribute for community breadmaking. http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1420002,1421725#msg-1421725

The Ginger Man it is according to the poll. Shall I do another poll to settle the date? Alec

Interesting, will better infrastructure encourage more people to use their bikes more or would more Boris Bikes mean more cycling overall? Of course, we need both more bike access and better/safer routes to use them on.

Hi, we weren't quite quorate enough to cast a vote last week so I've created a doodle poll to help us decide: http://doodle.com/wrfrxeivq8f9x6yf Alec

I'll be there. Not sure about Room with a view.

Signed. I live in ED, take the kids to school in Camberwell and hop on the bus again to the Elephant. I've long hoped for a docking station at Camberwell Green.

Thanks N, see you next time.

No worries, they waived the coffees and a kind Scottish person paid for the wine. Looking forward to discussing A room with a view at the same time on 17th March.

This from further on in the Guardian article: "A spokeswoman for Metropolitan police said: "It is not the police's intention to prevent tourists from taking photographs and we are looking to the allegations made." The force said it had no knowledge of any ban on photographing public transport in the capital." There is no law that I'm aware of that bans the taking of photographs in a public place. You can also take photographs of people and private property largely with impunity as long as you are doing it in/from a public space. Don't be put off enjoying a creative pursuit by a wrong interpretation of the law. Maybe we'll see some of the images on this thread once the film's been processed and scanned, charlesfare.