Villager

Hi E.D. I am reasonably new to the area and am putting together a business plan for opening a lap-dancing and massage club - preferrably along Lordship Lane or Grove Vale. How do you feel about this? With ED's young and progressive demographic do you think it would be well supported and accepted by the majority? Please let me have your feedback. It would be very much appreciated whether it's good or bad . Vasili

Oliver Kempton Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Villager, thanks for the welcome! I moved into > Matham Grove in 2004, and I now live on Lordship > Lane. I did spend a couple of years in South > Camberwell in the middle though. > Oliver Well done. It certainly helps to have someone who near to the action. Meanwhile, can you tell us if you are in full time employment and if so, what it is you do by way of a day job? Villager

Oliver, Welcome to the ED Forum. Does this mean you have recently taken up residence in East Dulwich or its environs?

Green Goose Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Tim, > > You certainly have my sympathy and I agree you > should seek compensation from Southwark Council > and publicise Southwark's neglicence as widely as > possible. > > Some of us have been pleading with Southwark to > make a major effort to repair the potholes which > arose as a result of recent frost damage. Delayed > action with frost damage inevitably leads to huge > incremental costs later on. > > One councillor in particular (who shall be > nameless) thinks that the council's funds should > instead be spent on such projects as installing > art work on the wall of the sub station in North > Cross Road. > > Check out the thread.. North Cross Road sub > station - art installation > > GG Calling Councillor Barber ... James, as a frequent contributor to this community forum, would you like to comment please. Do we have potholes or art work? GG

C'mon, he's really cuddly. I'd have snogged him if I was there. Maybe another time.

This is Southwark's take on it http://www.southwark.gov.uk/YourServices/environment/streetcleaning/flyposting.html but it's a pity that Southwark contributes in its own way to making the environment untidy by not removing all the out of date planning notices it attaches to lamposts. They put them in plastic bags now which fill up with rain water after a few weeks. Very unsightly.

PinkyB Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > People who wait at pedestrian crossings and don't > press the button. No, much worse are those people who press the button when there's no traffic in sight and they could easily get accross well before any traffic could possibly get there. Aaargh! They get across the road before the lights have hardly changed to stop the traffic. The poor drivers arrive at the lights, find no one crossing and have to sit there fuming. I've seen it done a few times whilst walking up the Strand on my way to work. There you have two carrageways with an island and with separate lights. So both streams are held up eventually. Aaargh! Aaargh! The perpetrators usually seem to disappear into the nearby HMRC offices adjacent to Bush house and are predominately of a certain gender. I've felt like saying something but it would be taken as a rebuke and probably encourage them to do it even more.

jason cox Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > she moved out the way so he wouldn't thump her. Did he say he would thump her or threaten to use any form of violence? > he simply physically intimidated her "Physically intimidated" indicates actual violence. Did he hit her? > I also think he was little, in stature and spirit > but he was bigger than her. "in stature and spirit" Does that mean he was a wimp - a nasty little wimp? > > There was no queue for the machine and she was > there for 1 minute. 1 minute would appear extremely reasonable and highly unlikely to have given rise to exasperation by the man. >Ironically, when the man came upon her Why didn't someone pull him off and call the police? >she was adding up and would have been done in seconds Adding up two cheques could surely be done quickly by mental arithmetic so why use the mobile phone's calculator? > she thought he might be mad Probably not, as "Care in the Community" contains that sort of thing. > might be trying to rob her Unlikely, as she was depositing 2 cheques, not cash. And there's lots of cameras in the bank so he would never have got away with it. Plus he would have to negotiate the airlock double doors controlled by the staff. > She looked about for someone else to > notice it was odd Maybe they didn't think his behaviour was odd at all. > She said that the man manipulated her nervousness, So was he a manipulative little wimp then? It gets worse. > he > was an arsehole. Nuff said then > He messed about with her and it was nasty. Not quite sure what you mean by this. Maybe the police should have been called. > > I was more shocked that the bank staff didn't just > sit her down after the event. They are not social workers. They have no right or obligation to intervene in a dispute between two members of the public. Well intentioned people have been attacked before for doing just this. Are you suggesting they should have abandoned their positions and in so doing, compromised security? >They could have > taken her envelope and led her to a desk to pay > her money in. So she wanted preferential treatment ahead of the others in the queue after she had selfishly restricted access to the machine whilst she prepared her paperwork? > At no point did they think they should help her or calm > her down. This happened on their premises but they > took no responsibility. Correct, they have clearly defined duties. They have no responsibility to intercede between customers. > > The staff member who thought it was okay to make a > joke about it afterwards was so off the mark. What was the joke? We'd all like to know. > she doesn't feel it's a safe place to handle > her money. Ok, try keeping it under the mattress and see how she feels about security then. > Maybe they do need security instead of > those ridiculius doors and staff who are just > there to sell you a financial product. > The doors are frustrating but they certainly frustrate robbers much more effectively than having a security guard on the premises. Jason, next time she wants to go to the bank, why don't you go with her. Be supportive, she sounds like a very sensitive person. That way you can be a witness and give an accurate first hand account of what transpires.

To Spirit Sister, I would suggest that you read Huguenot's appraisal of the situation, not just once but several times. His is a very fair assessment of the situation based on the story you have presented. And let's not forget, we only have your story. My observations are somewhat more direct. You say "Was almost done when......". Another assessment of this is that you had not actually started the process. Your card wasn't in the machine. You hadn't even completed the paperwork. My guess is as that when you saw that there was a queue, you went and parked yourself in front of the machine without having completed your paperwork - so denying anyone else access. To me and many others, this would be seen as an inconsiderate and selfish action. When you opted out of the queue, why didn't you do your preparations elsewhere in readiness for using the machine? Given that the man neither shouted at you nor swore at you then it could have been a whole lot worse. As for the staff, why get at them just because they didn't take up the position that you wanted them to do? It had nothing to do with them. You were at fault so why not dry those tears, pick yourself up and enjoy the sunshine.

tonyw3 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I know that there has been a lot of chatter about > "Melbourne Grove Medical Practice" on the forum. > But I believe that the service (if you can call it > that) is getting worse. Who can we go to about > getting CONCORDIA out? Who can we complain to > about this very poor service that we are now > getting? Can we start with an online petition on > this forum? Any ideas? I'm with you all the way. The deterioration of the Practice is the inevitable outcome of the reforms to the GP contracts that were negotiated back in 2004. This brought about sweeping changes to the method of remuneration for GP's. The GPs new contracts were negotiated by a special committee from the BMA. The two main negotiators were Dr John Chisholm and Dr Simon Fradd and, would you believe, THEY ARE NOW DIRECTORS of CONCORDIA HEALTH SERVICES - who now operate several surgeries - including Melbourne Grove Medical Practice through a limited company. Nice one. Dr Chisholm (former head of the BMA) and Dr Fradd are very capable individuals and they totally out-negotiated the Government on this. This brought about easily achievable targets and generous financial incentives. So the whole thing is now being run for profit maximisation. The results are obvious. The most notable are:- 1. GPs now get paid more if they initiate more tests/checks - be it a blood test, blood pressure check whatever -even though it may not be necessary. So the result is massive queues down at the hospital every morning with people waiting for blood tests. Same with X-rays. Hence the huge increase in the national health budget. 2. Delegation of numerous medical duties to nurses - eg BP checks are now done by nurses. 3. GPs remuneration has shot up - with some GP's pulling in as much as ?250,000 pa. 4. GPs were allowed to opt out of evening and weekend duties. Who says targets don't work? They've worked rather well for Chisholm and Fradd! So why should they care a stuff about the patients when they can make that sort of money?

Huguenot Wrote: > > From your description, you've decided that this > was racist with no greater evidence than the > colour of the hapless customer's skin. This is not > nearly sufficient to make such an outrageous > accusation. It's as puerile as Ali G - "Is it coz > I is..'. > > It's equally plausible that the bar was reserved > throughout: it's a highly popular destination for > lunch, or that the unhelpful bar staff were simply > negligent or poor at their job. > Kuntama, for someone who seeks 'a compassionate > and meaningful existence', making unsupported > accusations of racism on a local forum is likely > to put you considerably further from your > objective. Frankly, allying with becks is likely > to put your cause back much faster than witless > bar staff. > > In fact, it's unnecessary sh*t-stirring. > > Go and look up hypocrisy ;-) Spot on Huguenot and eloquently put too.

kuntama Wrote: >I'm glad those thoughts, > possibilities, whatever, are being so strongly > negated. Of course you are.

Hugenot, Chappie!! Lady, please. You would do well to avoid making yet more erroneous assumptions/guesses/estimates ;-) If you wanted to get an accurate and considered response from TW (rather than just PR Speak), I would suggest you might want to invoke the full weight of The Environmental Information Regulations 2004. TW is not covered by the FOI Act as far as disclosure is concerned.

Come on Hugenot, cat got your tongue? You are usually quick to respond. Or is it yet another case of someone coming up with unsubstantiated claims just to support their views? I scoured OFWAT's website and found no mention of this. OFWAT did however say that 80,000 homes now had water buts. Was that where the figure 80,000 came from?

Hugenot, You claim as fact some statement you attribute to OFWAT. Can you give us the link to the OFWAT document where this statement is?

Huguenot, You might be well-intentioned but maybe also somewhat of a wishful thinker. I feel that the reality is more like Tom has said. Property buyers just don't want to take any risks when it comes to making a choice and anything like this can put some people off. I discussed it a local estate agent rep and they said it would have an efect on value.