Penguin68

I think it was rather that the works were destroying the existing under pavement installations which were then needing reinstatement. As this work doesn't seem to be described in the letter I received showing scheduling it wouldn't surprise me if the work was also a surprise to the utilities with under pavement infrastructure who are now rushing to recover the situation. Broadband fibre is easily run (or blown) from 'manhole' flexibility points and doesn't need additional works to allow that. I'm guessing existing copper is being recovered to create more space. So I don't think this is clever planning rather more than TFL works screwing up other utilities who are having to install e.g. new cable chambers because their existing ones have been compromised by the works.

Our current councillors follow a rather opposite course, in my view. They certainly don't respect the views of their electorate.

We receive (should receive) 20-30 items of post a week, some subscription magazines, catalogues and (about a third) normal business mail (personal mail is far less frequent, save over Christmas and birthdays). This tends to arrive in only two (more frequently one) delivery. Magazines are invariably late, often up to a week late. Not good for political weeklies. This has been my 'steady state' position following much worse frequency on the closure of the real ED Delivery Office, and of course Covid. There seems little point in complaining any longer - to anyone. There will be a sudden flurry of mail delivered, of course, in the few days after an MP intervention, and then it falls back into rubbish deliveries. It is a combination of senior management focus on high(er) value parcel and special delivery items (which I do get more regularly) which is a management decision, under-employment (vacancies) of posties and, I believe, extremely poor local management of what resources Royal Mail actually has in Peckham. I don't now believe it is curable. I do believe that no one in Royal Mail management gives a sh*t!

Maybe that just reflects the difficulties land ambulances now have to negotiate our streets.

If they were anticipating foreign students then they may well not be registered to vote! But certainly high student populations can even impact Parliamentary elections, let alone local ones. Wouldn't they be voting in one of the (very) few Southwark wards which have returned non-Labour councilors in the past? Hey ho. Democracy is so last century anyway - as they're finding in the former bastion of the free world. And in our local 'consultation' processes.

Mine was cleared as usual in Underhill. Were other bins cleared in your road or were they all missed? Is the problem to do with the route as a whole, or your bin being missed out on its own? Does it have the right stickers on it? If it is just your bin could you work from home next Tuesday or get someone to monitor why it's being missed if other bins on the route are being collected. The guys on my route seem pretty straight and generally helpful.

Despite the date (and the fact that starting up such a service would likely be illegal) an earlier post, in March, and thus presumably not date related, suggested problems with collection as well as delivery. I had thought to discount this whatever the seasonal intention of the OP.

Agreed that there has been little evidence of problems with collection, the problem lies with the ED Delivery Office and its removal to Peckham. This is the office which is tragically under-staffed and poorly managed. Very few of the letters sent to me seem to originate in Central London, and this service will thus not benefit me that much.

If this is the dog in question then it seems that the dog isn't being mistreated as such, but that it suffers from a separation anxiety - this isn't uncommon. Being left outside in good weather isn't cruel, and maybe is more interesting for the dog than being incarcerated. So long as those caring for it know that, and are doing what they can to mitigate it, I don't think it's something that 'the authorities' need be disturbed about. The noise is clearly annoying, of course, but additional worries about mistreatment (cruelty) can be set aside.

For us in Dulwich travelling East or West is poorly supported by 'quick' public transport. The few hopper buses that do go east and west tend to operate circuitous routes that take a long time. It is only north : south routes that are quickly served, if at all. And getting into and out of Dulwich involves hill stretches not appealing to the casual or in anyway infirm cyclist.

There were 3,420 sold across the UK in 2023. Granted that's an increase on 2022 - but sometimes %ages are less useful to understand real issues than absolute numbers. There are 262,300 miles of paved roads in the UK so that's an additional large SUV for every 77 miles of road. Oh, the horror!

Personal choice. Until we live in the marxist dictatorship you obviously envy people should be able to do what they want, within the law. These cars that you hate (and you probably hate their drivers as well) cost more (good for the economy) , drive far higher tax revenues than other cars and are frequently driven carefully by their owners because they value their investment. They are also stuffed with safety features which reduce risk for drivers and others.

This reflects, I'm guessing, disposable income - and does not therefore mean that these vehicles are solely, or mainly, used in those boroughs; that is precisely the area in London where you might expect second home ownership and a 'place in the country'.

It is in UK terms, but is very much a baby brother compared with US SUVs. And it's not actually built on a truck body plan. And when did I suggest anything to the contrary? My argument has always been that we use the term SUV in the UK to reflect body style and design, not a truck origin. That is not so in the US, where most of the (justifiable?) criticism has arisen.

But it does not say that these vehicles have been bought for sole suburban or urban use. There are perfectly good reasons for buying what classes as a 'large' SUV for use across the UK - remembering that there are frankly virtually no 'large' American Style SUVs in use here, for perfectly good reasons to do with road widths etc.