Penguin68

I believe that the differences being discussed here may be that, in some people's views, reporting identifiers for someone undertaking suspicious acts is entirely reasonable and sensible, to warn others to be specifically aware of a perceived threat - HOWEVER if you perceive the threat because of the identifiers then this may be (albeit possibly unconsciously) racist. It's the equivalent of the institutional racism described during examinations of police attitudes.

You could probably do something to rebalance by making (you'd need a taper for existing properties) interest payments for loans issued against purchase (but not, possibly for capital works such as refurbishment or major repair) not allowable against rents for tax purposes. This would effectively end the leveraged buy-to-let market, where capital appreciation in an existing portfolio is used as security against high percentage loans to buy more properties, with interest payments being offset by tax allowances. This would leave more properties coming onto the market to be bought by buy-to-live purchasers - effectively increasing supply which will have the effect of reducing price growth rates. You may have to limit this to the residential market, so as not to destroy overnight the commercial property market, but it would be entirely possible to legislate for - and is little different from the removal of a similar allowance for buy-to-live purchasers back in the 1970s, if memory serves (mortage interest payment acted as an allowance against income tax liability).

No-one ever seems to answer the phone at Forest Hill Rd. We've taken to walking there if we need an appointment. Obviously this won't work if you're actually ill, so I don't know how people manage if they are. Waiting for an appointmant then seems to be about 2 weeks. My results got lost somewhere in the system last time, and the recaptionist took indifference to a whole new level Lynne This has not been my experience - I have been answered on the phone within 4-7 minutes every time (calling before 8:30) and have been able to book any or all of a 'same day' urgent apppointment, an appointment with a named doctor (with 10-15 days wait) or a telephone consultation with a named doctor within the week. Calling for results (after 10:00) I have generally been answered within 3 minutes. I use the web based repeat prescription service entirely effectively - the scrip has always been there within 3 days. The receptionists are generally perfectly OK. There have been glitches - a referral letter took longer to get to me than the appointment which it was meant to have resulted in (but I know how to work the system) - but generally they are perfectly OK-ish - after a drop off when they tried a new appointment and work-time system about 5 years ago (can't remember exactly) which didn't work at all. But they found out and changed it to something that did. I have had 2 minor surgeries there, both good.

I have not used BT's ADSL service for some time (now on Infinity) - but when I did it was pretty stable - drop outs on my main computer (which I did have) were just on that computer - as other devices showed service still available. One problem I discovered was that my wireless receiver in my computer was single band, but my router was two band, sometimes when the router changed band to get an optimal signal my computer dropped out. I have also had some software conflicts on my computer which seemed to cause drop-outs (and running up to 3 different browsers simultaneously can't have helped). I did also once have some interference from a faulty fridge. But I certainly have not experienced the problems you have - maybe you are terminating on a flaky line-card in the exchange - or possibly even cross-connected within a network flexibility point? Have you talked to BT about this? Frequent service drop-outs are not acceptable and shouldn't be happening - although it may not be the underlying ADSL service responsible. I do find that re-booting the router fairly regularly (every few days) seems to 'clean things up' - just as it does with my desktop, which I do tend to run for days at a time between re-boots.

Throughout the broadband outtage BT's own public e-mail system ([email protected]) and portal were operational - I was accessing them via my mobile - so I do not think the Outlook server problem was a related issue (or indeed a BT problem). The Outlook servers aren't run by BT (not at least as part of their local exchange based broadband delivery, I don't know whether they or their supporting network are outsourced to BT) and are in a different part of the 'network hierarchy'.

It's now back - after just over 6 hours (and a couple of false starts as they brought service back)- but this is the first general outtage I have had of BT broadband in over 10 years - and the message on the (free) service update line suggested that a whole heap of exchanges fell over at the same time - which is very unusual in my (I used to work for BT) experience. Suggests that something like a software update went wrong to take so many (but mainly in London and the South East) out together.

BT has announced broadband is down in Dulwich, covering 0207, 0208 & 0203 numbers. Went down about 9:00am, they are on the case. The automated advice number is 0800 169 0199.

I lack East European facial features And what would these be?

the original London Bridge itself It was the 19th century replacement London Bridge (not the medieval second or third bridge - often though of as the original because it had the longest history - which had houses, shops a chapel (and a mini stately home) on it) - and most evidence suggests he did know what he was buying.

you know, skinny stonewashed jeans, trainers, tight leather jacket, short hair So, as I have argued above, you (and probably I and most others) would most effectively define 'coming from a geographic location in Europe' by clothes and hair style. Which might as well be the actual description in the first place.

London Bridge has always been a ?troubled? station, with a complex history. Originally built for the London & Greenwich Railway (the oldest in London) it opened in December 1836. By 1842 the South Eastern Railway (SER) also terminated in London Bridge, as did the Croydon Company and then the London, Brighton and South Coast Railways Company (which latter two subsequently merged as the LB&SCR in 1846). By the late 1850s the two companies operating into London Bridge were the SER and the LB&SCR ? running virtually separate stations on the site ? with a wall separating their two sets of platforms (the SER was to the north). Two platforms in 1836 became 21 at the station?s heyday (how have the mighty fallen!). By as early as 1854 10 million passenger a year were using the station. (Source:- ?Bankside? by David Brandon and Alan Brooke) Tne troubles in 2014 are just part of its rich history.

Too soon, continuing pollution forecast for next 2 days!

Most people from Europe are Indo-European in origin (at least their languages are, and some suggest the peoples as well - it's to do with how you think Europe (and the east) was repopulated at the end of the last major glaciation) - with some exceptions on the Western fringes of Europe (i.e. Basques) - the main exceptions are those who speak Finno-Ugric (Hungary, Estonia, Finland) - who may represent a discrete racial as well as language group. Romanies may stem originally from the North Indus valley (there are some language similarities) - I believe their language is also indo-European. It is normally easiest to distinguish peoples by the clothes they wear, how they wear their hair, facial hair etc. - dress an indo-European speaker in a city suit and (skin coloration apart) it would be very difficult to distinguish one from the other as regards geographic origin. Although there are 'typical' Swedes, or Germans, or French in fact each country offers a wide range of different physionomies - often diet (how large they grow) and sun exposure are the key differentiators.

I have used LB station recently (I don't normally) on a number of occasions (coming in from Forest Hill, Honor Oak, Brockley way - so avoiding the nightmare platforms) and out of rush hour - the station staff have been admirably helpful and polite, but I wasn't travelling in rush hour and I wasn't stressed myself. I suspect passenger stress starts to rub-off on staff - and if you've had a rude experience you don't know how much grief the staff member has had before your interaction. These things often become viscious spirals, as stress breeds stress. Which is not to say that, given the obvious and increasing problems, management shouldn't have taken action to get more staff out there to help pasengers. When we had our tame Railway Senior Mananger on the forum this could have been dealt with far more effectively.

Borat of course being (actually) from London and jewish - I'm not sure that's going to get us that far.

eastern eurpean I'm afraid I don't know what Eastern Europeans look like - how are they different from Western Europeans? Southern Europeans (from e.g. Southern Italy, Greece, Southern Spain, do occasionally have a more tanned look (probably from being more tanned). Or are you trying to say 'Roma' without saying it (and I'm not sure, out of a hooped caravan, I'd be able to spot a Roma in a crowd anyway). People from the far North of Europe (Northern Norway, Finland, Northern Russia, are of course more easily spotable, as they are ethnically different from other Europeans (the Sami).

At least no blxxdy camels

I think the correct term here is 'rubber-necker' or even, more strongly, 'ghoul' unless you have a pecuniary interest in other's misfortune.

There must still be an 'Irish' market locally, if the number of Irish daily papers and magazines sold in Sainsbury's in DKH are a guide - presumably if they weren't being bought, they wouldn't be stocked.

I'm afraid that moth eggs are quite hardy little things - probably a sustained boil-wash would see to them, but it would also see to the wollen etc./ clothes that they will be deposited in. They can also handle low/ freezing temperatures for a little time (they will have evolved to be able to do that) so it is only a relatively long sojourn in a freezer that will end them. The various chemical specifics against moth (not camphor balls, which just smell bad to them) do seem to work - but if you have a real 'heavy duty' infestation then licenced pest operatives are the best - they can use chemicals which you can't buy, and they know the hiding habits of the little beasts - I had a house which was refurbished and had no carpets or curtains for 4-5 months (or any clothes!) - but as soon as new curtains and carpets were installed, they made their presence felt. They must have been deposited on floor boards etc. to have done that.

You might want to check your loft insulation - if it's some form of natural fibre (not fibre-glass or other man-made material) then moth can get into it. And the caterpillars (which is what do the damage) can live a long time without food.

a car going 20mph should have been able to stop. That very much depends on how close she was to the car when she stepped out (assuming that's what happened). If the car was doing 20mph or less the impact effects will have been much reduced - this is the key benefit from imposing reduced speed limits, not a reduction in stopping times. Assuming the car was driving at 20mph but the driver in braking still hit her, the impact will have been additionally reduced by the reduced speed through braking. The key victims of car: pedstrian accidents on local roads (where the car is being responsibly driven and the driver is not impaired) tend to be the infirm, elderly or poorly sighted moving into the road unaware of the traffic, or children (ditto). The design of modern cars (making them much quieter if not (hybrid or electric) silent) makes pedestrian care even more important - you don't any longer always 'hear it coming' - so the old Green Cross code which suggested you look and listen is no longer as helpful.

Renata Thanks for the (informed) update on this - valuable to squash rumour with fact. I am sure I will not be the only reader to join with you in wishing the old lady a speedy and full recovery.

Might the greatest value of such projects be as an experiment in building local resilience, against the day the Internet falls over? If the internet 'falls over' I doubt whether access to a local wireless mesh would be of much use - it will depend on its own broadband links to a carrier or node - which will presumably have 'fallen over' with the internet. The most likely scenario for a real internet failure would be a coronal ejection of sufficient force to take out communications (and electricty) infrastructure - this mesh would hardly be immune to that. Resiliance here would be based on shielded installations and (probably) underground network distribution (and remembering to switch everything off before the surge arrives). And back-up power. But then you'd be able to interface into - well, depending on how the big players responded, probably nothing. The point about 'the internet' is that it is an informal linking of computers and servers through third party networks supplied by carriers using an established language (html) to communicate, effectively peer-to-peer, using an established addressing system (http). My computer, or mobile, or laptop, whilst it's on and communicating, is as much part of 'the internet' as anything else - that's why you will find that your machine has an IP address.

but had to register after i overheard a female dr say 9 appointment slots had been rendered useless this morning after patients failed to turn up for 30 and 40 minute appointments! This is not a problem DMC can be blamed for, that's lazy patients forgetting they booked or not having the decency to call and cancel. I am assuming that one or two patients missed these exceptionally long appointments, thus blocking the chance of booking in 9 ?normal duration? appointments. Such long appointments are very unusual, in my experience, except for minor surgery ? I don?t know whether DMC does this? When I have had a procedure due in my surgery, I have been rung a little before to confirm my attendance. If you can't readily get through to the surgery as the phones aren't being answered you may well not bother (having tried) to notify a cancellation, which would presumably require a visit? This seems, as reported to be the only way to get ?into? surgery bookings at times. If forward appointments are really so hard to get (and where a long wait for a slot is likely) - it is quite likely that conditions have either cleared or have so worsened that A&E treatment becomes necessary. In either case 'missing' an appointment would not be that surprising. Many people are not so organised as to keep a mental schedule of appointments clear in their minds, particularly if the trigger has disappeared. Considering patients for GPs can tend to be either ill, or elderly and confused, it is certainly in the best interests of the practice to take an effort to do some active attendance management - rather than blaming the customer.