Louisa

Bellenden Belle how long have you lived in SE15 for? Louisa.

No offence Klaus but what a load of ball. alieh do I take you frequently recommend e-coli ridden food products to pregnant women? Half of those fruit/veg and meat/fish stalls/shops on Rye Lane would be closed down if a health inspector dared to cross the boundary into Peckham. Louisa.

How anyone can defend Rye Lane I have no idea, it stinks, it has no decent shopping area and the people are all rude and ignorant. The area has completely deteriorated in the last 15 to 20 years, and this apparant renaissance of the "Bellenden area" whatever the mothballs that is when it's at home, has only been brought about my regeneration which cost a bomb and will untangle within a decade. The top end of Peckham just north of Goose Green around the St Johns Church area is about the only place which is barely acceptable. Chantelle if I were you i'd take the advice of someone who has lived here all her life, avoud that area like the plague, crime is rife and IT IS DANGEROUS AFTER DARK, I have experienced it many times so this is not scaremongering at all. Obviously take everyones views in on here, but remember that the SE15 area statistically still has one of the highest inner city crime rates in England and Wales, and gun and knife crime around here is also much higher. Louisa.

Hey why not go for a wander down Rye Lane after dark too? Such a great diverse range of produce and some lovely top quality shops to suits the needs of everyone. Also clean streets, considerate parking attendants, great hassle free transport links and friendly faces at every turn willing to offer advice to a weary lost traveller :-) Louisa.

Yes of course discipline starts at home, but I am afraid successive governments in this country have persued an agenda to create an underclass which lacks any moral fabric and is not in any way shape or form the proud working class of 50 years or less ago. This underclass does not appreciate the notion of morality or discipline and it is very naive from a schooling perspective to expect children to arrive willing and ready to learn when they have come from an impoverished and often ignorant upbringing. I am not in any way suggesting this is the case at Goose Green Primary School, but I ould like to point out that it is the school's responsibility to recognise changes in cultural behaviour and reflect this in the procedures used to discipline children and provide them with the basics tenets of learning. This is not a class issue, it is a pc approach to teaching which does not understand or act upon changes in society. Louisa.

I must say this is one of the more sympathetic refurbs I have seen locally, albeit to a pub which was attracting all sorts of low life previously. It does remind me of the golden days of the pub back in the 1960s and early to mid 70's when this place was a very historic and cultural stop off point in ED. Some of this magic has returned recently, and although i'm not over struck on the guinness there, i'd give it four out of five on pretty much everything else. Louisa.

I would say the vast majority of dog owners who use the green are responsible and pick up any mess after themselves. I cannot see why the fence idea is so bad myself, surely it gives everyone what they want? A decision was made and they should stick to it, otherwise we round in circles wasting money forever. Louisa.

I have had experience with friends and family who have been subjected to some of the pc liberal schools in this area and have left school with little or no understanding of the basic principles of obedience, listening, morality and learning - all basics that SHOULD be learnt from a young age in a disciplined environment like a school. It's all very well claiming a school is great and you cant judge something based on a few days worth of monitoring, but equally if a school were upto scratch I am pretty sure most ofstead inspectors would see more good than bad and come to the conclusion that a school was not failing. There must be some pretty fundamental failures in all areas at this school for it to be put on special measures, the same happened with Kingsdale School locally a decade or more ago and it is now one of the best achieving state run secondary schools in inner south London. Investment should be made in all areas, including discipline before any more money is wasted on propping up a sinking ship. I for one would rather see the children of this school put elsewhere and given the oppurtunities they deserve rather than be kept there for the rest of their early school years and made to suffer. Louisa.

Oh lets blame Ofsted here shall we, let's just neglect the facts for a moment and continue to live in some sort of fantasy about discipline in schools. I tell you what why dont we just close this place down until it comes upto scratch rather than having to pump thousands into a failing school with kids having to suffer because a few pc fruitcakes cant be bothered to accept the facts about discipline. Louisa.

My back garden. Louisa.

I would have taken great delight in refusing the food and showing off my 6 mini Angus burgers from BK under the desk. Louisa.

And why would I want to waste my money on an Oyster card and risk being hijacked by some extremist or another on a London bus, or mugged of my belongings, or left gasping for air and somewhere to sit down on the tube, or delayed waiting for a train at a cramped Victoria train station. Hmmm I wonder if I should get an Oyster card. Louisa.

Why dont all the greenies just keep to the public transport system and leave the rest of us to drive around in our comfy cars at our own convenience. We can be clobbered by road tax, car insurance, congestion charging and dodgy parking tickets, whilst they can be left dying of heat exhaustion, cramped up like a sardine and paying an awfully large sum of cash for the pleasure, everyones a winner then! Louisa.

The space now occupied by rip off merchants Stabucks used to be Boots the chemist until 1998. So it's been a stabucks for a good 9 to 10 years now. I'd rather make a cup of goldblend at home than be stuck around a pretentious bunch of yummies drinking grande lattes for a fiver a mug! Louisa.

I wouldnt even drive my car through Peckham, let alone park in the bloody stinking s*ithole of a place. Everytime i've parked down there i've been given bogus tickets by dubious parking attendants who seem to have a set of rules which are totally oblivious to the ones layed out by the council. These wardens are never disciplined obviously because I see them still to this day handing out tickets to people when they obviously have no right or justification to do so. No only has Peckham lost a decent shopping centre, but it now has a collection of crooks working as wardens. Louisa.

Lack of discipline, run by Southwark Council with this 1980's method of ethical teaching, kids running riot oh and then we hit special measures stage. Shock bleedin horror. Louisa.

I wouldnt say no to a McCafe, of which there are very few in the UK. I went to various outlets in Dublin and they seem a lot more civilised than a standard "restaurant". Louisa.

Glad to see Le Moulin was a strong performer on this star based system. Especially, may I add, in the hygiene department. This was an area for which this establishment was placed under such scruntiny by so many of the biased posters on this forum,on various ocassions, not so long ago and I am glad this system adds further proof to my argument that a restaurant does not have to constantly be redesigned to suit the latest fad in styles to be worthy of being an eatery in this area since gentrification. I stick by Eric and Margaret, and I hope a few more of you can bare to get past the exterior to try some of the culinery delights now we have this myth put to rest. Louisa.

In a pub environment barmaid's or barstaff in general do tend to shout across the bar, that is the nature of a pub experience in my book. I blame woodie here entirely, you should have asked your daughter to go into the gents toilet and use a cubicle, or gone over to the bar staff and put them straight on the fact your daughter wants to use the loo by herself and would it be possible for her or you to go in with her. It's so simple, but you chose not only to walk into the ladies toilet, but you also made the decision to not inform members of staff about what you were doing. If I had been working at that time I would have had the same reaction. Even after she called out to you, did you not make clear what you were doing? Did you just apologise? Did you walk out or complain? All seems a little sus to me, why do you need to tell us on here and not the manager? oh well. Louisa.

A band of protesting yummies have climbed onto the roof with placards demanding that M&S buy this store, I understand two senior figures from M&S hq have been requested by the met to help calm the situation down and are on route to ED as I type. Louisa.

Send him to Chiswick or Islington I say! Louisa.

On a slightly more serious note, this person gets involved in a number of potentially serious criminal actions including verbal assault, violent and hazardous behaviour aimed at cars, frightening lonely single females by following them, personal and potentially violent behaviour (apparantly only if you catch his eye), and noise pollution by whistling at all hours of the bloody night and day. I feel for his neighbours. And yet people are talking about him in a light hearted manner as though he is some sort of ED institution. Goodness me, what ever happened to care in the community? If he is mentally ill then he should be cared for appropriately, which he obviously isnt. Otherwise, if he is just a violent individual he obviously is in need of some sort of state help/care. If I ever see this man I will make it my duty to notify the police and instruct them of what everyone on here has said. Louisa.

When will my ex husband realise I do not respond to the whistling mating call (anymore). Louisa.

"Gordon who?" Louisa

North and Mid Devon and Cornwall respectively account for the bottom three poorest rural council areas in England and Wales. Yet as Cassius quite rightly points out, these apparantly poor people live longer than anyone else statistically across the whole country. Why? Because not all working class people eat battered sausages every night of the week, some of them enjoy home cooked meals with some of the freshest and yet cheapest ingredients from their source in these rural areas. Urbanite middle class people honestly believe that they are better off because of their money and status, but this is in general a long way from the truth. Louisa