david_carnell

Could anyone explain that from a cultural standpoint? I can understand a peripatetic or nomadic lifestyle (cripes, it appeals to me often enough) and the need for temporary traveller pitches to help accomodate that. But what then baffles me is why, as a "traveller" you would seek to remain in one place permanently but reside in (non)mobile homes. Why not just apply to move into social housing or if you can afford it, buy. Extended families could still live close-by, no?

If you read the latest edition of Peckham Peculiar, there is a permanant traveller camp (I've always thought this a little oxymoronic) behind the police station and Lidl in Peckham. Could be overspill from an alerady crowded site.

El Pibe Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > *Except jumpers, i love jumpers. Is that why you've normally got about 4 of them on at any one time. In August.

Spot on Jeremy. I like beer (craft and normal) I like selvedge denim, redwing boots and plaid shirts I like street food I can't grow a beard I would never get a tattoo I don't need glasses I don't play synth

El Pibe Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If tweed and plaid does just that, then fine. It's > the thought not the signifiers themselves that > offend, hence why I'm rather fond of Carnell who > is deliberately obtuse rather than influenced by > others. I'm not quite sure how to take that...

You've no idea how close you are. If I tell you I ride this: http://www.velorbiscycles.co.uk/student-classic While wearing this: http://www.helt-pro.com/en/products/Detail/hunter-loden.html You being to get the idea. And while Universal Works stuff is ok, I prefer http://www.old-town.co.uk/products.htm for English workwear.

Too bloody right. Don't really have the finances for the Row so tends to be vintage - either tweedy-country stuff or American workwear. Trying hard not to cross the fine line into playing dress-up as Bertie Wooster during the week and a lumberjack from Wisconsin on weekends!

Weirdly Israel is right up there....not sure if beer would help or hinder in the middle east to be honest....

Seabag Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There's an older and more monied 'look' going on > too, it's going on in the shadow of Hipsterisms > bright light. But it's there > > Daddy Rockabilly old motor bike/car driving > vintage Hipster is my take > > Known to feature: > Redwing boots > Selve edge & Japanese denim > Beards > Vintage work wear > Supreme T's > New English work wear, but old cuts > Blue, Kahki, Olive, Denim > Hair/no hair > Tattoos (old and optional) > Specs > > > Or is this just urbane arty/creative middle agers, > flush with ?150 to splash on a pair of said jeans > + ?250 on a pair of boots Ah man....caught again (sans beard and tats).....I'm just going to live in a potato sack and be done with it. Heirloom organic potatoes obviously.

El Pibe Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Carnell is also completely vindicated in sporting > what might at first glance appear to be hipsterish > cultural identifiers. > He has of course been wearing them entirely free > of irony since he could walk!!! Guilty m'lud.

I guess the better quality of life means you don't need to get battered as often. Happy people drink less? Costs their health service less then too.

Jeremy - Copenhagen is no more expensive than London for eating out.

Zebedee Tring Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > France is not the only country with higher > taxation. Scandinavian countries have had high > taxation, and much better social services, for > decades, without the massive inequalities of > wealth than we have. But of course if we had > followed the Norwegian example of investing our > North Sea oil revenue in retooling industry rather > than squandering it on enormous tax cuts, then we > might be in a better position now. > > It's not too late for us to become more like a > Scandinavian country. It would however help if we > stopped spending so much money on defence and > stopped kidding ourselves that the British Empire > still exists. This regrettably seems unlike > whoever is in government after 2015. And last time I checked, Oslo and Stockholm weren't financial centres either. Yet somehow they cope....

Have you spoken to the Friends of Goose Green? Presuming you aren't one of them of course....

Hi James. Hoping you can help or point me in the direction of who can. Two issues. I live on Maxted Road in SE15. More and more frequently we are getting full size coaches coming down our road having turned off Bellenden and then trying to turn left or right onto Nutbrook St and then gradually wind their way though onto East Dulwich Road. The problem is that a massive coach (I'm talking 70-80 seaters) does not fit on a narrow residential street with parked cars both sides. They are getting stuck, blocking traffic and causing chaos. Often late into the evening. I have a suspicion they are coming from the Peckham Lodge which seems popular with large groups of European students (the coaches are normally overseas registered). I'm guessing their sat-navs just send them that way. But it's really not a good idea. Is there any way of either making an instruction to the owner of the Lodge to direct coaches via Camberwell and Dog Kennel Hill or putting up signage stating coaches are not permitted? 2) Why was the beautiful and wildlife-friendly cherry plum tree at the bottom of Warwick Gardens cut down?

Moyes has a better record than Fergie for their respective first 31 games in charge. Then again, Moyes doesn't have Clayton Blackmore.

Sadly, I just don't think the vast majority of consumers care. They are too busy piling their baskets high in TopShop or Primark with cheaply made tat that is fashionable this year. The bottom line is that it would cost consumers more and they won't pay it. Primarks whole business model proves that price point is the biggest factor. Their items are poorly made in poor quality fabrics but they ape catwalk trends and cost peanuts. Ergo, huge profits. And this has been known about for decades. Everyone now knows how you get cheap consumer goods (and I say this typing on my Chinese labour made iphone) - by exploiting poorly paid foreigners. I care. I try not to buy this stuff. Sometimes I fail (see iphone). And it costs me. That's difficult. Not everyone has that luxury. It's the entire attitude of consumerism and excess consumption that needs addressing, not just the use of low paids overseas factories.

DaveR has said this is a market problem with supply and the market (i.e. housebuilders) can supply the solutions. ???? has said that a lack of building is also the issue, blamed the state and said the state should fix it and build more. Which is correct?

Market solutions? Is that not what's got us into this mess? What's the incentive for house-builders to build hundreds of thousands of houses that are needed? It would drive prices down as the come onto the market making them less profit. I don't think the "market" is in the business of solving issues based on need. Merely on what makes money. Access to shelter shouldn't be left to markets. It's too important. And is clearly failing currently.

Ok Jeremy - fair enough. It's anecdote on both sides. My wider point would be, is it fair/right/moral that someone can make a vast untaxed profit on their primary residence having done nothing but exploited the market. If you do no home improvements and just maintain upkeep, and your home improves in value say 100% over 10 years (which is what the situation has reached in SE15 at the moment), should you be entitled to that money. That's about ?400k untaxed profit. At ?40k per year that's more than the median/mean salary in London. For nowt. You've done nothing to "earn" it. You've just got lucky in a rising market. How about CGT applies to all homes and is ringfenced to build more low-cost homes?

Now and again. Then I spend a long time explaining the concept of public ownership and land tax and I'm not invited again.

C'mon Jeremy - of course people view their house/home as an investment. Hence all the talk at dull dinner parties of just how much increase in value there's been on a pokey 3 bed terrace. My point a few pages back was that this mentality is so ingrained i.e. that prices MUST always rise that any government initiative to lower house prices across the board would be met with incredulity. Everyone wants prices to fall except when it comes to their own house.

Nail on head. The mentality of too many people is that their home should be an investment rather than a home. They'll bleat about the 'shocking' rise in prices but go all bashful when it's pointed out that their own home has doubled in value in under 10 years. Yet you look at the stink that would be caused if the government, any government, actively pursued a policy to cause house prices to fall. There would be merry hell up and down the land. Because everyone wants prices to come down, except their own.

Jeremy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Don't get me started on expensive racks and > cables... SeanMcG pointed me towards this. Hilarious stuff. http://wathifi.tumblr.com/ A shelf!!

Bluerevolution Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Good day to choose, Calvary opens today and has > been pre-booked/sold out for several weeks While I appreciate the inconvenience for customers, a Friday night is most effective for the impact it has on the business's takings. A strike on a Mon morning would be pointless, no?