James Barber

The SMS text system uses a short 5 digit code. MY work phones (which I pay for all personal use) blocks such short text codes. I suspect that's the same for many. I still don't get how the replacement Countdown system can be costs so many tens of millios. All they need is electricity, a smart phone core, minimal bandwidth, and a display. For the amount TfL are spending every bus stop should have a Countdown 2.0.

I believe it was fly past celebrating our armed forces involvement in Libya a year ago. Pictures in the papers with military personnel standing for a salute ourside the houses of parliament and the caption said a fly past took place.

I'm sorry my comments have caused such offence. I'm delighted with the new Ofsted stated rating of this school and they make it very clear under the new head it should improve further. It also comes across clearly that the head, mgmt team and governors are pulling in the same direction. The Ofsted report has some rudimentary errors which the school failed to spot when they received it in draft. It isn't a CReSTeD school which would show exemplary Dyslexia support. No such scheme as the Bristish Institute International Silver Status. Perhaps it meant the British Council? The confucius award dates from Dec'09. The new head started in January. I'm not sure how they, however brilliant, could comment on the state of the school quite a few months previously. The Ofsted report makes it clear that the school had improved over a period of time and not just the 10 weeks the new head had at inspection time been in place. The Council School Improvement Manager - a part time Ofsted inspector - at no time has suggested to me that the school had dropped from Satisfactory and that it had been on an upward trajectory. And congratulations arein order for everyone who made this happen. Well done. And its clear it can go further.

Well done to everyone involved with Goodrich School - children, parents, governors, teaching and non teaching staff, current and previous headteachers and Southwark Council officers. Clearly going from Satisfactory to Good has taken a number of years so this recognises that extended effort. Good result!

If a particular stall holder isn't present for a week or two it's probably because they're on holiday or ill. Rash assumptions of something else isn't helpful. North Cross Road is noisy on market days but this will reduce over time as we eventually get marked pitches. Vehicle parking is a pain around there. Oter than that most residents tell me it's a great part of ED to live in.

Hi moeispro! Replacing like for like, even if double glazed replaced single glazing, shouldn't need planning permission. Ending VAT on listed buildings is probably as much about not subsidising country houses etc by charging VAT to te likes of you and me. Charities obviously claim back the VAT so this shouldnt affect the like of English Heritge properties, etc. If you need any help just ask.

Hi mimmic, The new regs are not currently in place. But it makes good sense to ensure you have loft insulation and if you have cavity walls fill them with insulation. Doing this will reduce the size of any new boiler. But money is no object then you could just install a new boiler and not insulate your home. Hi charliemcveigh, Good luck with te new business. Closing at midnight on Thursdays is helpful to tte local community. Thank you.

Hi trinity, I've been away for a few days. I've just reported the Pelican crossing on forest Hill Road for not working. Weird that TfL should blank you. Can you please email me your experiences and I'll then forward that to my TfL contact asking how they'll improve things for future helpful citizens.

Hi Showboat, My understanding is that all stallholders have to meet minimum standards. Insurance for all, food hygiene for food stalls. If you or anyone else feels a stall is not upholding food hygiene standards please contact [email protected] or 020 7525 2000. If that does'nt go well please escalate to me. Hi mimmcc, The Green Deal was passed into law last year but the regulations are still being finalised. The idea is that homes should be insulated to reduce CO2 and energy costs. If someone chooses to replace a boiler in a home with no loft insultation they will need to buy a much more powerful boiler to cope with all the heat loss. So the idea is that insisting on loft insulation and any other practicable and reasonable insulation measures should more than pay for itself in a smaller cheaper boiler. Boilers are expensive but the enrgy consumed over its lifetime even more so. So the concept is to look at the lifetime costs of new boilers, etc. IF his needs a larger upfront cost and home owners can't make that upfront cost they can borrow, the Green Deal, against reduced future energy bills. The other opportunity is when people decide to add space to their homes. The idea for that situation is that overall after such changes the home should be more energy efficient than before. Hope this explains how I understand the coalition govt. is moving towards CO2 reductions. The only problem I forsee is that UK buiders vary hugely in their quality of work and attention to detail. Research I've read is that UK builders on average don't attain levels of insulation required. Scotland insist on a smoke test (sure it has a proper better name than that) where you close all the doors and windows and then build up a positive pressure and release non noxious smoke. You soon see where the leaks of the smoke go and what hasn't been finished correctly. Getting air tightness right is great for energy efficiency but also excellent for noise attenuation. Hope this answers your question?

Hi trinity, Yes, either email [email protected] or call 020 7525 2000. You should highlight this is a road safety issue that needs to be dealt with urgently. If it isn't dealt with urgently please do let me know via an email right away.

Hi Nick1962, Love or hate the UK monarchy conceptually or practically I suspect some of your information may not be correct. UK tourismstates 2010 25M visitors to the whole of the UK. But Paris tourism alone is stated at 42 million visits. So its not clear having a monarchy makes a big difference to tourism for London or the UK when compared to its nearest city state rival located within a republic.

Hi KalimityKel, I've had residents from several different Chesterfield homes approach me about the car wash and problems it is causing them. Some of the employee behaviour as described would be beyond what any employer should find acceptable - verbal and physical intimidation of residents.

Hi Ms B, I'm sorry to hear that. Ensure all food is kept in wheelie or caddy bins so the foxes can;t find food. If you know anyone feeding foxes as them not to. If you can work out where they live talk to the land owners about stopping it. So in my garden we spotted that foxes were using our compost bin as a stepping stone to get over our garden fence. So I've removed our bin and spread the compost over the garden. I'll be keeping an eye on how they then get into and out of our garedens to make it more challenging. I'm expecting to need to install trellis fencing. Sorry I can't think of anything easier.

I've just been assured most of the works will be completed Thursday afternoon and just a short period Friday morning to finish the works. With a following wind all done on Thursday. Weather depending - I'm going to now stop hoping for rain until Friday afternoon. Of course if the right equipment had turned up yesterday at 7am and today at 7am they'd have gained another 6 hours work completed and be finishing lunch time tomorrow. And if the temporary lights hadnt developed a fault yesterday afternoon they'd be finishing today. I'm taking a deep breath to calm myself after typing that.

We've allocated our devolved FY11_12 to resurfacing all of North Cross Road. Once that is done I've been assured most market pitches will be marked and so the traders can turn up at a much more reasonable time.

Hi Brulysses, Really sorry to hear you've lost your bike. Hope this doesn't discourage you from cyclnig or getting a replacement bike. You might like to consider getting a floor or wall anchor to lock your bike to in the shared hallway. Even I've been able to install one. It cost me ?15 and came with a special drill bit. You can get really fancy anchors all stainless steel for more.

Hi H3+, You make a really valuable point. I've contacted Cllr Barrie Hargrove the cabinet member accountable for this and highlighted that for the last three years of publicly available crahs data (2008-10) 1 death, 2 serious injuries and 17 slight injuries and asked what measures he plans to mitigate the risks before TfL do anything. If you'd like to encourage him please do email him at [email protected].

Criminals would just wait outside the CCTV camera area. CCTV is not a magic bullet or panacea. At the Elephant&Castle crime has been reported as higher where CCTV present. Lots of thoughts why.

Hi bigdavid, Really sorry to hear this. If you witness this again please do complain to the contractors rep Sam Redington on 020 8636 8822. I've certainly raised this with council officials - but they are the same officials that thought the... shall we say zealous traffic controls were necessary which do appear OTT.

The legal target is to offer you a place within 2 miles. In Southwark most places offered are within 1 mile. What complicates the overall picture is where familes want a particualr faith school which is some distance away. This raises the average distances and the numbers of people over 2 miles but often from choice. Good luck and if you need any help just get in touch.

Latest news on the crossing outside the Co-op on Lordship Lane. The BT telephone box was disconnected last week and has been removed today. TfL signals are currently planning to install the signalled crossing equipment this Thursday and fingers crossed it will be fully commissioned next week.

Fasting blood test. I turned up at 10.30am and waited 30mins.

Hi ontheRye, Apparently junction redesign East Dulwich Road with Peckham Rye is in the hand of TfL who are pleading too busy until after the Olympics. Apparently after the olympics they'll review the workload they have and then give Southwark Council timescales. My hunch would be early 2013. Hi Ms B, Foxes are a perennial problem made worse by people feeding them. Southwark Council has no fox plans. You could engage one of the 3-4 fox catchers - they apparently cost about ?80 pw. They put a humane trap out with raw chicken. When a fox is caught you call them up for a replacement trap. They take the fox in the trap away and shoot it.

Sharper descents is one of the HACAN proposals to mitigate the noise caused by landing aircraft - along with aligning on landing paths earlier avoiding noisy turns over populated areas such as SE London. But Emirates are using the idea to propose an increase in night flights and specifically of the super sized Airbus A380 jets. But this shouldn't be used to excuse night flights. With time Heathrow should have less impact not more. Smarter descents is one method. Banning night flights altogether is another.

Hi Razors, Yes, food waste will have bacteria in it and that could include Salmonella. At the newish Integrated Waste Management Facility on the Old Kent Road food waste goes into big concrente bunkers which stew at over 60 degrees C for from memory 30 days killing germs etc. At the end of all this it can be used safely as a soil improver/compost. I've had a detailed tour of the IWMF on the OKR. Interesting. A couple of disappointing bits but otherwise a definiate improvement on Manor Place. IF you need any more info please don't hessiate to ask.