louisiana

I totally agree Asset, training is always really good, but I'd highlight that many of the cyclists killed by large lorries have been experienced cyclists e.g. the woman recently killed at Elephant.

Mr Ben, I've just voted Green. I'm not a usual Green voter, and I'm always torn between 'Greens are a cult' (the opinion of some) vs. 'Greens have some really good policies that have been adopted by mainstream parties' (which is true). It's a perfectly valid option in these times, as is LibDem. Anything but the two main parties. Really, we need to change the model. Consitutional reform. And the big two will not do that.

mazza, what are they doing that's bad? I've found them good for 20 years, and everyone else is a nightmare.

The US 'justice' system is a travesty of justice. (For example, the three strikes system in some states, where you can go to jail for life for minor offences such as shoplifting.) The UK system seems to imprison far more, as a proportion of the population, than many of its European neighbours. And many of those neighbours have lower crime rates and/or lower rates of recidivism. I would like to know what they are doing right, and what we are doing wrong. One thing we are doing very wrong is not addressing the massive drugs and illiteracy/numeracy problems in our prisons. If prisoners cannot read or write or count, and they have little or no training, and they are still on drugs whilst in prison, and when they leave prison they just get dumped into their former environments, it is hardly surprising that they continue to do what they did before.

lenk, I've always wanted to hang out at Bilderberg.

AllforNun Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > No speculation spank monkey and do me a favour - > > "the consultation period - during which members of > the public were free to contribute - is over" > > What the hell are you ? i am intrigued ....animal, > vegetable or mineral ! Some days are animal. And some I'm vegetable. B) Today, being surrounded by chard seedlings and wind-up devices, I'm mainly on the vegetable-mineral axis. But it is true that there was a first report, and then a consultation period, and now the final report will be published (unfortunately while I am parked in a tent on a farm - so very vegetable - and so far removed from all that is digital). I do believe it's more productive to turn over the living - paper, vegetable - entrails of reports, and indeed to protest vehemently as is often required, rather than to speculate about what some future report might possibly say.

Moos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It was some old grandee's autobiography, Louisiana > - something along the lines of 'people who have to > buy their own silver'. Can't remember the name, > but what a twonk. Here we go: 'Michael Jopling, a gentleman farmer who was Minister of Agriculture in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet, is now remembered for a classic remark that spoke volumes about the upper end of the British class system. He described the ambitious Michael Heseltine as a man who "bought his own furniture".' http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/to-pay-or-not-to-pay-its-a-question-of-class-1687204.html

AllforNun, the Digital Britain final report is due to be published 16 June. The consultation period - during which members of the public were free to contribute - is over. In the meantime, it seems a little fruitless the speculate about what things might be said in something that hasn't yet been published.

Funnily enough, I saw a slightly scary-looking character this afternoon. Oddball wearing heavy black leather gloves (in June), marching up and down LL, arms swinging to the extreme, as if he were a para on exercises (twice as fast as anyone else), talking and shouting to himself, hitting a wall with his fists, burying his face in his hands. I just crossed the road. When in doubt, just cross the road.

I'm kind of depressed that the local election results - as reported on BBC News home page - are reporting so far (only 12 of 34 declared) gains for the Tories only. Including LibDems massively down. Not that I vote LibDem, but... Belief is everyting, it seems, when we have FPTP.

Give them a chance guys. Everyone has to begin somewhere. I'm a huge fan of Nunhead cemetery...

HeidiHi I'm around the Upland Road/Dunstans Road/Lordship Lane/Mount Adon Park junction. Could we fix something for this area, the Lower East Side, I'm wondering? Let me know what you think.

DulwichChav Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Send them to the Hellman Province as cannon > fodder. Would that be the Helmand Province, as in the Pashtun-speaking area of SW Afghanistan? Or the Hellman Province, as in the Unilever mayonnaise that can be quite nicely combined with olive oil, horseradish sauce and other salad condiments?

dv1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So you already decided the driver was at fault. > The arrest is standard practice in such indidents > - doesn't mean he is guilty. Being arrested on "suspicion of dangerous driving" is not standard. Most people involved in road accidents do not have that happen to them. It merits a mandatory driving disqualification if found guilty (whatever happens to the victom), which again is uncommon. There are many deaths on the road where the driver is at fault but not arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving (but of a lesser offence). I know the streets concerned, as a motorist and as a cyclist, and I'm fairly surprised this vehicle did what it did, TBH. But that's my opinion. My point was really about lots of guff about standards of the modern trucks and the environment etc. That's what their text is about. Transportation is not all about powerful engines and GPS and all that CSR stuff. As the number of women cyclists who have recently been killed on London streets by such trucks (check it out) could probably testify.

We're doomed, we're doomed!

Quite Moos. Who was it who accused some other Tory of having 'bought furniture'?

RosieH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > louisiana Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > "you can't be a critic until someone is willing > to > > pay for your services and you can claim to have > a > > mandate." > ... > > I write as someone who was paid in the distant > > past to write about wine and fortified wine > from > > particular parts of Europe > > Louisiana, I write as someone on the other side of > the equation and it seems that things may have > changed considerably in recent years. It can be > nigh on impossible to get a broadsheet wine writer > onto a lavish press trip Quite. There's a lot of competition for all kinds of jollies. - but even if you do, > there's no guarantee that they'll write about the > wine at the end of it, or that if they do, that > it'll be a positive review. You're having me on. ;-) > > Perhaps I was doing it wrong, but if I'd known I > could have slipped Jancis or Tim Atkin a couple of > cases of australian plonk in return for a good > write up, I would have had some very happy > clients. These days, it's bloggers who tend to > get targeted for press trips - altogether an > easier sell. > > Edited to say, not posting to be argumentative, > just that I think some journos can be given the > benefit of the doubt not to have been paid off. Indeed, some are not paid off, but many, many receive some kinds of benefits in kind (e.g. accommodation or flights or additional paid-for articles in Food from ***** that are just reprints; or guaranteed op-ed pieces in the ***) and these benefits are not generally declared to the public. And some will employ others to write for them (at a much lower rate, of course). Ahem. The best pieces, of course, are those written by those who have no axe to grind, and they also are by far the most fun to write. When you've written a piece about something you love, that has maybe even cost you money, and the subject ends up using it as their primary publicity internationally, because that love rings through what you have written... However... I was in Turkey a few weeks back, near Antalya, where a ghastly new hotel was opening - ?100m on the launch? - to which both regular journalists and bloggers were invited. Money literally rained down (in dollar bills). No expense was spared on caviar flown in from the FSU (or the Beijing Olympics-style fireworks). Now, some journalists wrote about it. And some didn't. And bloggers likewise. Some took a post-modern stance. My point is that none of the opinions are really trustworthy, whether or not the writer concerned is in the pay of a publication. Because everyone involved benefited greatly, privately, beyond their salary or not-salary. To the tune of ?100m I believe. That's a lot of money for PR. The food and drink trade is in no way unusual or exceptional in this respect. Pharma journals are filled with articles that promote particular treatments that have been ghost-written by... people like yours truly. Paid for by 'A' or 'B' pharma company (in Italy, Spain, France, the UK ...) This is a scandal, because it affects the drug treatments you and me receive from our GPs. I admit that when times have been tough, I have accepted money to do this kind of thing. I was chosen not because I have any particular high-level knowledge of pharma, but because I can write a piece for a range of national and international publications that requires zero editing, and I have some understanding of science and biochemistry, and I can also write/translate/edit text between a number of European languages. I'm not proud of it, and I have not done it for over a decade. I could go on: medicine, business, politics... And I have been in the room (in another country) when a very senior journalist received a one-hour call at home from a senior judge about a very important national issue that he really shouldn't have.... There are known metro stops in some capitals where documents get bought and sold to journalists, that shouldn't be. All of this stuff is kind of corrupt. Things go on behind the scenes that I think many people would be outraged by. And rightly. In some parts of southern Europe, some so-called journalists have on their business cards *both* PR *and* journalist. I always despised that approach, but maybe it would be more honest.

The Palmerston Wrote: ----------------------------- Will, that's a very excellent response to many issues. Congratulations.

indiepanda Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > louisiana Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > > "you can't be a critic until someone is > willing to pay for your services and you can claim > to have a mandate." > > Not sure I agree with this. I think there is a > place for internet reviews of things. I love > perfume and find blogs and reviews on forums give > much less biased reviews of the fashion magazines. > As far as I can see the fashion magazines will > promote any new perfume provided the company that > makes it places advertising with them. I think > I've never seen a critical review of a perfume in > a magazine, and yet there are lots of scrubbers > out there. The honest reviews you can get on line > is a much better way of finding out about what > real people who love perfume think about them. > > Only other option is reading Luca Turin's book - > now he really is a great critic. Hm, indiepanda, those were not my words: they were quotes from another. The following remarks I made were my response to those quotes, and are pretty much in agreement with yours. Please read on in that post. So: I never stated the words you have attributed to me here.

GB is a fine human being but a) He doesn't have some of the qualities for PM. b) He has a tendency to surround himself with some fairly unpleasant individuals. c) He has a love of complexity (cf pension credit etc.) I prefer simplicity, which everyone can understand. It is not fair that so many pensioners do not get a decent pension because of GB's introduced complexity. (And no, I'm not a pensioner.)

Mark Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For those who like dance music I recently came > across (and recommend) Data Transmission podcasts. > So far there's 48 mixes > Distance Nick Warren BK Yay!

Hi Anna Good luck with the project. Some answers below. > Have you ever thought about growing food at home? I've grown food at home on and off over twenty-odd years, but never in a major way. I've started seriously again this year. > What would get you started to grow your own? > What's holding you back? I've moved home a lot (including countries), I work away a lot (including trips overseas), partner elsewhere (currently Shanghai), all of my family is in other countries (hence more travel to visit them) and don't have a huge garden (and the soil is dire and the garden was a heap when I moved in). It's a bit dispiriting if you're going to be away and everything is going to fail. I'm also from a Med background and all kinds of things I've been brought up on food-wise are perhaps not feasible/not available/difficult in the UK. > Why would or wouldn't it work for you to grow some > food at home? Working away, holidays: nobody to tend... things fall apart. Working with others would be the way forward. > What's your experience if you are growing food at > home? What got you started? Before: trying my hand at basic veg for the table: courgettes, tomatoes etc. Courgettes nice and easy. Also herbs: had always had rosemary, sage, lemon balm. they tend to look after themselves. Now: things that I'm a fan of that I'm trying: vine, fig, horseradish. Plus interest in experimenting with new things uncommon in the shops e.g. chard. > What general implications do you feel growing food > holds/would hold for you? More exercise. Not that I'm short of it (walker and cyclist) but... More time in the garden. More time diverted from stresses of running a business. (Gardening is a bit like playing the piano.) Stuff to share/getting to know others. Plus ingredients for the new kitchen! In general, I'd like to become more self-sustaining. Goes along with other actions, such as starting bokashi recycling for *all* organic kitchen waste, or learning about bee-keeping over last year. I'm just about to go on a permaculture design course too. And we (a small group) are currently seeking a large country place with plenty of land to run in a 'transition' way on a co-housing basis, so it's all part of being able to contribute skills to that too.

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Keef Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > Whether you agree with it or not MM, Ted Max > makes > > a good point, in fact, it's THE point. The > problem > > is that people basically have the realistic > choice > > of one or the other, The problem is that people *believe* that is the choice.

This entire family (this guy, brother, father, sister) seem to have serious, long-standing problems. I'm amazed that they have not been dealt with 'in the round'. Especially when you consider some of the 'cases' that do come before the authorities.

dc Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Marmora Man Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > ditto for education > > Again - spot on. > > My post from last year: > Here's a like-for-like GCSE comparison 1995 to > 2007 (remember these have a comprehensive intake): > > > Dulwich High School for Boys (previously William > Penn) > 1995 11% of pupils attained 5 A* to C > Now The Charter School > 2007 61% of pupils attained 5 A* to C > > Kingsdale > 1995 6% of pupils attained 5 A* to C > 2007 59% of pupils attained 5 A* to C > > All that money on the NHS and Education wasted and > nothing has improved at all since 1997 - certainly > not MM's rather selective memory at any rate. I'd be more concerned about levels of functional numeracy and literacy than about scores in some constantly changing examination that really mean very little. And those figures don't look so good.