Penguin68

In the Lenten spirit of self-denial, can this forum manage not to mention either canine effluvia or up-market grocers for as much as a week? For those riven by withdrawal symptoms, paedophile clowns knocking on doors and running away, and gang activity can be mentioned.

They told us they had a very good idea who was responsible for these burglaries To make an arrest you need sufficient evidence (although recovered DNA matching would clearly be good, but you still need evidence to get a warrant to require DNA samples to be given). Police often receive intelligence which points the fingers at suspects, but without evidence which will stand up in court this isn't sufficient. As far as the blood-stained tea towel is concerned, they would need to be able to prove whose blood it was, where the tea-towel was obtained, how the blood got onto the tea-towel and so on. You can convict on circumstantial evidence alone, but it does need to be compelling. Overall, however, I would rather live in a society where guilt has to be proven in a court of law than in one where police suspicions were sufficient to lead to conviction. Free scumbags (some) are the price we pay to live in a free society. I have also been the victim of crime in the past, and it's still a price I think worth paying. Which doesn't mean I think they (criminals) shouldn't be banged-up, nor that police (and tax) resources shouldn't be devoted to doing so.

A 'sex strike' to achieve political ends has an excellent classical pedigree as well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata

which Nigel Molesworth, eponymous hero of Punch Magazine's precocious schoolboy comic strip The Molesworth books, written I think by Geoffrey Willuns, were illustrated by Searle, but they were never comic strips, and I'm not sure to what extent Nigel could have been described as precocious - he seemed to be a very typical prep-school boy, if somewhat more forthright than many. Many school boys also, like Nigel, saw through adults (particularly schoolmasters) without being precocious.

I have not said nice things about Victor and his team on this forum, but I could very easily have done - he is reliable, employs good workmen (including his sons) and to my mind offers very good value for money. He has done a range of work for me, always to my satisfaction, including some quite large jobs (5 or 6 days work at a time). I am entirely happy for a good workman to be promoted - considering how often the same threads are started 'our' collective memory is not so good that just a few mentions are necessary. And (unlike supermarket shopping, for instance) we generally have needs for his sort of services only infrequently, so constant reminders can hardly be bad. I'd rather read about Victor than dog poo any day.

Interestingly, Gove is actually using as an exemplar what happens in (pretty socialist and right-on) Scandinavia, particularly I believe Sweden. And of course private schools making a profit are the ones historically in the UK with startling good results. These ones being suggested by Gove would be non-selective and those choosing to be educated there would not be able to make those choices through their incomes or wealth. Rather like the (always private and for-profit) GP practices which provide services to the NHS - which are free to us (as these schools would be) at the point of use, and paid for out of general taxation. We only have to look at what has happened in numbers of hospital trusts (which are directly part of the NHS unlike GP practices) to know that state-run doesn't either mean well, or well-meaningly run, as a matter of course.

While James may be right that the reduction in coverage by police support people has led directly to an increase in criminal activity it is worth noting:- (1) That an overall reduction in police numbers has taken place during a time of overall reduction in reported crime. (2) That crime reports are more likely where (assuming there has been no violence) householders are insured and need to report a crime to trigger insurance payments. Where there is no 'benefit' in reporting crime it may not be reported if you asssume that the criminals will not be caught. What this means to us is that, again assuming people in ED are generally weathering the recession better than some, then they will be more likely to be insured and more likely thus to report crimes against property. (3) That outwith the above, anecdotal evidence at least suggests that where an area starts to become a target for crime the same groups will revisit it (just because they are familiar with the area, its layouts and the habits of its residents, exhibiting an unsurprising laziness and lack of originality) but may also, by bragging of their successes, encourage copy-cat criminals to visit an area possible being categorised as either 'easy' or one with 'rich pickings' However, this 'fashion' pull will disspiate once the low fruit have been picked (and once the criminals have re-visited earlier prey to steal insurance replaced new electrical goods etc.). By all means knee-jerk with James into political activity, but you might wish to wonder whether the claimed cause and effect is quite so simple.

Apart from Wednesdays, when they are open 8:00-20:00; it is 8:00 - 13:00 on other weekdays and (I think) 8:00-12:30 on Saturdays.

In my experience the patter is somewhat dubious (they use the 'must go, no storage available' routine, and the prices are what you would pay on the internet, and not the huge discounts they claim (they show a catalogue with stupid prices in it) but they drive a liveried van, give you a headed invoice and you can trace the stuff on the web. And they are so regularly about that if they didn't have title to sell they would be being arrested. The quality of the material is sound (hugely better than what you could buy at e.g. Homebase). If buying ignore their sales pitch and look at the actual furniture and its build quality and buy based on your own view of value for money (for what's really being charged, not for what the 'reduction' appears to be). At least you don't pay extra for delivery, get the stuff instantly and don't risk sending off money and then nothing being sent to you.

I have now updated the status of this - traffic was flowing freely at 8:45 this morning (12th Feb).

I am sure they come from different budget heads, but my preference would be expenditure on correcting the increasing number of potholes on local roads throughout the wards, rather than on tinkering with the traffic flows (although the ED Grove junction with the Rye was literally a killer and did need addressing, indeed rather more quickly than it was addressed. Jury's out on whether the 'fix' actually is one.

Just a note of caution to those hoping to use the South Circular in Dulwich - the east-bound section of the road at the lights by College Road and Dulwich Common is coned off for road works and there are lights and a single lane of traffic - this is causing significant congestion both ways and knock-on effects all over. Burbage Road is also blocked off for re-surfacing. All outside ED (yes, Admin, I know that) but with impacts on those travelling in and out ED Edited to note that these roadworks are now completed (12th Feb) - although Burbage Road is still blocked-off.

Actually, my point was that Kiwi passport holders seem to get easy access through most border points, and get visas easily or in many cases not need one. There is some evidence that in hijackings Kiwi passport holders are more likely to be released, less likely to be summarily shot. Despite their (claimed) individual obnoxious-ness, as a political entity Kiwis don't seem to offend (and their participation in many 'peace-keeping' and other roles globally doesn't seem to have been noticed by terrorists).

There are values, even for EU citizens, in having dual nationality with the UK (although the 'best' nationality to have is apparently New Zealand - nobody seems to have anything against them and they get in anywhere easily). But I really wouldn't do it just because you are worried that the UK will withdraw from the EU - there is a huge amount of water to pass under the bridge before that happens if ever - and, even if the UK did, the residence status and rights of existing non-UK EU national residents would still need to be negotiated and might very well not change (new entrants might well be treated differently).

Whilst hoping not to be pouring oil on the flames, there are 2 'events' here - the attempted (apparently) abduction of a child and the motive for that abduction - it is entirely reasonable to act in the first instance as if this is a random attack (as this is the worst case scenario - if it is random, then it may happen to your child)- but the actual 'motive' is (and certainly was in the first announcement) effectively hearsay - an assumption of a random act which might threaten any child. There are a number of other scenarios, however, which would place just this child at risk - an abduction by somebody acting for one parent during a dispute about custody, an attack on a child because of whose child it was (for ransom or to put coercive pressure on that family)- all of which would mean that other parents could relax their vigilence. So whilst the initial warning, as a general one, was a reasonable precautionary measure, it should not be assumed that the 'worst case' is in fact the only, or the 'real' case. My understanding is that the attempted abduction (like this) of children by people unknown to them is rare - the majority of child predators work to create 'relationships' with children (grooming) - 'rare' of course does not mean impossible, so continued vigilence is entirely sensible, but we shouldn't make assumptions about motive before this is clarified (if it ever will be) or live our lives in continued fear because of it.

No probs.. great minds etc. ...

I think the issue may be that the Bigger Picture 'shows' only once a month - so it isn't really a picture house but an occasional film club (without the requirement of membership). People want the convenience of having a regular cinema available, but not the bother of actually going (having said that, most of the Big Picture nights are sold-out, or close to). It's a great facility for ED, but it isn't a local Ritzy (nor does it pretend to be one). Its film choice is pleasantly eclectic (and it isn't wed to particular styles or genres, so over a season there's very likely to be several films you might want to see) - but it shows each film only on one night - so you have to plan round it rather than having some spare time and going to the flics on the off-chance. If there was a regular local cinema, it would still offer some real value to the community, by showing films independently chosen, but it isn't a substitute for a regular cinema. But complaining there's nothing available and not making use of what actually is available is slightly perverse.

I doubt William Rose rely on having a door open in order to keep their products at the right temperature . Refrigeration and chilling units work far more efficiently in a cool than a warm atmosphere - so by keeping the shop 'naturally' aid-conditioned during working hours in the winter, when people (generating about a half kilowat of heat each) are in the shop, less power will be needed for the refrigeration and chilling units in the shop to maintain the required low temperatures to store food safely. The same would be true for Iceland. William Rose would probably want to have the shop windows shaded and the door shut during a summer heatwave.

On the other hand, the very fact that previous posts have been taken down would suggest that the EDF was in a postion to be aware of posts, publishers censor, distributors do not. [And anyway, as I said, I believe that Private Eye's printers and distributors were associated in an action against it for libel. That is why W H Smith for a long time would not risk carrying Private Eye in its newstands].

This is the same argument that is used when somebody bitches about you on TV - you sue the individual not Sony for making the TV. No - you may choose to sue both the person making the statement and the publisher of that statement (in this case the EDF) - the EDF stands far closer to the issuer of a libel than either the internet carrier (although attempts have been made to include internet carriers in certain types of action) or - very much more remotely, the maker of the equipment over which the libel in particularly is being viewed. [Although it should be remembered that, if memory serves, people have tried to sue both Private Eye and to join its printers and distributers in the past in an action for libel.] The EDF doesn't even exist as a 'mere' portal giving access to multiple publications. The very fact that the EDF requires registration to publish, and has adminstrators monitoring what is published, places it as analogous to a publisher - it may argue against a joint action against it and the author of the libel, but one is certainly possible.

It is impossible to tell from the NHS web site how many of the doctors registered to a practice are part-time, and of those how many days they work. Equally a doctor can be registered to a practice but rarely visit it - a number of GP practices have partners who actually push all their work onto salaried doctors. Without this information you cannot build a FTE (full time equivalent) against registered patients ratio to judge the level of over or under loading of a practice. [it is also true that the mix of patients is an issue - old people and children take-up more GP time than the healthy working-aged - but it is reasonable to assume within, e.g. SE22 that the patient mix is likely, everything else being equal, to be similar amongst different practices. For DMC I note that Dr Lauren Cunningham is shown as a practicing GP in both Chadwick Road and Crystal Palace Road.

Re the re-surfacing work in Underhill, some of the Conway equipment is now back on site (Sunday 27th) and the signage now suggests work will run on 28th-29th January.

Other than the fact that Hull doesn't really cluster with Leeds/ Bradford, a good exposition. The correct title for this thread should be 'E Dulwich in top 10 for insurance claims for burglary made in past three years, as reported to one price comparison web-site'.

James The road surfacing work on the stretch of Underhill between Barry and Crystal Palace Roads has stopped and all equipment has been withdrawn leaving it less than half finished and with the work done already deteriorating as it sits 'against' incompleted roadway. The road is now in far worse condition that before the remedial work started. Obviously it had to be paused with the snows, but these have been clear for some time - and it seems as if the contractors have now moved their equipment to some other job. Pot holes are increasing, 'metal' furniture in the road (i.e. drain covers) are exposed and causing damage to tyres etc. There is a lot of loose and broken tarmacadam in the carriageway on which (since it's like scree) cycles can slip. And the parking restrictions remain, but now to no obvious end. Do you know what the plans to complete the job are?

Basically the Drs at the DMC are wanting a quick buck. GP practices are (always have been) privately run businesses - making money from being a dispensing pharmacy is no more a 'quick buck' for them as for any High Street chemist. They appear to have made a perfectly sound business strategic decision to vertically integrate their pharmacy business whilst expanding horizontally at their CPR site by offering both health and dispensing services. They also appear to be willing to offer an out-of-hours service which their local competitors have signally failed to do (although the Pharmacist at Sainbury's in DKH is open almost as long as that shop itself). Attacking a commercial proposal because it might make money for its owners appears perverse.