alex_b

DuncanW Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > We may not be in a position to know the minutiae > of the jury's deliberations. What we do know is > they were asked to consider the arguments of both > the prosecution and defence. They went with the > defence. > The summary of the defence's case is brief and > widely available. > > From The Guardian: > > 'In closing statements following the nine-day > trial, the defence had urged jurors to ?be on the > right side of history?, saying the statue, which > stood over the city for 125 years, was so indecent > and potentially abusive that it constituted a > crime.' > > The defendants did not contest that they damaged > the statue. > > The jury deliberated for just over three hours. So > it seems reasonably straightforward - albeit > unusual. > > What is very difficult though, near impossible, is > trying to second-guess what this might mean for > other real or imaginary cases. Quite obviously, if > you damaged a statue of Churchill, Maggie > Thatcher, Nelson Mandela or whoever - or throw a > living person into Bristol Dock, this verdict > would have little or no bearing. This isn?t correct. First in criminal law it isn?t whether the jury prefers the prosecution or defence case, it?s whether they are SURE the defendants are guilty based on the law that?s been given to them by the judge and the facts presented by both sides. They could have decided the defence was mostly talking nonsense but still weren?t sure the prosecution proved their case. Second, the paragraph from the Guardian is only part of the defence?s case. It appears that the defendants ran multiple defences and there were at least four routes to an acquittal. We simply cannot know the reason for the decision of the jury, certainly not from a short paragraph from a newspaper.

The difficulty here is we don?t actually know what the jury decided beyond the verdict. They may have decided that the prosecution didn?t prove the statue was actually damaged (it?s now displayed in a museum in Bristol). Or they may have decided the prosecution didn?t prove that the defendants didn?t have an honest belief that the people of Bristol and Bristol council wouldn?t have objected - there had been votes in favour of removing the statue. Or perhaps they decided that the prosecution didn?t prove the defendants didn?t have an honest belief that the display of the statue wasn?t itself a public order offence. Or perhaps they didn?t agree that the prosecution had proved that a conviction would have been proportionate in light of the defendants rights under the Human Rights Act /ECHR. This is my problem with the criticism of the verdict: the jury actually heard the evidence and the law, had multiple routes to acquittal and it was for the prosecution to make the case which they failed to do. I don?t think I or any other commentator has sufficient insight in what actually happened to determine whether the outcome was perverse or not. I feel similarly about the acquittals of various Sun journalists for phone hacking, I think they ought to have been convicted but don?t have enough information to know why they weren?t.

Nigello Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > James - one very simple and easily achieved action > would be to require the sweepers to place plastic > sacks of rubbish on bins rather than at the side. > Some do, some don't and it seems silly not to make > it a requirement because it stops foxes from > ripping them apart and spreading contents all over > the pavement. I can't understand why it is not > part of the job description. Maybe it is and some > don't bother. (There is nothing from stopping > anyone from doing that themselves, of course.) The foxes on Adys Rd and Bellenden Rd seem perfectly capable of knocking rubbish off the top of bins and strewing it all over the street. The bin by St Johns seems to be a particular problem.

There were FX machines at London Bridge Tube and Blackfriars Tube that will do conversion or donate to charity (or there were pre-pandemic.

I think it?s very dependent on where his job is based. For instance West London is a pain if you work in Canary Wharf. Also does he know people in London already? Moving near friends is always a good plan.

Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Someone in my road has had a large bag of sand > standing in the road outside their house for weeks > (possibly months, I can't remember when it first > appeared). > > At first I assumed this was to save a space for > the arrival of a skip, or for builders' vehicles > etc, but the bag of sand is never moved, so > vehicles delivering or collecting materials from > the house have to park alongside the bag of sand, > blocking the road. > > Meanwhile, nobody can park there. > > Is that a) allowed and b) reasonable? Report it to Southwark highways department and they?ll deal with it. We had a builder taking up over three parking spaces with a couple of skips and building material stored on the road. Southwark dealt with it really quickly.

We have a linked card for our Starling account which we can top up and is limited to ?200. The one annoying thing is as it can?t be used for online purchases it doesn?t work for Uber.

Any idea how autopay usually takes to show up?

Our car is non compliant and we got a letter addressed to us based on DVLA data.

legalalien Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just out of interest (not to make any particular > point), what have class sizes been in England > historically? I think they are around 30 now? I > was educated overseas and our standard class size > was 30-32 (one teacher per class - at least for > primary and core secondary subjects), this was > taken as a given and not really debated much / > seemed to work OK. Have class sizes here > increased over the years or have they also always > been around this mark? (Obvs might be smaller in > more remote spots, so thinking about maximums in > populated areas)? 30 is the legal max and I think has been since the 90s. When I was at school in the 80s we had 25 in a class at Infants, Juniors and Secondary (until GCSEs). There are some places in the country where class sizes are much much smaller for instance village schools near Bath still often have two years in one class that fewer than 20 kids.

Alan Medic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ianr Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > There was no officer at the scene. > > > > How do you know? > > I believe my wife. Are you suggesting he was > hiding in a bush taking notes? One possibility that occurred to me is that the person in the other car may have subsequently called the police (perhaps claiming that your wife didn?t stop or that some other offence was committed) and so an officer attended after your wife had left.

It sounds like the other party?s insurers have made a mistake with the name, cannot verify your partners? licence or insurance and have passed this across to the police. Our insurer did the same when we were hit by a car being driven by someone who wasn?t insured on the car she was driving. Presumably sending the police the details they?ve requested )and informing your insurers of the claim) will resolve this.

A quick google suggests that two thirds of students had a part time job last year, down from 74% pre-pandemic (presumably because of the drop in hospitality jobs last year). Source https://www.savethestudent.org/money/surveys/student-money-survey-2021-results.html Also research shows that drinking in the young has dropped sharply over the last twenty years (e.g. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/10/young-people-drinking-alcohol-study-england). So other than a bunch of outdated ?boozy, layabout students? stereotypes, why do you think there is a massive untapped workforce to fill the current labour shortages?

Another recommendation for Gary who came round today to fix a broken light fixture and replace a faulty low power lighting set up. Very reasonably priced and great work.

A lot of kids at the Belham previously went to either the Villa or Little Jungle. I?ve heard both being spoken about positively but don?t have direct experience.

Just to let you know Dulwich Runners goes out on Wednesday nights at 7pm from Edward Alleyn Club on Burbage Road. There are runners at all paces and a range of distances. Running in a group is a good motivation and the evenings get darker. Also I think Runhead do a Tuesday night run from the beer shop in Nunhead.

first mate Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I cannot understand the demand for cycle hangars > by those who have a front or back garden. Because front gardens often don?t have space for weatherproof bike storage and carrying bikes through the house isn?t great either. Plus bike storage in front of the house requires planning permission.

KidKruger Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Where?s the ?dissenter?s corner? in Nunhead > cemetery. I was told by one of the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery people that it is the Western corner that runs along Linden Grove. It starts at the Scottish Martyrs memorial and is where the non Anglicans (e.g. Methodists and other non-conformists) including my great-great-grandparents are buried.

I?ve found EE the most reliable of O2, Voda and EE. Not tried 3.

OutOfFocus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I assume an ID Card would be cheaper tomake than a > passport Not significantly, if you put the same effort into the identity verification/anti-fraud process and use the same systems. Of course it all comes down to the specs. From memory when ID cards were being considered under the last Labour government there was going to be about a ?20 difference between an ID card only or an ID and a passport.

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Its a red cross with a sword ? That?s the City of London. The GLC flag was a gold crown on a red field above blue and white waves. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Council#/media/File%3AFlag_of_Greater_London.svg

fishbiscuits Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > That's nothing. Bellenden Road has - in all > seriousness - been previously described as "The > French Quarter" by estate agents. Though there is a local history of Huguenot French cloth workers in the area, hence some of the French street names and French surnames in the ?dissenters corner? of Nunhead cemetery. The Belham named their classes after types of cloth as a nod to the local history. Edited to add - calling it the French quarter is still of course ridiculous.

The GLC had a flag and the City of London has a flag. Either would do. The London assembly ?flags? have been clip art on a bed sheet.

There are I think three overlapping trends. There was a baby boom 10-12 years ago, this is the cause of the bulge classes in the top end of primary schools and prompted a number of new primaries and secondaries to open, this boom was perhaps less sustained than expected. Brexit cased a depopulation of European families from the UK both in the immediate aftermath of the vote and again in 2020 (anecdotally my son?s class lost a number of kids with European parents). Then COVID caused another wave of migration this time from London to the country, again my son?s year lost 10% ish of the kids (5-6 out of 60) since 2020. Presumably from September 2022 things will settle down a bit.

The reasoning at our son?s school is parents wind up doing a lot of the homework anyway. They put a big emphasis on reading every night and from KS2 expect the kids to be filling in their reading logs. As I went to a UK state primary that had no homework and then went to a UK state secondary that did have homework I?m not particularly concerned about the transition but can understand why parents with different experiences will find it odd. Realistically the kind of parent that is posting this kind of question on a forum about East Dulwich is going to be providing a supportive enough environment that their kids will be fine whatever approach the school takes.