Penguin68

A number of the staff in WR (this isn't unreasonable) are not trained butchers but effectively shop assistants. So you might expect differences in skills and knowledge levels.

Yes, agreed - delivery and sorting are handled differently (although there is a second sort in delivery offices into walks for delivery). Sicknesses and staff shortages mainly impact delivery - and that's our problem. There's been no evidence of posting problems locally that I know of.

It is one year and ask yourself, unless you can be absolutely sure you and those you plan to spend xmas with are not infected, if one Christmas is worth someone's life. Maybe if you are the one who's elderly and sick and may not expect to live to the next Christmas the answer is yes. When it's your life and otherwise you won't see, perhaps ever again, your loved ones.

In that case, it restricts the air too much and so you are actually breathing air that comes in round the edges of the mask, ie air that is not filtered. I would not (I do not) wear a mask to protect myself, but to protect others, should I be an asymptomatic carrier. Outside of hospital conditions I would not expect 'normal' PPE to be doubling as a hazmat suit. It appears you are advocating wearing masks as a protection to you - not to others. I would not do that - and if people believe that their masks will be protecting them (again, outside a hospital situation with full PPE) then they are misleading themselves. Remember if you are going down that route that you should change and dispose of your mask every 4 hours for it to offer you any safety, wear disposable aprons or gowns so your clothes aren't contaminated etc. Your derided candle test at least shows that the mask you are wearing will help stop, or at least diminish, the contaminated spray from your nose and mouth. Frankly I would not be relying on any mask, but social distancing, short contact times and others wearing masks, for my own protection.

I believe that it also shouldn't be 'habitable' (in the sense that someone could move in and live there).

I have just checked and the whole of Southwark and Lambeth postcodes are clearly still in Tier 2, so it does not seem the rules are relaxed as far as Christmas holidays are concerned, aren't they? The relaxion of rules over the 5 days of Christmas (3 households, indoors - no 'rule of 6') is generally applicable I believe across Tiers 1-3. Although I doubt London will be separated as regards Tier level, it is worth noting that London boroughs south of the river are generally scoring lower levels of infection - so it is possible that the review on 16th December may acknowledge this. Don't hold your breaths. The Zoe app (which gives the most up-to-date figures) has been shown to be consistent with the other major measures, but more timely - and that is taking a very positive spin on London generally. Its algorithms have been pronounced sound.

On many occasions in the general ED issue/ gossip section, police or related activity is picked up and commentated on, often in a fairy speculative way. These posts, which I find informative and interesting will not infrequently also bell the cat of rumour. I would agree that they are not, at the moment, Covid related - so maybe the section is wrong, but I do think that they are of value to your normal readership (well, to me, anyway) and I would welcome their continuance somewhere. Not in the Lounge however, which would understate their importance. Knowing what's actually going on locally, as opposed as I have said to speculation, guesswork or worse does fit into a general issues section, and gives good local background. People often ask 'what's ED like?" - this gives a feel from an authoritative source of one element of that. And no (or little) news on this front is generally good news!

If this isn't the sort of case that a local councillor should get involved with - then there seems no point in them at all.

I find WR meat does not taste any better than supermarket meat but Liberetto?s produce tastes like something I remember eating fifty years ago. I couldn't agree more.

yeah, that's Liberetto, sorry to criticise but never has any meats for sale in the window and no clear pricing. Always wondered how it survived or if it was run as a hobby. Libretto. (J & K Libretto & daughters). And meat isn't in the window, to dry out and catch flies - it's cut to order - although there is some meat prepared in the chilled cabinet inside. In the 32 years I've shopped there the prices have always been fair, the quality (and range) exceptional. Kim (the very experienced butcher and owner) makes amazing sausages and sources excellent quality (and value) meat. He buys directly from Smithfield and has built up excellent dealers. His eggs are delivered weekly, from the farm, he has good game (but shooting is only restarting this weekend following lock-down) and he is a main South London stockist of Tiptree (Wilkinson) Jams. He is certainly somewhat eccentric - his shop is almost an antiques haven - but for excellent quality and good value he cannot be beaten. He is a hobbyist on lots of things (classic cars, for instance) but on butchery he is a top professional.

As above the traffic on LL is terrible, this is likely related to those being unable to go to the village/HH and beyond via court lane and turney road, so all having head along LL to S circular. Which also explains why Underhill Road now has standing traffic through the evening rush hour, as people try to get to the A205. Until these closures standing traffic was only caused by skip deliveries, and was quite rare - it's now a daily occurrence Monday to Friday. So my air quality has plummeted - but there's no Southwark maven measuring around me!

"The (completely mad) suggestion that it is in any way related to Covid-19 is promulgated by the same people who believe we are ruled by lizards" If 5G spread lizards, I would be strongly in favour. But secret lizards, ruling over you...? And it's the Lizards using 5G to spread Covid (for that group) I believe.

The others you mention are all quite inaccessible from East Dulwich due to lack of parking There are no parking restrictions in Wood Vale, Underhill or (normally, when half the road isn't being used for waste by Thames Water) Langton Rise, so Libretto's (K&J Libretto & daughters, In Wood Vale) is very accessible, although I know he has closed his Christmas order book to new customers now.

The tower will be within 10 mts from us as we live across the road, so we will be constantly exposed to whatever risk it poses as well as having to look at it everyday. I don't understand why you would want to belittle any such concerns but that is besides the point. The point of this post was to raise awareness. If you are in favour of a new 17.5mt 5g mast being... Your distance is on the hypotenuse - so if the tower is 17.5m high, and you are 10m away from its base, then you are 20m away from the top of the tower, where the microwave transmitter is. Inside your house you will be further protected, by e.g. brickwork. I grant you its an aesthetic assault, but not, I again suggest, an assault on your physical health. Complain for valid reasons (the look of it, which at least has face validity) and not less valid reasons (impact on your health, which is moot). I don't, personally, like the applications and usages 5G enables (internet of everything etc.) - but then I'm old and stuck in my ways. But I don't think it's going to hurt me. From my house I can see (very visibly) 2 huge TV transmitters (including Crystal Palace) - now those are Towers!

Also there was never any mention about the masts spreading or causing Covid so you are arguing against yourself I was merely referencing one of the quite widely publicised set of (incorrect) suggestions associated with 5G and 'health'. For that matter there was no mention of the detailed level of possible interactions with skin that you decided to reference. I am not 'arguing against myself'. And the study you linked to is one of rat and mice studies - one may reasonably assume these rats and mice were not 10s of metres from the radiation source when tested. As people (the general public) would be in respect of the masts. In so far as they are at all relevant, their relevance is probably most significant for those actually working on the masts, if in operation (which is, certainly, an issue, but not one for the general public living around the masts). There may be perfectly good aesthetic reasons to object to the mast - and aesthetics may be a factor in mental health, particularly where people become fixated on an object they dislike - but I very much doubt that the physical health of he general public will be impacted.

There is no evidence that microwaves from comms towers pose any physical health risk (and there have been a lot of studies in this area)- the possible health impact of microwave radiation is sufficiently attenuated only a very short distance from the aerial. The (completely mad) suggestion that it is in any way related to Covid-19 is promulgated by the same people who believe we are ruled by lizards (although a good analysis of their ravings does suggest that for 'lizards' read 'Jews' as there is a very strong thread of antisemitism in their ravings).

Renata, I suggest you take this up with Ofcom whose role it is to supervise telcos. To have left a key transmitter unrepaired or replaced for such a time must be in breach of some commitment made.

Companies save on corporate rental - they didn't think about the support industries like hospitality. I think that you'll find, over time, that this sorts itself out (there will certainly be casualties and hardship before it does) - hospitality will realign to where workers now are - that may mean more distributed sites (and more distribution, come to that) - but e.g. in ED lunchtime trade may move (grow) from yummie mummies to home-office workers. And rather than grabbing a drink in town before coming home, now it'll be drinks locally. And possibly starting earlier/ going on later as commuting time becomes drinking time. As I said, there will be casualties, but the model will eventually just be seen as flexing. You may even get more inner city living, and not just working, as office blocks get changed to high(er)-end apartments. Short-term it won't be nice - long(er) term it could get better.

its clear usually almost all of those who die had significant pre-existing health conditions But you must note that many of those 're-existing conditions' were not in themselves imminently, or at all, life threatening. People can live many years with diabetes, or high blood pressure, or with asthma; and many other conditions, even where eventually fatal, could still have been 'lived with' for many years. Indeed there are few people over 70 (I'm one) who do not have 'pre-existing conditions' - and still will happily live (fingers crossed!) for a further 10 or 15 years. Some are using the pre-existing conditions mantra as a get out of jail free card - but it's not. The trick is to look at excess deaths over 'average' - and these are a clear and positive number. Current stats for excess death https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/static-reports/mortality-surveillance/excess-mortality-in-england-latest.html

You seem to envisage some kind of step function relating time spent talking together and infection risk. As do 'the scientists'. The longer you are in contact with someone who is infected, the higher the chance that they will pass the infection to you - talking with someone means that you and they are breathing at each other - and probably not maintaining a 2 metre gap. If you are inside the risk is increased, if you are both wearing masks decreased. The rule of thumb is that conversations of under 10 minutes duration have an acceptable risk, over, less so. If your contact is outside then the risk is much reduced, as the virus intensity will be dissipated - that is why we are encouraged to keep windows open if meeting people inside, to mimic external conditions (air conditioning actually makes things worse, however). In the summer, sunlight also acts to attenuate the viral effect.

If this is outside, and if you do not yourself spend time talking to these people, then your risk level is comparatively low (theirs will be higher if they are talking together for longer than 10 minutes or so, without masks). The number of infected in Southwark now is estimated to be around 1600-1700 (by the Zoe Covid app) - out of a population of 300k. Many of those will be symptomatic and isolating, I would hope. So the chances of these being carriers are probably quite slim (but less than vanishingly so).

For the life of me I cannot figure out why the latter should be so. As I understand it, it's a health and safety issue - although the paths are fine, many of the old monuments are unstable (with e.g. trees growing through them) so people going off the (unfenced) paths would be at risk of injury (or becoming trapped under masonry). Adults I'm sure could take the risk, but children maybe not. Hence a general 'avoid'. 'Avoid the wooded areas' can be interpreted as 'but the paths are fine' - an interpretation I tend to follow.

It's not a binary pro/anti car issue nor is it hypocritical to own a vehicle but be in favour of less traffic. 'Less traffic on my street - hang yours' - yes I do think that's hypocritical.

It appears everyone is pro reducing cars and pollution. Around them. But if cars and pollution are offset elsewhere (even closely elsewhere)...? Actually, can I say I am not in favour of 'reducing cars'. I am in favour of reducing polluting cars (which the ULEZ takes a first crack at) - but cars (particularly electric cars) offer conveniences and freedoms which I absolutely relish. Most traffic disruption is caused by authorities closing and narrowing roads, making them exclusive for some class of user or other - we probably have enough roads (if they could be used) for the cars we have. Proper provision of useful public transport might encourage less car use (as it does in the north of the borough where there are tubes and buses and trains aplenty) - but the council's way of working is like discouraging obesity by closing all shops selling food and all restaurants. Obesity will fall, certainly. The 'moral' (self-righteous) stance taken by people who live in areas well served by public transport against car ownership frankly sickens me. And I wonder if all the people now living in their gated communities would be keen on giving up their cars completely - as a requisite for getting other people's cars off their roads. I do know that some aren't car drivers, or owners, but how many I wonder (and having off street parking doesn't count). If you 'vote' against private cars you should be obliged yourself not to have or use one. Amended to add - oh, and that means ever - you can't be a young fit mid-twenties cyclist now and vote against cars if you find you need one once you're an unfit pensioner. Because you're stopping unfit pensioners now from benefitting.

I'd guess that confirmation from the surgery If you are attending the relocated drop-in blood test clinic (phlebotomists) - run I think by King's - then the surgery will have no record of your attendance. And I doubt whether the phlebotomists hold a record anyway, they send on details with the bloods to King's.