Dogkennelhillbilly

Just trying to work out whether you do or don't think that parking fees reduce car journeys. Your post seems to suggest that parking fees at workplaces do but parking fees at residences don't.

So when road space is taken up by cycle lanes that preclude bus lanes, it does slow buses down -- but when road space is taken up by parked cars that preclude bus lanes it doesn't slow buses down? 🤔

So you don't think that the volume of other vehicles parked or being driven on the roads affects the speed or reliability of buses? 🤔

So you don't think the cost of parking at a person's workplace influences whether they drive there or not?

You don't know you're born if you think public transport in Dulwich is poor. Dulwich has three train stations (East, North, West) that run first thing in the morning to last thing at night. It also has a zillion bus routes running through it, some of which run 24 hours a day. They're all integrated into a single ticketing system and each bus and train is live trackable and accessible for people with disabilities. Speak to anyone outside London or in zone 4-6 and they'd be stunned anyone is moaning about this stuff. It's true that the buses would be faster and more reliable if there were fewer private vehicles logging up the roads. We can either demolish thousands of houses along bus routes to build new bus lanes or we can reduce the number of private vehicles being used and parked in London. But there's no magical way to speed up buses and let every Tom, Dick and Harry drive and park freely at the same time.

So you're saying if that person had to pay for parking at work they might not drive...? 🤔

Another way of looking at it is that the Chartwell Cancer Trust (on whose building the sculpture was fixed - it wasn't a picture) won't benefit from it now it's been stolen. Not from attention, footfall or flogging it.

I don't think any of that tat is licensed.

It didn't go so well for the last bunch that tried that: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/24/man-arrested-suspicion-theft-banksy-artwork-peckham-london

Have you been to Ayres Bakery in Nunhead? It does the kind of thing you're talking about, but also other stuff very well. It's always busy. Yes - it was called "Truly Scrumptious".

That's a bit harsh on the OP. But it is the middle of summer and schools are on holiday, so it's a busy time. If the OP is worried that it's dangerously overcrowded, then it's fair enough to ask the staff about it. Otherwise - schools are back at the beginning of September and it'll be much quieter then.

It's common practice for clients (like JAGS) procuring services in sectors where there's a high risk of worker exploitation (like cleaning services) to require vendors to pay their workers the (real) living wage. This has been around for years in the private and public sectors. The Living Wage Foundation and Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority websites have plenty of information about this subject for people that would like to become better informed...including JAGS? https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/battersea-workers-to-get-london-living-wage https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2014/09/22/canary-wharf-contractors-sign-london-living-wage-deal/ https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/tfl-and-living-wage-0 https://livingwage.org.uk/news/real-living-wage-increases-£12-uk-and-£1315-london

...and yet in addition to employing teachers, it also employs accountants, marketing people, maintenance people, security people, operations and contracts managers and a bunch of other people outside its "core competence" of education. 🤔 If JAGS were (as it claims) legitimately committed to championing social awareness and sustainability inside and outside the classroom, then it would be simple to insist its outsourcers paid their labourers the London Living Wage, for example. This is a common provision in contracts where supply chain workers are at a high risk of exploitation.

That's a weird comment. Presumably the Head, the Director of Finance and the Director of Operations are all directly employed by JAGS instead of being outsourced. Do they only do it for the money and as such do the bare minimum? As JAGS outsourced their cleaners far in advance of the election (let alone the introduction of VAT, which still doesn't even have a firm date set) and JAGS has explicitly said it's nothing to do with VAT, I think we can safely conclude that VAT on private schools is totally irrelevant to the subject.

Interesting article in the paper today about the precarious and hard nature of this kind of work. JAGS and other facilities owners typically don't employ their own cleaning staff - instead they wash their hands of the arrangements by outsourcing them to agencies. It's the agencies that hire and fire the cleaners - but often acting at the direction of the clients... The same union that is representing the cleaners at JAGS represented the cleaner dismissed for "stealing" an abandoned tuna sandwich from a law firm's meeting room: "In London, Rodriguez joined the tens of thousands of Latin American migrants who have made their home in the capital in recent decades, a high proportion of whom work in the contract cleaning and facilities management sector. The work was hard, and her employment structures fiendishly complicated, involving multiple outsourcing companies, third-party recruitment agencies and byzantine lines of management and responsibility. On a typical day, she would leave her flat in Streatham, south London, at 6am and service at least three different sites across the city, often not returning home until midnight; pay was always at or very close to the minimum wage. But in the course of her labours, Rodriguez found herself playing a vital role at the core of some of the country’s most famous institutions, from flagship fashion outlets to the House of Commons, where she worked for four years. She and her colleagues sometimes felt like Britain’s skeleton: an unseen but indispensable support structure without which nothing else could stand upright." https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/aug/03/the-cleaner-sacked-for-eating-a-tuna-sandwich

I don't think they have ever said that are a charity - but rather a Community Interest Company (CIC). It would help if I could remember the name...

Great work Alex Yee and Kingsdale!

As @Angelina says, the gates are never closed before the posted closing time. In July, the park is closed after 9.30pm. If you enter or remain after that time, bring a ladder or a sleeping bag! https://www.southwark.gov.uk/parks-and-open-spaces/parks/opening-times

Has anyone heard if this has been resolved yet? The last news from the union was the cleaning contractor had actually CUT wages by 12% following the dispute. Apparently these cleaners are making just 11p per hour above the UK legal minimum wage - how can anyone live on that in London? https://www.uvwunion.org.uk/en/campaigns/cleaners-fight-pay-cuts-at-prestigious-jags-private-school/

Yikes. That must have been terrifying. Thank you for reporting to police

Amalaser Clinic has opened up at 353 Lordship Lane (next to Plough Cafe). https://amalaserclinic.com/

The OneDulwich guy should just sign his own name to his letters and opinions then or at least be transparent that it is a nom de plume. Has he ever explained his relationship - if any - with the other "OneSomethings" that appeared in other parts of London at the same time with similar branding? 🤔 -- Signed on behalf of London Action Strategy Against Group Nontransparency Everywhere (LASAGNE), membership: 1, supporters: 6 billion. Sign up for our newsletter! That's absolutely true. There were also no votes exclusively in favour of decimalisation, independence for India, or the disestablishment of the Catholic Church.

When you say "a lot of conversation", you may be overstating the reach of a thread on the Road Moaning section of the EDF. But if whatshisname wants to say thank you to me, my DMs are open.

Interestingly, Redfield & Wilton gets a mention in this week's Private Eye for being rather "opaque". It's a loss-making company registered at an accommodation address, among other things... All this rubbish about opinion polls is a side show. Voters locally and across London have had multiple chances to elect candidates that have put abolishing LTNs as the centre of their platform. And those candidates fail time after time because apart from a few obsessives hammering away on their keyboard here, they're not a big deal and everyone's getting on with their lives.

"A Jags spokesperson said: “...These developments have nothing to do with VAT on school fees...” Nope - they have form for blaming everything on introduction of VAT (that won't happen for at least another year).