Melting Spires

Every day, twitter user @blkheath takes a photo of the All Saints church on the heath. I’ve realigned them so that the spire of the church is at the same position in each image. Then I timestretched the video to see what the effect would be. Hope you like it (images used with permission).

Revamped Hare and Billet

Notes on the rejigged Hare and Billet pub:

Bonobo beer – dark ale nutty almost burnt
Adnams – as you’d expect
India pale ale – nice
Oakham ales – Scarlet Macaw – didn’t try it looked interesting though..
Weasel Beer – likewise
Hare and billet bitter – as they had before

£9.10 for an Orchard Cider, a pint of Adnams, and a packet of pipers salt & vinegar crisps seems more than it used to be.

The free wifi is good, and actually works, which is more than can be said for many other local pubs. It’s run by The Cloud & Greene King.

The pub is still dog-friendly. Almost too dog friendly. Maybe just ban the small yappy-type dogs.

There’s music on but it’s not loud or annoying.

The pub smells better than it used to. It’s never honked like the bloody Railway, but definitely better now the loos are upstairs.

Speaking of the loos, there is now a massive empty (as of 5.30pm on a Saturday) restaurant area where the loos and kitchen used to be. I wish pubs wouldn’t differentiate between drinking and eating. Ten empty tables, with everyone else huddled at the front drinking.

All in all though, it’s a good revamp I think.

Astronomy on the Heath tonight

The Flamsteed Society writes:

“We thought that you might like to know that we will be running a stargazing event on Blackheath tomorrow evening (Friday 15 February) from 7pm.

We hope to catch a glimpse of the near-Earth asteroid (Asteroid 2012 DA14) as it makes its close pass of Earth. Though it will be difficult to spot, especially given the forecast cloud!, we will give it a try.

There will also be plenty of other objects to view. The International Space Station should pass overhead at about 7.05pm. The Moon will be 30% illuminated in in the south-west, and Jupiter and the Orion Nebula will be well placed.

Details can be found on our website:http://flamsteed.info/event/blackheath-stargazing-friday-15-february-or-saturday-16-february/

For your information, there is likely to be a TV crew from Sky News in attendance, though this will be confirmed tomorrow.”

Practical ways to save Lewisham Hospital

From Councillor Kevin Bonavia:

Lewisham Council have just served our legal challenge on the Government’s decision to drastically downgrade Lewisham Hospital A&E and maternity services on the ground that the Special Adminstrator was acting beyond his powers.

Depending on how the Government respond, this could end up being decided in Court as part of a substantial judicial review, by which we would seek the Court rendering the Government’s decision void.

As such, this could be a costly process, so the Council has set up a Legal Action Fund for the public to donate whatever they can towards legal funding. We don’t know at this early stage how much will be required, but if there is any surplus it will go to a local charity, Children First Lewisham.

The link to the online donation form can be found here: http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/news/Pages/Council-takes-Lewisham-Hospital-decision-to-the-courts.aspx

I think this is a good practical step forward. I’ve replied to Kevin asking for a breakdown of the costs involved – I’ll update this page when he replies UPDATE: see below

If you can contribute to the fund, the direct link is here:
http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/socialcare/health/Pages/Contribute-to-the-Hospital-Legal-Challenge-Fund.aspx

You can pay by credit or debit card, and the minimum is a fiver.

UPDATE:

From Kevin again:

The costs of the legal challenge are initially likely to consist mostly of engaging specialist barrister expertise at Queen’s Counsel level, which unfortunately is not pro bono. Other work is being carried out by the Counsel’s in-house legal team for which there is no additional cost, although it does of course add to their workload. Provision also has to be made for any costs orders that be made by the Court during judicial review proceedings, but it is too early to estimate how much these might be at the moment.

As for operating the legal challenge fund, there are no external costs as this has been set up and maintained by Council officers, so it’s a matter of use of officers’ time, which I understand is quite minimal since the payment system used is the same as that for other payments made to the Council online. Just to make a small clarification to your post, I understand that people can enter a lower sum than the suggested £5 – and also a higher sum than the suggested maximum of £25! As of yesterday, the fund had received donations in a total sum of £2,400.

Jeremy Hunt’s proudest political achievement?

Working with local campaigners to save the Royal Surrey County Hospital’s A&E department from closure. A 6,000-strong rally, packed public meetings and a candle-lit vigil at Parliament all forced the local Primary Care Trust to keep the area’s vital resource open.

Strangely this quote has disappeared from his website, but Google still has a cache of it.

Spotted by eagle-eyed reader David Porter.

Jeremy Hunt in House of Commons – video

Video of the South London Healthcare NHS Trust statement in House of Commons

22m51s – Bob Neil Conservative, Bromley and Chislehurst
24m50s – Dame Joan Ruddock – Labour, Lewisham and Deptford
28m18s – Bob Stewart – Conservative, Beckenham
29m56s – Heidi Alexander – Labour, Lewisham East
31m58s – Simon Hughes – Liberal Democrat, Bermondsey and Old Southwark
34m12s – Tessa Jowell – Dulwich and West Norwood
37m18s – Stephen Dorrell – Chair, Health Committee
38m37s – Jim Dowd – Labour, Lewisham West and Penge
41m52s – Nick de Bois – Conservative, Enfield North
42m48s – Clive Efford – Labour, Eltham
44m05s – Nick Raynsford – Labour, Greenwich and Woolwich
45m12s – Teresa Pearce – Labour, Erith and Thamesmead
47m27s – Kate Hoey – Labour, Vauxhall
49m38s – Kevin Barron – Labour, Rother Valley