Huguenot

Gosh crikey - the tired justifications of the apathetic. It's banal to claim that because the rejigging of the NHS wasn't in a manifesto people couldn't vote on it. You'd have to be pretty bloody thick to think you weren't voting for a representative that has a philosophy, an approach, to these scenarios. Likewise it's cockhoist to claim that local politics is just as worthy an involvement in politics as a national vote. Council taxes and neighborhood self help groups pale to wishy washy magnolia compared with the primary colours of income tax and VAT. Whether you believe it or not (clearly NOT in your case) every decision you make at a local level is in fact defined by the distribution of funds at a national level. You can whimsy at your neighborhood meeting, but do nothing unless budget is applied. As DJKQ will be at pains to point out, debating with Southwark or James Barber about local social housing is pissing in the wind when the purse strings are held at a national level. So ner ner ner to your 'local tree hugging is just as important as voting' bollocks. As for this nonsense about having a right to complain even if you don't vote - I've never heard such rubbish. It's like complaining about the car crashing because instead of stamping on the brake you were crapping on about your rights not to press the brake pedal. Senseless. It's like righteous teenage angst. Wah wah wah. If you don't vote, politicians don't give a fuck about your opinion - that's the game. They would undoubtedly prefer you didn't vote, because then they can do whatever they want. So yes, bleat about your right to be apathetic, but don't complain about the car crashing because you were wheedling some tiresome childish toss instead of putting your foot down.

Really? I am impressed, especially if you don't have any sense of humour and you stare at your poo in the toilet after a number 2? *rattles handle and looks again* May I add that I'm pleased you don't have any objection to an M&S in East Dulwich? Because, well, Jesus Christ, if you had an objection, I don't know what we'd all do.

I think anybody who doesn't live in ED is boring and stupid and shouldn't be allowed to speak and smells and are not very good people and not as clever as etc. etc. There's nothing wrong with those tea cosies.

That's an autoplaced piece of advertising designed to drive her company to the top of the search engine rankings. It's outdated and lacks relevance. Spam.

I'm sure it's simply a misunderstanding. It can be very difficult when using free local message boards, especially those run by a collective, for 'critical' communications. I tend to think of the EDF as a valuable, but limited, community chat resource. Once you need to coordinate large numbers of people to rapidly changing events it's rather too much to ask of local, mostly non-technical well wishers to be able to run a customer relationship management programme for you on what is quite an old and inflexible message database. Perhaps this is worth recognising as your own responsibility rather than theirs? The Language Lounge is a great idea, but maybe you really need to set up your own small website to which you can guide people, whilst using the EDF as a noticeboard to attract and highlight the serivce to attendees? Perhaps we are a little bit spoilt by the kind of services we appear to get from free from Google, Facebook and other Silicon Valley mega corporations. They're not free of course, they receive billions from venture capital and sell your private data to repay them. That's a far cry from the EDF which gets a few hundred quid a month that barely covers the serving costs. Users of the EDF become very agitated when the website doesn't work quite right, but often forget when they request interactive calendars and such like that the creation of these facilities may require ?10k or more to create, launch, troubleshoot and maintain. I build and design websites as part of my own company, and fees are charged to my own clients of between ?100 to ?300 per hour depending on what work needs to be done. This isn't because they're being overcharged, this is because this is what it costs when you take into account salaries, taxes, hardware, software, training, holidays, administrative overheads and all the rest of the associated costs. The amateur administrators sometimes slighted on these pages are delvering an estimated ?20,000 worth of free labour every month just to keep this forum working. I think that the suggestion they're messing with you to try and get advertising cash out of you is a bit cynical, petty, and more than a little bit ungracious.

I'm now intrigued as to what could be the enquiry from such an insistent correspondent!

I've looked on the various supporters boards, but there doesn't seem to be a 'rational' reason for this - any more than there is any single reason for the riots last summer. Most of the enthusiasts who think this was clever and inspired think so for different reasons. Some are going on about Hillsborough, some about response to what they see as an attack on Liverpool for being supported by racist bigots, some about regional identity and the north/south divide. Liverpool fans have generally been disrespectful to the national anthem, but it doesn't usually escalate to booing, normally to singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' loudly over the top. It seems to me that this season Liverpool fans have really accellerated this bizarre sense of injustice they like to suffer from. This wankish stroppy sulky teenager response that blames everyone else for their own misbehaviour. This is just the latest incarnation of it. Pathetic. They always seem so surprised when people describe them as witless morons.

I thought the problem was that you didn't have any evidence? At this stage isn't it still really just a vague memory from someone who would have been very young at the time and who is now very old? In fact those who could be considered most reliable witnesses (the family) have never mentioned it? 'Official' adoption was only introduced in 1926 - so it is highly possible that an adoption could have taken place without any record having been made, and without any subterfuge. However, I'm not so sure a death could be as easily overlooked.

There are only 10 countries in the world that have enforced compulsory voting: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, DR Congo, Ecuador, Luxembourg, Nauru, Peru, Singapore and Uruguay. Of those I think it would be unfair to call them all non-democratic, possibly with the exception of the Congo which is down to the fairly constant civil war.

Once twice thrice have I loved you Before I knew your name Slowly silently have I burnt Consum?d in passions flame When have I ever been Without your thoughts my love An entire universe having seen In your eyes do I rest my love Come settle on my lids like stardust Sparkle like jewels rare sublime Let all other thoughts fade as rust Only you I treasure till the end of Time

It's all down to a youth tragically wasted on John Donne.

"When you're in Vietnam you see packets and packets of "weasel" coffee which is supposed to be this stuff they've shat out. Bollox. you'd have to have farms of weasels eating and pooing these coffee beans out 24/7 to make the volume they sell. Marketing nonsense for tourists." Well the best cup of coffee I had was high on a volcano overlooking Ubud in Bali, sat in a farm full of weasels eating and pooing these coffee beans out 24/7! Very friendly they were too. They use that clever nose of theirs to sniff out the ripest beans, and then their gut enzymes breakdown many of the chemicals that make coffee taste bitter - so the cleaned and roasted beans are some of the smoothest you can get! I have it on good authority that the Vietnamese cat poo coffee isn't the real thing - but it's stuff that's been chemically treated to taste similar. It's not unlike the dark days pre EU when anyone could claim to make Parmesan, Parma gam or Bordeaux wine - these terms were considered by rapacious businessmen to be 'styles' rather than a measure of authenticity. I recommend to coffee fans to NOT taste real cat poo coffee, as everything else will seem a poor substitue afterwards.

Well thank God you're there to keep me on the straight and narrow ;-) If you weren't there, heaven knows how thse defenceless grown adults would survive.

Oooh, look, a red car, can we have a cha.... Ooooo look a blue car, I really don't like bl... Ooooo look a red car, I li...

Really? *chuckles*

Pugwash, NO. I love you dearly but this is nothing to do with clinical practice, and everything to do with getting paid. That doesn't make it bad. It's just a process. First mate, likewise? THEY ARE JUST COUNTING. Sorry for shouting, but nobody in any establishment cares about anything else regarding this particular process. The NHS isn't filled with people who care about your haemorrhoids or your unwillingness to share them. You are a banal and uninspiring number. Stop pursuing this please! BTW Have you had that itch checked out? It niffs a bit.

I think 2 is appropriate.

Irony. You see when you respond to a tired and dull enquiry with a hackneyed cliche, everyone gets the point except you. It's supposed to be tired and dull, that's the point deadhead ;-) It's a meta-observation that diminishes the original enquiry in a friendly way without being patronising. Therein lies the humour. Are you for real?

*chuckles*

Ah, it all sounds very sweet and full of love.

But is your problem with posh folk eating red sauce, or posh folk's eating red sauce?

I'm lost - are Baby Rae and MitchB the same person? Intriguing spectator sport this one. ;-)

Clowns.

Just to alleviate some confusion, I believe this to be to do with how GPs are funded. I should make clear before I explain that this is not a criticism of GPs in general or The Gardens who looked after me very well when I was in ED. In brief: "At least half of practice income comes from a global sum that is based on the number of patients within a practice, weighted according to their age profile, gender, levels of deprivation and ill health. Adjustments are even made to reflect the costs of recruiting staff in each locality." (source: British Medical Association) GPs have come under fire for counting patients based on outdated data regarding patients who have left the area or changed doctors, and are hence double counted: meaning GPs are overpaid and your taxes are wasted. Nobody (either the LA or the HA or PCT) is pulling details from patients records, nobody is going to the newspaper about anybody's STDs or telling your parter you cheated on them or chatting over the garden fence about your poo problems. All that's taking place is that GPs are being asked to update their records regarding the total number of patients they look after and the general health of the population. If they can't provide this information then they won't receive payment. What The Gardens is trying to do is take very reasonable steps to ensure that it knows how many active patients it has, and what their level of health is. Those patients who have not visited recently, and do not respond to update their local status and use of the surgery will be excluded from the payment calculation. Now PLEASE calm down.

It's possible PGC that your security settings are deactivating site cookies, and that your login is cookie based - try on a different PC?