rgutsell

Guardian reader? Check this item; http://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2016-06-30/guardian-sinks-into-gutter-on-corbyn-again/

Ive out this here knowing that the editors will shuffle it over to an area they think is more appropriate. Never mind! I am a Labour Party member, and the local MP has written a letter explaining why she has supported the vote of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn. Here is my reply; If you want to you can copy/paste, pass it around etc. https://www.facebook.com/rgutsell2?fref=nf Hallo Ms Hayes MP I am writing this with the feeling that in view of the numbers involved its unlikely to be read, but I want to state my view. It is being presented to us that Jeremy Corbyn does not have the support of the majority of MP's. What you, and the parliamentary MP's need to "get" is that you do not have the support of the ordinary and natural Labour Voters throughout the country. The Labour party had the opportunity to present itself in a new light in last the Labour leader contest, and failed miserably. This failure is not just of the Labour Parliamentary group. It is a failure of the "First past the post system", of the Blairite "win the minority middle ground" approach, and indeed of Parliament itself. Parliament has become the bastion of privilige, wealth, careerist politicians, corruption (the expenses scandal) and penetration by business and lobbying. Unless you and the parliamentary team grasp that it is not the voters who have left you, and that it is the PLP's who have left the voters, you will make no,progress. The PLP treated Corbyn appallingly; they, and the right wing press, mounted an attack that was reactionary, misandristic, ageist, classist and hateful. The PLP and the press, demonstrated their utter inability to handle change. And that is incredible, since it is change that is expected of the voters. I see no one in the PLP who has the integrity, or the creativity to present anything other than another "Tory Lite", PR ready, slick and bland alternative. If the PLP ousts Jeremy Corbyn, I will cut up my membership card and return it to you in pieces, Yours Sincerely, R N Gutsell

I had plenty of remain stuff through my letter box. Well done stuff as well. I don't need to think that the local party was succesful, and I certainly don't think there is any mileage in mulling it over too much. Very Sad day for the UK (IMOP). I'm in the older bracket (60-70) and I seem to be one of the comparatively few older people that voted remain. It's upsetting because it's us older people who took part in, and pushed forward the whole post war, social revolution, that dumped the pre war Tory set up. Sad to day we have let them, and their attitudes and outlook, back in. We had the benefit of many decades of comparative peace and security, for which the EU was created and was succesful. I look at the burgeoning Right Wing, across Europe, and at home, and feel fearful and saddened for the present generation of kids. If the current divisiveness, fear of difference, reaction and blaming of minorities continues, you'd better get your kids ready for war. 1930's here we come again!

A man dropped by to pick up a desk he had bought from us. On his way out, he caught sight of our yard and said; "Ah, you have a little piece of heaven here" So here it is; our little piece of heaven. see piccie. R N Gutsell

Hallo Anyone know of any African drumming groups (ie Djembe) in the locality? Thanks R N Gutsell

I cannot believe that there are some here who put the right to have an uncontrolled animal running free, over and above the right of a parent to have their youngster playing safely and securely in a public park. Whether the child/parent is acting "logically" or "rationally" is actually irrelevant. It does not have to be a "by the book case" of threatening behaviour. The person just has to feel threatened for it to be taken seriously. The number of people having pets such as dogs and bringing them to the parks has burgeoned massively over the last 20 years (you need to be old enough to have noticed!! LOL) For all of us who are fed up with the "dogs in parks" issue, rescue is coming; dogs will soon be required by law to be tagged with micro chips that link them to their owners. Some councils are already gearing up to use this to manage the issue of stolen dogs, and the amount of dog faeces on the commons, additionaly using DNA samples drawn from the poo. It won't be long before the same methods are adapted to link dogs to their owners in cases of uncontrolled behaviour. In the meantime, you can use your phone; film or photo the uncontrolled behaviour, and the owner, and take it to the police.

Hallo all On the basis that creative activity is better than static depression; I would like to get together a loose group of creative people who will use their skills and knowledge to create fast, sharp, penetrating and effective responses to any initiative undertaken by the Tory government. Broadly speaking they will be from a left of centre point of view, and the creations would be published/broadcast in IT, Twitter, Facebook, internet sites, books, papers, short films, magazines etc. Whatever your specialist interest is. The essence would be on speed and attack. I am aware that the best, and most memorable responses to the previous Tory administration were creative ones; Spitting Image, Private Eye etc. If you are interested in talking this through further, get in touch, and if I get enough interest I will arrange a meet. PM me here, or [email protected], or call on 07585273685. See you soon? Robert Gutsell

My partner was descending from a bus close by Denmark hill on Monday when her knee collapsed very painfully. She was in great pain and unable to stand or walk. The bus driver and other people gathered to assist her, including organising a taxi to take her to A and E (No ambulances) It took time and required patience. If you were any of those people, or know who they are; Thank you very, very much!!

I agree rahrahrah! ALL of the private schools around here were set up to provide education for people with reduced assets, but they have long become separatist institutions for elitist groups. The case for tax exemptions etc has long been lost. R Gutsell

Just to put the other side of this argument......without excusing rudeness.... I have been a PCV driver, and its 'orrible being the only person available for "customers" to focus upon. Everybody wants their personal demands met, all day long. Late people want the driver to not drive away until they are on, people on the bus want the driver to not wait and drive on. People want to eat their meals and drink on the bus, leave their litter (so the driver passes the whole shift on a bus that stinks)..and so on... and so on. If there is trouble, the driver has to "deal with it" in some way. Then there's the fare dodgers, the 4x4 pram drivers, and the people with a crap attitude towards any public service. Its hard to be optimistic when dealing with the public all day. Today, I was on a 37 bus returning from Brixton; somebodies child was sick all over the floor, and left without informing the driver. The driver reacted to the responses of the other passengers, and seeing what had happened he had to make a decision to return to the garage, because it was very clearly a possible cause of a slip by other passengers. So we had to get off and people berated him, and rudely. Driving buses requires a very thick skin...but hopefully no rudeness. R Gutsell

Hiya I'd like; Cheaper real ale. Less gifty shops, more really useful shops. No more chain shops. Bigger street market with grocery/veg stall. Enough of the coffee shops. Stationary shop. Close Lordship Lane on occasions and have UK equivalent of the French "Marche Gourmandes" Dream on. R Gutsell

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Hiya all I went to the Demo yesterday and was pleased to see that the "picture House" workers (BECTU is their union)had their banner at the head of the march. See photo. I won't be using a Picture House membership, or attending at the their cinema, or supporting one opening in East Dulwich until they get their house in order. They portray themselves as "a bit of radical/progressive art cinema" and they need to walk the walk. It was very nice to be in amongst people who are voicing, and acting upon, opposition and alternative views to the current coalition establishment. R Gutsell

Hiya all Re; Picture house. Is this the same "picturehouse" organisation as in Brixton Ritzy? That is to say, the "picturehouse" of high staff turnover, rock bottom wages, regular strikes and demo's, lost saturday performances, etc etc. An organisations like Starbucks, which cultivate hip images of themselves, but act like unreconstructed capitalists? The same organisation that is owned by a large cinema chain? (Odeon isn't it?) Can't we do better than that? Until Picturehouse gets its staff relationships and wages sorted out it should be boycotted. ( I Do!) Yours R Gutsell

Yeh I saw three of them in the park on the bridge today. They were wearing straw boaters and doing the hokey cokey. Had nice red striped jackets too. A dog chased them off. R Gutsell

Hiya all. I thought that I would share a recent discoevry of mine, which has held my interest. I like to collect old objects/documents etc and research them. Occasionaly I put them up on EDF. I also do some metal detecting and I recently went to France (my mums place)with my detector, and after the usual screws, nails etc etc I dug up a small brown disc. Cleaning revealed that it was a tiny coin. I brought it home and did some research and further careful cleaning (with repeated 10 minutes baths for the coin in Pure lemon juice!!) and I slowly revealed further information; it's a "DOUBLE TOURNOIS" from the reign of Louis XIII, 1630-40. It was minted locally by a brother of the King, the Duke D'orleans. Sadly its not in good condition, but I am still working on it. Its just a nice bit of history. I was the first person to handle the coin for about 250 years. Cool! Piccie attached. Yours R N Gutsell

Hiya I have complained to the staff about failure to answer the telephone. I got an apology. They stated that they were getting the telephone system repaired. You can rate the surgery on the NHS site for surgeries. I have, and gave them 1 star. I'm guessing that a new reception team is in place , or that maybe a new private organisation has won a contract. Yours R N Gutsell

Long overdue changes! Many traffic and pedestrain and cyclist incidences over the years. Buses and emergency vehicles frequently breaking speed limits, as well as private vehicles. R Gutsell

I have been uploading thoughts and ideas for a secular philosophy onto the EDF and Facebook. No responses on facebook. Quite few, critical and creative, on EDF. There are sharks swimming in the murky waters of the EDF! Here is my next contribution; I have been thinking about how a state would look if it positively embraced Secular thinking. 1. Disassociate the monarchy from the C of E and leave monarchs to choose their beliefs. 2. Review all of the decision making bodies of the State, and ensure that they are made up of a majority of secular thinkers, with no religious affinities or connections. (Including House of Lords and Parliament). 3. Remove the notion that everyone is by default C of E, from all administrative procedures. People should be able to opt in, and not be included by default. 4. In all Equal Opps procedures and law, recognise that members of the public can choose "no faith" and "Secular" in addition to the usual terms. 5. Ensure that all schools funded by the State, directly or indirectly, are secular, and not faith schools. 6. Establish a group to review decisions made by public authorities (Education, health etc) to ensure that they are secular in origin, outlook, intent and outcomes. (For example, it can be argued that the legislation encouraging faith schools is not!) 7. Establish a group to review the work of major players in the public domain (newspapers, charities, media, etc) and ensure that any faith based associations are made clear and evident. (Many charities and news organisations around the world do not declare their sources of funding, which are often faith driven. Many of the charities touting for your money on the street do not declare their faith background. Many "research" bodies are faith based, especialy in the political body). 8. Bring "Secular studies" onto the school curriculum, as a philosophy. 9. Make it an article of our constitution, that secularity is a fundamental part of it, and that the state can legitimately act to defend its "secularity". (To prevent "faith" based beliefs creeping into the state system, as they did during the development of our Empire, and of the USA; "Manifest Destiny" was used to present a faith based reason for the subjugation of many tribes, other peoples etc.) 10. I can't think of a 10th...yet!! There you go. Responses welcome, but not too "sharkish" please! R Gutsell

Excellent list. Thanks for the replies. We can't make Monday eve's (we go to ceroc dancing). We think we will try the Goose green choir next tuesday. What is it about the EDT then; two choirs on consecutive days. Must be all that real ale. Lubricates that vocal chords. Might I suggest that this thread is kept going? It's a valuable resource about a specific subject. Yours Thankfully R Gutsell

?6.50 for a bacon sandwich is a rip off...it does not matter how well presented it is, or organic, or whatever. It is an exploitation of the supposed "wealthy image" of East Dulwich. I've just returned from a journey in Spain; not as cheap as it used to be, but still, much more welcoming, cheaper and realistic. It showed me how capitalistic, greedy and materialistic we are in the UK. We are still going through an "economic downturn"; amazing how in this "downturn" fuel prices are going up, house prices and fuel bills are still rising inexorably, travel costs and food prices are rising, and so on. I was always taught that "the MARKET" would adjust to downward price pressure. If we are silly enough to pay ?6.50 for a bacon sandwich, we deserve all the debt and angst we get. (Try buying a pint of beer for under ?2.00p. The drinks industry complains that pubs are closing. Here's a suggestion guys; Sell beer cheaper.) That's enough ranting! R Gutsell

The unused land beside Dulwich Hospital. RGutsell

At the risk of turning up on pseuds or pedants corner; Flies do not bite. (I once worked as an entymologist....I should know) Flies lower their proboscis onto the skin to sense if there is anything worth having; if there is, they exude acid and begin externally digesting acid/food mix and sucking up the resultant soup. For an excellent cinematic presentatin of this, see " The Fly", modern version. On the other hand, mosquitoes and others pierce your skin, with modified cutting mouthparts...they bite ( or more accurately, drill) into you. There you are; Im off to get a life R Gutsell

There is absolutely no doubt that religion is good at offering comfort, in the face of life, and the things it demands from us. But you don't need to "believe" or have a "faith" to be comforted/advised, supported etc. A secular philosophy could do all of that. R Gutsell

Some relevant background that I gleaned from recent news articles; 1. That the teaching of Creationism is on the rise, particularly in "Faith" schools. 2. That teaching in some faith schools is aimed at conversion or re-inforcement of faith in specific faiths. 3. That in Ireland athiests have secured the right to teach primary school children that god does not exist. 4. That RE in Ireland may still be aimed at "Faith formation". 5. That the Irish constitution directly links itself to god; "The state acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to almighty god." I am a godammed pinko leftie, so much of this comes from the Guardian, that bastion of subversive communism. R Gutsell