Best Of

Dan Neidle has put out a fairly lengthy post on the budget. Note to @Richard_Tyndall and the Daily Telegraph he is pretty excoriating about the whole thing - certainly not acting the role of loyal Labour apparatchik.

https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/11/21/the-budget-a-missed-opportunity/

He is particularly cross about the NI changes. I still can't get my head around why they dropped the lower income threshold - an extremely regressive tax change if you assume the impact gets at least partly passed on into pay.

That's true, but the number of people with the earnings in and around £9,100 is very low. It represents about 14 hours a week on the minimum wage, or 10 on median wages, and those on minimum wage can't see their wage suppressed*. Overall, the change is still progressive because higher income households are more likely to be on > NMW wages than other groups.

*Though this might be passed on as lower rates of employment/hours worked rather than wages.

That is the point. This is not something that will lower the hourly wages of the low paid, it is somethig that may well cost them their jobs entirely. Small businesses, cafes, shops etc which already operate on very small margins will be forced to lay people off and try and cover the additional work themselves.

It's a great way to introduce services inflation

This is my photo quota for the day.



This is an anti-everything except unicycles barrier between the Erewash Canal Towpath (which is a PROW and decently surfaced, wide and flat), and an area of woodland.

I think it's vintage late 1980s, but I don't know these well. That is like the ironwork used on some Kent Carriage Gaps.

You don't need to worry though - there are a number of anti-most-wheelchairs barriers * on the tow path itself so you can never get there to be blocked by it.

* These may make be challengeable under the "obstruction on a public highway" law I mentioned wrt to pavement parking earlier.

Surprised in these more accessible times that there has not been a more concerted effort to get rid of these sorts of abominations.

I could write a series of books about it. There is a very resilient folk myth that they are effective. And when ones are put in where there is not a problem, they then become established in the local mind as the reason there is no problem. And then locals fight tooth and claw to keep them, and Councillors etc want to please the majority of locals, not the minority who are affected, or the visitors "who don't live here".

My numbers, estimated from my area, say that there are perhaps 250-400k of various sorts of physical barrier across the country. Sustrans did an audit just on their ~16,000 miles of National Cycling/Walking Network in 2018, and found ~16,000 barriers. They plan for them all to be gone by 2040.

Removing them is like pulling teeth from a crocodile, and requires several stakeholders all to agree on every case.

They have a progress page with a map. About 1200 done so far.
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/about-us/paths-for-everyone/

I have a Bluesky feed about it since lunchtime - Bash the Barriers , currently using my George Galloway pussy cat in a hat as Avatar. Surprised by the interest with little promotion so far - it will have about 25 followers by the end of the day.

https://bsky.app/profile/bashthebarriers.bsky.social

There are a lot of people interested in this, but it is quite complex to actually get things done.

This is my photo quota for the day.



This is an anti-everything except unicycles barrier between the Erewash Canal Towpath (which is a PROW and decently surfaced, wide and flat), and an area of woodland.

I think it's vintage late 1980s, but I don't know these well. That is like the ironwork used on some Kent Carriage Gaps.

You don't need to worry though - there are a number of anti-most-wheelchairs barriers * on the tow path itself so you can never get there to be blocked by it.

* These may make be challengeable under the "obstruction on a public highway" law I mentioned wrt to pavement parking earlier.

Surprised in these more accessible times that there has not been a more concerted effort to get rid of these sorts of abominations.

I could write a series of books about it. There is a very resilient folk myth that they are effective. And when ones are put in where there is not a problem, they then become established in the local mind as the reason there is no problem. And then locals fight tooth and claw to keep them, and Councillors etc want to please the majority of locals, not the minority who are affected, or the visitors "who don't live here".

My numbers, estimated from my area, say that there are perhaps 250-400k of various sorts of physical barrier across the country. Sustrans did an audit just on their ~16,000 miles of National Cycling/Walking Network in 2018, and found ~16,000 barriers. They plan for them all to be gone by 2040.

Removing them is like pulling teeth from a crocodile, and requires several stakeholders all to agree on every case.

They have a progress page with a map. About 1200 done so far.
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/about-us/paths-for-everyone/

Obstructions often have so little utility and are so annoying that even where it makes virtually no difference people will still carve out a desire path. Here's my photo of the day from one I saw online.

This is my photo quota for the day.



This is an anti-everything except unicycles barrier between the Erewash Canal Towpath (which is a PROW and decently surfaced, wide and flat), and an area of woodland.

I think it's vintage late 1980s, but I don't know these well. That is like the ironwork used on some Kent Carriage Gaps.

You don't need to worry though - there are a number of anti-most-wheelchairs barriers * on the tow path itself so you can never get there to be blocked by it.

* These may make be challengeable under the "obstruction on a public highway" law I mentioned wrt to pavement parking earlier.

Surprised in these more accessible times that there has not been a more concerted effort to get rid of these sorts of abominations.

I could write a series of books about it. There is a very resilient folk myth that they are effective. And when ones are put in where there is not a problem, they then become established in the local mind as the reason there is no problem. And then locals fight tooth and claw to keep them, and Councillors etc want to please the majority of locals, not the minority who are affected, or the visitors "who don't live here".

My numbers, estimated from my area, say that there are perhaps 250-400k of various sorts of physical barrier across the country. Sustrans did an audit just on their ~16,000 miles of National Cycling/Walking Network in 2018, and found ~16,000 barriers. They plan for them all to be gone by 2040.

Removing them is like pulling teeth from a crocodile, and requires several stakeholders all to agree on every case.

They have a progress page with a map. About 1200 done so far.
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/about-us/paths-for-everyone/

This is my photo quota for the day.



This is an anti-everything except unicycles barrier between the Erewash Canal Towpath (which is a PROW and decently surfaced, wide and flat), and an area of woodland.

I think it's vintage late 1980s, but I don't know these well. That is like the ironwork used on some Kent Carriage Gaps. Kent carriage gaps are ones with bollards or ironwork such that a normal width horse buggy can theoretically get through onto a Restricted Byway.

You don't need to worry though - there are a number of anti-most-wheelchairs barriers * on the tow path itself so you can never get there to be blocked by it.

* These may make be challengeable under the "obstruction on a public highway" law I mentioned wrt to pavement parking earlier.

Statement from Putin

https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1859648070264271087

- The conflict has acquired elements of a global character. Russian military facilities in the Bryansk and Kursk regions were struck by Western missiles. On November 19, 6 ATACMS missiles and on November 21 Storm Shadow missiles struck facilities in Kursk and Bryansk regions.

- Russia struck Yuzhmash with a nuclear-free hypersonic ballistic missile. Ukraine was struck by the newest ballistic hypersonic missile "Oreshnik".

- The latest Russian missiles strike targets at a speed of 2-3 km per second, and the enemy's existing missile defense systems are unable to intercept them.

- The responsibility for the escalation lies with the U.S. The U.S. made a mistake by violating the agreement to eliminate long-range missiles. They have moved their missile systems to various regions around the world.

- In case of escalation, Russia will respond decisively and mirror the actions.

- Russia will offer civilians in Ukraine and citizens of other friendly countries the opportunity to leave potential strike zones in advance, Putin stated.

No, Putin. The use of ATACMS and Storm Shadow against Russia is *not* an escalation. You have been using short and medium-range missiles and drones you have obtained from North Korea and Iran against Ukraine. The use of Storm Shadow and ATACMS is a response to that. If you use foreign nation's weapons against Ukraine, Ukraine can use foreign nation's weapons against you. That was the mirror action.