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Welcome to the Camberwell Online blog, a place for free and spirited exchange on anything with even a tangential connection to the South-East London district.
Bear and hair and unfair
Published by Peter | Filed under Eating & Drinking, Events, London, Politics
On Friday evening my wife wanted to go out to eat fish, so we took a walk over to the Dark Horse. They only had Salmon on the menu, however, which she didn’t fancy, so we kept on walking to The Bear. We’d been in there for a drink before, but this was the first time we would eat there. I chose Wood Pigeon with lentils and bacon, she went for Trout and peas (with something else that else that escapes me right now). It was pretty tasty. I’d never eaten Wood Pigeon before, and I felt a bit sorry because I think they’re pretty birds; but the weight of millions of years of omnivorous behaviour overcame that guilt.
Verdict on The Bear: Good. Not excellent, but good. An alternative to the Dark Horse if it’s faffy food you’re after. They’ve done a good job on the decor and the staff were attentive, but it’s quite far from my house and didn’t quite have enough to tempt me over there on a regular basis. Nice if you live nearby, though.
Saturday morning, and the sun shining through my bedroom window told me it was time to get the mop cut. So I headed on over to Cube - except, as I approached, I got a rather nasty shock; it isn’t Cube anymore. I began to fear the worst as I got nearer and saw that it’s now called Teamwork, and advertises braiding and other services; could it be that my hairdresser had joined the multitudes of Afro-hairdressers in Camberwell? I needn’t have worried, as the staff and owner haven’t changed; only the name has. Inside it’s the same. I wanted to ask what prompted the change of identity, but my hairdresser was the stern Eastern-European lady who intimidates me into silence. A good haircut, though.
Afterwards I met the wife in the rear courtyard of Seymour Bros, where we basked while enjoying a late breakfast. Then a walk up to Ruskin Park, where we sat and watched the ducks for a while, and noticed that work is going on at the former bowling green; does anyone know if it will be flower beds, or something else? To cap off a capital sunny day in the Capital we went to the Sun & Doves for iced cider in the garden.
On the way home we thought about buying a plant for a friend’s birthday, so stopped in Pesh Flowers. The wooden boards and the medley of aromas makes this one of the nicest places to pass a little time, away from concrete and cars. Unless you have a pollen allergy, I suppose.
And that was my weekend in Camberwell.
As you can’t have failed to notice, the Mayoral elections take place this week. I’ll be voting for Livingstone; not because I’m a dyed-in-the-wool socialist, but because I think he’s done a good job in the last eight(?) years, with some truly bold attempts at sorting out the transport problem. He’s not perfect - which politician is? - but I think he’s better than the alternatives.
Johnson is not a Londoner, and the peak of his experience is running a magazine, not one of the largest and richest cities in the world. Add to this the fact that his policies don’t add up; there are lots of promises, but few mentions of how they are to be funded or implemented. Paddick suffers from the same problem everywhere except on crime, which he understands better than transport or housing.
On top of this, there’s the fact that I’d love to bloody the nose of the Evening Standard, who have run one of the most negative, biased campaigns I’ve ever seen, against the current mayor. But hey; that’s just me. You go ahead and vote with your conscience. But if you do vote for Johnson and he does get elected, you’re never allowed to make jokes about Americans electing Bush ever again.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
“If you do vote for Johnson and he does get elected, you’re never allowed to make jokes about Americans electing Bush ever again.”
Bit harsh Peter!
I’m sick of Ken’s brazen cronyism and his riding roughshod over public opinion on certain key issues (poll tax in miniature) and so want him out. Boris might get my second vote because of this (Ken won’t have either). It does not make me a Bush advocate. I know we’re supposed to be Labour ’til we die round here but politics is murkier than ever before with traditional divisions disappearing/changing all the time. Bush and Blair sitting in a tree…
As for the Standard’s coverage of the buildup, I like the press challenging the powers that be (irrespective of the Standard’s own motives) and Ken going mental/to court whenever they do makes it quite fun. And if we’re discussing one-sided coverage we mustn’t forget The Londoner, Ken’s own invention that goes to every home and that we pay for.
P.S. Know what you mean about that lady at the Cube. Let’s see which of us can get her name and life story first!
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April 29th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I see it as more tribal than that. I could *never * vote conservative, whatever the policies or prevailing political climate. Simple as that.
The betting is on Boris to win it, mind. What a donut.
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April 29th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
You know how to have a pleasant weekend, Peter; I’m sure your hair looks fine, but how’s the waistband? Or do you live on black coffe and undressed salads during the week? Only joshing!
My thoughts on the mayoral? I’m increasingly sad that Tony Banks died…
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April 29th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
D-MAN, don’t be tribal! That’s all out of the window as New Labour have been lobbied into oblivion by big business (whether on mobile phone tariffs, bank charges, energy or transport policy). This has rendered party allegiance, based on class, meaningless. Only the candidates, their current backers and team of thinkers, remain relevant.
The main question for me is who would do more to prevent the aggressive driving and - seemingly - often deliberate vehicular killings and maimings on our London roads, such as this recent incident. They far outweigh the casualties of gangsta-sheeeeeet so often bemoaned in the media and ID’d as the No.1 issue for Londoners.
I don’t think it is clear who would be best for cyclists, pedestrians or even motorists. The delectable Ms Berry has my first preference, and the “practical vote” decision can wait until polling day as usual.
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April 29th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Spot on re Tony Banks Drew.
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April 29th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Well i’m going to vote for Ken - there are a few issues i am unhappy with but in general i think he does genuinely care about London and Londoners. I think the congestion charge and his transport polices in particular have been a great success.
I really would prefer there to be stronger candidates from the other aprties as although i am naturally a Livingstone supporter it isn’t good for London or democracy to have so little real choice. I can’t understand the voting for Boris thing - weven if i was a Tory or hated Ken i still wouldn’t vote for him, i just don’t think he will be able to do the job and he hasn’t got the policies.
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April 29th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I’ve seen no improvement in transport, other than the introduction of the wretched bendy buses and a doubling in price for a single ticket. The CC was a great innovation, but he’s now abusing it with the rise to £8, the western extension (why not east?), and turning it into a rather pernicious tax on what cars people own (which will encourage greater congestion with its concessions for clockwork cars). The other candidates are dross though i agree.
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April 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Hairdresser is actually from Kosovo, came over after her village was attacked by the Serbs. Although that probably gives her good reason to seem a bit grumpy, my husband tells me that she’s actually quite sweet just a bit shy. Frankly, I like the idea of an slightly scary hairdresser who gets down to business - the last haircut I had lasted 2 hours because you can’t cut hair with scissors in one hand and your personal mobile phone in the other.
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April 29th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Well the improvements in transport are there to be seen for anyone who used buses as their main form of transport 8 years ago - there are more buses, more night bus routes and whilst i would be the first to say Bendy buses are not perfect and possibly on the wrong routes at least you can stand a chance of getting on a 12 or 36 now.
Oyster is also a great innovation i think - if you don’t like the full fares on buses and tubes use Oyster top up.
I couldn’t comment too much on the CC but i think the West End extension is justified by the fact there is probably greater car use and congestion in the West rather than the East. I also feel happy with the rise to £8 costs in admin go up over time as do peoples incomes the point of congestion charge is to stop people from driving their cars at peak times - if i have to pay a higher fare to use trains at peak times on crowded routes i see no reason why motorists should pay more to use roads in congested areas at peak times.
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April 29th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Oyster is creepy. Did you know they can track your movements by checking the logs?
Bendy buses seem to carry a lot of people, so for that reason they’re doing a useful job. They’re not in any way elegant, I’ll give you that.
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April 29th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Good policies, even poorly executed, are far preferable to poor policies well-implemented. For that reason I do not feel obliged to vote for Livingstone based on so-called management experience and seriousness.
In South London the Mayor is imposing super-localities to which people must travel by highly polluting bus, rather than allowing conditions where micro-communities and truly local shops and services could subsist and thrive, patronised by pedestrians.
Camberwell is not such a locality under the Grand London Plan. Dulwich, Elephant and Peckham are. This encourages car ownership, so is an effective extension of the government subsidy of supermarket shopping which has gone on for decades, devastating local small business.
The question is - does Boris share this approach? I would have loved to see him answer that question in a Camberwell Mayoral Hustings, which unfortunately did not take place.
Some of Johnson’s policies are excellently thought out, such as the attack on Livingstone’s London Plan permitting the designation of gardens as “brownfield”, along with waste industrial sites! Others, such as allowing motorbikes into bus lanes, leave much to be desired.
It seems as if Johnson has the capacity to listen and admit when he is wrong. If that is true, then it’s a powerful advantage over the incumbent…
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April 29th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Yeah but so can your credit card and your mobile phone!!
Believe it or not there aren’t vast departments of TfL dedicated to following you to work every day.
The data is used to see if useful things like new bus routes or extra buses on overcrowded routes etc.. are needed. It can also be usefully used to catch crims as my stolen oyster card (plus CCTV) was used to get the guy who mugged me and stole my hand bag.
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April 29th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Yep mobiles are dodgy too. But somehow it seems worse to have The State tracking this stuff.
I can’t see how Boris will help this area at all. Conservatives don’t care for the inner city and will focus on suburbs. He’s a total donut.
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April 29th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Reg: I like the sound of this…
“micro-communities and truly local shops and services [that] could subsist and thrive, patronised by pedestrians.”
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April 29th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Buses in my narrow experience are twice as expensive and, where bendies have replaced routemasters, take longer than they did pre-Ken. Bendies are free though if you want them to be, so i guess that’s an improvement. Those pesky conductors always made you pay.
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April 29th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I’d actually like to see lots more community wardens on the buses, that’d help people feel safer.
I don’t much care if people pay or not. Most people who can afford it do pay. As florian says, it’s gone twice as expensive so free-riders are natural.
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April 29th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Boris is very funny chap. His act is great. He is not a dry, meeting wonk. That’s what London needs, though, and Ken with his newts and nasal whine is a natural London government wonk. Paddick is very fit and handsome. However, he is outshone by the green lady, Sian Berry.
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April 29th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
It’s Ken for me - He’s not perfect, but I think he’s done a good enough job in the last few years to merit re-election … and he’s a much better bet than the other, very poor crop of, candidates.
I feel that transport has improved, buses are much more regular, I don’t see what the problem is with bendy-buses … even though I encounter them more often as a cyclist than a passenger (which is scary) … I’m not sure why people think buses are twice as expensive??? Tubes are also improving, and Ken was absolutely right about metronet … Let’s face it the reason why London’s transport was so poor was years of misrule and lack of investment by the Conservative party.
The only problem with the congestion charge is that it isn’t high enough - and I can’t see a problem with making rich fools who insist on driving into central London pay through the nose.
Cronyism? - show me a politician who’s not guilty of that, I guarantee we’ll see more of that under Boris - after all when Boris’s friend, the convicted fraudster Darius Guppy, was being investigated by a journalist, Boris offered to arrange to have the journalist beaten up … Now that’s democracy for you …
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April 29th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Being multi-transportational and using many of the delights that TFL offer, Ken has done a great job with the buses they are cheaper Florian just get an Oyster Card you don’t have to register it and the money stays on it.
The CC charge works I have an exempt vehicle which isn’t clockwork runs on petrol actually. Well it would be exempt except Capita who run the CC charge are a bunch of money grabbing gits and taking 4 weeks to process registration. The poeple I see in cars going through the cc zone are not generally rich fools mostly poeple who are working.
Cyclists who have had a fortune spent on their needs compared to pedestrian routes or motorists are my only complaint. The large amount of those who jump lights, go over pedestrian crossings mowing down innocent Londoners shoul be publicly hung in Camberwell Green as a sort of lycra clad decorations. As none of the Mayor candidates have this in their manifesto my vote has to go to Ken because he doesn’t cycle.
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April 29th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Great posting Peter… and I thoroughly endorse your endorsement of Ken Livingstone. And thoroughly admire your being so candid in ‘public’.
As for caution there may be about KEN - the Green Party says ‘vote for us but vote for Ken on your second choice’.
NEED ONE SAY MORE?
I’d vote of Boris if I wanted a drink with a mate after he won.
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April 29th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
D-Man, thanks. All I ask is that people think about their vote and the policies on offer and don’t blindly vote on the basis that the incumbent is “always safe”, or “I’ve always voted this way”. I myself will wait until the last possible minute before deciding how to vote, welcoming more information each day on the candidates’ positions.
Gnomee - I humbly suggest that aggressive driving is a greater societal problem than the minority of cyclists on the road who shoot reds.
They are wrong to shoot the reds, mostly because it helps goods vehicle drivers to treat all cyclists as fugitives, disputing their very right to be on the road. If you’ve been hit by a rogue cyclist, then my commiserations. But more pedestrians have been killed on pavements alone by motor cars than cyclists have seriously injured pedestrians on the road, so let’s at least mention things in order of priority, and TfL’s stats indicate that it is sometimes more dangerous to wait at a red, as goods vehicles crowd out the cyclist boxes unpunished, and crush law-abiding cyclists on the left turn.
We’ve a long way to go before reaching the cyclist-spending levels of more civilised cities such as Amsterdam and Berlin. But these cities’ denizens have a far more developed sense of environmental responsibility…
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April 29th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
If I wanted a comedian as a Mayor, I’d vote for Boris. As it happens, I’d rather have a mayor with some sort of proven experience of dealing with serious situations, large budget and managing a large quantity of people.
If you want to back a candidate for Mayor who has only managed 20 staff.. then so be it. But there is no going back after 1 May!
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April 29th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
D-Man, thanks. All I ask is that people think about their vote and the policies on offer and don’t blindly vote on the basis that “the incumbent is always safe because ‘e knows the job already”, or “I’ve always voted this way”. I myself will wait until the last possible minute before deciding how to vote, welcoming more information each day on the candidates’ positions.
Gnomee - I humbly suggest that aggressive driving is a greater societal problem than the minority of cyclists on the road who shoot reds.
They are wrong to shoot the reds, mostly because it helps goods vehicle drivers to treat all cyclists as fugitives, disputing their very right to be on the road. If you’ve been hit by a rogue cyclist, then my commiserations. But more pedestrians have been killed on pavements alone by motor cars (as on Camberwell New Road last year) than cyclists have seriously injured pedestrians on the road, so let’s at least mention things in order of priority, and TfL’s stats indicate that it is sometimes more dangerous to wait at a red, as goods vehicles crowd out the cyclist boxes unpunished, and crush law-abiding red-bound cyclists on the left turn. What punishment do you suggest for motorists occupying cyclist boxes at red lights?
We’ve a long way to go before reaching the cyclist-spending levels of more civilised cities such as Amsterdam and Berlin. But these cities’ denizens have a far more developed sense of environmental responsibility…
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April 29th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
19 Gnomee: why the hatred of cyclists? It’s a new cliche that cyclists “jump lights, go over pedestrian crossings mowing down innocent Londoners” etc and I’m tired, bored and upset by it…
As a cyclist I face daily dangers from all other road users breaking the law or mis-using their allotted space … and that includes pedestrians: several times in the last few weeks I’ve had to brake sharply to avoid a pedestrian who’s stepped out onto the road without seeing me - had I hit any of them and been knocked off my bike, into the road and then run over by a car/bus/motorbike/white van etc then I’d be dead or seriously injured … in collisions involving bicycles it’s almost always the cyclist who comes off worse, (even those involving a bike and a pedestrian) and it’s rarely the cyclist’s fault.
So when everybody else behaves properly then the current ongoing open season on cyclists breaking the law is fair enough. But unless you can prove that you’ve never speeded, jumped a light or parked illegally in your exempt vehicle you’re guilty of hypocrisy and threatening to hang cyclists in Camberwell Green is neither clever nor funny.
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April 29th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I would humbly suggest that the real reason cyclists are pilloried is because we see them jumping red lights every day, whereas we don’t see people getting killed by cars every day; therefore, the enormously high number of deaths each year - an estimated 1,120 since January 1, according to this website - seems of less importance than a day-to-day irritant. It’s to do with the Monkeysphere.
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April 29th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I saw an amazing road accident the other day. A dog shot out of Oswyth Road into Vestry Road by the Spar shop and hammered into the side of a blue Micra passing - so fast and hard, I was looking for the dent in the car. The dog was after another one three times its size on the pavement with its owner. It may have wanted to be friendly, who knows. Anyway, it squealed and squealed. Two blokes sauntered up and said to the owner of the bigger dog,
” ‘E don’t fight, mate.”
It was such a stupid thing to say, because the dog obviously now couldn’t do anything. It swizzled round in circles flat on the pavement in front of the bewildered and cared for big dog, either looking for help or trying to attack it. The big dog’s owner, who like me was really shocked, said, “He’s got a broken leg,” but I would have said the dog had internal injuries, too.
I didn’t hang about. What is it with these fighting dog people? They always seem to have their mouths open and slobber. I do not think these two geezers would have been bothering with any vet’s bills for their hurt dog.
Luck had it that a Citroen Light 15 passed by, right-hand drive, a dark blue with cream interior, Slough-made car, I’d say, which restored my faith in humanity.
Later, I saw two black cats in a stand-off near the Spar. I intervened. Fortunately, a 1970 Ford Capri passed by which restored my faith in humanity yet again.
Better Ken than Boris and all his lot stand for.
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April 30th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Now there’s a surprise. London’s socialist web blog is supporting red Ken. Stop the presses. I’m tired of seeing 8,500 on the payslip but getting less than 5K when all is said and done (a small amount you’ll say but I’m young so give us a break). And seeing neighbours all ’round using it to stay home and do nothing but go to the pub. Bendy buses are a free ride for nasty people. Can we have a rule? If you ride for free shut up and sit down. No music either.
Oh and just how many years can Labour argue it’s the Conservative’s fault?! If I see one more ‘transforming your tube’ sign. It’s been 12 years. Shouldn’t be transformed by now?
Do people like DMAN really exist? Is he a wind up? We can have regular stabbings and beatings and robberies and shootings and people roaming the street throwing their bodily waste but that’s just part of Camberwell’s lovely cultural diversity. Use technology to improve transport and catch anti-social idiots and we’re up in arms about their rights. Sorry Hannah - the man who stole your purse and violated your space deserves better than to be caught!!!
Vote Conservative! Less tax on those already paying for everybody else twice over!!! Go Boris!!!
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April 30th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I’m sure you’re aware that the Mayor of London doesn’t set tax rates, aren’t you Johnny? If so, was that just an excuse to brag about how much you earn?
And nice use of the ’80s Thatcherite slang ‘red Ken’; you’re never afraid to trot out a cliche, are you?
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April 30th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Cyclists are ok - however some of them do jump the lights and get very petulant when you point out that they have to stop at red lights too. However i don’t feel the level of hatred towards bad cyclists that others do.
However i think the standard of road and pavement use in London by all people - drivers, cyclists and pedestrians is bad - maybe there ought to be some sort of mass education scheme for Londoenrs on how to use roads properly.
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April 30th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Well let’s all get identity cards then. Or maybe we should let them chip us?
I can see Hannah’s point, of course. As noted, we need more Wardens on the buses and streets.
JohnnyM you’re not the only one paying vast amounts of tax. Look at it more positively – if you’re paying a lot of tax, it means you’re doing alright. Better than most. Don’t get so uptight about it.
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April 30th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Oyster cards also penalize the poorest people who can’t afford to have money tied up in that way.
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April 30th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Now that’s a point i don’t get - you can either put travel cards or cash on oyster - the smallest amount being £5 and your daily bus journeys are capped at £3 - eg if you spend up to £3 in a day you won’t get charged any more no matter how many journeys you take.
I would have thought that Oyster could help low income people by being able to allocate transport money where it cannot be used for anything else. Also there is now a half price Oyster scheme for people on income support.
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April 30th, 2008 at 11:26 am
If you’re short of money having £5 locked-up in a bus pass is not viable.
You might say it’s a trivial amount, but take a look around. As a percentage of available cash, it’s quite high for many people.
I find it a little condescending to say low income people need help to allocate transport money.
Wasn’t aware of the income suport scheme. How does that work?
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April 30th, 2008 at 11:50 am
I didn’t mean to be patronising!! From my experience when money is tight it is soemthmes helpful to be able to “lock” away money for essentials such as transport so it is still there when money is tight at the end of the month - i know i would have found this useful when i was on a low (er) income.
The half price fare scheme is exacly that half price oyster fares for those on income support - i think you fill out a form and get a special card.
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April 30th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I know that’s not what you meant. Anyhow, it seems like TFL have got the message and reduced the minimum price.
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April 30th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I find it equally patronising that the same lot who scream ‘the GOVERMENT should take care of EVERYONE like a parent’ are the same who scream ‘the GOVERNMENT is BIG BROTHER’. Take it or leave it. If you don’t want ID type cards, then if you choose not to work and spend all your money down the pub don’t scream it’s up to GOVERNMENT to give you a free ride.
Brag?! I don’t earn as much as others in my peer group here at the office, but I’m working on it. I don’t think it is that much for what I do and how long I work. I worked two jobs to buy my first flat and gave a lodger the one bedroom for a year while I did the sofabed thing. That’s not the norm in Camberwell’s moaning classes though. Only one’s who do that are, and I’m being fair here, Central European migrants who work like mad and save like crazy. If only all our British homegrowns on the estate could do the same. Nope. Must beg off work, cheat on handouts and get to the pub. Why change? We’ve been living off the Gov’t for generations and it’s far easier to move upstairs than break the cycle of shame.
Shameless. And the tele reference is on purpose.
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April 30th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
We like Shameless in our house, also Skins, both are harmless, pleasant fantasies. “Moaning classes” is quite good, John, but the people posting here are not really moaners at all.
It must be great being Polish here - you really know that every quid you earn is worth about 5 back home. That’s a real carrot. No wonder root crops are so big in Poland.
I don’t know why you moan about Labour - they have brought dynamic market economy practices to our country for many years now, beating many other countries to it who now have to adapt.
Funnily enough, so to speak, old Brown has just called Cameron a “shallow salesman”, but old Broon does not realise that salespeople are an essential part of a diverse, service-based, entrepreneurial economy. It’s like insulting Slough, Walsall, Dudley, Bradford, Dewsbury, Accrington, Swindon, cyclists or civil servants. All these have their merits. What are they supposed to do, self-combust? We can’t a;ll be prime ministers and live in posh Westminster. Billie Piper and Diana Dors come from Swindon. Y’ get me?
On the other hand it was a good pot-shot. Cameron is greasy and worked in slime & spin for Carlton all those years.
Come on, Johnny, ‘ave a larf.
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April 30th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Johhny i’m not entirely sure who you are criticising here.
I disagreed with D Man over Oyster cards and their tracking abilities but everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Whilst i agree that there is, in some quarters, a culture of benefit dependency i think you will find that many of the not very well off are the working poor, people who do have jobs but have low wages. D Mans point, and a good one, is about cash flow. Often when you have little money and a lot of outgoings cash flow is a huge problem.
Oh ansd i am in no doubt that our eastern european brothers work very hard to save for a better life but whilst they work hard much of the gain comes from being able to earn money in a currency which is worth a lot at home - i know Poles a few years ago who worked hard for a couple of yers and brought houses back home with the cash. I’m not criticising this at all - fair play to them but it’s slightly different ball game if you want to buy a house in London.
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April 30th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Can I make a brief interjection here;
Some of you may have seen the article in the SLP yesterday about the launch of Creative Camberwell, formerly the Camberwell Creative Network, an umbrella organisation that gathers together organisations active in Camberwell intersted in the arts, fashion, music, and urban regeneration.
You can find out more about Creative Camberwell here
http://creativecamberwell.net/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=29
and more details of this Fridays launch party, at The Synergy Centre, 220 Farmers Road, here
http://creativecamberwell.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=29
Come along and see the performances, take part in some creativity, and help put our little corner of London back on the cultural map!
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April 30th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
dickdotcom @ 24 I don’t hate cyclists far from it some of them are even my friends. It is the moniority who complain about car users as rich fools that upset me.
I believe if you give out harmony on the roads you get it back. If you lose it you only get stressed and risk a punch up.
National Staistics Office figures show that all those killed or seriously injured in Road Accidents in 2003 in London of the total number 5,164
Car occupants 34%
Motorcyclists 22%
Cyclists 8.5%
Pedestrians 29%
The stats don’t tell you if the accidents are caused by exempt CC vehicles or cyclists. It looks like when I am driving or walking I more at risk than cycling which I don’t do as I thinnk it is too scary.
I was hoping to hang cyclists up in the trees at Camberwell Green for a period time which will suit the offence they have committed. Those with the most Hi Viz lycra getting the longest punishment. Then allowing them down again not actually choking the life out of them. It could be punishment/art in the green. So don’t be upset dickdotcom.
Regenguru @ 21 that unfortunate woman at Brixton killed by the group 4 van, suddenly stepped out in front of the car I was driving a few weeks ago,next to the Ritzy, can of white lightning in hand. She scared herself and me as I only very narrowly missed her by about 1ft. I was to shocked to say anything and she wandered off..
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April 30th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
“Moniority” is even better than “moaning classes”. Blimey, you had a lucky escape, Gnomee.
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April 30th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
correction minority though I like moanority.
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April 30th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Camberwell is ….. just Camberwell.
It’s whatever you make of it - love it or hate it, but ask yourself why you spend time posting here if you really do despise the place - nothing better to do??
Vote Ken, that’s what we will be doing. All politicians are the same in the end - lowest of the low, beneath even estate agents - but better the devil you know.
And Ken hasn’t done that bad a job really - the south bank area looks nice, there seem to be more London-based festivals happening these days, the congestion charge might not have stopped congestion but imagine how much worse the traffic would be without it.
If only he would persuade the councils to allocate more motorcycle parking bays in central London -I’d even pay to use them.
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April 30th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
8.5 bags a month is about £100k p.a.
That’s the thing. There are so many couples who met at law school/accountancy college or during the subsequent training contracts.
They’ve inherited £50k. They’ve made £100k on their first property. Now aged 30 ish they can afford to spend 600k on a three bed house in East Dulwich.
What crash? Where?
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April 30th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
The C Charge is not a great success. It reduced traffic for a month or two but then people realised the tube and bus are still mostly awful. Unless you like contorting yourself into a veal crate, catching the flu and smelling l’eau de piss. Or getting on yer bike to go jousting with the number 12. Many got back into the car. Most of those who have a corporate parking space can expense the CC anyway. Or go for the minicab license loophole.
Johnny makes a good point about Poles busting a gut. First generation immigrants or migrant workers always do. It seems ridiculous that Brown tried to fleece low income workers. You’d have thought he was proud enough of the record he’s just set with the poverty gap. However, there doesn’t seem much we can do about benefit sponging bums. They believe their country owes them a living and will place their x next to the BNP.
I doubt Ken’s supporters read The Standard, so they’re preaching to the converted. But there’s certainly been misappropriation of dosh at the GLA. Ken’s free propaganda paper (payed for by you and I) is a little shameful too, this side of Beijing. Boris has some good ideas, although, to be fair, Ken’s sensibly admitted he’ll nick the best ones.
It’s all too close to call and I havn’t made my mind up yet. Perhaps I’ll vote Paddick, he’s not a politician.
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April 30th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Then again, perhaps I won’t.
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April 30th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
@37 - It’s going to be difficult for every earth country to emulate our unique blend of market dynamism and social justice, without interplanetary trade.
For without backward nations such as France and Germany, who will remain for Government and citizen to be in debt to, to own and control our utilities, transport infrastructure and energy supply, except visitors from the beyond?
Fortunately, London has already invested heavily in a European spy satellite, which may help to remove such obstacles.
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April 30th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Usually I am a dyed in the wool labour voter, I am deliberating in not voting at all. I don’t want to vote for Ken, he has done some good things for London even enabling some to earn £8.5K a month and pay the same contribution to City Hall as the rest. But power ultimately corrupts and he should have stood down. If he gets in it will be 4 years of fighting allegations of cronyism and nothing getting done.
This is the only way I can register my disapproval of the candidates and the main parties. Or perhaps I will spoil my paper and mark it with “Mayor for 2 terms only”.
I don’t want to vote for a someone just to keep someone else out. If we don’t engage with the process they have no mandate. A 50% win on 24% turnout means whoever won would have to work hard to get consensus.
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April 30th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I am not just dyed in the wool but died in the pub Labour. For the time being, a Labour wonk would be better than a Tory jester. London is an inner London kind of place and should be run by Labour people who are by and large sensible, well educated and clever. The Conservative suburbs don’t need as much organisation and are therefore the natural place for low taxes and privet enterprise.
VOTE LABOUR
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April 30th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Easy for me
1 - Sian Berry,Green Party
2 - Ken Livingstone
I would like Britain to become a country where there is at the very least a 15% Green Party representation in Parliament - we need a Joseph Beuys type character to help endorse it…
As Paul Weller said
“Anyone but that Tory Div”
which made me smile…
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April 30th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
@27 @36 Johhny M you prove you are a complete lightweight and don’t have a clue what you’re on about. The planet is totally screwed because of the sort of short term approach you have a grasp of.
It’ll take three generations to alter what the Tories did.
VOTE LABOUR.
VOTE GREEN.
But whatever. AT LEAST DO USE YOUR VOTE.
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April 30th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Sian Berry spotted in Camberwell canvassing today, apparently no one recognised her.
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April 30th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
They will do, soon. She is good, has a degree in Engineering from Oxford, therefore knows about matter, materials, people, energy, waste, etc. Maybe she should have children.
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April 30th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Sadly any dissent shown by not turning out to vote will not be appreciated and is not an effective form of protest - turnout in the Lambeth and Southwark constituency at the last London elections was 33% and whilst there will probably be an increase this time I doubt if more than 50% of the population eligible to vote in our area will do so - so it vital that you use your vote.
Personally I think voting for the Conservatives will be a step backwards for Camberwell, for Lambeth and for Southwark and wider South London - I will therefore being voting Ken.
Even if you are not fond of Ken at least give him your second preference in recognition of what he has achieved in London over the past 8 years.
Here ends the political broadcast
If you’re still not sure who to vote for see http://www.votematch.co.uk/london/ which should help you decide
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April 30th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
It’s tense, it’s extra time.
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April 30th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Bah - Chelski v ManUre - well that’s an evening saved …
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April 30th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
So Gnomee - you don’t hate cyclists, but you do want to hang them a little bit - what would you do to someone you did hate ??? hang them a lot?
Don’t be upset you say? a bit rich when you’ve just threatened to hang me …
And your stats are misleading - they’ll only paint a true picture if you correlate them with the number of journeys carried out - then if you can give stats of deaths per road mile I’d suggest it’s likely that cyclists come above car users …
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April 30th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Mumu @54
I used the votematch engine - my results matched most closely with
1- Lindsey German - Left List
2- Sian Berry - Green Party
3- Ken Livingstone - Labour
It’s conforting to know that I’m genetically predisposed to rejecting all things which are right-wing - It’s my default position
…but I knew that already
I was already going to vote Sian/Ken but I do have a soft spot for the old lefties - I think they will slowly become more relevant again when the majority of ignorant proles start to realise that the bourgeoise supremacy are steering the world back in the direction of a Capitalist Dictatorship…
Which is what they tried to do with Hitler and Stalin
I’ll put my tin hat on now…
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May 1st, 2008 at 8:14 am
Votematch is a menace. It’s had me voting for some hatstand ex-boxer and the born again cornflake coalition. Not though Lindsay “shibboleth” German and her tankie crew, which gives me some comfort.
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May 1st, 2008 at 8:58 am
I voted Ken, Sian, Val and Labour.
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May 1st, 2008 at 9:19 am
Alan. I will follow suit.
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May 1st, 2008 at 10:08 am
When will we hear the final result?
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May 1st, 2008 at 10:43 am
Tomorrow evening - the electronic counting starts at 8.30am and takes 12 hours.
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May 1st, 2008 at 1:55 pm
the question is, how do I replace my grass dealer now he’s gone to live abroad? the police have gotten them all off the streets now, so i’m a 30 something uncool gent with no contacts and nothing to schmoke.
bah!
Paddick would never have let this happen
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May 1st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
How about switching to LSD? It seems to prolong life and lasts much longer with more insights happening up there than dope.
There seems to be some confusion about what Sian Berry studied at Oxford. Most of the press has engineering, but her Wikipedia entry has Metallurgy and the Science of Materials, which I think is much more germane to green matters and the environment of London.
Boris’s entry has much about the Darius Guppy episode, which dickdotcom brought to our attention here. It sort of puts a different spin on the the un-pc humour and ragging and buffoonery and all that.
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May 1st, 2008 at 5:59 pm
To take the discussion back a bit (I’m a late arrival), I’m going to take issue with Gnomee’s slightly curious point about cyclists way back at no. 40 and 19.
If we’re bandying about statistics, here’s some from TFL (they’re for 2001-05, but that’s the latest I could find): in London, 534 pedestrians killed by collisions with motor vehicles. Over the same period, precisely one killed in collision with a bike. This one accident was neither on a pavement or a pedestrian crossing.
Yes, cyclists riding red lights are an irritant, but not a lethal one. It’s disingenuous to pretend otherwise.
The behaviour of some London cyclists can make us our own worst enemies, but I’m concerned that idiot comments along the lines of ’stringing cyclists up’, however humourous they supposedly are, contribute to a climate in which we become, in a sense, dehumanised and thus legitimate targets.
And what’s your problem with lycra? Cyclists wear it because it’s breathable, easy to ride in and the shorts have ultra-comfy padded backside sections. It’s not for everyone but people wear it for a reason.
My personal theory as to why some London car drivers hate cyclists is that a lot of it is jealousy. Yes, you are stuck behind a fume belching bus as I pedal past, carefree, in glorious sunshine (or, of course, pissing rain). Yes, I am notably slimmer and fitter than you are. Yes, the sight of my keenly muscled thighs does set off a slightly troubling frisson in your idle mind as you sit there, corpulent and idle.
I am, of course, exaggerating grossly, not to mention talking generally - you might by well be SE5’s very own Adonis/Venus for all I know, Gnomee.
But quit the nonsense about cyclists.
Phew. Rant over.
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May 1st, 2008 at 6:20 pm
In my puce anger I forgot to say:
JohnnyM, do you really make 100 grand a year? I always had you down as the embittered wage slave type, perhaps a media sales bottom feeder or something.
But it begs the question - what are you still doing in Camberwell? Surely you can afford somewhere else?
Perhaps, despite the bluster, deep down you love it - and us - more than you let on.
You sentimental fool, you.
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May 1st, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Media salespeople have their merits! Even the poshest magazines in the Conde Naste stable have their bottom feeders, just look at Vogue. Gordon Brown calls Cameron a salesman but the bottom feeders like cod, haddock, whiting, plaice and sole used to be highly regarded in this country. Many would say media salespeople provide the lifeblood of the media. And you don’t have to have been to Eton to be a bottom feeder!
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May 1st, 2008 at 10:18 pm
It’s true. In my flippancy I perhaps sounded a bit snooty. My apologies to media salespeople everywhere, especially the ones who (indirectly) pay my wages. I should add that my reference to bottom feeders was intended to refer to JohnnyM’s possible place in the pantheon of media salespeople, not the profession in general.
But it seems, after all, he is a tycoon, and one who, for all his bluster, has a soft spot for the N436.
Either that or the payslip figure he mentioned in an annual one, not monthly.
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May 1st, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Lordy, don’t mind me, PeteW, I am daft. “Puce anger” is good, though. So is “shallow salesman”. Gordon is no airy DJ like Blair but he is a decent wonk which is what one wants, “Boris”.
In the Sun today there’s a spread with pix of Gordon with Ken and David Cameron with Boris. The Labour two look really dull and boring, meeting-men to the last, whilst the Etonians look like a couple of real chortling bottom feeders. If Boris Johnson won “by a whisker” as the Standard promises - which says to me that he will lose by quite a long way - there would be riots. He would get a pasting. There would be urban disturbances and jolly rotten tomatoes chucked. He would be a pain in the arse.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 8:08 am
A 20% gap between Labour and Conservatives in the local elections and high turnout in London suggests Johnson might have it. To the streets!
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May 2nd, 2008 at 8:54 am
I overheard a guy talking on the bus and he reckoned Ken will win after all.
What a relief!
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May 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 am
Oh, that’s good news, Alan. This would obviate the need to dig up the “cailloux”, the cobblestones, and throw them at “le flics”, the police, during “les evenements”, the events, of “mai”, May, ‘08.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
Petew@66 Good to see you are riled and surely not puce anger but Hi Viz green anger. I knew that the UberCyclists would come out on this, Why is it fine for car drivers to be attacked as rich fools etc?
I drive when I am working when I am not I walk and use the Bus. It is the intolerance of the Ubercyclists to everyone else that annoys me. It is those attitudes of it being a daily “battle” cycling to work etc that dehumanises us all.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 10:29 am
Gnomee - If you don’t have a private off-road car parking space, you’re not rich. Just comfortable. On-road permit parkers sponge off the state no less than many so-called benefit babes and bums.
Sorry you were hospitalised by a rogue pavement cyclist, but asking remaining law-abiding cyclists to dress in darker shades during the evenings reveals some of your true colours.
In other news, Mayoral victor aside, the composition of the GLA is crucial. In the last administration the Mayor was forced to incorporate greener policies in order to get his budget through the Assembly, through a Lab-Green pact. Hopefully, whoever is Mayor, the Greens will be in a similar position to exert budgetary pressure again.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 11:18 am
If you do have an off-road parking space you are not necessarily rich either.
Privately owned parking and wealth may correlate but it’s certainly not an equivalence relation.
The inhabitants of Selborne Village are moderately well off but in parking terms, with an off-street space and a garage for almost every two bedroomed ‘cottage’, we are among the wealthiest people in inner London.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 am
Certes.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 11:32 am
Gnomee - where did I say it was ok for car drivers to be insulted?
I drive as well, although not that often in London. It’s almost worth keeping the car, incidentally, just as a riposte to the perennial idiot cry of ‘Get off the road! You don’t pay road tax.’
I’m a bit depressed by all this ‘Ubercylist’ stuff. Perhaps you could care to tell me what I’ve done to qualify for the term. Do you count as an ‘Ubderdriver’? An ‘Uber-bus-passenger’?
It’s not very helpful. Yes, I see dozens of riders steaming across red lights every day. But on my ride to work this morning I saw cars jump reds several seconds after the lights had changed at virtually every junction.
London’s traffic culture is pretty aggressive these days and no one is blameless. The difference is - and I can’t stress this enough - that a car hitting a bike or pedestrian will, inevitably, lead to death or serious injury, and not on the part of the driver . The same simply isn’t true if the projectile involved is a bike.
A lot of the abuse I get as a (law abiding) cyclist seems to be based on this notion that I have no right to be on the roads at all. Terms like ‘ubercyclist’ and crap jokes about stringing riders up from trees don’t really help matters.
I’m also a bit baffled by your apparent phobia of bike clothes.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Both Boris and Cameron have been pictured on bicycles. Maybe things are going to be all right.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I’m told by people in the know that Boris is a serial light jumper. He’ll have to stop that now - as seems inevitable - he is mayor.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I’d like to be uber something. An Uber-Camberwellian perhaps.
I think cycle fashion is hilariously bad but I don’t find it offensive. Well maybe a bit when you can see crack sweat or ball bags.
It’s good that an uber-cyclist can slog it out with an uber-motorists in front of uber-onlookers.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
But Darius Guppy, Fishy Fotherington and Bunty Bunter will all be cock-a-hoop, swishing at the pathetic socialistic cyclists with their riding crops.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Alan you are Uber Cool in your Uber Cottage.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
‘cottage’
Thanks.
cottage?! village!? Really? No.
But it’s home and I like it. Love it even.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I like this quote from the comedian Frankie Boyle regarding Boris Johnson
“He is the type of person who 200 years ago would of died aged 30, leading a cavlary charge into the side of a volcano”
LOL
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May 2nd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
It’s started. St George has just sent me an email.
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May 2nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Quality.
Prices?
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May 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Aquarius Wharf launch, one beds from £399,950 asterisk. Marketing, champagne and canapes available from next Saturday at 10am. I arksed about Camberwell Grove, but they are sending me to “Landslide Towers” in Vauxhall.
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May 3rd, 2008 at 1:46 am
Awful evening outside City hall surrounded by Tories and BNP.
I believe we have to remove Brown before he lets them back in where it matters. I had such high hopes. Naive.
First pay packet of the new tax regime and my tax decrease was met with an equal and opposite NI increase. Why do that?
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May 3rd, 2008 at 9:30 am
I’ll second PeteW’s comments about uber-cyclists … who are they? where are they?
Perhaps they’re people like the plumber who did some work on our house yesterday and had a £3500 bike (bought from Edwardes) he was setting off to Walthamstow to see his girlfriend and reckoned it would take him 40 minutes. I could lift his bike with my little finger. He wasn’t wearing any lycra - as far as I can tell ‘uber-cyclists’ ™ wear jeans and ride fixed wheel bikes as if to say ‘lycra is for part-timers, I’m so fit I don’t need lycra’
I’m still baffled by the drivers as rich fools argument - this is the only place I’ve ever heard it. I did have a huge argument with a rich fool who owns a car the other day - but he owns a range Rover and drives it to work - Covent Garden to Southwark. He justified it on the basis that he ‘needed it for his lifestyle’: twat. Again, I’m with PeteW, I own a car and drive it where I can’t use a bike.
I go through red lights all the time. I am not the author of this piece but it neatly and perfectly sums up why I do:
http://www.timeout.com/london/features/1701/3.html
Mind you Gnomee - you’ll find plenty of backing for your p.o.v. on Cyclists in that Time Out feature.
Funny, I’m much less depressed than I thought I’d be by Boris’ victory … I thought his acceptance speech was humble, magnanimous and inclusive. If he governs like that then it may not be a bad thing. Maybe responsibility will force him to grow up. However … Boris is very capable of saying one thing and doing another …
Like Alan I fear for Labour, we may be heading for another generation of Tory rule … but again, we should distinguish Tory from Thatcherite … Cameron may turn out to be indistinguishable from Blair …
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May 3rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
Full results of the GLA in:
Valerie Shawcross The Labour Party, 60,601 votes (36.43% of votes cast)
Majority 23,648
Caroline Pidgeon Liberal Democrats 36,953 (22.22%)
Shirley Houghton Conservative Party 32,835 (19.74%)
Shane Collins Green Party 18,011 (10.83%)
Geoffrey Macharia Christian Peoples Alliance and Christian Party 4,432
(2.66%)
Jens Winton UK Independence Party 3,012 (1.81%)
Katt Young Left List 1,956 (1.18%)
Janus Polenceus English Democrats 1,867 (1.12%)
Jasmijn De Boo Animals Count 1,828 (1.10%)
Daniel Lambert The Socialist Party 1,588 (0.95%)
Shawcross gets re-elected, Pidgeon gets elected as a member of the Lib Dem London list
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May 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
And our constituency voted overwhelmingly for Ken:
Ken Livingstone The Labour Party 80,172 votes (48.10% of total votes cast)
Boris Johnson Conservative Party 47,754 (28.65%)
Brian Paddick Liberal Democrats 20,530 (12.32%)
Siân Berry Green Party 7,190 (4.31%)
Alan Craig Christian Peoples Alliance and Christian Party 2,838 (1.70%)
Richard Barnbrook British National Party 2,448 (1.47%)
Lindsey German Left List 1,199 (0.72%)
Gerard Batten UK Independence Party 848 (0.51%)
Matt O’Connor English Democrats 506 (0.30%)
Winston McKenzie Independent 392 (0.24%)
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May 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 am
And of course local Camberwell Green Councillor Jenny Jones gets re-elected as part of the London-wide Green Party list
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May 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 am
I’m with dickdotcom - I also feel less depressed than I thought I would be by Boris’ victory.
If he does what he says - focuses on crime, transport and something else I’ve forgotten already - then that will be a good thing for us all.
But I think Brown’s days are definitely numbered as PM. He’s no teflon man like Blair was and I don’t think he has the flair to turn this around.
He’s a safe pair of hands, reminds me more of Melvin King, the Governor of the B o E, than of a PM. These days, people worldwide seem to expect their leaders to also be celebrities, such is the world we now live in.
The question is - who if anyone in the Labour party would make a better PM than Brown? Is there anyone??
Even more worrying, methinks.
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May 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 am
*sigh*
I’m with sg
On a less bitter note, Camberwell licensees are making big waves across the pub
world
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May 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am
Mark - I would suggest to Fair Pint that they cooperate with the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses, not the Russian Federal Security Service, with whom most people do eventually cooperate).
Lobby with them to make upwards-only rent reviews contractually unenforceable, and for Parliament to force arbitrators and law courts to consider crime levels, indices of deprivation, wage inflation and the RPI when determining whether a rent rise or a rent fall is most appropriate in any commercial lease rent review.
That will make for fewer litigious Breweries and will regenerate whole inner city areas. Any solution less cheap and simple will be tortuous and expensive for all involved. A working party including local MPs would be an excellent start.
I’m looking forward to a Mayor who - hopefully - sees Camberwell as something more than a bus junction. His influence can be swift and decisive, as few London areas fall so directly under Mayoral day-to-day control. Hopefully demonstrable local support can be built by SE5 Forum for a single Camberwell Vision comprised of simple requests such as a tube, train, more pedestrianisation and cyclist facilities.
More of Camberwell Green itself, enlargening it to its former proportions. That’s an argument which, for the first time, may not fall on Mayoral deaf ears.
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May 3rd, 2008 at 6:22 pm
The only Boris with a serious interest in Camberwell would be Boris Karloff (aka William Henry Pratt); there’s a blue plaque at 36 Forest Hill Road,
East Dulwich, almost Camberwell. The Johnson Boris is indebted to the outer London boroughs for voting him in and they’ll expect fewer demands on their council tax payers. If he does replace bendy buses it’ll be with Dinky toys.
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May 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Yes Regeneguru. Fair Pint has an in on FSB but FSB is worn out after its last fight with OFT. We’ll get em back on track.
Boris is possibly more accessible to this type of suggestion than Ken Kong. I hope so.
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May 4th, 2008 at 8:45 am
96 - guru IIRC there was something of an attempt a couple of years ago by Fed Small Businesses to outlaw upwards only clauses in commercial leases, although my attention to this would only have been re retail leases.
it came to nought tho - presumably the combined lobby interests of tfl, spacia, the big landlords and the commercial agents put paid to it.
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May 4th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I agree with you, John. We must be mad, literally mad… Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Thames foam with much Tizer…
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May 4th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Regarding Gordon Brown:-
I think that Tony Blair left him with a well positioned kipper, nailed beneath the floorboards before he left No 10
Rumour has it he also left some frozen prawns inside the tubular curtain rails
What an absolute Rotter…
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May 4th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
* Eusebiochap! Blair and Cameron shared the same housemaster fellow.
* London is to be used as a “test bed” for “Tory ideas”.
* The London result may be an example of the English “Max Mosley” school of self-debasement.
* Perhaps Johnson will reduce the mayoralty to just a titular role.
* Gordon’s grumpy “You must all do better” tone has not been good for Labour.
*Over several years loads of good Labour government people have been sacked for spin reasons - Labour is depleted.
* Camberwell is a glory in May - we are, literally, above it all here on the first upsurge of the Surrey Hills. Even our toffs vote Labour in our wonderful leafy streets.
* Monday will be a great day - we can make of it what we may!
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May 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Dagmar
Quite right!
We all know that the mainstream political parties and their ideologies are largely redundant
Neo-Conservatism rules - nobody is really in charge, a capitalist anarchy is the present and the future
But as you say the sun is out and all is well in Camberwell
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May 6th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
all is well in Sunny Camberewll, except the parakeets at war with the sparrowhawk in Ruskin Park, what a racket and the parakeets looked to be winning. The sparrowhawk seems to be semi- tame as it wasn’t bothered by me watching it at a few feet away for about 10 minutes maybe it is lost and has found easy pickings in the park. I have seen it around for about 6 weeks now.
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May 6th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
On the subject of birds, the swifts are back in Camberwell, and http://www.londons-swifts.org.uk/ wants to know about them. Apparently they are suffering a serious decline. Ours, however seem to be doing well.
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May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
If only I had a gun…
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May 6th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Apologies. I don’t know what came over me. I was thinking about a lot of other things, parakeets and swifts just triggered off a base, senseless streak I inherited from my Border Riever background.
It’s to do with fairness and a desire for a better world. The gun wasn’t for to shoot the birdies with. No…
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May 6th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Mark…
I’d be with you if you want to dispose of all the Neo-Cons with that gun
Hell…I’ll even buy one myself
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May 7th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
BEST RESTAURANT EVER TO OPEN IN CAMBERWELL pound for pound is the new JJ Caterers on the corner of Rainbow Street and Southampton Way, Indian and continental cuisine, takeaway delivery service available, eat in and bring your own booze, absolutely knockout, now just 3 weeks old.
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