Penguin68

There are electric hybrids which do not require separate charging, and which are more ecologically friendly.

This is a time of summer leave rostas, so many routes have posties who are covering another route as well, or who don't normally do that walk. We have had slightly intermittent deliveries. Nothing so bad as yours however. While the sorting office is still in Sylvester Road you can always call round for missing post. They open late on Wednesday evenings.

My concern (and thanks for the endorsement rendel) is that by attributing all the attacks to one person (or possible several people acting in concert) police will look for culprits who could have been responsible for them all. Whereas there may have been fewer intentional killings - with some being the result of fox activity as suggested following accidental deaths. I think it's clear that human agency is very likely in some of the killings - probably mainly amongst those in SE London. But not necessarily all. If we had proper data on cat disappearance and injury (I doubt we do) an epidemiological approach could throw up where there are statistical anomalies - too many deaths against a normal trend - which might help locate 'additional' activity over and above the normal accidental (i.e. traffic related etc.) death toll. It is clear that fox activity following an accident might well account for some of the apparently 'odd' appearances of cat bodies. As I have already said, we are 'trained' to see patterns (it is how we cope with events) - and we therefore are very open to pattern suggestion. We also prefer to see agency rather than blind chance, so again the SNARL narrative plays well with us.

I think it really is a matter of personal perception. I have lived towards the Forest Hill end of Underhill for 30 years (which, when I started, had the glorious Concorde over-flying - such a beauty if noisy) - I am only normally aware of aircraft noise when reading posts like this. It really doesn't bother me. Which is not to say that others don't find it excruciating. Occasionally, in the garden, I do have to wait for an aircraft to pass to continue a conversation, but, as I have said, it isn't a problem, for me. For others I know it is, and the very fact of it being a problem then exacerbates the problem it is. There may well be some roads quieter than others, but flight paths change and wind sheer can move noise. If you think aircraft noise is a problem, then it is, and thinking you will hide from it somewhere in SE22 is probably not realistic.

It is worthwhile remembering that people frequently post here in the heat of the moment, without judiciously reviewing every word they have written to ensure each nuance is as they would have wanted it. My advice, in a work context, was always to assume that anyone reading an email (but it would be the same for a post) would view it in the worst possible light and thus to write only and exactly what your meant to be read, assuming that if it could be taken wrongly it would be. We should perhaps allow our fellow posters some leeway and not leap to interpret everything as being fully intentioned. Only if the 'offence' is repeated should it be taken to heart.

There is a school of thought that believes that racism can only come from 'the majority' (by which is always meant the white majority) directed to a minority - and thus that it is impossible for anyone of colour to be racist. Hence the surprise/ disbelief of some on hearing of a racist encounter directed at a white person, for being white. In their view, (for some of them at least) an apparent racist expression directed at a white person is thus a legitimate expression of 'hit back' from an oppressed minority. I believe that any expression of hatred against an individual - (just) for belonging to any group membership of which they had no choice in - is frightening and reprehensible, whatever you want to call it. And if someone is being judged for belonging to a racial group, then that is racism, surely? I am more relaxed about judging people for who they are than what they are, and you can only judge someone for who they are by knowing them in the first place, evidently not the case here. My sympathies to the OP and others who have suffered similarly.

Maybe the 'parent and child' spaces would be better marked-up as also being available to blue badge holders where no blue badge spaces were available. Whilst it is more convenient for parents with children to have the larger spaces (than not), disabled individuals should surely gain preference over them in any shortage.

It must be remembered that (as far as I understand it, happy to stand corrected) fly-tipping on public land is an arrestable criminal offence, but to combat fly-tipping on private land (a civil offence) you (the landowner) will need to take out an injunction against the fly tippers (difficult if you don't know their names) - easier is to use criminal trespass laws wherever you can. For BT and the Dulwich Estate to take action against the travellers entering their land and fly-tipping on it is non trivial. Which is probably why it has taken so much time, and why the police have been unable to arrest anyone 'in the act'.

If they did they would also use BT infrastructure.

If an exchange burnt down, yes you would lose service until it was replaced. A resilient network is wholly different from a switch site. BT has emergency mobile switches but it is a non trivial engineering problem to switch these in. Network resilience sits behind local switches and last mile access.

Additionally I do not accept that use of a stick when needed will tend to exacerbate any problem. That's ridiculous. Properly used a stick will allow weight on a 'gammy' leg (or hip) to be redistributed, which often then allows the leg to heal (when it's not being put under constant strain). It further stops strain being transferred elsewhere - 'favouring' a leg (if the problem is with the knee) can can place real strain on the hip, for instance. Physiotherapists can frequently give good advice and training on walking with a damaged limb to avoid further damage and help locomotion. When my partner had a locomotion problem (which eventually required surgery) I would drop her off at Sainsbury's door, park up where I could, and then collect her again when we had finished shopping.

It should be noted that the BT Exchange is full of very valuable scrap; there is no way that BT will breach that security until the travellers are long gone and the yard made secure and safe for their engineers. That will include removal of the fly-tipping, which looks mainly like builders waste but may include hazardous materials (i.e. asbestos etc.). There will also almost certainly be organic waste as well. This is, of course, very inconvenient and I would hope that BT is moving as quickly as possible to remedy the situation, but they can hardly be blamed for wanting to protect their equipment and the health and safety of their staff. The unions (CWU, Prospect for management grades) anyway would not allow their members to access such an unsafe site, and rightly so. I would hope and expect that the situation will soon normalise. Although there will then almost certainly be a backlog of work.

It is worthwhile noting that most of the local reasons to contact local councillors will never be covered by a manifesto commitment, being far too granular, and thus that there are few reasons for councillors to turn-back or ignore issues because they would require the councillor to act against a manifesto commitment. However some Labour councillors appear loath (anecdotally) to lobby against the non-manifesto decisions of council (by which I mean Labour) committees or the actions of Council officials. Mind you, it takes courage to do so. I cannot point to any incidences of that in my own ward, I have to say, before I am asked for examples. Indeed, if this has never happened I would be happy to stand corrected, but I have heard this from third parties.

There is a significant leak on the north east pavement of Underhill between Friern and Upland Road. Thames Water is on site dealing but there may be low pressures. Just a heads-up, in case anyone is coming back from work and finding low/ no pressure. Not a good day for it if they have to switch off supplies!

I'm horrified to hear about the 30k rise in annual rent Although it is clear that the rent has risen by that amount since the previous year (why would anyone lie about that?), it may (well) be that the previous rent had remained unchanged for some time (not uncommon with commercial rents). Do you know for how many years the new level of rent is to run? Owners of shop premises are commercial businesses (that must pay taxes on their profits) - it is not in their interests (normally) to charge above the commercial rate such that they cannot lease the properties - and clearly St Christopher's has chosen to pay the increased rent, presumably because it is a commercially sensible for them to do so (it's a charity shop, but must run like a business, even where, with volunteers and freely provided materials to sell it does not operate with normal business costs).

Which all leads to Penguin68's truly grotesque remarks about the "great danger" of a "disruptive party" overturning the status quo. Sweet Jesus. I would call that overdue democratic renewal. Just for clarity, Lee, I was writing in support, for goodness sake, of your position. I was warning any labour apparatchiks reading this that a complacent incumbent party that took no notice of its electorate would be replaced, eventually, by a party which acted to disrupt that status quo - as the SNP did in Scotland. I would rather parties listened to their electorate all the time, not assumed that they only had to once every three years, and then only briefly. I would rather have no reason to revolt, frankly. The 'great danger' I implied was to labour in Southwark, not to Southwark in general.

If that were the case there would be repurcussions for what has happened, but that doesn't appear to be happening. So, the two do seem to be interwoven The primary issue when travelers occupy private land is to remove them (as it would be for illegal squatting). Any consequential prosecutions for e.g. fly tipping require full identification of the fly tippers (who won't be the entire group) - otherwise the prosecution would fail. In fact, it's not worth the effort or bother to prosecute, particularly where (identification issue) a conviction probably doesn't pass the DPP 50% possibility test. This is nothing about condoning illegal activities and everything about resource utilisation and practicality. Many other criminals also get in under the wire on those grounds. Sadly. But don't see a conspiracy where there isn't one.

It is a sign of good rather than nosy neighbours that takes note of things which are out of place or appear 'wrong'. A vehicle which is out of place, milk not collected at the door stop, someone not coming in for their paper... all are straws in the wind, maybe, but still straws. Most people do not leave very expensive vehicles parked up in side streets for long periods unmoved (in ED - I'm not talking Mayfair here). It is worth checking.

Every travelling community I?ve seen in UK does seem to insist they?re misunderstood and oppressed (and I?m not saying they?re wrong). I think it was your follow-up remark ('Their reputation precedes them, then they live up to it just make sure.') which I was concerned about - a generalisation which I understand but cannot agree with. There are refuse problems associated with travelling communities - who are not served by municipal rubbish collections (which, I agree, they have not paid for) - but this problem is entirely different from intentional fly-tipping of other people's rubbish. But the more you demonise groups, the more they are likely to act as demons. I am very uneasy about a mind-set which tries to force people to live as you do - although tensions between, e.g. herders and farmers, or indeed hunter gatherers and pastoralists have a long and sad history. If you think of travellers as a peripatetic work force (as they were, and indeed still partly are) then they may seem less threatening. But your take compared with the take of some other posters is still different (and welcomingly so) in tone.

That picture suggests that they have fly-tipped builder's waste, probably for a back-hander. The people paying them to fly-tip bear some responsibility for all this (unless they have been doing a building job of their own, in which case the person paying for that (and probably not paying VAT etc.) has a responsibility). As for the drug gangs we hear so much about, it is the people buying the drugs who keep them in knives and acid. The more we play (and pay) into a black or criminal economy, the more we fuel criminality.

Unfortunately done by a community who will insist they?re misunderstood and oppressed by wider society. Their reputation precedes them, then they live up to it just make sure. As I have said, above, there are two entirely separate groups of traditional Travellers, the Roma (or Romani) - who originated, linguistic and genetic research shows, in Northern India/ the Indus Valley (not Egypt) - ironically (considering the Nazi response to them) an old Aryan racial group; and Irish Travellers, most recently from Ireland, of course, but almost certainly, following the end of the last Ice Age, migrants from the Iberian Peninsula as the ice retreated in what became the British Isles. Nobody has yet identified which group our Travellers here are, to start pillorying them with specific reputations. Their outward life-styles (they are travellers) may be shared, but their societal norms, their traditions (even their language) isn't. Until you know which group you are talking about, an accusation of being 'misunderstood' doesn't seem far off the mark. And yes, I entirely agree that mass fly-tipping is entirely wrong and vile, and doesn't reflect a build up of refuse which can occur on a temporary site with no organised garbage collection, but is clearly an act of studied vandalism and criminality. Edited to add:- Can I just say that specific references to the unacceptability of actions by a particular identified group of people (the travellers who occupied the pub and the BT exchange) are OK - but general discriminatory references to Roma/ Romani or Irish Travellers or Travellers in general, lumping the two together ('these people', 'typical' etc.) are leaning into a breach of the anti-discrimination legislation. Hate this particular group of people, fine, but hating travellers, and making wild generalisations about them, as a class or group, isn't on. That is oppressive.

Hitler persecuted the Roma - we also have a tradition in the UK of Irish Travellers (often and traditionally tin-smiths travelling to mend kitchen items - hence 'tinkers'). The two groups have very different origins, histories and traditions. Does anyone know which group these might belong to? And do 'New Age' travellers still exist, outwith Stonehenge solstice hopping?

Self- mutilating in beggars to gain sympathy has a very long history - indeed it is almost a tradition of that profession. As long as you're not tempted to fall for it it's nice to see the old ways being kept up. Maybe he could get an Arts Council grant?

I think that there clearly is a need for dedicated parking spaces for those who need a proper clearance on either side of the car to safely load and unload children and babies; and where these can safely stay whilst that is going on. I am not so clear that these spaces, for children and parents, need to be at the closest points to the shop entrance. Indeed, were they to be placed in the section at the end of the furthest lane in the 'front' set of blocks (i.e. the blocks closest to the shop - so that there was no 'road' to cross between car parking blocks) this would make them far less likely to be taken up by hogs. That would allow spaces for disabled customers to remain close to the entrance. These (where disabled badges should be being displayed) should be much easier to police and mis-users firmly penalised.

Petrol cars still emit particulate pollution. - Agreed, but far less damaging than the levels of NOx emitted by diesels, and the petrol car 'ban' is levelled at standards set for CO2 emissions. The article makes no comment on the (even then known) 'cheat' aspects of laboratory tested diesel vehicles - so I am not clear whether the comparisons between petrol and diesel emissions in it would stand up to real road usage conditions.