Chippy Minton

Yes, I find your questions are muddled, but I'll try again. a) I believe the EDL promotes a message of hate that incites violence and racial discriminiation so yes, I would ban them. b) No I don't think protest like this by anyone is fair (I wouldn't allow the EDL to do this, for example). I think the UK Uncut protest was fair for numerous reasons as I've already outlined above.

Has anyone been up The Orbit at all? We've got tickets for the Olympic Park can I can't decide if it's worth the ?15 just to go to the top of a building.

This is a drawing room discussion about limits to political protest - I think referernce to the EDL and their banned "protest march" which has also been discussed on this forum before is relevant. You raised the issue of the BNP - why do that? Did you actually bother to re-read the EDL march thread? I think I made it pretty clear where I stand on their "right to protest" there, but if you didn't, I'll repeat myself again here - I would have banned that EDL protest march.

We've been through this before Loz - you know my views on that EDL march, but if you need reminding see: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,736932,page=1 For clarity - a) No b) No

"I would never be a part of it" - fair enough. I'd "never be part of" a UK Uncut protest. But would you actually prevent East Dulwich residents from having a peaceful street party outside, let's say, the Council leader's home as a form of protest? It strikes me that for someone that seems to champion freedom of speech and civil liberties so much you probably just don't agree with what the protest was about. It's very sad you think what UK Uncut did goes beyond the "limit" of political protest yet EDL marches through Tower Hamlets don't.

BNP - yes. EDL - no. Would you condem it so much if it wasn't UK Uncut? How would you feel about a peaceful, one off, few hours street party outside a Council member's home who'd introduced a CPZ in your street? ;-)

It wasn't at all threatening, they didn't trespass onto his property, it only lasted a few hours, Clegg and his family weren't even there and he has come out and said he supports their right to protest - as a one off, I think it was fine to do this.

How exactly do a couple of hundred people having a street party - complete with picnics and with their kids - for a couple of hours "deter otherwise sensible people from engaging in mainstream politics"? People have been so disengaged with mainstream politics for so long, which led to the rise in protests like those organised by UK Uncut, the Occupy movement et al in the first place. It is not things like the protest outside Clegg's house that discourages engagement - that disengagement was there long before and is far more deep rooted than any influence UK Uncut may have.

Big Ron was on Five Live the other day. Has he been accepted back into the footballing family?

Dalglish now officially gone at Liverpool

First eleven is ok, but like EP says, God help us if anyone gets injured. Jordan Henderson on standby! We better pray Parker is fit in time!

Perfect job for Mourinho's ego - big club with history that has underachieved, but with cash to spend and still able to (just about) attract top players because of their past.

Oh I agree...don't get me wrong - I'd be annoyed as well, I just don't think the garage will have broken any laws. Seems like a grey area and therefore won't ever get "enforced."

Won't that be specific to commerical vehicles owned by the business not privately owned vehicles who's owners are perfectly entitled to park in the street?

But specifically enforce against what? If a customer turns up at the garage, parks their car on the road, goes into the garage, gives their car key to them and shows them where the car is parked - what law has that garage broken?

But the car dealer on East Dulwich Grove was trading from the road i.e. they owned the cars that they were trying to sell. The mechanic in this case isn't working on the cars in the street and the cars in question are not owned by the mechanic either.

Wouldn't that only apply if there was restricted parking in the area?

What law is being broken then?

The mechanic is perfectly entitled to leave a car on a public street as long as it is taxed, insured and has a valid MoT.

I'd say the minis are the right size to go for. They are half the price of the maxis and in my experience they don't really start zooming around on them until they are three years old, let alone two. When they get older they're just as likely to move onto bicylces, skateboards, rollarskates etc anyway.

Our 6 year old got some for Christmas. It required a lot of hand holding to start with, but she soon got the hang of it and now loves them. She wears her bike helmet when she goes on them and she has got some knee and elbow pads as well (although she doesn't always wear these). You can get ones which are adjustable in size as well, which means they won't just last for six months.

Another glaring omission is, of course, the Daily Mail - a critical linchpin of the forum. However, maybe people would have to give two scores - one for what they admit in public, the other for what they secretly think ;-)

Why no Boris MM? Surely he'd merit an 8 ?

Boris edged it, but hopefully he'll be held to account by a reinvigorated GLA.

Funny how some people on the one hand promote the idea of trade unions being irrelevant, yet on the other hand bemoan their continued influence on working practices and ability to "hold us to ransom." It's a human right to belong to a trade union. The decline in membership has nothing to do with their "behaviour in the recent past" (what does this even mean?) It's because of things like the decline in UK manufacturing, globalisation, the shift to more transient employment, migration and most recently the state of the economy.