BrandNewGuy

And a crowd of 1,713. Just two years ago, the Boxing Day crowd was 558.

Hear, hear!

Count us in for the 14th. Mirash was a lot of fun, but the food was good rather than great. Bit too oily for my taste, though you're always taking your life into your hands with a tarka dhal...

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Absolutely, and let's also not forget we currently > experiencing one of the strongest El Ni?o > phenomenon on record. It usually means warm wet > and windy followed by ice cold and dry. I wonder > if those climate change fanatics will be jumping > around making claims about a new ice age come a > very cold spring? > > Louisa. So you think the climate change hypothesis is wrong? Based on what? Of course you can't make climate change responsible for any single weather event on climate change, any more than you can blame smoking for any single case of lung cancer.

Ditto those who greet the first cold snap with, 'So much for global warming, eh?!'

Dulwich Hamlet have drawn Guiseley or Burscough at home in the 2nd Round of the FA Trophy. Tie to be played on Saturday January 16th.

numbers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thatcher, Major and Lamont weren't from Scotland! Lamont's from Shetland. Mind you, that's not really Scotland ;-)

Many people are basically lazy :-) Sometimes I find it useful to interpret what people say and believe by filtering it through the imaginary thought, "Does this mean I have to do something?" And the option that gives the answer "No" is nearly always the one that wins. Bart: Dad? I think I need some fresh air. Can I go to the park? Homer: Do I have to sit up? Bart: No. Homer: Knock yourself out.

Blah Blah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes I agree. People are more interested in reality > shows than they are in the achievements of all the > great scientists that have brought understanding > to the world. Science has to find better and more > effective ways to engage interest. An interesting piece on how the climate change 'debate' is framed and the power of 'denialist' messages: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/02/new-research-confirms-that-sowing-doubt-about-climate-change-is-devastatingly-effective/

Governments see climate change as something that will happen in the future, so they're happy to make exrtravagant promises that they won't be around to be accountable for. They need to be persuaded both that its effects are almost certainly happening now and that decisions we make now ? or don't make ? will affect us all in the future. I think too many scientists think that 'the data speaks for themselves', when they seldom do.

Indeed, Blah Blah, but we live in a country (a world?) where scientific illiteracy is flaunted proudly. More money than ever spent on education and the population still hasn't got an earthly, but that doesn't stop them 'taking sides' in scientific debates as if they're beauty contests. Profoundly depressing - and science needs to sort out its communication skills too.

Wow, that doesn't advance the debate one inch, but yeah, go ahead and yahboo those who disagree with you.

And the other 'good' news is that there has not been a huge increase in burglary recently. Awful though burglary is for the victims, we should be careful not to scaremonger ? Cllr. Barber reported just now: "At the Dulwich Community Council meeting the local Police Inspector commented on crime levels. Burglary - very slight rise in reported burglaries from an incredibly low reported burglary crime rate."

By the way, those ISIS-controlled Omar oilfields in eastern Syria that the RAF bombed last night are the same ISIS-controlled Omar oil fields that the US destroyed in October. Seems to be like government expenditure proposals ? just keep on announcing the same amount of cash as if it's new each time. http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/coalition-strikes-destroy-is-oil-field-in-syria-spokesman-115102300031_1.html

DaveR Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It's always easier to decide not to do anything. Oh I don't know. It's pretty easy to 'do something'. However worng-headed that something might be.

LondonMix Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Global cities like London, San Francisco, New York > feel like they are at the very beginning of a slow > but terminal decline. That's what lots of people were saying in the late 70s and through to the mid 80s. There was massive flight from these cities and what was left was often (rightly or wrongly) perceived as undesirable. And that was working class and middle class flight. But the doomsters were wrong, these cities changed in ways no-one had foreseen and I suspect that will happen again.

So are there no other premises locally?

I was at the most recent Camberwell Community Council and in response to a delegation of young people protesting the cuts, the councillors said that the youth services budget was to be put out to consultation so that residents could have their say how the (diminshed) pie should be sliced up. My own feeling is that many youth clubs and services in the past were provided by church groups, political parties, mutual ogranisations etc. With a decline in their influence, it now seems perfectly normal for the council to be seen as the sole provider of youth clubs, play facilities etc. Without wishing to sound too 'Big Society', maybe we should revisit where provision comes from and how it's funded ? there are lots of charities and trusts willing to give money, but I fear many youth clubs do not have the 'political' resource or confidence to be able to tap those funds successfully.

The trouble with the clean gas / dirty coal argument is that much of the dirty energy has been offshored to China and is embedded in all the goods that are imported. China pretends to be green, but it's frightening looking at how dependent it is on coal.

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oh is that right? The biggest reduction in > emissions among the developed countries in recent > years has been the US, the reason, Fracking. > Fracking is far 'cleaner' than coal for eg Your evidence?

James Barber Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The Thames River path on the south bank used > millions of cycle budgets to create a quiet cycle > route along the river Thames - creating subways > under bridges swallowed lots of cash. But with > Tate Modern it became so popular for people > walking that cyclists driven away from using it. > One of the more successful campaigns I've helped > with but ultimately of no real use for cyclists. Although much of that route is the Jubilee Walkway project from years before, so probably never intended for cycling.

Well, that's probably because Alleyns and JAGS have junior schools. I suspect it's thought that 11-year-olds and older don't need crossing wardens. Maybe not so interesting.

Yeah, we're fine for the 17th too.

Black Friday. P*ss off back to America.

Ridgley Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Isis is very difficult dilemma I don?t think > bombing them will actually work, and you can?t > reason with a prehistoric ideology so I am not > sure on this one and Iam not saying do nothing > either. A minor correction: their ideology is anything but prehistoric ? it is to use modern technology and communications in such a way to further their religious aims. These are not the anti-modernity Taliban, but a relatively young bunch who are enthusiastic users of 21st-century technology.