Dogkennelhillbilly

The problem is not generally with the stores or drivers - who generally are doing the best they can and receive peanuts for each package. (Rumored that Evri will pay only 20-30p to a shop that receives/sends a parcel). The problem is the business model of these courier companies that do not invest in infrastructure or depots, but just outsource everything and set "contractor" drivers impossible targets. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/08/christmas-parcel-delivery-drivers-driven-to-the-edge

Dulwich College had the "luck" of those allegations landing right in the middle of COVID when the media and everyone else was a bit distracted. And then to make double sure the discontent was suppressed, it threatened kids who wanted to demonstrate with police action. The kids at the time said: "Dulwich College has for years totally ignored, dismissed and condoned by turning a blind eye, this predatory behaviour by students... A protest was students’ only way to pressure the headmaster to actually tackle the sexual violence at his school.” The march by pupils of several schools was advertised on social media as “a demonstration against the predatory culture of Dulwich College and the school management [which] condones it". https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/26/dulwich-college-head-warns-pupils-over-culture-protest

Farage entering his Alan Partridge era: "...an angry performance at a press conference in London, the Reform leader suggested he would boycott the BBC and said ITV had its own case to answer, as [Farage] repeatedly shouted “Bernard Manning”. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/04/farage-turns-on-broadcasters-racism-allegations-bbc

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/01/zipcar-worlds-biggest-car-sharing-company-to-close-uk-operation No service after 31 December 2025. I wonder if someone will buy the business.

The development at the old Jewson yard is literally overlooking a train station, and Southwark has declining school rolls because fewer kids are being brought up in the borough - and yet NIMBYs objected to it. We *already* have a housing crisis for the people that live here right now.

Some of these things are going on for quite a while, and consistently. I'm just guessing but it seems better organised/choreographed than just a back garden shindig or kids chucking them around. Surely it's got to be wedding venues etc that are putting them on or maybe just allowing them...?

It is. It's just not gonna happen. London is supposed to get 440,000 new homes by 2030. Just 10,000 were completed in 2024-2025 so housing supply is barely growing. Meanwhile, housing demand continues to increase. Net migration to the UK was +204,000 in 2024-2025 (and that's a big drop from the previous year). Of those people, about 25% will come to London ie 51,000 people. The average occupancy of a home in London is 2.5 persons i.e. we should have built 21,250 new homes in London just to keep the current supply equalised with current demand. But we didn't - we built half as much. We're not even keeping things steady with new housing, let alone improving the structural long term shortage. That's not helped by NIMBYs and politicians like @James Barber opposing new housing on infill sites like the old Jewsons yard. But I don't see how people complaining about more tax on £2m homes affects any of that one way or the other. Perhaps I'm being dense. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/press/net-migration-falls-78-in-two-years-returning-to-pre-brexit-levels-every-major-immigration-category-except-asylum-declines/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ldgqvypqpo https://www.hbf.co.uk/news/urgent-government-action-needed-to-prevent-london-housing-delivery-collapse-warns-hbf/ https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/householdcharacteristics/homeinternetandsocialmediausage/bulletins/householdandresidentcharacteristicsenglandandwales/census2021

I don't think we need to worry too much about that. There would have to be a massive amount of new construction very quickly to keep housing costs level, let alone depressing existing house prices.

I don't really see the linkage between the two factors tbh

Today I learned that living in a 5 bedroom, £2m+ house in Dulwich is basically like being in prison. Honestly, CPR Dave is the finest-crafted persona on the forum. He never fails to suck people in - I fall for it every time. It's top quality trolling (in the original sense of the word). From the Subtle Art of Trolling: troll v.,n. To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies"; which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling";, a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. https://www.urban75.com/Mag/troll.html

A couple of interesting - albeit anecdotal - letters to the Grauniad today about what I think is more useful question about private schools' conduct and response as institutions, and whether they have changed in the interim. Excerpt: the private schools which were built to train young Englishmen for empire-building were deeply racist even in the 1980s. Mine had a quota for the maximum number of Jewish pupils... I say this not to defend Farage, but to point out that he – and many others from a similar background – were schooled in an environment that condoned or even encouraged blatant racism, while also equipping the pupils with the swagger, charm and polish to make others feel inferior and admiring of them. To see him in isolation is to miss the nature of the sorts of institutions that educated him, and the damage they do. I’m sure the schools will say they have changed, and I hope they have, but while they continue to educate their pupils to believe they are better than others, there will be plenty more where Farage came from. The Dulwich College "rape culture" allegations certainly seem to be consistent with an institutional culture of making its pupils feel better than others - albeit girls and women in those cases rather than Jews and Muslims. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/26/racism-claims-against-nigel-farage-are-no-surprise-to-us

1) local government and central government are both just different parts of government 2) if anyone is stuck in the nightmare position of having an unsaleable £2m house in Dulwich, don't suffer in silence. Reach out to me - I'll buy it from you next week for £1m. The community is ready to rally around and support you! 🙏🙏🙏

The entire point of the story is that many people remember Farage as expressing racist beliefs and being racist as a teenager. Have you actually read the article?

Sorry - I said 2002 but obviously that should be 2022. And just to tuck away the "it was only one person that said this" point: The Guardian has spoken to more than 20 people who alleged racist or antisemitic behaviour by Farage at school, including seven people who say they recall the targeted abuse of Peter Ettedgui, who is now an Emmy- and Bafta-winning director. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/25/three-more-ex-pupils-at-school-with-nigel-farage-reject-banter-claims

He's also done a nice little video about Kingswood House and Sydenham Hill Station (which got a B tier rating!). https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFnyl1ZsOMf/ https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFs1qzPs8So/