snowy

Someone's a fan of Arrested Development! Chick, hope they find their way home.

Burbage Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Jules-and-Boo Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Volunteeer - gives up time to do things for > others > > As do unpaid interns. But organisations that rely > on those haven't come in for undue praise > recently, either. > > Besides, volunteering can be murky. Take, for > example, Groundwork, a charity reliant on > volunteers to help do its work of 'creating better > and greener places'. Its roots, however, are in > the Countryside Commission, now the government > agency known as Natural England. And so some of > the 'volunteers' aren't so much volunteers as > labour units supplied on referral from the > JobCentre via Serco, Avanta et al. for the 'work > programme'. Whether the real volunteers are aware > of the role of the outsourcers, or of Groundwork's > involvement in sending out sanctions letters to > unwilling 'volunteers', or of the European Social > Fund money that's being used to cover up the > JobCentre's inability to find actual jobs, is > unclear. > > Even if they do, there's an incentive to keep > quiet, in the implicit promise of work beyond > volunteering. And, looked at in in another way, > Groundwork's effectively a limb of government that > can tout for donations and rely on volunteers, > like any other charity, in the course of doing > government work. Though, by being a sub-contractor > to Serco, Avanta et. al., rather than the DWP, > it's not publicly accountable, and that doesn't > feel quite right. > > In other Big Society news, it's worth looking at > conclusion 7 of a recent report into the > government's National Citizen Service, set up with > a deliberately deceptive structure. Serco, in that > case, got out in time, but not all have exited so > gracefully, and I suspect questions might be asked > about this one. Again, here's a not-bad-idea that, > because of its public-private-charity structure, > doesn't look quite right, either. > > Both, in different ways and to different extents, > are using charitable organisations almost as > smokescreens. But that shouldn't, whether they > rely on volunteers or not, absolve them from the > same levels of accountability as any other > organisation. Yet so often it does, because it's > so difficult for most of us to get angry with a > volunteer, or lay into a company that doesn't pay > tax. > > So I would take Lynne's side here - especially if > the 'person in charge' wasn't a volunteer (they > often aren't, if only for insurance reasons). But > what I don't understand is why Lynne decided to > bother the community with her foot-stamping prose > rather than unbottling the green ink and doing the > thing in style. Write to the management, why don't > you? Their (groundworks) structure and financial history is a long topic. However if they were truly a govt arm of social action delivery - as you suggest - they wouldn't have almost gone bankrupt in 2015 due to govt funding cuts. Are they actually a work programme sub prime? The blurring of the lines between govt intervention programmes and charity is a longer discussion and one worth having but not after a night in the pub. I'm not sure how NCS can survive after that NAO report, but they instantly got punted a huge chunk of tax cash.

Here they are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgLRpKohrKk

What happened to the US National Security Council yesterday Louisa?

Not quite East Dulwich, but the Flower Lady in Herne Hill still has some.

The cab company still functions (it's just that the office doesn't really operate any more).

Fewer people voted for Trump than voted for Romney in the last presidential election. More people voted for Clinton than Trump, but the election isn't a FPTP process.

And then he'll launch his Trump TV channel with Farage on the sofa. That and minor civil war from the survivalist tea party types.

Working well for Chris: https://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/has-your-stop-water-valve-been-painted-white-mystery-solved.347400/#post-14722271

Brockwell Park has outdoor volleyball everyday if you want to join the Colombians who play there. You'll have to go to clapham common to find ultimate players, but there's also some indoors at Brixton rec. some people play in Brockwell park by the lido on Wednesdays.

Thanks! Just seems a bit quick given that there's still property guardians living in it and how slow DE can be.

Has all the planning consent been secured then? Who is the new manager?

Perhaps Fox should have conducted a risk assessment?

Seabag Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm glad the child was ok, but it's only a matter > of time before something happens there again. The > place has lost control and the top right end has > become a haven for secret drinkers and dope > smokers. And after 15 years of going as a family > we've abandoned going there all together and now > make the trip to Charlton instead. > > I get having a laugh, shoving your mates in the > pool (when the guard isn't looking) bit, we all > did it. But here it's all a bit menacing now. I'm very glad the child's ok too - but as a regular to that top end corner; I'd quibble that it's a den of vice! It's much tidied up when compared to the days when Casey ran it - there's a clamp down on sneaky cans / and the smoking rule (ie. stand by the staff office) is applied even when the place is empty. It used to be the naked corner - I'm not sure that would be allowed nowadays. The downside with it being run by fusion, is that it's run by fusion - the gym & spa are closed again today. The pool will close at 5.45 as they're showing a film tonight. Hottest days of the year - and it won't be dark enough to screen a film until 9.30 ish.

Wow.

Still nothing attached. Toffee - You are aware of course that the petition was set up by a Brexit Campaigner before the referendum?

There's a few UK Huf Haus: http://www.huf-haus.com/en.html

hi Lynne did Alan Partridge asked you to post this? http://www.c4caravans.com/blog/caravan-parking-restrictions-can-i-park-my-caravan-on-the-road.php

Have you ever been to Manchester or Brighton Lou?

Um, Minet does lots of other 'non library' things though. Like being the archive for bits of Lambeth.

is on twitter as ClaphamTranny I seem to remember.

Cupid's stunt

I've some spare (12 inch record envelopes), if you want me to post it to you?!

LondonMix Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Why did the music stop? Was the music offering > mismanaged or did punters just loose interest? It stopped as the floods closed the pub. There's one new other music venue on Station Parade that's proving successful, slightly smaller than the HM and was starting from scratch with no history of putting live music on.