Hello, hello, hello.
Published by Peter | Filed under General
Hello. I’m back from my holiday. Massive thanks to all the contributors in my absence; I’ll be in touch with you all personally, begging you to write more.
Hello to the new crop of students at the College of Arts; it’s great to have you all here. Feel free to get involved with us.
Hello also to the latest to try their arm in the Camberwell pub scene, Grand Union, who take over the Grove at the end of October.
September 27th, 2009
As one opens, another shuts. Noticed that the George Canning has a final looking steel plate over the door and cellar.
It was never packed as such but didn’t envisage it closing anytime soon. I wonder what (if anything) will take its place.
Interesting to see what happens with The Grove when it’s taken over. Even though it’s at the end of my road and probably means it’s my local, I can never bring myself to go in it. We’ll see if that changes.
Landlord officially left this week, apparently, although has been closed for months.
I reckon a decent little bistro could do well there, like it was 2 or 3 years ago.
Not been able to access the site much recently as I’ve had pc/router problems. Can anyone recommend a local expert? Thanks.
Hmmmm…
I have been to the Grand Union in Kennington opposite the Imperial War Museum…It used to be Bar Room Bar — Just like The Grove
I had a burger and chips — It was functional, but that’s about it…However they do have another branch in Acre Lane Brixton which has a great beer garden with gazebos and they have a habit of showing films there on a big screen during the evening…I suspect not in the winter though…
Like I said the burger was average in my humble opinion…maybe I will give them another chance once they open in the Progressive People’s Republic of Camberwell…
Another highlight of last weekend, apart from the set by the excellently lunatic Saudis at Warwick Wingding, was the ladies’ tug-of-war in Warwick Gardens on Sunday afternoon. What was that all about, apart from straining thighs?
It’s the traditional finale to the Villa School’s annual fair. Tug of War in heels.
John… computer problems. I know someone who’s good and good value… emaul me at work mark@sunanddoves.co.uk
Ha. I like the emaul typo. It might even be a form of spam.
I thought those mums looked finely tuned & strung. I thought it was a photo-shoot for Vogue Private Members, the new Conde Nast magazine for high-end, quite explicit, edgy fashion. How cool Camberwell is. The energy. Talk about current!
Thanks Mark, have emailed you.
The article about Grand Union says that one of the successful openings the group’s had this year was at the Grove in October. I like that.
In the same spirit of time space discombobulation; I sent you another email. But because I haven’t written it yet you will probably get it later on today or even tomorrow.
http://www.woosterstock.co.uk/Detail.php?id=6972
Lovely!
Where you heading Alan?
C’est bijou, oui. Tu vais en Provence, Alain?
I’m staying where I am.
This ‘village’ is solid gold.
2007 called. It wants its house prices back.
That’s way above 2007 — assuming they get asko..
Seems q expensive for what it is. Nice though. I recommended that area to a colleague but the one bed place she was keen on had already sold.
We walked through the village and along Love Walk this afternoon to revive our relationship. It is remarkably quiet, Selborne, and the houses are at odd angles to each other like a real village. They are quite close together — presumably people can shake hands with each other from under the eaves across the street shout “Gardy-loo!” as they used to in old Southwark and for the same reason. The thought of this and the earthy life to be had here on this earth brought us close together, too.
By the way — the email I hadn’t sent this morning but which will have been received whether I sent it anyway has now definitely been transported ether wise and it was for John — whose name I completely forgot to include in the message above. I wanted to warn John — for obvious reasons — to know that I had not sent him an email which I knew I would write and then send later — after I had told him I’d sent him an email. Looking forward to Grand Union’s successful opening in October.
Notice the Wooster Stock particulars on the palace in Alan Dale Close carry on in this time space discontinuum vein as well… perhaps it’s a modern day virus affecting us in these here parts:
“A top location for the amenities of central Camberwell… while Kings College Hospital and the Maudsley are just four minutes on foot if that is where you work. On the food front, the excellent Seymour Bros Salad Bar is only four minutes away and closer still (you can practically smell the food from your front door!) is the fine gastro pub The Dark Horse.”
Ahem, interested viewers of the property may find Jannsen’s and Petit Parisien alongside the others mentioned. They don’t tell of the George Canning or The Silver Buckle though, which I find confusing in the timeline they decided to take.
@ Alan
It’s got a “nifty serving hatch”!
I’ve always had problems with the non-nifty kind so this would swing it for me.
(Estate Agents, love ‘em)
Mm. “The best of Camberwell is just a stone’s throw.” Sounds like Derry’s Bogside. “Secluded,” but “with garage.” That is loud music!
Walworth Road is for sale, the old Labour HQ. This would make a good Spoons. Maybe Tesco will get it. It would also be the most visited Pizza Express in the whole country, full of old-style Labour voters harking back to the old days, after Peter Mandelson has got his hands on the rump of the Labour Party to manipulate it into shape again, handing over to Jon Cruddas to head up a new, electable Labour Party that everyone can believe in, even the suburban conservatives, who by this time will welcome a government who can represent the by now wretched majority.
The Sun has got “Harriet”, 20, from Peckham on its page 3 today. Haw haw!
Slight change of subject here — but does anyone know when the double yellow lines were painted on Maude Road/Vestry Road?
Is Frank’s Campari Bar coming back next year?
Note that Hoa Viet is coming under new management soon!
Baby squid.
Big round of applause for Mark and his recommendation, PC sorted.
Thanks John. Glad it worked out. Actually on that note, does anyone need a plumber/heating engineer? I know one who’s good.
Frank’s cafe and Campari Bar MIGHT be making another appearance next year (it ought to, really). Frank is currently in Corsica on a week’s well deserved vacation. Resurrection of the car park roof top bar is dependent on a lot of variables.
Back to do some other ambitious temporary exotic thing during December if he can organise a venue and a licence in time.
A plumber/heating engineer recommendation would be much appreciated Mr D.
Thanks Mark. Keep us updated then..
I was expecting that Estate Agent ad to mention The Artichoke,Father Red Cap and the Walmer Castle…
Old Camberwelians
Dagmar
Labour Party is dead…The Bourgeoise Supremists have sucked all the marrow out of it’s bones — R.I.P
We need a new political movement — The Tory Party smells as well as their unofficial sympathetic subsidaries the B.N.P and U.K.I.P…
The Greens and Lib Dems should form a coalition…but would the Libs have the backbone to enforce positive change…Their lily-livered sidelining of Vince Cable and Simon Hughes would suggest not…
Copeywolf– Plumber recommendation
eter Bennison of PM Bennison Plumbing & Heating. Corgi registered — 07788–412880. 0208–299-1385. He’s done loads of stuff for us. Good guy.
I’ve been itching to start a cafe for years around here but I think it’s better to start small…The George Canning would be perfect but it’s far too big and the rent is no doubt astronomical…plus no doubt I’d have to sell beers and wines that were not of my choice or preference…
Better a modest premises packed to the rafters than a large establishment barely half full…
Do my economics sound correct?
eusebiovic… In short, YES, you’re right I think. But it’s good to have space to expand into from where you start.
Retail rents in Camberwell are surprisingly expensive which is a barrier to small start ups.
It might be interesting to discuss it? mark@sunanddoves.co.uk
Mark
Thanks!
You may well be hearing from me very soon…
I’m curious about how things lie in this part of town concerning rents and business rates…I also like Hackney and it’s potential but this is my home
My plan is a cafe with a more Northern Spanish feel to it…Not so much Med more Basque/Cantabrian/Galician/Northern Portugal — I will include many British Classics freshly made from scratch with all the best ingredients too…
If that makes any sense to you at all…
Sounds brilliant. Hackney will be missing a gem I reckon. Ahem… I hope.
Maybe you should wait till the Conservative Party Conference is over, eusebiomate, before launching any venture or even going outside.
There is an amazing article in the Daily Mail — bung in “Daily Mail David Cameron cut-glass vowels textbook toff”; also “he exudes Eton from every pore” — which gives a glimpse of what we are in for. His old boss at Carlton telly, Michael Green, is also worth a look.
By the end of their 5 years maybe Labour will have reformed with Peter Mandelson as head boy during the interregnum and Jon Cruddas as a leader whom people can understand when he talks and who sounds and is optimistic.
Like Margaret Thatcher, Cameron will have to to use the police to enforce their policies. He is clear-minded and intelligent. We are in for a rough ride.
Recently back from Basque region of France and a day in San Sebastian. Great food. Go for it Euse!
I’ll vote for anyone who sacks everybody with “stakeholder” in their job title. Just spoken to one now. What an appalling waste of money these people are. They could disappear tomorrow and we’d never know…
I have a question to ask. I should put in the caveat that I am not naturally a tory voter and not sure who to vote for at the next election.
My question is this: Why is it seen as such a bad thing that David Cameron comes from a privileged background?
Any politician will be either lower, middle or upper and how much experience will they have of the other classes? Since this is so, how much experience can anyone have of others?
Tony Blair came from Fettes college in Edinburgh, which is seen by those in Scotland as an Elitist school but this was never a sticking point for Tony.
On another note, slightly more relevant. What is the point of voting in Camberwell if you don’t want to vote for Labour? Harriet won by a majority of 13,483 and 65.3% of the vote. How on earth can we overturn that? Second place Lib Dems only got 5,450 votes or 18.8% so not much hope there either!
Answers on a postcard (or this blog) please.
Just found this quote from http://www.UKPollingReport.co.uk
“This is one of Labour‘s safest seats in the South of England and, while there is some gentrification in South Peckham, and pockets of Conservative support in the large Georgian houses in places like Camberwell Grove, there is presently no possibility of that dominance being challenged.”
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/seat-profiles/camberwellandpeckham?cp=1
Inverse snobbery. It’s really easy to cast someone from Eton as a distant toff who thinks he’s born to rule. As you rightly point out, Blair was hardly the son of a circus performer.
While I don’t much care that Cameron went to Eton, I have to say the fact that a ruling cabal were all there at around the same time (Osborne, Boris) is distasteful and, I think, is a negative thing. So the possible PM and Chancellor and Mayor of the capital were all in the same upper class uni drinking club? It doesn’t feel good.
Good point about Harriet. I have had the same debate with friends, and indeed this problem applies to anyone who is unfortunate enough to be in a super safe seat where they don’t like the incumbent.
The hard fact is, that without some form of proportional representation, there’s almost no point voting if your vote is to have an impact. Since this is defeatist and anti-democratic perhaps the main thing is to register a vote for turnout’s sake. So, you can
– vote for one of the mainstream parties if you wanted to anyway
– make a protest vote (Greens, marginal parties, independents)
– spoil the ballot paper. It’ll still count as a vote. Draw a big cock on it or something.
A while ago when I was younger and sillier I lived in a very safe Tory seat and thought it pointless to vote, so I voted a marginal party as a protest vote. Wish I hadn’t though as it turned out that the LibDems surged that year, though they didn’t win it. So, the moral is, you never know. Harriet may get squeezed yet, but probably not by as much as some of us would like…
Politics is dead
Labour and Conservatives are like two bald old men fighting over a comb…
We need a new political movement…not the unofficial sympathetic subsiduries of the Tory party (ie: BNP or UKIP) but neither do we need the archaic rhetoric of the Socialist Workers Party
We need responsible economics…not just in Britain but in most developed economies — in these places there isn’t much growth to get a maximum return on investment anymore so we can afford to start concentrating on the technology of the future rather than try to maintain something which is clearly unsustainable…
Brown,Cameron or whoever else is the public face for all the proles to get wound up about has no power because they are just a token gesture to try and maintain the illusion we are living in a democracy…
O.K, granted nobody is cracking our skulls open with a stick or physically torturing us to conform to the official line but that’s because in that sense governments have become a lot more sophisticated in how they mould and manipulate the people — however, the end result is always the same, we are merely here to service the small minority of bourgeoise supremist families who really run the world…
They couldn’t care how much death and destruction they cause as long as in the end they always benefit from it…
WW1, Spanish Civil War, WW2 and numerous wars since…have all been about one thing only…
Maintaining the status quo — but they dress it up as if it’s for the benefit of the masses…which of course it never,ever has been since history began…especially the past 200 years!
I drink my tea
Gordo gave a list of all the things that the Labour party had achieved at the conference last week.
If he wants lists I’ll give him a list. This is the real list of the last twelve wasted years:
- £22,500 of debt for every child born in Britain
- 111 tax rises from a government that promised no tax rises at all
- The longest national tax code in the world
- 100,000 million pounds drained from British pension funds
- Gun crime up by 57%
- Violent crime up 70%
- The highest proportion of children living in workless households anywhere in Europe
- The number of pensioners living in poverty up by 100,000
- The lowest level of social mobility in the developed world
- The only G7 country with no growth this year
- One in six young people neither earning nor learning
- 5 million people on out-of –work benefits
- Missing the target of halving child poverty
- Ending up with child poverty rising in each of the last three years instead
- Cancer survival rates among the worst in Europe
- Hospital-acquired infections killing nearly three times as many people as are killed on the roads
- Falling from 4th to 13th in the world competitiveness league
- Falling from 8th to 24th in the world education rankings in maths
- Falling from 7th to 17th in the rankings in literacy
- The police spending more time on paperwork than on the beat
- Fatal stabbings at an all-time high
- Prisoners released without serving their sentences
- Foreign prisoners released and never deported
- 7 million people without an NHS dentist
- Small business taxes going up
- Business taxes raised from among the lowest to among the highest in Europe
- Tax rises for working people set for after the election
- The 10p tax rate abolished
- And the ludicrous promise to have ended boom and bust
I could go on:
- Our gold reserves sold for a quarter of their worth
- Our armed forces overstretched and under-supplied
- Profitable post offices closed against their will
- One of the highest rates of family breakdown in Europe
- The ‘Golden Rule’ on borrowing abandoned when it didn’t fit
- Police inspectors in 10,Downing Street
- Dossiers that were dodgy
- Mandelson resigning the first time
- Mandelson resigning the second time
- Mandelson coming back for a third time
- Bad news buried
- Personal details lost
- An election bottled
- A referendum denied
He also spouted that his party had introduced the Disability Discrimination Act, this, in fact was John Majors. This tells you a lot about our dishonest prime minister.
So Dagmar let’s vote Labour!!
Oiy’ you over there!!
Most of the points you mentioned are all negative social side-effects caused by persuing an aggressive,unregulated, free market economic model…which has to be pursued regardless of which party is in charge
I dare you to make the quantum leap and make the link between the two things…Go on! I Double dare you!
I drink my tea
You really should credit your copy & paste jobs; this one was a speech by William Hague:
http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=12764
The fact that people like William Hague exist at all is, on its own, a very good reason not to vote Tory EVER.
Read comments below this article for more polarised political views.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23751916-worst-primary-in-country-becomes-a-lesson-to-others-in-overcoming-challenges-of-poverty.do
Has anyone else got an opinion on why it is so important that while someone can be proud to be working class, but not upper class (i.e. David Cameron)? Would really appreciate your views on this one.
Oh and here’s something that might make our M.P. squirm:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6861077.ece
So, where’s old equality Harperson when it comes to equalising retirement ages for men and women? Bit stumm about that, along with all the other wimmin’s groups. Strange eh.
The other day I remembered the old launderette near St Giles church near the bookies. Let us all remember it now. Sigh…
Catching out the plagiarist doesn’t address the real concerns and
ad hominem anti-Hague argument is a bit of a cop out compared to addressing the points raised.
Eusebiovic claims most of the points mentioned are negative social side-effects caused by persuing an aggressive, unregulated, free market economic model but less than half of the points raised fit this category and arguably only with tentative links to free market economics. Certainly none that are unequivocally so.
It would be trite to say that there is no case to answer here. Whilst it is sad that the Tories are about to start robbing the poor with a mandate from the British public you really have to blame Brown and the party who have capitulated to him.
Freezing GP and quango chiefs pay. Yay! With inflation so low there’s no case for a rise anyway, but never mind that all the unions and local authority execs will be — why should we pay for this banker’s recession, not our fault gov, up yours, I’ll have my payrise and pension etc.
Course, it was the bankers what paid for the boom in public spending, most of it wasted, but never mind that now.
People are getting dug in along the old stereotypes and it’s sad. Nobody wants to listen. The Tories are the Tories, people say. But Osborne’s speech today had plenty of hard facts, and didn’t lay into public sector workers.
The hardest fact is this — Labour have been in power for 12 years and they simply have not delivered on Bliar’s early promise.
He checked out on time didn’t he, right before the boom he fed went pop and colossal public spending ran aground. He’s betrayed us all, including Gordon.
You’d think we’re all standing on a precipice being prodded by a nutter with a bayonet in our back. This is the world. Politicians try hard to get things right. The voting population treats government like a referee at a football game almost everything they decide is a bad decision and would have been done much better if the politicians had listened to the voters.
Oh God. Let’s all vote Tory and have done with it. They were useless last time and will be more than useless again. Then, once everyone’s realised the Tories are still useless we’ll vote the bloody Labour lot back in again.
Labour sbould have willingly shared power with the Lib Dems as they said they would before they got the landslide they didn’t expect.
eusebiovic you have not a clue.
Peter. I agree with all that was said and that is why I cut and paste.
I have never been to…
http://www.publicservice.co.uk
Alan Dale has got it.
Monkeycat.
There is no such class as upper class.
This was invented by the left.
Anybody who gets up in the morning and goes to an office, factory, clients house or parliament to do a job is working class.
It would seem to me that anybody who has inherited a sum of money from their parents ( Harriet Harmen included) appear to be upper class but only by the left, they are obsessed by this.
If I were to win the lottery and made lots of money because of it and then left it to my kids, if I had any would that make them upper class?
I have a question that you of the left should answer. Is, as a supposed socialist Tony Blair and the wide mouthed wife UPPER CLASS?
And let me add:
–Ballot Boxes are interfered with
–Voting registers go missing
–The Police can kill innocent people and get away with it
–You can be put in prison for 42 days on pure suspicion
–You can be put in prison indefinitely without charge on the word of a politician
–The State can torture people
–Your children are monitored at School by Political Officers
–Their behaviour is logged on a State database for their entire lives
–Your innocent fingerprints, iris scans and biometrics are held by the State
–You do not have the right to remain silent
–You are watched on 4 million CCTV cameras
–You may not photograph the Police
–The media is controlled by the State
–You do not have the right to protest peacefully
–Curfews exist for entire communities
–Your travel movements are logged and monitored
–Who you vote for is logged and monitored
–Your shopping habits are studied and logged by the State
–Your emails and telephone conversations are recorded by the State
–Your passport can be withdrawn at the whim of the State
–Government agencies can use lie detector tests on you.
BASTARDS. Print this off and hand to any Labour “activists” who may canvass your vote in the next few months.
I did BTW copy and paste this as well.
I will carry on copying and pasting even after the next election whoever gets into power.
Take a look at this.…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgThJK8xfKw&feature=player_embedded#
Paxo is stuffed by Boris…I love it and can’t stop laughing!
Bloody phantastic.
Boris Johnson is an awful waffler, isn’t he?
Alan Dale is succinct.
sccnt
He points out that Labour have lost rather than Cameron has won with his charm offensive.
He also points out that Cameron is promising to hammer the absolute poorest first to fix what he and the poor old debollocked Sun call “broken Britain”. Britain isn’t broken, what cods. What anti-British sentiment.
Poor Brown has bored and depressed people away from Labour. In the old days before telly, it didn’t matter if you weren’t good on the box. Gladstone wasn’t good on telly, like Disraeli was, but he got an awful lot of progressive things done.
Also, in those days, it was important to speak well. These days — Boris Johnson? Eh? What? What-what-what? Gordon Brown? What does he say? Is he reading the Highway Code?
Blair chimed with the chime of the chimegeist, you have to hand it to him. He was like a Radio 2 DJ or an ITV gameshow host.
Or a life coach.
* * * * * * * *
The nice thing about the rain in Camberwell is that the white skies are brightly reflected in the pavements, like it’s been snowing.
As well as being a Tory-boy snob, Cameron is an ex PR Guy… you couldn’t make it up.
We’re about to ruled by an ex-PR guy and his chum from Eton as chancellor. FFS.
I’m no Labor voter, but it is the case that healthcare and education is far better now than under the Tories. That is obvious to anyone.
@ Emily
The double yellow lines were painted some time in the last 4 days. It appears I wasn’t the only one caught out by the rule about not parking on the corner.
The lines look like they were painted by hand…
I have no problem with your copying & pasting, except that I feel you should be good enough to credit your sources when you do.
@ Gabe: what is your problem with him being a snob? Does that matter? Will he be any more out of touch, or in touch with voters than Blair was or Brown is?
And what’s the problem with him being an ex-pr person. Surely it means he once had a job, unlike so many others.
And going to Eton automatically disqualifies you from being able to run the exchequer?
Please explain.
@monkeycat are you serious?
Having yet another toff in charge does not equate to fair representation. Bliar also was a toff. Look where that got us.
Elitism is a scourge on our society.
Being an ex-PR — what can I say. Really, are we going to be “lead” (term used loosely) by an ex PR guy? Those people deal in BS. It’s their primary currency.
The larger problems I have with Hague’s speech are:
* total lack of source & context; e.g. “Gun crime up by 57%” — in what period, and according to who?
* mixing (unverified) statistics with (unverified) statements; e.g. “Prisoners released without serving their sentences” — who are these prisoners? Where did this happen? Have prisoners never been released without serving their sentence before?
* bias — honestly, would you expect the opposition party to say anything else?
It’s time we ended the two-party paradigm; stop the Punch and Judy politics: campaign for proportional representation, and judge candidates on their merits, not the party they belong to.
But if you are, for example, working class, then surely you will be mainly interested in and understanding of only working class issues. Ditto someone who is middle class or upper class (or toffs as you like to call them). So having anyone of any class will not lead to fair representation. That is basically a continuation of your argument. You are elitist in favour of someone who is not a “toff”.
Since everyone comes from some class or other, or to put it another way, everyone can only be the sum of their upbringing and experiences, which will by their nature be limited to a very small section of society, no-one is fit to run this country. Well, according to your line of reasoning.
I think I’d rather a ‘toff’ than some ‘honest worker’ cretin like, say, Bob Crow or Dave Prentis, whose self-interested unions beg belief.
Gabe — education under Labour has been a missed opportunity and in many ways a failure. So they painted the schools, which needed doing, but what happens inside them is not going well.
Anyway, I’m stepping off this train for now. Back to more important things.
The Hoa Viet relaunch.
I have a free weekend without my partner.
So what’s to do on Saturday night for a released geezer?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/07/conservative-education-policy-michael-gove
Looks like they’re still mad enough to lose it..
Thanks for the link Alan. The Tories madness lies only just beneath the surface.
By the way, my woman’s a teacher and has a lot of positive things to say about what’s been happening to education in the last ten years — as well as being critical of some parts. Overall though positive and, believe me, she’s a highly critical observer of all that goes on around her.
And chipping in on schools, St John the Divine CofE primary school here in Camberwell, once named as the worst in the country and facing closure in 1994, has now been hailed by Ofsted as one of the 20 most inspirational in the country.
They are certainly way off the mark here.
I would have been reluctant to say that Cameron will not be able to control them as everyone doubted Blair’s ability to control Labour’s militant tendency.
Having seen them at conference it seems that Champagne Dave isn’t even going to try. He can’t even control himself.
@ Alan D. Yeah, the Tories may be overcooking it this week. Might leave them a bit too exposed. The soldiers thing does sound idiotic.
@ Mark. Thought your woman was the gingerish girl you linked to once in the publican magazine? She’s quite fit. You can tell her that since she’s not your wife. Though I’m sure your wife is quite fit too.
Inspirational maybe, educational, nah.
The new Conservative military junta has some interesting “ideas” like troops in schools — most of the squaddies have just come out of school before being sent to their deaths in Afghanistan — and taxing tins of super-strength drink. They are clearly in touch with reality. Camberwell Green will soon be littered with champagne and cherry brandy bottles.
Ta for the tip Alan.
Anywayyy, much like New Labour and the updated Tories, scratch beneath the still sticky tabletops at Hoa Viet and things are much the same.
The only new thing seems to be a reprint of the menu, except that it’s the same as the old one but with some of the more interesting dishes removed. Not great.
So, those of you who didn’t try the superb roast duck and crispy noodles will now never know.
Went there with the gal last night and the food was OK, same as before really though we only had noodle dishes rather than the plated stir fries etc.
The same lovely waitress is on the till and the decor is as before. Apparently the kitchen staff are all new.
There was a new waiter last night and he was obviously struggling a bit, poor lad, sketchy English skills and menu knowledge, and took a dish to the wrong table.
To return to a political theme, one wonders if he had all the points necessary to pass Labour’s skills-led immigration system, assuming they’re even applying it. Tipped the staff anyway.
Oiy
You cut it from Old Holborn’s blog. Very unpleasant blog that.
I’m cynical about anything that emanates from the mouths of whatever muppet happens to be in charge of this beast we call “Democracy”
I find it all so boring,de-motivating and uninspiring
I still think there is more than a core of truth to my original post though…
Does anyone remember Vietnam? Not the cuisine, with its baby squid, but the war, when more and more Americans were sent to be killed. This is what that mad colonel bloke wants who the Conservatives want.
The new show at the South London Gallery is very thoughtful. The three films showing are described as an installation and the usherette is described as an invigilator. Anyone who remembers Da Nang, the Mekong River and the Tet Offensive will be impressed how far we have come.
Florian says:
10/07/2009 at 5:23 pm
“Oiy
You cut it from Old Holborn’s blog. Very unpleasant blog that.”
If it’s so unpleasant why do you read it?
Ha! Good point! The same with Hitler and Fred & Rosemary West. Why do we know all about them? Because we like them. Sutcliffe! Ian Huntley! Noel Edmonds! Stephen Fry! The list is endless!
V for Vendetta is a great read.
The Railyway Children is excellent. Oi, you over there, for two points, why is Camberwell fond of The Railway Children? Anyhow, the book’s author Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington and lived in various places in south-east London. She had an open relationship with her husband. She had several children. She later married an engineer on the Woolwich Ferry. She was one of the founders of the Fabians, forerunners of the Labour Party. She was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer. Good God! Will the scandal that blights Camberwell never cease?
I remember Nam Dagmar. I was out there with the grunts, my ass in the grass, taking point and calling in firestrikes on the treeline.
Read Dispatches, Chickenhawk, Nam and the rest. And remember, the night belongs to Charlie.
@monkeycat — so long as you know your place, I guess it doesn’t matter that the snob elite are at the controls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0DUsGSMwZY (Two Ronnies Sketch)
But that’s why we have one of the most unequal income distributions of any society in the world, and certainly among “advanced” economies.
@Phil G — the schools are better (not great, but improved) the Tories will gut it all over again and that will hit areas like this hardest. Same for healthcare. Tragic.
“Gut it all over again” Eh? What did they gut it fromt? The superb schools of Labour’s 70s? Seems there was a functioning education system running quite well throughout the last Tory reign, when there was a fraction of the entrenched low attainment levels of today. “NEETS” soon to hit 1m.
Income disparity worse than ever after 12 years of Labour. I agree the Tories probably won’t sort this, unfortunately, but Labour sure haven’t.
Simple maths people. Real simple. Expenditure is greater than income, even without the bank bailouts everyone likes to blame. Since this imbalance is unsustainable in the longer run, cut expenditure or raise income (higher taxes).
If anyone is suggesting raising taxes significantly then fine, OK, but don’t go on about the same kneejerk drivel about Tory cuts this Tory cuts that. Read the proposals. Some of the real medicine is from the LibDems. Are they the evil heartless ones now?
No, let’s have NuLab idiots in again cos their heart must be in the right place and, despite the despicable levels of productivity gains in health and education spending in recent years, the fact that they are at least spending, albeit badly and randomly, must be good enough, at least they’re doing the right thing. It’s all the UK knows these days, borrow and spend.
So thank God the postmen are rising up to protect the Royal Mail from ‘modernisation’, thus preserving the service for the great British public. While guaranteeing pay and jobs, of course.
Apparently Royal Mail managerial strategy is to slowly run itself into the ground. Seems a strange thing for a business team to want to do. What assets to strip? Melt the postboxes down?
Don’t worry, the unions are going to run it into the ground a lot quicker instead. I see they’ve lost Amazon already. Cheers!
Oiy
“If it’s so unpleasant why do you read it?”
So I can call dittohead blowhards like you out.
Dagmar
I know why. Did you know a) she was younger than Sally Thomsett in the RC; and b) she did Walkabout very very shortly afterwards? I think she’s lovely.
Florian I have never been so insulted in all my life, mind you the day is young.
I’m gonna start hanging round with the art students. I need to marry the next Florence & the Machine to rescue me from this life of drudgery. Just imagine if I’d been nicer to her when she was at the Dispensary. I could’ve been so out of here. On tour around the world, partying, meeting groupies. Might’ve had to lie about my age, wear some skinny jeans, but that’s doable.
FFS Bono! F–king Christ. Honestly…
Labour got Ezzie Iddard but Dave has given that the smackdown with BONO.
Bored of Dave’s speech already. Gonna look at flatscreen TVs instead…
Phil G says: “Might’ve had to lie about my age, wear some skinny jeans, but that’s doable.”
Skinny Jeans. Not with my legs Phil. ooo no.
I like Florence…she’s yummy
That shimmering mane of red head gets me every time…
The front garden of 238 Lordship Lane still has roses and sunflowers in it. The inhabitants must blink in disbelief from their windows, not just at the array of blooms, but at the growth in opulence of East Dulwich all around their prefab.