Penguin68

It is very difficult to distinguish between 'need to' and 'nice to' have things - if only because individual residents will place different priorities. And to distinguish between the needs of different interest groups. People with young children need different resources from those with teenagers, or from pensioners. One criterion which is worth considering is 'investment' - that is does expenditure in one category avoid or reduce expenditure in others? - fitness classes and support for pensioners may seem like a luxury - but fit pensioners cost the NHS and social services far less than unfit ones, in general. Ideally a council would operate zero-based budgeting - where each year the case would be needed to be made for every expenditure category - without reference to what happened in the past. Actually most councils (and businesses) base their budgets on some top-down adjustment against previous years - hence 'across the board 20% cuts' etc. And it also means that particular budget heads continue, (because they always have). So the overall pot is automatically allocated across activities which already happen rather than challenging them as fundamentals. I believe that, for the best of all possible reasons, many councils have become involved in expenditure on areas which now might be hard(er) to justify than in the past. Perhaps the best thing for us critics is to look closely not at what is no longer being supported, but what still is. It is only when we see where the money is still going that we can reasonably argue about where it has been lost from. And yes, I do think playgrounds trump fireworks for expenditure prioritisation.

However, I think it's vital that staff man this site whenever it's open as it makes teenage kids feel safer I suspect, as things are going, that if the site is to only be open when there are paid-for staff to staff it, then it won't be open very much or for very long hours. Be careful about getting what you wish for.

No, not in Southwark. - So, not, in fact, 'anywhere they choose', then, despite your earlier protestation. And your ignorance suggests you know very little about the subject. There are many 'green' alternatives to cremation - not the least freezing and fracture (using liquid nitrogen) - then using the resultant granules as mulch. You are clearly not aware that people (survivors) who do chose cremation often wish still to memorialise and visit the 'graves' of their loved ones - even where ashes and not bodies are interred. Burials (all obsequies) are for the living, not the dead. What I see from you is a rather nasty streak of prejudice (your references to Israel and Mecca) of which, frankly, you should be ashamed. Islam and Judaism are by no means the only religions or sects who choose burial. Very many Christians (particularly Catholics) also are unhappy about cremation. [Parsis (alternatively Parsees) chose neither, preferring exposure to vultures in their Towers of Silence.]

Those whose religions dictate otherwise should be buried in Israel/Mecca or wherever they choose. Southwark?

Yes, it is meant to be funny, no, it is not a joke being made by someone else 'against' Paddy Power.

FACEBOOK wrote They've already taken space from Honor Oak recreation ground and now that's full it won't be too long before they take the rest. I had thought that the space used for recreation was on land already designated for burials, but was being alternatively used until needed (which shows a good flexible approach). Southwark's 'desperation' for burial space appears evidenced only in that they are using previously designated spaces for what they were previously designated for, or bringing back into use land already in cemeteries which had become neglected and over-grown (and where there were already burials). I am happy to stand corrected, but has there been any recent (last 5 years) new designation of land for burials locally?

As long as you will be letting the property you already have, and moving to live in the new property, then I don't believe the increased stamp duty would be triggered - it only comes in from 1st April 2016 anyway - so not an issue if your transactions are completed by then. There are no other BTL penalties in this Autumn Statement. Edited to add:- of course it has already been announced (I believe) that you will not be able to charge mortgage interest costs as an allowable expense on buy-to-let rentals - you will need to check the details on this.

This is clearly a good story - but it's worth remembering that there are far more nice people than sh*ts about - we tend only to hear bad news and extrapolate from that that bad people outnumber the good. They don't. No reason not to rejoice, however, when we hear of good deeds. That's positive reinforcement and role modeling.

They have cameras attached to the top of the machine which give them your PIN, It's always a good idea to shield the keypad (I use my open wallet) when inputting your pin. Doing that (and standing close to the machine itself blocking observation from behind) will (hopefully) offer some protection.

When I used to commute in Chelsea in the 70s Sloane Square tube station had a small bar actually at platform level - the west bound platform. Great. Maybe the pub could move 'downstairs'.

to provide burial for the few dead why cutting services to the living Actually, all burials, memorials etc. are for the benefit of the living, not the dead (who are not 'there' to benefit from anything). The processes surrounding death and mourning are all about the survivors, not the deceased. To many, formal corpse disposal gives great psychological well-being - and for some a focus for mourning - particularly true when the deceased is relatively young, or, indeed, still a child. Anyone who doesn't understand the role and importance of obsequies etc. to significant numbers of (living) people - or who thinks cemeteries are about the dead, rather than the living, needs perhaps to review their position. Perhaps a little bit of empathy is called for here? Or do trees trump people?

Perhaps the Peckham Coal Line isn't close enough to his back yard to impact his personal amenity?

Actually - 'we think our customers all look like w*nkers' - so an entirely reasonable statement, couldn't be challenged under ASA rules. Makes an assumption about appearance, not actual behavior.

I'd personally choose being left out in a black plastic sack for the bin men - but there are many people who psychologically or socially see ceremony and memorial as very important to them. Even the cremated can be then buried (as was always true - see excavations of Roman urns with ashes in them). Having somewhere to mourn (if that's your bag) is very important to some people - no reason not to choose something different for yourself, but I am against imposing my corpse disposal preferences on others. Hence my resistance to attempts to change an existing cemetery to a wilderness, when many people psychologically need cemeteries.

The only 'rule' was that you needed the same type (i.e. cross-ply or radial) of tyre on each axle - although I think that different types may now be a thing of the past. It may make sense to replace any tyre that is very close to needing it (as regards depth of tread, even if still 'legal') - particularly in the winter when grip is peculiarly important, but there is no need to make a general replacement of tyres (you wouldn't if one was e.g punctured, after all). Remember to ensure that your spare, if your car is one of those that has one, is properly inflated in case you need to use it.

and upsetting a large proportion of the electorate Evidence?

We had a similar problem with our deliveries a number of months ago - holiday and sickness had left the sorting office with too few staff to provide cover for all the walks. Even in the best run firms this does happen on occasion. Normally the sorting office is very helpful in finding undelivered mail - Sylvester Road certainly is - and is open till late on Wednesdays for those working. Although the PO used to use casual relief staff more I am quite glad they now don't - A number of years ago I recall seeing two 'relief' posties meeting and holding envelopes up to the light to see what was in them - they hadn't realised I happened to be looking out of a front window at the time. Around that time I had a cheque book stolen 'in the post'.

Mr Barber wrote:- So yes, really, I don't believe in wasting tax payers money to provide more expensive burials that only some can use I wonder how he is unaware that all proper management of amenity spaces costs money - the fact that the cost is so high reflects the lack of investment and maintenance when the areas were allowed to degrade so badly - oh, when his party was in power (part of the time, anyway). Only commercial woodlands (planting and harvesting commercial crops of wood, which I am sure would upset the nature mavens stimulating this 'protest')) are self-financing - parks and other amenity areas cost money to maintain - for the benefit of all those who use them as spaces, not just the dead. I walk daily in the Old Cemetery, and enjoy all the local cemeteries as maintained areas of tranquility.. The only 'cheap' method of handling the space is as was done in the past, to neglect and ignore it so it becomes overgrown, dangerous and impenetrable. Oh - and the target for indiscriminate fly-tipping, as in the past. I cannot believe that Mr Barber is so foolish as to believe that there is no cost associated with just maintaining parks and cemeteries, even if there were no future burials. Or can I?

I am not sure, Ridgely, what your point is here - I was saying that blade violence (which another had referred to regarding the old razor gangs) was not then an in-school phenomenon. The use of knives in schools seems to be a new thing (violence in school being of the fist, boot and knee variety in my school days). There were certainly regular (probably weekly) incidents - as there were in the 70s and 80s on the terraces and around clubs when some of the fan 'firms' were rampant - Stanley knives were quite favoured than, rather than straight edge razors - but thugs went in more for cutting than stabbing in those days, and fatalities were fewer. So, my point is that I agreed blade based violence among the young is not new, but that it wasn't formerly a playground activity.

As this post has now appeared back from the lounge - here is my comment (necessarily also lounged) on it - apologies for repetition:- It's a cemetery - where they bury people. It got over-grown through neglect, now they are putting that right. There are loads of real 'wild' spaces and woods around the area, which are properly managed as woods, and 'wild' spaces. This is now being properly managed (at last) as a cemetery. Get over it.

I don't agree that it's a new phenomenon: "razor gangs" were a moral panic in London almost 100 years ago! The razor gangs of the 50s and early 60s were mainly made up of (admittedly young) working men - remember the school leaving age then was 15, going later up to 16 only in 1972. Their strife took place outside schools. Knife violence inside schools in the UK is very much a modern phenomenon (although, as I have said above, many school children then did carry knives). I recall I lovely Giles cartoon showing two groups of Teds, one with razors, the other swinging electric shavers on their leads with the comment, by a policemen watching and doing nothing - 'Now we'll see which shaves closer...' or words to that effect.

It's a cemetery - where they bury people. It got over-grown through neglect, now they are putting that right. There are loads of real 'wild' spaces and woods around the area, which are properly managed as woods, and 'wild' spaces. This is now being properly managed (at last) as a cemetery. Get over it.

at the same time I'm not convinced that stabbing someone requires skill. We are not talking about ritualistic "kinfe fights" here. My point was that NOT stabbing people (i.e. being in proper control of your weapon) is what requires skill. And not being stabbed requires skill as well (such as not running into a blade).

When I was a child in the 1950s it was quite common for pre-teens to carry knives - penknives and even sheath knives (indeed I think these formed part of the scout uniform) - teenagers however tended not to (expensive swiss army knives for status notwithstanding). Testosterone fueled adolescent aggression of course existed, but fists, knees and boots tended to be the weapons of choice. I fear that much injury now caused by teens fighting with knives in school is probably, at least in part, broadly unintentional, with threatening and bravado ending in injury more because the teens don't actually know how to knife-fight than because they do. Kids now carry knives because other kids carry knives, but have no control or ability if ever they think they have to use them. Teenage aggression is absolutely marked throughout history - and there is a long history of real violence ending in real deaths in London dating back to medieval times and before. Look up apprentice riots.

As the creditors/ debtors figures go towards drawing up a balance sheet a long term 'debtor' (such as a rental deposit) might be booked as such, rather than in any other asset class. Equally the business may have given a loan (e.g. to a principle of the business) - i.e. for purchase of a car etc. - which might be being treated in this manner. Although normal commercial loans would be expected to be paid down, in this case this might not have happened, or have been required.