grabot

If Dulwich Estate were to give me ?1.5 million and ask me to run a non-fee paying Dulwich branch of Stringfellows, I'm sure it would go pretty quickly too. Your point about social utility being? Still no pointing in ranting about it. Rich posh people group together, control resources and throw a few crumbs to the proles while reminding us that we really could do more to help each other. I guess that that is society in a microcosm. I just find it irritating when it is masked by self righteous "charitable" rhetoric.

"The only vaguely valid point I can pull out of the OP's rambling chip-on-shoulder rant is "Alleyns could do more for the community" which perhaps they could, but then couldn't we all?" Perhaps I could do more. Money's tight though. Now if Dulwich Estate were to give me ?1,458,000, I would certainly dig deep. Give and take and all that...

The distribution hardly looks difficult n% to that n% to the other. I am happy to offer that service for ?15,000 a year. I don't really understand the concept that if n pounds pass through my control, my salary should be n/100 or whatever. Surely salary should be dictated by the complexity of the task and the availability of people to do that task. If I am just going to act as a conduit for funds, I struggle to see the complexity of that role. By your token, the various settlement banks in London would employ the richest people in the world by a colossal margin. But I agree with your point. Alleyn was a degenerate. The Dulwich Estate is degenerate and Alleyn's is degenerate. You have a good way with a metaphor BrandNewGuy;-)

It's funny it's not so much the school that winds me up as the Dulwich Estate. The Dulwich estate appears to me a gravy train that provides very little social utility relative to its forcibly gained income. The Dulwich estate permits Alleyn's to build a theatre which is architecturally disingenuous, but expects the rest of us to beg and grovel for permission to install double glazing. At the same time the Dulwich estate proudly boasts about its genesis in the form of Alleyn's altruistic effort to provide education for the poor. Poor old Alleyn must be turning in his grave. His gesture has morphed into a bastion of privilege and wealth with beneficiaries that include a very well funded and very exclusive schools and a number of very well paid jobs for the guardians of this privilege; why on earth does the Dulwich Estate have an employee earning over ?120,000? Still yah boo to Alleyn's, it has a symbiotic relationship with the parasitical Dulwich Estate. A parasite feeding off a parasite. Edit***Corrected a couple of spelling errors.

On a similar note, you are more likely to get shot by an irresponsible person wielding a water pistol than one carrying an AK47. I think that it is outrageous that a responsible adult cannot walk the streets with an assault rifle, just because ignorant members of the public are incapable of gleaning their personal qualities.

My sister moved out when I was 12. This ushered in a siginficantly happier phase in my life. No-one to torment me or my mother. Having experienced having a sibling present and then absent, I can categorically state that my time as an only-child was signficantly happier. Later, she had a child. I always found visiting the family acceptable. Then another child came along and the house became chaotic; the children fought and bickered continuously. My sister was permanently exhausted. I guess that no-one would say that they regretted having another child; how can they the original context is so far removed a comparison is impossible: the past is, very much, a foreign country after children. As for the only children that I grew up with, they were generally well balanced and considerate.

Is a school that is low in the league tables necessarily a bad school or all of the pupils hopeless? Matt Le Tissier played for Southampton. Eric Djemba Djemba played for Manchester United.

Moving is certainly a relatively reasonable option. However, the febrile and I think somewhat gloating tone of the article got my goat. The problem with moving as a solution to a problem, in my opinion, is that it is a not especially surgical solution to a problem. We are told that we live in a multi-cultural society and that we should celebrate it. And yet the minute we see a league table for the local inner-city school that is not great we panic and flee to Sevenoaks. This ignores the relatively rich [in experience] life that can be enjoyed in London and substitutes it for a life of paucity in the sticks. It also engenders a belief, in my opinion, that all of life's problems can be solved by exiting to a platonic ideal place: Australia I believe is one such utopia. I think that the energy and expense involved in running away is often misplaced. A good education is one that teaches a person to triumph over adversity.

Good article Fuschia. I would like to add that although the child described in the Daily Mail article may ultimately join a like minded clique, that is their choice and not one made on their behalf by their parents. Isn't this the role of the parent? To prepare children for adulthood with a framework for making informed decisions. Moving house or faking religion seems to preclude that to me; stripping them of some self determination.

So, the point needs to be nuanced. Yes, children who do not speak English may need additional help, representing a drain on resources. That is different to the assertion that having a first language, other than English, represents a drag on performance. My general impression from this piece is that certain people want their children to be part of a highly cohesive group, hence the church nonsense etc. That's fine as cohesive groups generally get better results within narrowly defined short term parameters. However, in the long term this is not a great strategy. The group is resistant to change and ultimately obsolete. And it can produce a certain narrowness of mind...

I have met a large number of children, even very young ones, who display fluency in multiple languages. What is defined as the "first language" is a somewhat arbitrary distinction in many cases. It cannot necessarily be implied that this will put a strain on schools. Indeed it can be result enhancing. By default the children will gain language qualifications.

Wow this is an offensive url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/04/andrew-penman-schools-education]piece[/url]. Does it reflect the attitudes of people in East Dulwich? Or is this man on a limb. What do people think? "Hypocritical is how some people have described my behaviour. I don't know why that's the word that's so often used; I've never criticised anyone for doing what I did, so hypocrisy doesn't come into it. I'm just concerned and pragmatic. I care deeply about my children's education and am prepared to make sacrifices to ensure that they get the best I can manage. If that means mumbling "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty ... " when I believe nothing of the kind, then so be it." Liar, cheat? Writing for a paper that promotes honesty and social justice; hypocrisy by proxy? "Up the road was Southfields Community College where pupils spoke 71 first languages so ? guess what? ? its results were rubbish." Nice. What is he trying to say? Being multilingual is a sign of stupidity?

The Peckham Terminator is a classic.

We had our reception there a few years ago and it way very nice. My wedding photographer friend recently did a wedding there and she was impressed. It is the featured wedding on her website: Wedding. I think they did the room very well for the wedding.

I have had two near death experiences in my life. One of which involved a Clarke's coach on Denmark Hill. Before crossing the road I looked both ways, started to cross and had to jump backwards as a Clarke's coach whistled about two inches past my face. I could feel the force and power, it would have smashed me to pieces. Terrifying. For that to have happened, between me looking and starting to cross the road, the bus must have been travelling at an incredible speed. 60 mph at least I would imagine. I hope that he management of Clarke's do read this. What is the law as regards corporate manslaughter? If a Clarke's driver kills someone and Clarke's management are in possesion of the information on this thread, are they culpable?

Is it normal to be charged a for a full day when a child spends just a morning at a childminder's?

From Wikipedia: "Delirium tremens can sometimes be associated with severe, uncontrollable tremors of the extremities and secondary symptoms such as anxiety, panic attacks and paranoia. Confusion is often noticeable to onlookers as individuals will have trouble constructing simple sentences or making basic logical calculations. In many cases, people who rarely speak out of turn will have an increased tendency for gaffes even though they are sober." Sounds like my biography. Not much of a drinker though. Having given it some more thought, I am inclined to blame our plumbing. Sorry about the unnecessary posting. My solipsistic experience of East Dulwich is probably not of general interest.

Nope. Engine noise generally rattles the windows more. In this case it was more focused on the floor. I probably dreamed it, although very small earthquakes are apparently quite commmon in London. My only slight worry is that I may have actually been shaking rather than the floor.

Did anyone else feel tremours last night at 11.30, or was a psychosis on my part? My toddler woke of too, so that seems to corroborate it.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have been contemplating a four day week, so womanofdulwich's advice seems particularly apposite. I did work a four day week for a couple of months earlier in the year as a way of using of holiday. I have to say, I felt like a different person during that period.

Is it just me or do other parents get a cold everytime their toddler gets one? I seem to spend a significant portion of my life ill and exhausted. Whereas, other parents at work seem unaffected by their children's malaises.

OK, so the "siblings policy" is the reason for the congestion. So, a parent has a child in ED and moves out, or is forced into sending their kids to a school many miles away at some point because there is no availablity in their local shcool, has more children and for years to come will be driving to or catching the bus to ED? This saves them the obvious inconvenience of having to travel to multiple schools while the children's schooling intersects, but potentially pushes another eldest / only child into a situation in which they are unable to find a place in a school withing walking distance and then have to be driven to a school further away. I guess whether this is right or not is almost impossible to establish. Does the benefit to the parents of siblings exceed the disruption caused to others? As stated, I suspect that this is utterly unanswerable. But, in response east-of-rye, I think that we are all agreed that irrespective of government rhetoric, choice is illusory, or at least the domain of the local authority rather than the individual. I guess that it is time to head to Tunbridge Wells. Perhaps eater81 can give me a lift.

Travelling to and from work I am keenly aware of the number of children coming into East Dulwich to attend primary schools and at the same time I read posts that indicate that parents cannot get a primary school place within walking distance of their homes. What on earth is going on? Is there a shortage of primary school places in East Dulwich? Or, is the allocation of school places in East Dulwich subject to significant fraud? If the latter is the case, and I have no evidence of it, can the council not do something to ensure that places are allocated to people who live in the area? I know that this may seem a non-sequitor, but it seems to me that this may be a case of killing two birds with one stone. Equally, I have suggested before that the private schools enforce some sort of catchment area. Alleyns boast that they are over-subscribed. Perhaps subscription could be reduced by imposing a catchment area and reducing the traffic clogging our streets.

I going to set this thread in the direction of a favourite old chestnut, but do other people feel threatened by these creatures when taking their children and or dogs for a walk on the Rye? I know the response: they are lovely animals, grabot is dogist etc. But as a poor judge of doggy character I have no way of knowing whether a particular individual is a "typically" gentle soul or a powerful psychotic killer and, whereas I guess that that applies equally to all breeds, I am rather less concerned about the impact of a Shi Tzu going medieval on my a**.

The council should tell them to sling their hook and insist that they reduce their catchment area (or indeed create a catchment area) if traffic congestion is a problem.