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Brixton news, rumour and general chat - May 2014

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Lots of basketball courts on council estates, just had a great forty minutes on my own shoot hoops including one from just inside the half way line, thrown underarm; yes i'm that good. Fantastic exercise. Maybe other Urbanites would like to join in? A little one on one, a bit of two on two? My court is in central Brixton but i would be willing to travel a short bike distance. PM if interested.
Not played for decades but could be up for this.
 
there was a programme on R4 the other day about epidemiology- social epidimiology and whether being middle class (with a longer life expectancy) is a causal or contributory factor of better health. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mw15s
worth a listen

I think I might have listened to this when it first came out.

Social epidemiology is also used in "The Spirit Level" - which is very good read about inequality.

Was a book all politicians read at last election. Then forgot about. :rolleyes:

The study quoted shows its not purely about being middle class.

It's called social epidemiology. You've probably never heard of it, but the science has influenced governments of both the left and right. So what answers has it thrown up?

The most famous comes from the Whitehall II study of civil servants, led by Sir Michael Marmot, which found that people who are in high-pressure jobs, over which they have low control, are at greater risk of heart disease, because of the stress their lowly position causes.

When the study was done it was expected that those higher up in management would have worse health due to the responsibility they had. To there surprise they found that in this group of reasonably well paid people it was those slighter lower down in management chain who had worse health. Status has effect on health outcomes.

In the Spirit Level they argue that the more a societies wealth is unequally distributed the more there are social problems. So its slightly different argument.

This is not about the Welfare State. In Japan there is not the large disparity of income compared to some other countries like UK/ USA. But Japan is not a European style welfare state.

Nor is it necessarily about how wealthy a society is. Its about how its distributed.
 
Great stuff.

Took my daughters to the kids' Brockwell parkrun on Sunday - the four-year-old ran the full 2km!
I'm still not up to your speed!

One guy I run Parkrun with did the junior with his 5 year old boy and said it was great. Again, he was impressed with his ability to do it non-stop.
 
I have always been a runner since my early teens - with ups and downs of motivation (downs at the moment, thanks to some very uncomfortable insoles and a miserable podiatrist in North Street) and changes in preferred distances. I have also noticed a huge increase in the number of other runners out there recently. Given the very low entry cost of running (there is a chap previously mentioned who does park run in normal shoes and trousers - a bit extreme!) and small amount of time needed thanks to being able to do it straight from your door, why does it seem to be the preserve of gentrifiers?
 
I have to admit to having avoided Parkrun of late for much the same reasons Manter mentioned. I get competitive and am just not up to it fitness wise at the moment!
I'll be back soon...:D

I've noticed ;)

The whole point is to get fit/fitter isn't it? To have an increased capacity to cope with and enjoy life, to enjoy the activity for itself. Given my current level of fitness, i would be bringing up the rear but it's never a good idea to come first. :hmm:
 
I've noticed ;)

The whole point is to get fit/fitter isn't it? To have an increased capacity to cope with and enjoy life, to enjoy the activity for itself. Given my current level of fitness, i would be bringing up the rear but it's never a good idea to come first. :hmm:
When I say I get competitive, it is more against myself really, since I could be 4 minutes (25%) behind the fastest runner and still be really pleased that I got a good time for me.
 
Perhaps it was originally seen as the preserve of the middle-classes and is hanging onto an old stereotype.
How so? Do you mean that the non-middle classes felt they were not entitled to go for a jog or that they felt that by doing so they might be becoming "one of them"?
 
When I say I get competitive, it is more against myself really, since I could be 4 minutes (25%) behind the fastest runner and still be really pleased that I got a good time for me.
Or, Dexter, I could just be pleased that I hit less balls out of the court than the other player ;)
 
How so? Do you mean that the non-middle classes felt they were not entitled to go for a jog or that they felt that by doing so they might be becoming "one of them"?

I don't know anything about the history of jogging. A lot of ideas tend to trickle down rather than up from the street. So although jogging is technically accessible to all, it might be perceived as something that a certain type of person does. It's a bit like those who spend money on a big mac meal when they could threw in an extra quid and get a nicer burger and chips from Honest burger - its about perception not reality.
 
I don't know anything about the history of jogging. A lot of ideas tend to trickle down rather than up from the street. So although jogging is technically accessible to all, it might be perceived as something that a certain type of person does. It's a bit like those who spend money on a big mac meal when they could threw in an extra quid and get a nicer burger and chips from Honest burger - its about perception not reality.

I started jogging in my teens and everyone though i was crazy, my own family included. You would get looked at as if you were doing something wrong or you were running away from a crime scene.
It was the same thing with reading books. They couldn't understand it, it was a working class thing; it still is.

The person who "invented" jogging died of a heart attck while out jogging.
Jim Fixx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Fixx#Death
 
Found out i'm not registered to vote. I filled out the forms, got the conformation letter, entered the code on the website months ago. No polling card come through. Just checked experian and no one is registered at my address. Useless lambeth council.

Is there anything I can do now or is it too late?
 
Found out i'm not registered to vote. I filled out the forms, got the conformation letter, entered the code on the website months ago. No polling card come through. Just checked experian and no one is registered at my address. Useless lambeth council.

Is there anything I can do now or is it too late?

You could ask someone you know who is refusing to vote to cast a vote on your behalf. That's a bit of a shit suggestion but it is all i can think of.
 
Found out i'm not registered to vote. I filled out the forms, got the conformation letter, entered the code on the website months ago. No polling card come through. Just checked experian and no one is registered at my address. Useless lambeth council.

Is there anything I can do now or is it too late?

Too late :( The deadline was 6 May.
 
Found out i'm not registered to vote. I filled out the forms, got the conformation letter, entered the code on the website months ago. No polling card come through. Just checked experian and no one is registered at my address. Useless lambeth council.

Is there anything I can do now or is it too late?

Go to the town hall.
 
I don't know anything about the history of jogging. A lot of ideas tend to trickle down rather than up from the street. So although jogging is technically accessible to all, it might be perceived as something that a certain type of person does. It's a bit like those who spend money on a big mac meal when they could threw in an extra quid and get a nicer burger and chips from Honest burger - its about perception not reality.
Well - except that they don't need to thrown in a few extra quid.

I'm not quite sure where jogging ends and running begins. But running has a perfectly working class history - although more so up north (funnily enough, where more mines and factories exist than in London cuppa tee). Particularly fell running which is very much seen as a community sport.

Given that it is generally a good thing for the individual to exercise - and that you really can get out what you put in - what are the main barriers to breaking down perception?
 
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probably because one would be not so inclined to go for a jog before or after a hard shift in a factory or coal mine :facepalm:
Hands up all those working class Brixtonites who get their daily exercise from hard manual labour in a factory or down a mine every day :facepalm:.

As mentioned above, fell running is a popular community sport in the industrial north - but they are tougher up there ;).
 
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I started jogging in my teens and everyone though i was crazy, my own family included. You would get looked at as if you were doing something wrong or you were running away from a crime scene.
It was the same thing with reading books. They couldn't understand it, it was a working class thing; it still is.

The person who "invented" jogging died of a heart attck while out jogging.
Jim Fixx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Fixx#Death
Probably for the best best before he started getting mistaken for a certain British celeb.
 
I don't know anything about the history of jogging. A lot of ideas tend to trickle down rather than up from the street. So although jogging is technically accessible to all, it might be perceived as something that a certain type of person does. It's a bit like those who spend money on a big mac meal when they could threw in an extra quid and get a nicer burger and chips from Honest burger - its about perception not reality.
Once again, boohoo uses her trailer park origins as an excuse for not exercising.

:p
 
I have to admit to having avoided Parkrun of late for much the same reasons Manter mentioned. I get competitive and am just not up to it fitness wise at the moment!
I'll be back soon...:D
As Claire always tells us "It's not a race, it's a run".

You don't know how many are going to be there so you could be top 100 of 120 or else 175th out of 250 with the same time. The only thing you are competing against is your own pb. And the only way to beat that is to keep at it.
 
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As Claire always tells us "It's a race, not a run".

You don't know how many are going to be there so you could be top 100 of 120 or else 175th out of 250 with the same time. The only thing you are competing against is your own pb. And the only way to beat that is to keep at it.
Yes - but because there are so many runners there is almost always someone who is running at a similar ability to jostle with if you need spurring on!

Although I wouldn't want to put anyone off by calling the event a race - it's a friendly and laid back thing - there is as much or as little pressure as you want. Plenty of people just happy to get around having a chat.

Parkrun really is a brilliant concept (he says, having only managed to make it at 9am on a Saturday about 6 or 7 times in 2yrs!)
 
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Was planning to go to Sams cafe on Acre Lane this weekend following the rave reviews here. Someone told me it was closed weekend. Does anyone know if this is true, strange if it is??
 
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