Sunday 30 November 2008

LAMBETH "COMMUNITY TOILET SCHEME" - CENTRAL STOCKWELL WILL CONTINUE TO BE IGNORED.








It has been reported that Lambeth Council's long awaited COMMUNITY TOILET SCHEME is shortly to be put into operation. What follows are details of the announcement.
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Better access to public toilets scheme launched
Published by Hannah Wooderson for 24dash.com in Local Government Friday 28th November 2008 - 12:12pm
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A new Community Toilet Scheme designed to give people better access to public loos is being launched by Lambeth Council this month.
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The scheme is part of a council plan to make sure no-one has to walk more than 500 metres to find a toilet in town centres in Lambeth by 2010. The scheme has the support of South London Citizens, which campaigns for better access to public toilets across the capital.
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Under the scheme, shops, restaurants and other businesses will be given up to £1,000 a year to open their toilets to members of the public, who won’t have to make a purchase to use their facilities.
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Businesses participating in the scheme will display signs in their windows so town centre visitors can clearly identify that their toilets are open for public use.
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The cash is designed to help towards maintaining the toilets to a decent standard, and they will be regularly inspected to ensure that standards are maintained and that grants are being spent effectively.
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25 businesses have so far signed up to the scheme.
Leon Rothera, owner of Honest Foods in Coldharbour Lane, was one of the first businesses in Lambeth to sign up.
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He said: "We really feel part of Brixton and part of the community here, and this scheme should help the area and make it more attractive to shoppers and visitors so we were very happy to get involved.
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"Obviously there was a little financial incentive to take part, and the extra money can only help a business like ours, but to be honest that wasn't the main the reason we signed up. It's about doing our bit as a business to help support the development of Brixton and make the place a little better.
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Cllr Nigel Haselden, Deputy Cabinet member for Sustainability on Lambeth Council, met with Leon at Honest Foods this week, along with Rev. Stephen Sichel, from St Matthews Church, and Cynthia Delahaye from South London Citizens, which supports the scheme.
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Cllr Haselden said: "People have the right to expect access to decent toilet facilities when they visit town centres and this scheme offers more toilets of a high standard to the public. I will be encouraging other businesses to follow the example of Leon and Honest Foods, and sign up, because by working with local businesses to make more clean, safe and accessible toilets available for the public, we can benefit shoppers, businesses and the community alike.”
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Businesses so far part of the scheme:
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Brixton >
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Honest Foods - 424 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton
The Dogstar - 389 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton
Southside Bar -144 Brixton Hill, Brixton
McDonalds - 518-522 Brixton Road, Brixton
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Clapham >
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Revolution - 95-97 Clapham High Street, Clapham
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Streatham >
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Aroma Café - 64 Streatham Hill, Streatham
Kente Coffee House -126 Streatham High Road, Streatham
Bar 61 - 61A Streatham Hill, Streatham
Astoria Restaurant -5 Astoria Parade, Streatham
Bedford Park - 223 Streatham High Road, Streatham
McDonalds - 2-22 Streatham Place, Streatham
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Stockwell >
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Berlengas - 176A Wandsworth Road, Stockwell - see photo's above.
Machico Tapas Bar -133 South Lambeth Road, Stockwell - see photo's above.
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Kennington>
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Toni’s Café - 344 Kennington Road, Kennington
Doghouse - 293 Kennington Road, Kennington
Oval Tandoori - 64A-66 Brixton Road, Kennington
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Vauxhall >
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Nolans - 33 Wilcox Road, Vauxhall - see photo's above.
The Nott - 257 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall - see photo's above.
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Waterloo >
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Cubana Café - 48 Lower Marsh, Waterloo
Crown & Cushion - 133-135 Westminster Bridge Road, Waterloo
The Hole in the Wall - 5 Mepham Street, Waterloo
Walrus Social - 172 Westminster Bridge Road, Waterloo
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West Norwood >
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Elmina - 463 Norwood Road, West Norwood
Ela’s Café - 93 Norwood High Street, West Norwood
Little Rock Café - 130 Norwood High Street, West Norwood
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A STOCKWELL TOILET WATCH commentary on aspects of this report will follow in due course. It appears that commuterland Central Stockwell will continue without any public toilet provision - excepting of course for BETTER BOOKIES ALLEY and STUDLEY ESTATE's "TREE'S FOR SHITTIES" - just 2 of central Stockwell's long standing grimey "caught- short" corners - see photo's above.

posted by Ian Cameron aka KILROY WAS-A-HERO @ 14:44 1 Comments

Sunday 16 November 2008

"SAINSBURY's NINE ELMS" - BUSTED TOILETS UP-DATE.

One of last week's extremely disatisfied "caught short" females today opined that maybe this blog (>here<>here<) had a beneficial effect on the ongoing problem. Since Thursday SAINBSURY's appears to have removed its digit and both the WOMEN's and DISABLED loos are now repaired. The outstanding issue is whether even so they are adequate - they aren't. There should be 6 women's closets not just 2. Of course there is still the outstanding management somewhat abusive mis-decription of local folk as "RIFF RAFF".

posted by Ian Cameron aka KILROY WAS-A-HERO @ 07:07 0 Comments

Saturday 15 November 2008

AT LAST "LAMBETH LIFE" LOO NEWS WORLD EXCLUSIVE.

-----CLICK on IMAGE to for DAVID KELLY's ghost and covert WMD piccy.
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Beam me up scottie - fantastic! David Kelly eat your heart out. Brixton town centre 24/7 clubbers your "caught short" toilet hassles are over. People have started queuing along the embankment already. In the end it must have been on the cards that "LAMBETH Life" would come up with the goods. Lambeth Council Leader "Steve Peed" must have worked damned hard to land this LL pop-up-mackerel. Maybe they swapped vanloads of "F" words. Of course this foul-mouthed war-lord-Mackerel has been configured on this blog before (>here<). The good folk of Brixton musta been really busting a gut for this news - it's a bit like an approaching wintertime LAMBETH LIfe Glastonbury. All we need now is Paul Boateng's missus to "take control" and make sure everyone gets their mental health three pence worth.
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"ALL IN THE WMD" - what an amazingly original tag line too. Seriously tho' it is a really big mental health problem when you wanna make war and a million or four folk are dead set against it and you have to find truly devious means to get the roadshow on board. It really is a mental health problem. Maybe its best dealt with at a venue in the Hague. Thank you thank you thank you Steve Peed. This blog has equated Peed with an electronic pop-up pissoir. How wrong we were. Christmas has sure come early this year - perhaps not in certain far away places but here in Lambeth oh yes!! Maybe sweet ef'fin n blindin Alastair will also share his wisdom on the mysterious COMMUNITY TOILET SCHEME? No perhaps not - a bit too fly-by-night even for him.
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Wonder who Campbell's "LAMBETH Life" interviewer was - don't think it was DUBYA. A secretive sort anyway. Don't think it was Kate Hoey. The funny thing about the LL blurb is that Alastair reckons he was sane again during his Downing Street days. Beat that for bare faced stand-up. The reference to Jeffrey Archer also had a stand-up quality about it.

posted by Ian Cameron aka KILROY WAS-A-HERO @ 10:13 0 Comments

Friday 14 November 2008

60 YEAR OLD TOILET WELL WORTH PUTTING A LID ON!!



CLICK on IMAGES to read a morsel or two of the lowdown on yesteryear's and todays birthday crud.
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The above are pages from a late Sixties one-off Kilroy AGITIPROP item sold outside BUCKINGHAM PALACE - onionbagblog boyo was probably in knickerbokers back then.
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More than a touch unfortunate that this particular 60 year old loo has not yet been closed down.
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Blog readers be warned - don't sprout innocent wings or you might get blown away for fun by the above.

posted by Ian Cameron aka KILROY WAS-A-HERO @ 01:23 0 Comments

Thursday 13 November 2008

NEW LOO's GOOD NOOS - LABOUR's VAL SHAWCROSS "REMOVES DIGIT".

CLICK on IMAGE to ENLARGE and read VAL SHAWCROSS's "Noo Streatham Loo" Noos.
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Val Shawcross (Labour London Assembly member for Lambeth & Southwark) has removed her digit. In her winter newsletter she windows her page 3 noos concerning the new public toilet opened at Streatham Common Station.

The venture was financed by SOUTHERN RAILWAYS whom she had lobbied for a noo loo provision for local commuters.
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Shawcross's noosletter also shows her sat at STOCKWELL's well known LONDON UNDERGROUND STATION for a pen-in-hand photoshoot. A rumour doing the rounds is that she was in the process of writing to STOCKWELL's 3 Ward Councillors (so-called) Bowyer, Akhtar and Walker imploring them to follow suit and get their digits out too. Fat chance. "FLUSHED WITH DISTRESS" eh!!
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Tomorrow - Prince Charles - one loo not yet closed down at 60 years!!

posted by Ian Cameron aka KILROY WAS-A-HERO @ 08:46 0 Comments

Wednesday 12 November 2008

SAINSBURY'S NINE ELMS BUSTED TOILETs - NO CHANGE

SAINSBURY'Ss NINE ELMS busted DISABLED TOILET (>see<) is still off limits - busted - un-repaired. Kilroy spoke with a relevant staff member today and apparently an engineer who could make the repairs is hard to find. The mind boggles. Will it get done by Christmas? Which Christmas?

posted by Ian Cameron aka KILROY WAS-A-HERO @ 16:06 0 Comments

Monday 10 November 2008

"WE NEED MORE LOOS" - SAYS JOAN BAKEWELL's "UP FRONT" MANIFESTO.

The Bakewell manifesto: 'We need more loos' -
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'We need more loos, and I'm not shy about it,' says Joan Bakewell, the new official Voice of the Elderly.

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Michael McCarthy reports
The Independent. Monday, 10 November 2008
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Dame Joan Bakewell wants to address 'everyday difficulties'
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They're the niggles you don't notice ... unless you're old. The irritations that don't bother you ... unless you're old. The nuisances that aren't a problem ... unless you're old.
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But now one of Britain's best-known broadcasters is going to start pointing them out to the rest of us in her new role as the Government's official Voice of Older People.
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Dame Joan Bakewell, the Sixties TV presenter who is still a prolific writer at the age of 75, said yesterday she wanted to make younger people take note of how their elders encounter the world – even in little ways. "I spend my life now noticing the problems of being old, which young people simply do not see," she said. "Some of them are matters of life and death, some of them are tiny things, but even the tiny things can become real problems."
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Dame Joan has been appointed by the minister for Women, Harriet Harman, to act as an "independent and informed advocate" on issues that affect older people's lives. Her official role will include raising the profile of age equality issues and encouraging public debate around legislation dealing with age discrimination – but she made clear that she would speak out just as much about the business of everyday life and how difficult it can be.
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Giving examples from loos to lifts (or the lack of both) and from opening parcels to getting served in restaurants, she said she wanted younger people to take them on board, because one day they would be their problems, too. "One of my tiny irritations," she said, "is that when you're on a plane, the cabin staff are not allowed to lift your luggage into the overhead rack, because of health and safety regulations. So old people have to call on other passengers to help them. Can we have a solution to this problem? Can someone notice it's a problem?"
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Similarly, she said, dragging a wheeled suitcase could be very difficult, especially in stations on the London Underground where there are few lifts. "The world is going to have to have more lifts," she said.
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Modern packaging, she said, was now so robust that it was often hard to open. Dining alone in restaurants was also difficult, not least in catching the waiter's eye. "Take a book, because it's going to be a long wait," she said.
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She will even be raising awkward subjects such as the provision of public lavatories. "Nobody dares say it, but I don't mind saying it. Old people need to go to the loo more often. A lot of rather fastidious older people want to stay correct and might be worried about that kind of thing. It's a terrible thing to have to worry about."
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Famously dubbed "The thinking man's crumpet" when she presented Late Night Line Up in the 1960s in notably short skirts, Dame Joan also enjoyed a long and secret liaison with the playwright Harold Pinter. Next year, her first novel, All the Nice Girls, is being published by Virago. She describes it as "quite a romance".
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Minor irritants: Time for action
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*Trailing a wheeled suitcase around on a trip, which is all very well until you come to somewhere like a London Underground station where there are no lifts. Getting it up the various flights of stairs can be a real problem if you're elderly. Bakewell verdict: The world needs more lifts.
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*Hoisting your luggage into the overhead compartment in an aircraft. The cabin staff, believe it or not, are not allowed to help you in case they injure themselves.
Bakewell verdict: When will someone notice this problem?
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*Trying to open packages that are too robustly packaged. "Sometimes you have to hack your way in with a carving knife," says Dame Joan.
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Bakewell verdict: Packaging should be redesigned with older people in mind.
* Trying to attract the attention of the waiter in a restaurant if you're dining alone. One thing if you're 35, quite another if you're 75.
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Bakewell verdict: take a book, it's going to be a long wait.
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*Finding a public loo when you need one. Increasingly difficult as some are being closed. Very important for the elderly. Semi-taboo, but not for Dame Joan.
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Bakewell verdict: provide more loos.
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Comments
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11 Comments
Thank you very much Joan Bakewell. Here at STOCKWELL TOILET WATCH we have been flogging away at the problem 24/7 for years to pretty well deaf ears. Ditto the pro rata urgent need for greater public toilet provision for women - all we get (or rather eventually may get) are pop-up pissoirs for about 10 hours a week for men. Yesterday at our very large (Nine Elms) local SAINSBURY's just one single WC cubicle for women users - absolutely disgraceful. We are in the process of taking the matter up with Sainsbury's.
Posted by Ian Cameron 10.11.08.
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Post --- All my admiration for Dame Joan Bakewell! Don't give up! Go on with your fight! We are behind you. ----- Posted by Jacqueline Knops 10.11.08.
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Post --- Also the ubiquitous background jingles and drum machine going on in the background during radio news and travel reports. Older people are less able to pick out the words from the background sounds. And we process speech slightly more slowly, so when the travel or weather presenter speaks fast to try and fit into the time slot, sometimes we miss stuff. ----Posted by Inge Jones 10.11.08.
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Post --- Here and in Europe definitely. On a recent trip to Europe, as soon as the coaches stop the women's queues form up like a Russian bread line from Belgium to Bonn. The quys were actually escorting women in and out of the gents to avoid unnecessary flooding! --- Posted by Aslan 10.11.08.
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Post --- I'm only in my 20s and I already agree with there needing to be more loos! But good on Joan for bringing the older generation's needs to the fore for one! :) ----- Posted by Phaedra Isabella 10.11.08.
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Post --- I'm getting older every day. You are too. Let's give some thought to what this old lady has to say. Then let's get our elected representatives to do what she tells them to. Let's go, now, before it's too late (and I'm truly OLD)! :-) Pattern-chaser "Who cares, wins"---- Posted by Pattern-chaser 10.11.08.
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Post --- The elderly are frequently accused of being 'grumpy' and there are even TV series based around this premise. Perhaps if these issues are addressed they might have less reason to be so grumpy. --- Posted by Bill Samson 10.11.08.
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Post --- I wish there was something to be done for the elderley who are renting privately. If something goes wrong in the house, we cannot call on the council for help and many people are just not able to pay for the handyman or the plumber or whatever to put things right. Also, I have always done my own decorating and have enjoyed it but sadly I am no longer able to wield a paint brush. I think it important to have clean and happy surroundings. Isn't there some way of getting young people interested in helping with these simple things. --- Posted by aline 10.11.08.
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Post --- I was visiting the city of Munich recently - a city that promotes its beers, the results of which may not only affect the elderly. On the other hand, most underground stations seem to have public toilets that are open until late in the evening. In London, the few that exist tend to be closed early. ---- Posted by Hugh Kennedy 10.11.08.
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Post --- How would Joan Bakewell feel if her daughter told her she was a prostitute? Bakewell's "legalise brothels" idea is thinly-veiled anti-feminism --- Posted by Kerry Sanders 10.11.08.

posted by Ian Cameron aka KILROY WAS-A-HERO @ 04:22 0 Comments

Sunday 9 November 2008

SAINSBURY'S NINE ELMS - "RIFF RAFF" EXCUSES.

------If you're not "caught short" CLICK on image to enjoy SCENIC SAINSBURY's.
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If you ARE caught short and female you are well and truly lumbered because SAINSBURY'S NINE ELMS although with pretty extensive floor space and shopping areas is almost a write-off so far as women's toilet provision is concerned - just one WC cubicle.
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Sunday is a very busy day and women are having to queue for very long periods -today a store Manager was summoned because of the extreme distress this lack of women's toilet provision was causing. In addition to just one single toilet cubicle the store's DISABLED TOILET was also NOT functioning - that provision has been barred now for at least a week - imagine SAINSBURY's leaving one of its shopping isles "off limits" for such a period - pretty unlikely - they'd sort it.
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So over to JOHN CADLE the store manager in question - ah well (using Mr Cadle's own terminology) its all down to the "local riff raff" - especially on Sunday's - apparently there is a better class of Sainsbury clientele on other days. Of course this doesn't quite explain the week long DISABLED TOILET cop out. Apparently in its origins that was also a Riff Raff kick-back.
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Of course (unmentioned by Mr Cadle) of a Sunday the store doesn't actually open until mid-day so until noon there aren't any "RIFF RAFF" vandals "on scene" at Sainsbury's.
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This BLOG over and over has stressed that pro-rata women need MORE public toilet provision than men - altho' there appear to be deaf ears a-plenty which totally fail to take on board this urgent need. Sainsbury's quite apart from its abysmal RIFF RAFF "excuses" is a DEAF EAR STORE too.

posted by Ian Cameron aka KILROY WAS-A-HERO @ 07:55 1 Comments

Monday 3 November 2008

STAND UP FOR STOCKWELL's "CAUGHT SHORT" FLAT-OUT LABOUR GROUP BELLY- FLOP BLOGGGERS





---Don't CLICK on image as "change" might cause them too much trauma.
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The "STAND UP FOR STOCKWELL FLAT OUT BELLY FLOPPERS" now have their own local LABOUR PARTY BLOG. Its supposed to be "for change" etcetera etcetera. Its been on the road up a cul de sac for a couple of months. The blog organiser is "BLIND SPOT BLOGGER ALEX" BIGHAM. Guess what the belly flop blog doesn't mention. Public Toilet non provision. What a surprise. Middlesboro Bowyer is "still playing away" - so no change there. "Caught short" Belly Flop Blog's most recent post isn't shy of a bit of over the top verbal re last Friday's STOCKWELL intersection fire - the premises is allegedly run by ne'erdowells etc., etc., Our 3 Ward Councillors (so-called) including "on the knocker PAV"(>see<) are supposed not to be tolerant of outspoken blogs - indeed Imogen Walker complained that STOCKWELL TOILET WATCH should be blocked by the Council (> see <) for satirising her politically. Clock their blog allegations re last Fridays Stockwell Road "CHICKEN TAKEAWAY" fire - talk about don't do as we do do as we say. Here is "caught short Alex's" blogspot verbal
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"...It looks somewhat suspicious. Local residents, including the Stockwell Park Residents Association have rightly complained about the shop before. It has become a magnet for youths and gangs who hang around and outside the shop intimidating passers by. I have also heard that it has been the victim of 2 drive bys, and that one of the reasons so many gangs hang out there is that the owner is only 17(!) having been bought the shop by her Dad. Labour councillors and residents rightly opposed the extension of their licence til 3am, but more action may need to be taken if the shop reopens. I'll update this if I hear any more".
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Labour with its STAND UP BELLY FLOP BLOG is going FLAT OUT - rather like the Clapham High Street "pissoir" was on Saturday night. As our pic's also show. Bigham's pic of the premises is eyewash - compared pic's with these 2 separate Blogged accounts (>1<) (>2<).

posted by Ian Cameron aka KILROY WAS-A-HERO @ 11:07 0 Comments