These are the Merchant Taylors' Almshouses. They are in Lewisham, and normally strictly closed to the public, but this weekend you can visit them as part of the London Open House initiative. Just off the A20 behind the (also open) Boone's Chapel.
Two more horrible murders up the road in New Cross have once again brought out the worst in the internet's commentators - see the remarks under this Times article, for instance:
You guys don't get it. We are laughing at you for banning guns and a whole host of other forms of defence. If these two frenchmen had guns they would be alive, period.
I don't know about you, but when I hear of a nasty crime in a foreign country my first impulse isn't, generally, to laugh at the circumstances that might have caused it. Also, I'd suggest that anyone who's ever picked up a pen or sat down at a keyboard to type an idiotic comment or equally idiotic article on how the UK's gun control system encourages crime rather than preventing it should take a look at the Baltimore Sun's interactive murder map:
Each red dot denotes somebody shot dead in 2008.
Incidentally, the Telegraph article linked above concludes with a fairly typical prediction of the "crime may be lower in the UK now, but just you wait for the surge that's around the corner" variety:
In 1981, the US [murder] rate was nine times higher than the English. By 1995, it was six times. Last year, it was down to 3.5. Given that US statistics, unlike the British ones, include manslaughter and other lesser charges, the real rate is much closer. New York has just recorded the lowest murder rate since the 19th century. I'll bet that in the next two years London's murder rate overtakes it.
This is quite a clever move, as at the time of publication there's no way to refute the argument other than to say "we'll have to wait and see". Fortunately this article was written in 2003, so we're now in a position to find out if the author was right.
Murders in London, 05-06: 168 (source: Met Police). Incidents of "murder and nonnegligent manslaughter" (please read and digest the definition of manslaughter in English law before complaining about this) in New York City, 2005: 539 (source: FBI). London population in 2005: 7,517,700 (source: GLA). New York City population in 2006 (2005 figures not listed): 8,214,426 (source: NYC city planning). So, estimated murder rate in London, 2005: one per 44,748 people. In NYC: one per 15,240 people. Or to put it another way: the murder rate in the major city without gun control is 2.94x higher.
Every so often, in the office, a pub, or an airport lounge, I find myself having an argument with someone over London. Or, more specifically, why on earth anyone would choose to live here. Every time it boils down to the same thing: I'm presented with a fairly reasonable list of things that stink about the city (the price of housing, the price of transport, the price of beer, the price of anything else come to think of it, the fact that most of W1 smells strongly of piss until they hose it down at 8am, the tramps, the drug dealers, the crime statistics, etc etc). In return, I offer a couple of good reasons why I like it. Somewhere in the middle of this list, after true 24-hour shopping and transport, the Tate museums, any variety of specialist food / shop you could ever need within 40 minutes, I usually end up mentioning London's many cinemas and theatres.
This is wildly hypocritical for two reasons. For one, I really hate cinemas. Although I walk past the Soho Curzon almost every day, and I'm cheered by its existence, I've never seen a film there and I probably never will. Who wants to watch a film in a room full of randoms with no easy access to a kettle or pause button? Not me. As for multiplexes full of sugar-caned teenagers stuffing week-old popcorn, I'd rather simply not watch the film at all, thanks very much. And the adverts before each screening are annoying. Gah.
As for the theatre: I never go. This is not because I don't like it (I do, and unlike cinema there's no home-based equivalent other than maybe watching drunks row in the street), and not for a want of trying, but largely because it's a) expensive and b) almost impossible to get seats for anything worth watching unless you're organised enough to book far in advance. So, despite living in London for years and working in what's sometimes hilariously dubbed "London's Theatreland" (where's the Hamlet-themed roller coaster?), I haven't been to the theatre since moving here.
Until yesterday, that is. Thanks to some marvellously good luck, good fortune and timing (bank holiday, theatre tokens, me noticing the sign going up at the Gielgud theatre the other week on the way to work, and getting in before the reviews are printed) Helen and I went to see God of Carnage at a preview last night. I won't spoil the plot any more than the website itself does, but here's a three bullet point review:
So, that's theatre covered for the next five or so years. Now I'm on a roll I might even get my arse down to see No Country for Old Men at the BFI, if they sell coffee.
Several things about this poster annoy me. Not least of which is the fact that it's a horrible, blurry PDF that appears to have all the image quality of an GIF image saved by Microsoft Paint, but that's beside the point.
More importantly, there's the suggestion that anyone taking notes in public, or heaven forbid taking photographs near a CCTV camera (so, on any fucking street in Central London, then) is a terrorism suspect that should be reported. Of course, who else might wander around London with a camera and scribbling notes? Me. And just about any other journalist who works in this city. And anyone who enjoys photography or writing as a hobby, for that matter.
More specifically: I know writers who have spent time making notes on CCTV cameras (when writing an article on the data protection implications of private CCTV, and the oft-ignored laws that govern them). I also know photographers who have spent time taking photos of said cameras, and the warning signs that accompany them (again, for the same articles). Put enough of these stupid posters around town, and anyone attempting this kind of perfectly legitimate and, in fact, important journalism is likely to find themself being reported to the police as a potential murderer. Showing a press card might help explain matters, but how is this going to help the snap-happy tourist who finds him or herself in the same situation after clicking away near the National Gallery?
There are already enough crazy regulations about where and what one is allowed to photograph in London (I came across this when testing a DSLR for work - two shots in Charing Cross station and I was swooped on) without inciting an army of would be "citizen warriors" to report anyone with a camera or a biro.
Saint Peter: Welcome to Heaven. I'm afraid there's just a little form filling before we open up the pearly gates, but it won't take a second. So, tell me - what brought you into the church? Were you born a Christian?
Lewisman Resident: No.
SP: Did you convert at a church school?
LR: No.
SP: Did you have a moment of revelation? Witness any miracles?
LR: No, and no.
SP: Okay then - did you perhaps find comfort in the church after a traumatic event?
LR: Not really.
SP: Well then, perhaps you could tell me - where, how and why did you convert?
LR: Well, I saw this oddly-capitalised sticker on a lamp-post on the Lee High Road.
SP: Oh, right. Actually, you're the third person today to say that. [fills in "other" category on holy clipboard]