Blah Blah

Why on earth would anyone want to ban cyclists from Rye Lane? Why not ban buses, cars, and pedestrians too?

We got rid of BT some months ago after continued problems. It seems with BT that if you are near enough to an exchange, you get the service they promise. If you are not, then it is poor. Also they prioritise business customers over residential customers. With Virgin now and much happier.

Not all junior doctors are members of the BMA and it was also agreed that there would still be emergency cover by some junior doctors.

This is the same government that claimed tax credit cuts wouldn't leave people worse off and tried to hide deaths of people found fit to work by their flawed work capability assessments. I wouldn't place any credability on government claims. They are very poor on impact assessment.

Medicine and law have always been seen as lucrative, respected and stable professions by parents, but as with most things it depends on speciality. That's not really the issue though. And housing is something that affects everyone, and both New Labour and the Conservatives are responsible for the place we are in. With more of the same to come, you have to wonder how bad it needs to get before government does something meaningful about it. My own feeling is that ultimately, income tax will need to rise - although it's worth pointing out that NI has risen over the years, which amounts to the same thing (they both go into the same pot).

Broadly I agree with that summary LondonMix. Retention is a huge problem for the NHS and Jeremy Hunt seems to have no understanding of that. Similarly, the nursing bursery scheme was also introduced because of a shortage in nursing recruitment. A third of NHS staff are from overseas. Srisky though is also right. Those higher levels of pay are dependent on length of service and experience. No-one walks into a higher level consultancy job. As for junior doctors, ?40k with overtime isn't unreasonable.

Nurses start on less than that (?21k) and the government is set to replace bursaries with student loans. Uncleglen, it takes at least 10 years to qualify as a GP, and much longer to reach consultant level. It requires a lot of hard work, study and student debt. Renumeration reflects that. And GPs btw, start on salaries of ?55k after qualification. Salary will rise according to experience and length of service. Junior doctors on the other hand earn between ?22k and ?28k. It's very easy to pluck out the salaries of top consultants and think that is the norm for pay scale, but it's actually not true. Most people working within the NHS are on very average salaries for their levels of skill and expertise.

This is terrible. One of the reasons people feel safe walking across there and cycling is because of the CCTV. But if the CCTV is no good then what is the point of it being there? I hope you are ok Righty.

Agreed. Vaping should not be advertised as an alternative to smoking, but as an aid to quitting. It's also worth pointing out that E-cigs only started appearing after several countries/ states etc started to introduce smoking bans in public places. Proof as if any were needed that only legislation can force manufacturers to change. We shouldn't be afraid to demand regulation.

Family gathering for us, so a house party I guess. Never been one to do New Year in a pub full of strangers. Don't see the appeal of that.

E-cigarettes are still facilitating the main addictive element of smoking - i.e nocotine. So the question should be whether or not it's ok to advertise/ glamourise an addictive substance. It's a grey area because there's no doubt that the smoke inhaled from tobacco is carcinogenic and e-cigarettes are a better altenative. But at the same time, the same industry that sexed up tobacco to turn everyone into smokers, is now producing e-cigarettes. Those are companies whom have never cared about the health of their customers. The question therefore is whether people who would never have taken up smoking, will take up e-cigarettes. That's impossible to know right now, but that for me is where the danger in glamourous advertising lies. Personally I'd keep those ads off the telly and treat e-cigs under the same legislation as tobacco advertising.

Half that makes no sense to me either and proves my point of what a moron you are.

In a final effort to get you to see sense Grok, if you were played audio files of just voices speaking English, you would pretty easily to be able to tell Oriental from Asian from Indian from African from European. Most people could do that. Some people would be able to tell a Chinese accent from a Japanese one, or a Canadian from an American, or a Russian from a German. Some might even be able to do better and pinpoint differences between local accents, like Cockney compared to Brummie and the global equivalents. Being able to do that of course requires local exposure and knowledge. Accent is a defining characteristic that helps identification, that's all. So your whole argument that the OP was somehow wrong to reference that is nonsense, as many have pointed out, and the fact that people have been off the forum over Christmas and come back to find you still banging on about it says something not very rational about you. Move on dude.

'funny clothes'???? There's an insult if ever there was one. Most people would reference anyone with any accent and most people who live in London have plenty of exposure to accents from the various countries of Africa. But as your post shows, you are more intent on trouble making than diplaying any intelligence. Go and look a pictures of Ethiopians compared to Nigerians for example. You'll see a physical difference, a difference that black people themselves see, because unlike some white people, they don't see everyone with a different skin colour as all looking the same. They are the same differnces that we acknowledge accross europe btw. Africa is a huge continent that borders the middle east and anthropologically is an area of great difference - if only you open your eyes and look properly. Whilst the OP may not have had the knowledge to pinpoint which African accent she heard, it is perfectly ok to acknowledge an accent, in the same was as we would acknowledge an eastern European or Asian etc accent.

There does seem to have been a spike lately though and going on about stable yearly averages, whether slightly up, down or otherwise is of little comfort to those who have been burgled. There's probably a small group of people responsible for most of the recent burglaries, and they need to be caught asap.

For goodness sake Grok, give it a rest. Nothing the OP said gave any impression of the sort. Most of us can tell from an accent if a black person is a first generation migrant or not. Some of us can even tell the difference in accents between different African countries. It's a perfectly valid observation to make, despite your attempts to accuse the OP of something other than the face value reason for posting. Would you say the same about someone referencing a white person with an Irish or Scottish accent? I suggest it's you who has a problem there, not the OP.

Except mitochondrial DNA says was are all out of Africa.

Not only a great story and great ending, but also a great example of how people can come together and help each other :)

Agreed Otta.

I too agree with Buddug. Grok, why do you deliberately set out to confront in unhelpful ways, behaviour typified by the following comment? "He was shouting at his child (she looks between 8-10). Hitting her on the back, and back of her head. Swearing and shouting she wasn't going to school. She was screaming every time he hit her and saying she wanted to go to school please Daddy. Who doesnt have to raise voice to kids sometimes? Hitting or pushing along? Smacking, slapping, punching? Tantrum screaming like all kids can or crying out in pain? Swearing bloody, flipping or other?" Most adults know the difference between acceptable chastisement and physical violence when they see it and no, neither my wife or I have ever felt the need to hit our children. The OP clearly reports abuse, the damage of which psychologically is well researched. The risks to hitting anyone in the head, let alone a child, are also well researched. But I shouldn't have to be pointing that out to you should I? Step back and think about what you are writing.

How this thread has deviated! There's very little subjective room for describing a grown man hitting the back of a child's head imo. How else could the OP have described that? And that the child was crying as he did it. Not really much room for interpretation there either.

I cycled through this yesterday for the first time, from the Old Kent Road and found it to be ok. Haven't tried it from the Walworth Road side yet. But I can also see how it is worse for driving and why there are tailbacks. And before the changes, cyclists had paths accross the central island anyway, for safe crossing. Doesn't feel like the right answer to the problems that existed before.

I think you've done the right thing. If the Police find them, they will automatically alert social services. It's quite possible they live in that vicinity too.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of cartoonists, they don't deserve to die for it. I think everyone can agree with that.

I took that line in the script to mean that the money was useless to him, the builder, because he wouldn't get away with stealing it. I could be wrong though.