Penguin68

Maybe that just reflects the difficulties land ambulances now have to negotiate our streets.

If they were anticipating foreign students then they may well not be registered to vote! But certainly high student populations can even impact Parliamentary elections, let alone local ones. Wouldn't they be voting in one of the (very) few Southwark wards which have returned non-Labour councilors in the past? Hey ho. Democracy is so last century anyway - as they're finding in the former bastion of the free world. And in our local 'consultation' processes.

Mine was cleared as usual in Underhill. Were other bins cleared in your road or were they all missed? Is the problem to do with the route as a whole, or your bin being missed out on its own? Does it have the right stickers on it? If it is just your bin could you work from home next Tuesday or get someone to monitor why it's being missed if other bins on the route are being collected. The guys on my route seem pretty straight and generally helpful.

Despite the date (and the fact that starting up such a service would likely be illegal) an earlier post, in March, and thus presumably not date related, suggested problems with collection as well as delivery. I had thought to discount this whatever the seasonal intention of the OP.

Agreed that there has been little evidence of problems with collection, the problem lies with the ED Delivery Office and its removal to Peckham. This is the office which is tragically under-staffed and poorly managed. Very few of the letters sent to me seem to originate in Central London, and this service will thus not benefit me that much.

If this is the dog in question then it seems that the dog isn't being mistreated as such, but that it suffers from a separation anxiety - this isn't uncommon. Being left outside in good weather isn't cruel, and maybe is more interesting for the dog than being incarcerated. So long as those caring for it know that, and are doing what they can to mitigate it, I don't think it's something that 'the authorities' need be disturbed about. The noise is clearly annoying, of course, but additional worries about mistreatment (cruelty) can be set aside.

For us in Dulwich travelling East or West is poorly supported by 'quick' public transport. The few hopper buses that do go east and west tend to operate circuitous routes that take a long time. It is only north : south routes that are quickly served, if at all. And getting into and out of Dulwich involves hill stretches not appealing to the casual or in anyway infirm cyclist.

There were 3,420 sold across the UK in 2023. Granted that's an increase on 2022 - but sometimes %ages are less useful to understand real issues than absolute numbers. There are 262,300 miles of paved roads in the UK so that's an additional large SUV for every 77 miles of road. Oh, the horror!

Personal choice. Until we live in the marxist dictatorship you obviously envy people should be able to do what they want, within the law. These cars that you hate (and you probably hate their drivers as well) cost more (good for the economy) , drive far higher tax revenues than other cars and are frequently driven carefully by their owners because they value their investment. They are also stuffed with safety features which reduce risk for drivers and others.

This reflects, I'm guessing, disposable income - and does not therefore mean that these vehicles are solely, or mainly, used in those boroughs; that is precisely the area in London where you might expect second home ownership and a 'place in the country'.

It is in UK terms, but is very much a baby brother compared with US SUVs. And it's not actually built on a truck body plan. And when did I suggest anything to the contrary? My argument has always been that we use the term SUV in the UK to reflect body style and design, not a truck origin. That is not so in the US, where most of the (justifiable?) criticism has arisen.

But it does not say that these vehicles have been bought for sole suburban or urban use. There are perfectly good reasons for buying what classes as a 'large' SUV for use across the UK - remembering that there are frankly virtually no 'large' American Style SUVs in use here, for perfectly good reasons to do with road widths etc.

So, as I have argued, 'SUV' in UK parlance reflects body style/ shape. not that they are Sports Utility Vehicles (that is, converted trucks)

Evidence? The number of cars with SUV style bodyshells is, the number of true, off road, truck based vehicles probably isn't, at least that quickly. And the South end of Southwark is technically inner London, but we know it really isn't, compared with the North of the borough.

Until, of course, they are and they can start the process all over again!

Scrumping was theft for personal use, this sounds like wholesale theft, and is despicable in a way that Scrumping wasn't. And Scrumping was commonly for windfalls.

And if that's your exclusive use for the vehicle then it's probably an unnecessary expense, assuming you don't have to transport bulky materials or many people. Or visit building sites etc. And certainly and anecdotally large vehicles are used only in town by some people. But not, I suggest, all that many. But if you have only one car and you use it more ubiquitously then, and at times, your usage in town will look unnecessary. Even if it's only part of your usage.

That would be generally true of any collision between any two objects, or indeed people. And yes, people do spend what they can to buy well made and safe vehicles. But actually, in modern cars it is the design, e.g. crumple zones etc which protect drivers and passengers and not (just) the relative weights of the vehicles.

Mal, you do seem desparate to trivialise what are clearly disruptive and poorly planned and managed roadworks, implemented with no thought or care for the road users and tax payers.

OK in my bit of Underhill but did come round much later than usual. (garden waste). A lot of people seem to have been mowing and pruning so they might have had to unload during the run.

This conversation about aircraft noise is not Underhill Rd specific, please note, but reflects experiences across ED. In fact one thing which was, sort of, Underhill area specific was the glorious sight of Concord flying over at 6.00pm every evening. It was noisy, certainly (not excessively so, in my view, or rather hearing) but magnificent! I have never been worried by aircraft noise, by the way, after nearly 40 years, or even really aware of it save when reading this sort of topic. Responses seem to be very personal. Some, clearly, are deeply upset about it. For those, some speak highly of noise cancelling headphones as a remedy, or at least alleviation.

Not so much since the speed bumps were introduced. (When the limit was 30 mph). There were no speeding accidents following that. But you're right that speeding, particularly on two wheels, does still occur. And some vehicles do go over 20mph.

The road is quite wide in parts, and is leafy, but with cars parked up on both sides (but not continuously) and wider than many, with buses and lorries going up and down it - it is one of the few links now to the South circular - and with two lanes of traffic you do need at times to drive with some caution and to hold back to let oncoming traffic pass. But it is much wider, in the main, than the side streets. Cars now are themselves wider than they used to be. Yes, in the main (and I've lived there for nearly 40 years). There are burglaries and car thefts, of course, it's suburban London, after all, but not significantly many. Because that part of the road is quite wide, and not very parked up unless someone is having a party (not that frequent an occurrence) , so there aren't so many places for lurkers to hide.

Surely the point that was being made is that the only incidents being reported, in order to guage frequency, are those reported via the police system. Minor incidents which may involve younger cyclists and which haven't led to significant injury may well not be reported, as not being worth the effort and trouble. If these incidents both exist and are becoming more frequent, as some suggest, (and the weight of electric assisted vehicles would tend to make injury more likely) we might expect to see more serious injuries. This is more likely on shared spaces and if pavements become more used by cyclists. Which seems to be the trend. Just using police reports as the basis for assessing impact and risk may be to be relying on flawed (not comprehensive) data, although it maybe the only data we now have. Luckily recent reports suggest that with sales of new bikes falling away and usage dropping post lockdown the problem itself may be resolving.

The maximum weight for Royal Mail parcels is apparently 20kg. Over that it must go via Parcel Force.