The North-West London eruv has become such an established fixture since the five and a half years since it went live that it is hard to remember the opposition it generated when it was first mooted a decade ago. Some secular Jews talked hysterically of new ghettos, the good folk of Hampstead Garden Suburb complained of treelines being spoiled by alien poles.

Most of the hostility died down in time, but one source of resistance has lingered on, from the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, whose rabbinate regard aspects of the Shabbat boundary dubious in their opinion on Jewish law.

At least one dedicated anti-eruvite even launched a website, www.nwlondoneruv.com, where posters traded halachic arguments for and against the poles and wires, along with the odd bit of tittle-tattle about local rabbis. Who was behind the site was never revealed, since he, or they, remained behind a mask of anonymity, as did most of the contributors to the threads. Well, over the summer, the site has vanished from the Judosphere. Did the anti-eruvites find it too expensive to maintain the domain? Or is the disappearance of the site evidence that within the Charedi world opposition to the eruv is melting away?

PS: the erstwhile site should not be confused with the official eruv information website, www.nwlondoneruv.org, which happily remains operative.