Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Also, what the fuck is this:
“It's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate”
Did the Victorians ever think like that? Did the early designers of the Tube? “Oh it’s only for the locals, put up a brick shed that looks like a prison toilet block”
No. They took care. They also wanted to sell their train lines as things to use. The uplifting or cosy or welcoming station said “come in here, let us whisk you away”
Thanet Parkway…. Does not
Which was in many ways unfortunate, as it meant the railways, particularly lightly used country railways, became much more expensive and inflexible than they needed to be.
Are you actually arguing it was unfortunate they built beautiful stations and it would have been better if they’d thrown up toilet blocks? Coz they are easier to demolish? Or what?
I am saying that if they had made railways cheaper to run by - for example - building wooden halts at regular intervals rather than Gothic fantasies at distances the economics of rural branch lines might have been rather more helpful and perhaps not quite so many of them would have been shut.
Leon probably loves St Pancras. Yet the building of St Pancras cost the Midland Railway so much, that the northern extension to Manchester a decade later was done on a shoestring. Manchester Central therefore had a brilliant overall roof, but a load of 'temporary' wooden buildings - a wooden 1970s Kings Cross - in front of it. Which were so temporary that they lasted until the closure of the station, eighty years later.
I have to admit, I also love St Pancras. And Bristol Temple Meads. And the ridiculous Aberystwyth Station. And the Kilsby Vents. And I'm sure I would have stood in awe before the Euston Arch.
I also consider Birmingham New Street, Gloucester, Euston and Stafford stations to be shitheaps, because they are.
It's just I love actual railways slightly more than I love good architecture, and wish we could have run them less extravagantly so they made more money. That way, they might have avoided the clutches of the odious pen-pushers of the DfT.
GWR's Snow Hill Station was stunning, so they razed it to the ground. I remember remnants of the carcass but not the station. New Street never looked like a station in my day just an appendage to a shopping centre.
That’s lovely and sad. But in the USA they demolished many dozens of stations easily as handsome as that. Beautiful gothic and classical temples. Entire websites are devoted to them
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
"Charity" shops are mostly a tax dodge anyway.
Tell Oxfam style shops to pay NNDR on the same basis as every other shop and they would largely vanish.
Taxes should be low, fair and consistently paid by everyone. Favoured groups not paying their taxes means they have to be higher on everyone else and completely distorts the market.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room, and no place to shelter from the weather, and nowhere to get a cup of tea
So even by your bizarre, lowbrow, masochistic and dreary standards, it fails as architecture
It doesn’t have any covered waiting area. I checked the station website
NO ACCESSIBLE TOILETS!!!
Fuck it. Bomb it flat.
(Have disabled rellies)
I didn't think that was even legal. I thought all new buildings had to have them.
Aiui only if the building has toilets. If it does not, it does not need accessible toilets.
35 million quid and they couldn't even stick in a single disabled bog ???
They really don’t want you to hang around. Not even for a pee. Once you understand that it all makes sense. Even the intense ugliness
Look. I’ve located the actual entrance (where the ground floor lift is). What does that dark scary void say to you? What would it say on a dank January evening?
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
"Charity" shops are mostly a tax dodge anyway.
Tell Oxfam style shops to pay NNDR on the same basis as every other shop and they would largely vanish.
Taxes should be low, fair and consistently paid by everyone. Favoured groups not paying their taxes means they have to be higher on everyone else and completely distorts the market.
It is not even about tax, the only time most go to a high street is because they are on there way somewhere else, I have to goto a high street because I use a bus, I get a bus there then I get a bus out to where I actually want to be. I am not going to go shop there. Like most people I can get all I need outside a high street at lower price and with better choice. The only people who use high streets these days are old people.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room, and no place to shelter from the weather, and nowhere to get a cup of tea
So even by your bizarre, lowbrow, masochistic and dreary standards, it fails as architecture
It doesn’t have any covered waiting area. I checked the station website
NO ACCESSIBLE TOILETS!!!
Fuck it. Bomb it flat.
(Have disabled rellies)
I didn't think that was even legal. I thought all new buildings had to have them.
Aiui only if the building has toilets. If it does not, it does not need accessible toilets.
35 million quid and they couldn't even stick in a single disabled bog ???
They really don’t want you to hang around. Not even for a pee. Once you understand that it all makes sense. Even the intense ugliness
Look. I’ve located the actual entrance (where the ground floor lift is). What does that dark scary void say to you? What would it say on a dank January evening?
Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!
Actually, that’s unfair. The Empire had serious taste in design. Star Destroyers look awesome.
Though H&S was not on the priority list. Railings at the edge of bottomless abysses? Controls accessible without free climbing?
You see this is where a bit of frivolity could really work. Design the train station to look like the side of the Death Star, or the Tardis, or Elsa's ice palace. Would make this particular Thanet suburb a landmark.
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
That's a gross exaggeration, but I understand the irritation at all the charity shops - especially given that so many of them are just bric-a-brac outlets full of complete tat. You wonder who even buys stuff from the shelves full of naff old pictures, glass and crockery that looks like it was donated by people clearing the homes of dead elderly relatives who couldn't bring themselves to throw it all in the skip, let alone how they make enough money from it to be worth the bother.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room, and no place to shelter from the weather, and nowhere to get a cup of tea
So even by your bizarre, lowbrow, masochistic and dreary standards, it fails as architecture
It doesn’t have any covered waiting area. I checked the station website
NO ACCESSIBLE TOILETS!!!
Fuck it. Bomb it flat.
(Have disabled rellies)
I didn't think that was even legal. I thought all new buildings had to have them.
Aiui only if the building has toilets. If it does not, it does not need accessible toilets.
35 million quid and they couldn't even stick in a single disabled bog ???
They really don’t want you to hang around. Not even for a pee. Once you understand that it all makes sense. Even the intense ugliness
Look. I’ve located the actual entrance (where the ground floor lift is). What does that dark scary void say to you? What would it say on a dank January evening?
Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!
Actually, that’s unfair. The Empire had serious taste in design. Star Destroyers look awesome.
Though H&S was not on the priority list. Railings at the edge of bottomless abysses? Controls accessible without free climbing?
You see this is where a bit of frivolity could really work. Design the train station to look like the side of the Death Star, or the Tardis, or Elsa's ice palace. Would make this particular Thanet suburb a landmark.
I actually think the station looks fine when compared to the shit stain of sloughs fairly new bus station
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room, and no place to shelter from the weather, and nowhere to get a cup of tea
So even by your bizarre, lowbrow, masochistic and dreary standards, it fails as architecture
It doesn’t have any covered waiting area. I checked the station website
NO ACCESSIBLE TOILETS!!!
Fuck it. Bomb it flat.
(Have disabled rellies)
I didn't think that was even legal. I thought all new buildings had to have them.
Aiui only if the building has toilets. If it does not, it does not need accessible toilets.
35 million quid and they couldn't even stick in a single disabled bog ???
They really don’t want you to hang around. Not even for a pee. Once you understand that it all makes sense. Even the intense ugliness
Look. I’ve located the actual entrance (where the ground floor lift is). What does that dark scary void say to you? What would it say on a dank January evening?
Best to buy a car xD
Ironically, that death void/entrance/vagina dentata will be the IDEAL place to have a quick pee when you get off the station (which has no toilets) and you’re desperate
So the whole station will become a urinal within weeks. Result!
Once again I find myself in complete disagreement with the thrust of this argument.
OGH has selectively chosen one poll - Redfield & Wilton last evening had 56% of the 2019 Conservative voting cohort remaining loyal, 19% Don't Know, 14% going to Labour and 6% to Reform.
Now, that 19% represents about 9% of the electorate so not an inconsiderable number and half the R&K Don't Knows. The second largest contingent of DKs are those who say they didn't vote last time.
The legacy of 1992 hangs over 30 years on - those who were psychologically scarred by that experience may hold the view the Conservatives will find something, anything, to bring the waverers back and in the polling booth while the intention going in may be to vote Labour or LD, the pencil will hover and then head back to the blue, the deed will be done and the voter will exit.
Perhaps - that's not what happened in 1997. It may be a number of the DKs will abstain - that won't bother Starmer and Labour too much while others may vote tactically or wastefully. To assume 100% of 2019 Conservative voting DKs will vote Conservative next time is steetching credibility a bit.
Last night's polling continued to show big Labour leads and big Labour swings in England but Sunak is right - the election is not a done deal, I'm sure Starmer will agree. Not a single vote has been cast and the Conservatives have a big majority but big swings in General Elections aren't the novelty they once were and if tactical voting can gain any traction (plenty of evidence in S&A and S&F last week and perhaps U&SR as well) whatever damage uniform UNS might incur will be compounded.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Are you saying the platforms have no canopies?! They are entirely exposed to the weather? Surely not
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
That's a gross exaggeration, but I understand the irritation at all the charity shops - especially given that so many of them are just bric-a-brac outlets full of complete tat. You wonder who even buys stuff from the shelves full of naff old pictures, glass and crockery that looks like it was donated by people clearing the homes of dead elderly relatives who couldn't bring themselves to throw it all in the skip, let alone how they make enough money from it to be worth the bother.
Actdually, the turnover in my local Oxfam is pretty good from what I can see, so much of it must be bought. It's a useful recycling facility - lots of perfectly useable stuff, clothes, small furniture, crockery and cutlery finds new homes that way. I gave mine a complete run of 8000 Plus (the PCW mag) when I upgraded to PCs years ago and it disappeared within a day, for instance. And the specialist furniture and book shops in big cities are seriously worth exploring.
Anyway, on topic, however awful the Tories are we shouldn't underestimate the probability of them bein rescued from a well deserved oblivion by the grey vote. That, combined with the lack of enthusiasm for the alternative, could well lead to a surprise outcome. A Tory performance above 250 seats and a significant drop in turnout both seem live possibilities to me.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Aren't those spaced out whitish thingies shelters on the platform? aerial view here
re; Ron DeSantis, hope that anyone who was injured in automobile accident is OK, and wish them speedy recovery.
That said, rather ironic seeing has how RDS campaign IS a car crash, politically speaking.
Worth noting that so was John McCain's campaign in 2007 . . . before he made his major course correction that led to JMcC winning the 2008 GOP nomination.
On the OTHER hand, the car crash that was Rudy Giuliani's campaign that same cycle, led to . . . a truly spectacular pile-up just over a decade later, featuring an actual junk-yard . . . and a pack of truly vicious junk-yard curs . . .
The most interesting candidate atm is RFK,
Is he though? He seems like a pretty bog standard conspiracist anti-establishment type. Unconventional compared to others (less so than it used to be, given the election deniers etc), but predictable all the same.
The question is who will give the US the change it needs, Biden and Trump both are status quo men, RDS or RFK might change something. who knows ?
RFK believes that Covid was engineered not to kill Jews.
Think about that for a second.
Oh Ive read all of that but loads of politicians come up with daft nonsense and then have to correct themselves when the are in power. Biden is so far out of it he could be thinking anything and yet people will vote for him.
Ah yes, the old "the antisemite will correct himself when in power" rule. How's that one worked out historically?
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Also, what the fuck is this:
“It's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate”
Did the Victorians ever think like that? Did the early designers of the Tube? “Oh it’s only for the locals, put up a brick shed that looks like a prison toilet block”
No. They took care. They also wanted to sell their train lines as things to use. The uplifting or cosy or welcoming station said “come in here, let us whisk you away”
Thanet Parkway…. Does not
Which was in many ways unfortunate, as it meant the railways, particularly lightly used country railways, became much more expensive and inflexible than they needed to be.
Are you actually arguing it was unfortunate they built beautiful stations and it would have been better if they’d thrown up toilet blocks? Coz they are easier to demolish? Or what?
I am saying that if they had made railways cheaper to run by - for example - building wooden halts at regular intervals rather than Gothic fantasies at distances the economics of rural branch lines might have been rather more helpful and perhaps not quite so many of them would have been shut.
I struggle to see how that could be the case. They would surely have been closed and demolished with less fuss than their more invested-in counterparts.
But ugly stations would have added to the sum of human unhappiness, which apparently is what at least 1/3 of PB desires
Unfortunately, there is a slice of human psyche that finds satisfaction in unhappiness. Plenty of media products, factual and fictional, have grown fat on that insight.
There's also a streak of selfishness and stinginess that says that the public deserve no more than the minimal functionality.
@JosiasJessop is probably right- this was done to a budget, and that budget wasn't enough to stretch to civilising features.
Disabled people might say that being able to access the platforms is a 'civilising' feature. IMO that's what most of the complaints about the structure is: the footbridge, ramps and lifts to allow accessibility to what are already raised platforms.
Architects love this sort of thing. They would have designed a station that cost a billion pounds to build, and would have Leon flooding it with his little man-babies from as far as Lviv. The the client adds constraints. It needs to be accessible. We got fined because some scrote dropped a brick onto the head of someone below. Potential future overhead electrification means we need x amount of headroom. Most of all: we need it for y amount.
And hence architects are *really* limited in what they can do. If you want to (say) drop accessibility requirements, that would both save a lot of money and make it look a lot better. But would also lead to the station not opening because it did not meet requirements.
Again, I'd love people to come up with their alternatives.
Maybe some trees? And a canopy?
How do you get trees on an elevated platform?
Canopies: fair enough, but they are costly. And probably would not be seen on the elevation you first complained about.
At a number of tube stations in London, staff have been official organised to do gardening stuff. Some platforms have fair sized potted palm trees and some really nice flowers.
The completely boxed in, brick staircase would get some negative comments from experts in women friendly architecture. Which is a serious thing.
Gardening at tube stations was traditionally done voluntarily by staff.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room, and no place to shelter from the weather, and nowhere to get a cup of tea
So even by your bizarre, lowbrow, masochistic and dreary standards, it fails as architecture
It doesn’t have any covered waiting area. I checked the station website
NO ACCESSIBLE TOILETS!!!
Fuck it. Bomb it flat.
(Have disabled rellies)
I didn't think that was even legal. I thought all new buildings had to have them.
Aiui only if the building has toilets. If it does not, it does not need accessible toilets.
35 million quid and they couldn't even stick in a single disabled bog ???
They really don’t want you to hang around. Not even for a pee. Once you understand that it all makes sense. Even the intense ugliness
Look. I’ve located the actual entrance (where the ground floor lift is). What does that dark scary void say to you? What would it say on a dank January evening?
Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!
Actually, that’s unfair. The Empire had serious taste in design. Star Destroyers look awesome.
Though H&S was not on the priority list. Railings at the edge of bottomless abysses? Controls accessible without free climbing?
You see this is where a bit of frivolity could really work. Design the train station to look like the side of the Death Star, or the Tardis, or Elsa's ice palace. Would make this particular Thanet suburb a landmark.
I actually think the station looks fine when compared to the shit stain of sloughs fairly new bus station
Got a cafe and waiting area at Slough, though I go off it very quickly when I read this
"When the Heart of Slough master plan is complete the bus station will be surrounded by five 8 to 14 storey office buildings. The Bus Station is an urban object with the design considered from all aspects, passengers underneath and office workers viewing from above. Its sculptural form and the design of the hard landscaping will provide a counterpoint to the rectilinear corporate architecture. It will create an identifiable place within Slough that is a celebration of public transport and is a memorable first and last impression of Slough."
But the board aren't going to fire her....how can you have the boss.of a bank who can't keep their trap shut about the finances of a client.....its then open season on any employee who wants to do the same.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Aren't those spaced out whitish thingies shelters on the platform? aerial view here
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Are you saying the platforms have no canopies?! They are entirely exposed to the weather? Surely not
Almost, just a couple of bus shelters, see pictures above.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Aren't those spaced out whitish thingies shelters on the platform? aerial view here
Well, they're not exactly PROPER canopies are they? Even Reading Green Park has proper canopies.
I went to Ramsgate in May, took some shots of Thanet PW from a passing train:
Oh! I thought the shelters were each the full size of each re-entrant in the barrier. That's insulting. Imagine piling into that and someone starts smoking and someone else starts coughing or talking to the clouds or, indeed, pissing in the corner (hopefully the outside one).
re; Ron DeSantis, hope that anyone who was injured in automobile accident is OK, and wish them speedy recovery.
That said, rather ironic seeing has how RDS campaign IS a car crash, politically speaking.
Worth noting that so was John McCain's campaign in 2007 . . . before he made his major course correction that led to JMcC winning the 2008 GOP nomination.
On the OTHER hand, the car crash that was Rudy Giuliani's campaign that same cycle, led to . . . a truly spectacular pile-up just over a decade later, featuring an actual junk-yard . . . and a pack of truly vicious junk-yard curs . . .
The most interesting candidate atm is RFK,
The Ye of 2024? Interesting as he is (at least currently) a WAY better shill for Trump that Kanye West ever was.
Sad but true.
Nah
the Democrats are Trumps best shills as they want him as the GOP candidate.
NOT THIS DEMOCRAT. And I am FAR from alone.
It's a conservative habit to explain to liberals what they're thinking. Despite all the practice, they never got very good at it.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room, and no place to shelter from the weather, and nowhere to get a cup of tea
So even by your bizarre, lowbrow, masochistic and dreary standards, it fails as architecture
It doesn’t have any covered waiting area. I checked the station website
NO ACCESSIBLE TOILETS!!!
Fuck it. Bomb it flat.
(Have disabled rellies)
I didn't think that was even legal. I thought all new buildings had to have them.
Aiui only if the building has toilets. If it does not, it does not need accessible toilets.
35 million quid and they couldn't even stick in a single disabled bog ???
They really don’t want you to hang around. Not even for a pee. Once you understand that it all makes sense. Even the intense ugliness
Look. I’ve located the actual entrance (where the ground floor lift is). What does that dark scary void say to you? What would it say on a dank January evening?
Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!
Actually, that’s unfair. The Empire had serious taste in design. Star Destroyers look awesome.
Though H&S was not on the priority list. Railings at the edge of bottomless abysses? Controls accessible without free climbing?
You see this is where a bit of frivolity could really work. Design the train station to look like the side of the Death Star, or the Tardis, or Elsa's ice palace. Would make this particular Thanet suburb a landmark.
I actually think the station looks fine when compared to the shit stain of sloughs fairly new bus station
Got a cafe and waiting area at Slough, though I go off it very quickly when I read this
"When the Heart of Slough master plan is complete the bus station will be surrounded by five 8 to 14 storey office buildings. The Bus Station is an urban object with the design considered from all aspects, passengers underneath and office workers viewing from above. Its sculptural form and the design of the hard landscaping will provide a counterpoint to the rectilinear corporate architecture. It will create an identifiable place within Slough that is a celebration of public transport and is a memorable first and last impression of Slough."
Apart from it doesn't work for customers. The sperm tails are too high to protect from anything except vertical rain and how often is there no wind. So you stand and wait and get soaked everytime it rains and shiver in the wind as there are no windbreaks....looks pretty I guess but from the point of view of customers fulfills little of what they want
re; Ron DeSantis, hope that anyone who was injured in automobile accident is OK, and wish them speedy recovery.
That said, rather ironic seeing has how RDS campaign IS a car crash, politically speaking.
Worth noting that so was John McCain's campaign in 2007 . . . before he made his major course correction that led to JMcC winning the 2008 GOP nomination.
On the OTHER hand, the car crash that was Rudy Giuliani's campaign that same cycle, led to . . . a truly spectacular pile-up just over a decade later, featuring an actual junk-yard . . . and a pack of truly vicious junk-yard curs . . .
The most interesting candidate atm is RFK,
The Ye of 2024? Interesting as he is (at least currently) a WAY better shill for Trump that Kanye West ever was.
Sad but true.
Nah
the Democrats are Trumps best shills as they want him as the GOP candidate.
NOT THIS DEMOCRAT. And I am FAR from alone.
It's a conservative habit to explain to liberals what they're thinking. Despite all the practice, they never got very good at it.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Aren't those spaced out whitish thingies shelters on the platform? aerial view here
Well, they're not exactly PROPER canopies are they? Even Reading Green Park has proper canopies.
I went to Ramsgate in May, took some shots of Thanet PW from a passing train:
Oh! I thought the shelters were each the full size of each re-entrant in the barrier. That's insulting. Imagine piling into that and someone starts smoking and someone else starts coughing or talking to the clouds or, indeed, pissing in the corner (hopefully the outside one).
Point raised and decisively resolved!
Was at Mallaig station the other day in the rain. It has exactly one of those bus shelter things for the whole platform and as far as I know, the whole station.
I know the American right are not very politically correct or tolerant of quotas in the workplace but still surprised that Musk would go quite this far in tackling the problem of women working in IT. "And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds."
Another very strong poll for AfD (21.5%) and they are now a clear second to the CDU/CSU.
The question is whether Merz will take a Nelsonesque view and turn a blind eye to them or whether he sees them as prospective supporters of a Union minority Government.
Will AfD be the German version of the Sweden Democrats and support a centre-right minority or will they end up like VOX who had a poor election on Sunday in Spain? There's still a long way before the next German election (late 2025) so it'll be interesting to see how Merz takes his new line of co-operating with the AfD locally.
He might have some Party management issues as some elements of the CDU are strongly opposed to AfD.
re; Ron DeSantis, hope that anyone who was injured in automobile accident is OK, and wish them speedy recovery.
That said, rather ironic seeing has how RDS campaign IS a car crash, politically speaking.
Worth noting that so was John McCain's campaign in 2007 . . . before he made his major course correction that led to JMcC winning the 2008 GOP nomination.
On the OTHER hand, the car crash that was Rudy Giuliani's campaign that same cycle, led to . . . a truly spectacular pile-up just over a decade later, featuring an actual junk-yard . . . and a pack of truly vicious junk-yard curs . . .
The most interesting candidate atm is RFK,
Is he though? He seems like a pretty bog standard conspiracist anti-establishment type. Unconventional compared to others (less so than it used to be, given the election deniers etc), but predictable all the same.
The question is who will give the US the change it needs, Biden and Trump both are status quo men, RDS or RFK might change something. who knows ?
Change is often necessary but picking someone simply as they are a disruptive influence is a disaster without accompanying political skills and intellect.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Aren't those spaced out whitish thingies shelters on the platform? aerial view here
Well, they're not exactly PROPER canopies are they? Even Reading Green Park has proper canopies.
I went to Ramsgate in May, took some shots of Thanet PW from a passing train:
Oh! I thought the shelters were each the full size of each re-entrant in the barrier. That's insulting. Imagine piling into that and someone starts smoking and someone else starts coughing or talking to the clouds or, indeed, pissing in the corner (hopefully the outside one).
Point raised and decisively resolved!
Was at Mallaig station the other day in the rain. It has exactly one of those bus shelter things for the whole platform and as far as I know, the whole station.
I went to Mallaig in September 2019! Luckily it wasn't raining, but it was pouring when I did the Oban Line two days earlier
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Aren't those spaced out whitish thingies shelters on the platform? aerial view here
Well, they're not exactly PROPER canopies are they? Even Reading Green Park has proper canopies.
I went to Ramsgate in May, took some shots of Thanet PW from a passing train:
Oh! I thought the shelters were each the full size of each re-entrant in the barrier. That's insulting. Imagine piling into that and someone starts smoking and someone else starts coughing or talking to the clouds or, indeed, pissing in the corner (hopefully the outside one).
Point raised and decisively resolved!
Was at Mallaig station the other day in the rain. It has exactly one of those bus shelter things for the whole platform and as far as I know, the whole station.
Sure, but it has a roofed ticket office and concourse on the same level as the platform.
Annoyingly it had a canopy over a decent chunk of the platform but it got tatty and taken down to save on refurbishment, presumably - back in the 70s when the future of th eline was in doubt.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Also, what the fuck is this:
“It's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate”
Did the Victorians ever think like that? Did the early designers of the Tube? “Oh it’s only for the locals, put up a brick shed that looks like a prison toilet block”
No. They took care. They also wanted to sell their train lines as things to use. The uplifting or cosy or welcoming station said “come in here, let us whisk you away”
Thanet Parkway…. Does not
Which was in many ways unfortunate, as it meant the railways, particularly lightly used country railways, became much more expensive and inflexible than they needed to be.
Are you actually arguing it was unfortunate they built beautiful stations and it would have been better if they’d thrown up toilet blocks? Coz they are easier to demolish? Or what?
I am saying that if they had made railways cheaper to run by - for example - building wooden halts at regular intervals rather than Gothic fantasies at distances the economics of rural branch lines might have been rather more helpful and perhaps not quite so many of them would have been shut.
I struggle to see how that could be the case. They would surely have been closed and demolished with less fuss than their more invested-in counterparts.
But ugly stations would have added to the sum of human unhappiness, which apparently is what at least 1/3 of PB desires
Unfortunately, there is a slice of human psyche that finds satisfaction in unhappiness. Plenty of media products, factual and fictional, have grown fat on that insight.
There's also a streak of selfishness and stinginess that says that the public deserve no more than the minimal functionality.
@JosiasJessop is probably right- this was done to a budget, and that budget wasn't enough to stretch to civilising features.
Disabled people might say that being able to access the platforms is a 'civilising' feature. IMO that's what most of the complaints about the structure is: the footbridge, ramps and lifts to allow accessibility to what are already raised platforms.
Architects love this sort of thing. They would have designed a station that cost a billion pounds to build, and would have Leon flooding it with his little man-babies from as far as Lviv. The the client adds constraints. It needs to be accessible. We got fined because some scrote dropped a brick onto the head of someone below. Potential future overhead electrification means we need x amount of headroom. Most of all: we need it for y amount.
And hence architects are *really* limited in what they can do. If you want to (say) drop accessibility requirements, that would both save a lot of money and make it look a lot better. But would also lead to the station not opening because it did not meet requirements.
Again, I'd love people to come up with their alternatives.
Maybe some trees? And a canopy?
How do you get trees on an elevated platform?
Canopies: fair enough, but they are costly. And probably would not be seen on the elevation you first complained about.
I mean trees and canopies in front of the station. The elevation I have provided is the FRONT of the station ffs. Not some ugly loading bay at the back
And yes, amazingly, I like St Pancras
I actually get your point about cost. If this station had a budget of £1m I’d say well ok. There wasn’t much they could do
£35 fucking million. To produce THAT
Also, why on earth are you defending it? Aren’t you a railway geek? People will support railways if they are beautiful or fast or uplifting or impressive, not if they are deliberately depressing, joyless, mean and off putting
Ditto all developments
There is a wider question about why *any* infrastructure projects in the UK cost so much. But if you look at the cost of opening stations on operating railway lines, they're always mahoosively expensive. Partly for the reasons I've gone into below.
Now, if you want to volunteer to work (get your hands dirty) to build a new station in a *dangerous* environment, feel free to argue for that right. If you want others to build stuff in a dangerous environment so you can save 1/2p on your tax, I might suggest you go to Bakhmut.
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
It might sound harsh, but if there has been a sea change when it comes to high street usage it might not be possible to turn it around.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Why the fuck is “functional enough” ever acceptable?!
I find mindsets like yours entirely incomprehensible
When I am working away I travel hundreds of miles by train at inconvenient hours with unpleasant people each week. You fly from point to point on expenses. When you go cattle-truck class it's an adventure. When I go cattle-truck class it's Sunday. Things like being clean, dry, warm, arriving on time, having a friendly guard, possibly a place to sit down and have a cup of tea and not be stabbed/panhandled/shit myself are priorities for me. Things like chocolates on pillows and the nearest whorehouse are priorities for you.
Yes, we are mutually incomprehensible. Why is this a surprise?
But you won’t be clean dry and warm at that station, as Thanet Parkway has no waiting room, and no place to shelter from the weather, and nowhere to get a cup of tea
So even by your bizarre, lowbrow, masochistic and dreary standards, it fails as architecture
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
It might sound harsh, but if there has been a sea change when it comes to high street usage it might not be possible to turn it around.
Which was my point. I dont want billions spent on trying to revive something that is as outdated as the buggy whip and won't work
But the board aren't going to fire her....how can you have the boss.of a bank who can't keep their trap shut about the finances of a client.....its then open season on any employee who wants to do the same.
According to Sky this is a holding position and the government are meeting the banks tomorrow over account closures but the government may use it's 40% shareholding to replace her, notwithstanding the board are threatening her remuneration and bonus package
re; Ron DeSantis, hope that anyone who was injured in automobile accident is OK, and wish them speedy recovery.
That said, rather ironic seeing has how RDS campaign IS a car crash, politically speaking.
Worth noting that so was John McCain's campaign in 2007 . . . before he made his major course correction that led to JMcC winning the 2008 GOP nomination.
On the OTHER hand, the car crash that was Rudy Giuliani's campaign that same cycle, led to . . . a truly spectacular pile-up just over a decade later, featuring an actual junk-yard . . . and a pack of truly vicious junk-yard curs . . .
The most interesting candidate atm is RFK,
The Ye of 2024? Interesting as he is (at least currently) a WAY better shill for Trump that Kanye West ever was.
Sad but true.
Nah
the Democrats are Trumps best shills as they want him as the GOP candidate.
NOT THIS DEMOCRAT. And I am FAR from alone.
It's a conservative habit to explain to liberals what they're thinking. Despite all the practice, they never got very good at it.
And vice versa of course.
Some, perhaps. I must confess many of their mental processes are a complete mystery to me.
Apologies for yet more Super-Blurro-Vision pics, here's Brent Cross West (scheduled for October) from a passing Thameslink train last Monday:
(Snip)
We should surely be overjoyed that new stations are being built. After the drought in the 80s and 90s.
As for costs, Willington station in Derbyshire opened in 1995 for ... £565,000. We do have to ask why costs have increased so much, although park and rides will always cost more than the small Willington.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Aren't those spaced out whitish thingies shelters on the platform? aerial view here
Well, they're not exactly PROPER canopies are they? Even Reading Green Park has proper canopies.
I went to Ramsgate in May, took some shots of Thanet PW from a passing train:
Oh! I thought the shelters were each the full size of each re-entrant in the barrier. That's insulting. Imagine piling into that and someone starts smoking and someone else starts coughing or talking to the clouds or, indeed, pissing in the corner (hopefully the outside one).
Point raised and decisively resolved!
Was at Mallaig station the other day in the rain. It has exactly one of those bus shelter things for the whole platform and as far as I know, the whole station.
Sure, but it has a roofed ticket office and concourse on the same level as the platform.
Annoyingly it had a canopy over a decent chunk of the platform but it got tatty and taken down to save on refurbishment, presumably - back in the 70s when the future of th eline was in doubt.
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
It might sound harsh, but if there has been a sea change when it comes to high street usage it might not be possible to turn it around.
Which was my point. I dont want billions spent on trying to revive something that is as outdated as the buggy whip and won't work
I was agreeing with you. I don't see it coming back for most places. There isn't the demand.
re; Ron DeSantis, hope that anyone who was injured in automobile accident is OK, and wish them speedy recovery.
That said, rather ironic seeing has how RDS campaign IS a car crash, politically speaking.
Worth noting that so was John McCain's campaign in 2007 . . . before he made his major course correction that led to JMcC winning the 2008 GOP nomination.
On the OTHER hand, the car crash that was Rudy Giuliani's campaign that same cycle, led to . . . a truly spectacular pile-up just over a decade later, featuring an actual junk-yard . . . and a pack of truly vicious junk-yard curs . . .
The most interesting candidate atm is RFK,
Is he though? He seems like a pretty bog standard conspiracist anti-establishment type. Unconventional compared to others (less so than it used to be, given the election deniers etc), but predictable all the same.
The question is who will give the US the change it needs, Biden and Trump both are status quo men, RDS or RFK might change something. who knows ?
RFKjr is NOT a serious candidate/alternative for President.
No more than Kanye West was. Or Lyndon LaRouche, though at least HE wasn't a 100% GOP Con-job.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
Not hellbent to, as its well outside the London area - but it's not exactly been welcome locally, given it's in the middle of nowhere and there is only an intermittent bus service. And there are NO SHELTERS on the platform.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
Aren't those spaced out whitish thingies shelters on the platform? aerial view here
Well, they're not exactly PROPER canopies are they? Even Reading Green Park has proper canopies.
I went to Ramsgate in May, took some shots of Thanet PW from a passing train:
Oh! I thought the shelters were each the full size of each re-entrant in the barrier. That's insulting. Imagine piling into that and someone starts smoking and someone else starts coughing or talking to the clouds or, indeed, pissing in the corner (hopefully the outside one).
Point raised and decisively resolved!
Was at Mallaig station the other day in the rain. It has exactly one of those bus shelter things for the whole platform and as far as I know, the whole station.
Sure, but it has a roofed ticket office and concourse on the same level as the platform.
Annoyingly it had a canopy over a decent chunk of the platform but it got tatty and taken down to save on refurbishment, presumably - back in the 70s when the future of th eline was in doubt.
During office hours it does.
How many trains outside office hours on that line? It's not a commuter railway or mass transit irban one with late travellers, unless it has changed a lot since my last trips on it.
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
It might sound harsh, but if there has been a sea change when it comes to high street usage it might not be possible to turn it around.
Which was my point. I dont want billions spent on trying to revive something that is as outdated as the buggy whip and won't work
I was agreeing with you. I don't see it coming back for most places. There isn't the demand.
Sadly though there are those that will advocate for money to save them
But the board aren't going to fire her....how can you have the boss.of a bank who can't keep their trap shut about the finances of a client.....its then open season on any employee who wants to do the same.
According to Sky this is a holding position and the government are meeting the banks tomorrow over account closures but the government may use it's 40% shareholding to replace her, notwithstanding the board are threatening her remuneration and bonus package
Frankly I think her position is untenable
That's OUR 40% shareholding. Putting something of a spoke in the wheel of the "private company, can do what it likes" argument.
But the board aren't going to fire her....how can you have the boss.of a bank who can't keep their trap shut about the finances of a client.....its then open season on any employee who wants to do the same.
According to Sky this is a holding position and the government are meeting the banks tomorrow over account closures but the government may use it's 40% shareholding to replace her, notwithstanding the board are threatening her remuneration and bonus package
Frankly I think her position is untenable
I agree with the final point. No matter what was said or wasn’t said to even give some form of inference about a customer to a journalist isn’t a great look for a banking boss.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Also, what the fuck is this:
“It's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate”
Did the Victorians ever think like that? Did the early designers of the Tube? “Oh it’s only for the locals, put up a brick shed that looks like a prison toilet block”
No. They took care. They also wanted to sell their train lines as things to use. The uplifting or cosy or welcoming station said “come in here, let us whisk you away”
Thanet Parkway…. Does not
Which was in many ways unfortunate, as it meant the railways, particularly lightly used country railways, became much more expensive and inflexible than they needed to be.
Are you actually arguing it was unfortunate they built beautiful stations and it would have been better if they’d thrown up toilet blocks? Coz they are easier to demolish? Or what?
I am saying that if they had made railways cheaper to run by - for example - building wooden halts at regular intervals rather than Gothic fantasies at distances the economics of rural branch lines might have been rather more helpful and perhaps not quite so many of them would have been shut.
I struggle to see how that could be the case. They would surely have been closed and demolished with less fuss than their more invested-in counterparts.
But ugly stations would have added to the sum of human unhappiness, which apparently is what at least 1/3 of PB desires
Unfortunately, there is a slice of human psyche that finds satisfaction in unhappiness. Plenty of media products, factual and fictional, have grown fat on that insight.
There's also a streak of selfishness and stinginess that says that the public deserve no more than the minimal functionality.
@JosiasJessop is probably right- this was done to a budget, and that budget wasn't enough to stretch to civilising features.
Disabled people might say that being able to access the platforms is a 'civilising' feature. IMO that's what most of the complaints about the structure is: the footbridge, ramps and lifts to allow accessibility to what are already raised platforms.
Architects love this sort of thing. They would have designed a station that cost a billion pounds to build, and would have Leon flooding it with his little man-babies from as far as Lviv. The the client adds constraints. It needs to be accessible. We got fined because some scrote dropped a brick onto the head of someone below. Potential future overhead electrification means we need x amount of headroom. Most of all: we need it for y amount.
And hence architects are *really* limited in what they can do. If you want to (say) drop accessibility requirements, that would both save a lot of money and make it look a lot better. But would also lead to the station not opening because it did not meet requirements.
Again, I'd love people to come up with their alternatives.
Maybe some trees? And a canopy?
How do you get trees on an elevated platform?
Canopies: fair enough, but they are costly. And probably would not be seen on the elevation you first complained about.
I mean trees and canopies in front of the station. The elevation I have provided is the FRONT of the station ffs. Not some ugly loading bay at the back
And yes, amazingly, I like St Pancras
I actually get your point about cost. If this station had a budget of £1m I’d say well ok. There wasn’t much they could do
£35 fucking million. To produce THAT
Also, why on earth are you defending it? Aren’t you a railway geek? People will support railways if they are beautiful or fast or uplifting or impressive, not if they are deliberately depressing, joyless, mean and off putting
Ditto all developments
The absence of any form of shelter is probably deliberate, as the station is un-manned, shelter might attract loiterers.
The whole thing is a miserable, depressing spectacle.
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
It might sound harsh, but if there has been a sea change when it comes to high street usage it might not be possible to turn it around.
Which was my point. I dont want billions spent on trying to revive something that is as outdated as the buggy whip and won't work
Cambridge North - a bit of oldy already (2017), but didn't get round to checking it out till Thursday last! Only trouble is the footbridge precludes photography because it has loads of tiny holes in the walls!
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
Public spaces encompass a lot more than just high streets, of course. If you turn city centres into residential areas (which I tend to approve), good public spaces become more important, not less.
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
"Charity" shops are mostly a tax dodge anyway.
Tell Oxfam style shops to pay NNDR on the same basis as every other shop and they would largely vanish.
Taxes should be low, fair and consistently paid by everyone. Favoured groups not paying their taxes means they have to be higher on everyone else and completely distorts the market.
Good luck with that one. I think charity shops (especially those supporting development in countries much much poorer than us) should be in the same position re NNDR etc as agricultural land currently is.
Though ag. land is a very tempting target given that we need to increase the tax take by about £300bn pa (about 30%) if we are to pay out debt interest, stop our addiction to borrowing and pay for even a quarter of the extra things to R4 Today programme tells us the taxpayer needs to pay more for each day.
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
Public spaces encompass a lot more than just high streets, of course. If you turn city centres into residential areas (which I tend to approve), good public spaces become more important, not less.
High streets will still have a place, restaurants, cafe's etc. Social life. The sooner we switch to that than assuming every high street should have a dixon's and a supermarket the better.
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
"Charity" shops are mostly a tax dodge anyway.
Tell Oxfam style shops to pay NNDR on the same basis as every other shop and they would largely vanish.
Taxes should be low, fair and consistently paid by everyone. Favoured groups not paying their taxes means they have to be higher on everyone else and completely distorts the market.
It is not even about tax, the only time most go to a high street is because they are on there way somewhere else, I have to goto a high street because I use a bus, I get a bus there then I get a bus out to where I actually want to be. I am not going to go shop there. Like most people I can get all I need outside a high street at lower price and with better choice. The only people who use high streets these days are old people.
Their prevalence is all about tax avoidance though. As far as I understand it ...
A real shop on the High Street would need to pay high rates of NNDR (commercial Council Tax). This can help make real shops unviable.
An empty shop would see the Landlord responsible for the NNDR while not getting rent
Charity shops are exempt from NNDR.
So a charity gets land the landlord can't let at a cut down rent or even rent free. Landlord avoids being responsible for NNDR anymore, shop opens that doesn't pay taxes and barely has to pay rent if it has to pay any at all.
Meanwhile commercial rivals have to pay taxes and rent. And taxes go higher on them as not paid by everyone, so they become unviable, so land is unrented, so more charity shops open in a vicious circle.
Jesus. It seems like people on here want every new station to be St Pancras or Kings Cross.
... and then they wonder why so few new stations are built...
Do they ? Or do they just want a bit more attention paid to their design, so they both function better, and are less ugly ?
Well exactly. Amazingly I believe there is probably a landing zone somewhere between St Pancras and Thanet Parkway. Somewhere with an attempt at decent design, proper shelter, loos, canopies, a nice welcoming entrance. And trees. Maybe some trees
This should not be impossible with a budget of £35 million
Yet we have Thanet Parkway, a station so bad even @Sunil_Prasannan won’t go there
I brought this up yesterday - the public realm is so important to people's wellbeing, particularly in a economy where millions are WFH in a tiny flat or new build copy and paste.
HS2 must not water down its station designs. If you think the station above is bad, check out the new ones in suburban Scotland (Inverness Airport, for example). The redevelopment of High Streets is also an essential public investment.
High streets are not important to most people, we never fucking go there. Redeveloping them is a total waste of money. Turn them residential and tell the oxfam shops to fuck off
"Charity" shops are mostly a tax dodge anyway.
Tell Oxfam style shops to pay NNDR on the same basis as every other shop and they would largely vanish.
Taxes should be low, fair and consistently paid by everyone. Favoured groups not paying their taxes means they have to be higher on everyone else and completely distorts the market.
Good luck with that one. I think charity shops (especially those supporting development in countries much much poorer than us) should be in the same position re NNDR etc as agricultural land currently is.
Though ag. land is a very tempting target given that we need to increase the tax take by about £300bn pa (about 30%) if we are to pay out debt interest, stop our addiction to borrowing and pay for even a quarter of the extra things to R4 Today programme tells us the taxpayer needs to pay more for each day.
Most charity shops like oxfam do little more than pay out fat salaries to their executives. It is frightening how many major charities actually spend of their income on the cause they claim to support.
Jesus. It seems like people on here want every new station to be St Pancras or Kings Cross.
... and then they wonder why so few new stations are built...
Do they ? Or do they just want a bit more attention paid to their design, so they both function better, and are less ugly ?
Good design is important. The things we make are part of our daily lives and if they are designed well or lives are easier, more pleasant and safer. Bad design makes people miserable and frustrated.
Britain deserves better than the design of that station.
Jesus. It seems like people on here want every new station to be St Pancras or Kings Cross.
... and then they wonder why so few new stations are built...
Do they ? Or do they just want a bit more attention paid to their design, so they both function better, and are less ugly ?
Quite.
This is a good primer on why some buildings are considered 'beautiful' - if all public architecture followed these lines, it could be as sleekly modernist is it wished.
Alanbrooke - Since you asked: I would not describe either sitting governor running for president as "mendacious grifters". Florida's Ron DeSantis has his faults, but I would not describe him that way. Former Microsoft exec, and current North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, looks as if he would make a good president.
Then there are two former governors in the race, Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson, both of whom would probably be fine presidents. Incidentally, in part of his long career, Hutchinson prosecuted a number of "mendacious grifters".
For example: "In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Hutchinson U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. At age 31, Hutchinson was the nation's youngest U.S. Attorney. He made national headlines after successfully prosecuting The Covenant, The Sword, and The Arm of the Lord (CSA), a white supremacist organization founded by polygamist James Ellison. The CSA forced a three-day armed standoff with local, state, and federal law enforcement. As U.S. Attorney, Hutchinson personally negotiated a peaceful conclusion to the standoff." (Links omitted.) source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_Hutchinson
Jesus. It seems like people on here want every new station to be St Pancras or Kings Cross.
... and then they wonder why so few new stations are built...
Do they ? Or do they just want a bit more attention paid to their design, so they both function better, and are less ugly ?
Well exactly. Amazingly I believe there is probably a landing zone somewhere between St Pancras and Thanet Parkway. Somewhere with an attempt at decent design, proper shelter, loos, canopies, a nice welcoming entrance. And trees. Maybe some trees
This should not be impossible with a budget of £35 million
Yet we have Thanet Parkway, a station so bad even @Sunil_Prasannan won’t go there
Heh, actually the reason it's not high up on my bouquet list is simply because it is WAY outside London!
Two sort of overlapping "missions":
A) I've visited every station in London, and B ) been on all "normal everyday" National Rail, Tube, Light Rail and Tram lines in Great Britain.
But the board aren't going to fire her....how can you have the boss.of a bank who can't keep their trap shut about the finances of a client.....its then open season on any employee who wants to do the same.
Nigey's hitherto unimpeachable record was sullied beyond repair. Surely he is considering whether he can make sure he has enough cash liquidity to keep his Coutts' account open forevermore via some litigation. What the price to satisfy Nige's reputation? £5m, £10m, £20m, £50m. It's not like NatWest can't afford it.
Hey @Sunil_Prasannan are you going to visit Britain’s newest railway station?
It’s a thing of beauty alright. Look at that bench. It’s our version of St Pancras
It's just a car park with a station attached. [Edit] Who wants to look at it? You can't even see anything from the platforms cos noise barriers. Or may be wind barriers. No namby pamby canopied roof for the hardy Commuters of Kent, or perhaps they are Kentich Commuters, I can never remember which. Just a few surplus shelters left over from the last but three Brexit processing camp plans.
It’s extraordinarily hideous and unfriendly. How can architects and planners still get away with buildings this bad?
As you note, there is no shelter from the weather. So if you alight from the train and have to wait for a car, taxi (highly likely) and it’s raining: tough shit
Mind boggling
I have seen worse, tbh. Stations east of That London aren't great.
It's also unnecessary now apparently, due to WFH.
But it's in keeping with the utterly thoughtless over-development which is ruining Thanet.
Ngk, I dunno. It isn't great - as you correctly point out, that flat expanse will be bleak and bitter in winter. But it's a parkway, and it's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate. It'll never be loved, but it's functional enough. It's similar to some others I've seen, and better in some cases.
Tell you what. I'll wait for Sunil or Geoff Marshal to go to it and see what they say
Also, what the fuck is this:
“It's only there to serve the commuters in the local estate”
Did the Victorians ever think like that? Did the early designers of the Tube? “Oh it’s only for the locals, put up a brick shed that looks like a prison toilet block”
No. They took care. They also wanted to sell their train lines as things to use. The uplifting or cosy or welcoming station said “come in here, let us whisk you away”
Thanet Parkway…. Does not
Which was in many ways unfortunate, as it meant the railways, particularly lightly used country railways, became much more expensive and inflexible than they needed to be.
Are you actually arguing it was unfortunate they built beautiful stations and it would have been better if they’d thrown up toilet blocks? Coz they are easier to demolish? Or what?
I am saying that if they had made railways cheaper to run by - for example - building wooden halts at regular intervals rather than Gothic fantasies at distances the economics of rural branch lines might have been rather more helpful and perhaps not quite so many of them would have been shut.
I struggle to see how that could be the case. They would surely have been closed and demolished with less fuss than their more invested-in counterparts.
But ugly stations would have added to the sum of human unhappiness, which apparently is what at least 1/3 of PB desires
Unfortunately, there is a slice of human psyche that finds satisfaction in unhappiness. Plenty of media products, factual and fictional, have grown fat on that insight.
There's also a streak of selfishness and stinginess that says that the public deserve no more than the minimal functionality.
@JosiasJessop is probably right- this was done to a budget, and that budget wasn't enough to stretch to civilising features.
Disabled people might say that being able to access the platforms is a 'civilising' feature. IMO that's what most of the complaints about the structure is: the footbridge, ramps and lifts to allow accessibility to what are already raised platforms.
Architects love this sort of thing. They would have designed a station that cost a billion pounds to build, and would have Leon flooding it with his little man-babies from as far as Lviv. The the client adds constraints. It needs to be accessible. We got fined because some scrote dropped a brick onto the head of someone below. Potential future overhead electrification means we need x amount of headroom. Most of all: we need it for y amount.
And hence architects are *really* limited in what they can do. If you want to (say) drop accessibility requirements, that would both save a lot of money and make it look a lot better. But would also lead to the station not opening because it did not meet requirements.
Again, I'd love people to come up with their alternatives.
Maybe some trees? And a canopy?
How do you get trees on an elevated platform?
Canopies: fair enough, but they are costly. And probably would not be seen on the elevation you first complained about.
I mean trees and canopies in front of the station. The elevation I have provided is the FRONT of the station ffs. Not some ugly loading bay at the back
And yes, amazingly, I like St Pancras
I actually get your point about cost. If this station had a budget of £1m I’d say well ok. There wasn’t much they could do
£35 fucking million. To produce THAT
Also, why on earth are you defending it? Aren’t you a railway geek? People will support railways if they are beautiful or fast or uplifting or impressive, not if they are deliberately depressing, joyless, mean and off putting
Ditto all developments
The absence of any form of shelter is probably deliberate, as the station is un-manned, shelter might attract loiterers.
The whole thing is a miserable, depressing spectacle.
I wonder if Thanet Parkway has these in its design:
In 2011, Hampshire Police moved into a new building in Southampton. It looks cool; but sadly is going to at least partially close after only a decade or so due to floods and a legionnaire outbreak
In 2011, Hampshire Police moved into a new building in Southampton. It looks cool; but sadly is going to at least partially close after only a decade or so due to floods and a legionnaire outbreak
It's still possible to build beautiful stuff - I was amazed to find out the "Atlas" bar in Singapore was opened in 2017.
Design should cater in order for 1) The needs of people using it 2) Cost 3) looking pretty
How about the aesthetes in the population who NEED beauty?
I suspect this is a lot larger as a percentage of the whole than you realise. PB is infested with engineering geek/data types. Beauty is not their thing
It's still possible to build beautiful stuff - I was amazed to find out the "Atlas" bar in Singapore was opened in 2017.
Design should cater in order for 1) The needs of people using it 2) Cost 3) looking pretty
How about the aesthetes in the population who NEED beauty?
I suspect this is a lot larger as a percentage of the whole than you realise. PB is infested with engineering geek/data types. Beauty is not the their thing
For many people, it matters quite a lot
Beauty is worthless if it doesn't cater for the people use it. Would you queue up to wait for a bus while being urinated on by tramps just because the building was beautiful? Well maybe you would but I bet most wouldn't.
I don't claim beauty is not important I am just saying catering for the needs of those using it and cost are more important. Cater for 1 and 2 then make it beautiful not make it beautiful but impractical. Slough's new bus station is a prime example of the latter
It's still possible to build beautiful stuff - I was amazed to find out the "Atlas" bar in Singapore was opened in 2017.
Design should cater in order for 1) The needs of people using it 2) Cost 3) looking pretty
How about the aesthetes in the population who NEED beauty?
I suspect this is a lot larger as a percentage of the whole than you realise. PB is infested with engineering geek/data types. Beauty is not the their thing
For many people, it matters quite a lot
Beauty is worthless if it doesn't cater for the people use it. Would you queue up to wait for a bus while being urinated on by tramps just because the building was beautiful? Well maybe you would but I bet most wouldn't.
I don't claim beauty is not important I am just saying catering for the needs of those using it and cost are more important. Cater for 1 and 2 then make it beautiful not make it beautiful but impractical. Slough's new bus station is a prime example of the latter
It's still possible to build beautiful stuff - I was amazed to find out the "Atlas" bar in Singapore was opened in 2017.
Design should cater in order for 1) The needs of people using it 2) Cost 3) looking pretty
How about the aesthetes in the population who NEED beauty?
I suspect this is a lot larger as a percentage of the whole than you realise. PB is infested with engineering geek/data types. Beauty is not the their thing
For many people, it matters quite a lot
Beauty is worthless if it doesn't cater for the people use it. Would you queue up to wait for a bus while being urinated on by tramps just because the building was beautiful? Well maybe you would but I bet most wouldn't.
I don't claim beauty is not important I am just saying catering for the needs of those using it and cost are more important. Cater for 1 and 2 then make it beautiful not make it beautiful but impractical. Slough's new bus station is a prime example of the latter
You miss my point. Beauty can be a NEED
How is AI on the beauty thing? The evidence is on the threadbare to non existent so far.
Comments
That’s lovely and sad. But in the USA they demolished many dozens of stations easily as handsome as that. Beautiful gothic and classical temples. Entire websites are devoted to them
😓
Tell Oxfam style shops to pay NNDR on the same basis as every other shop and they would largely vanish.
Taxes should be low, fair and consistently paid by everyone. Favoured groups not paying their taxes means they have to be higher on everyone else and completely distorts the market.
So the whole station will become a urinal within weeks. Result!
Once again I find myself in complete disagreement with the thrust of this argument.
OGH has selectively chosen one poll - Redfield & Wilton last evening had 56% of the 2019 Conservative voting cohort remaining loyal, 19% Don't Know, 14% going to Labour and 6% to Reform.
Now, that 19% represents about 9% of the electorate so not an inconsiderable number and half the R&K Don't Knows. The second largest contingent of DKs are those who say they didn't vote last time.
The legacy of 1992 hangs over 30 years on - those who were psychologically scarred by that experience may hold the view the Conservatives will find something, anything, to bring the waverers back and in the polling booth while the intention going in may be to vote Labour or LD, the pencil will hover and then head back to the blue, the deed will be done and the voter will exit.
Perhaps - that's not what happened in 1997. It may be a number of the DKs will abstain - that won't bother Starmer and Labour too much while others may vote tactically or wastefully. To assume 100% of 2019 Conservative voting DKs will vote Conservative next time is steetching credibility a bit.
Last night's polling continued to show big Labour leads and big Labour swings in England but Sunak is right - the election is not a done deal, I'm sure Starmer will agree. Not a single vote has been cast and the Conservatives have a big majority but big swings in General Elections aren't the novelty they once were and if tactical voting can gain any traction (plenty of evidence in S&A and S&F last week and perhaps U&SR as well) whatever damage uniform UNS might incur will be compounded.
I'm looking forward to Brent Cross West on the Thameslink line, scheduled for October. To maintain my 100% record of visiting every station in London. It's not far from your patch, so easy for you to visit too
https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/more-travel-help/thanet-parkway-station
Got a cafe and waiting area at Slough, though I go off it very quickly when I read this
"When the Heart of Slough master plan is complete the bus station will be surrounded by five 8 to 14 storey office buildings. The Bus Station is an urban object with the design considered from all aspects, passengers underneath and office workers viewing from above. Its sculptural form and the design of the hard landscaping will provide a counterpoint to the rectilinear corporate architecture. It will create an identifiable place within Slough that is a celebration of public transport and is a memorable first and last impression of Slough."
The boss of NatWest has admitted a "serious error of judgement" in discussing Nigel Farage's relationship with the bank.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66307353
But the board aren't going to fire her....how can you have the boss.of a bank who can't keep their trap shut about the finances of a client.....its then open season on any employee who wants to do the same.
I went to Ramsgate in May, took some shots of Thanet PW from a passing train:
Point raised and decisively resolved!
Despite all the practice, they never got very good at it.
https://twitter.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1683872835201105920
... and then they wonder why so few new stations are built...
Another very strong poll for AfD (21.5%) and they are now a clear second to the CDU/CSU.
The question is whether Merz will take a Nelsonesque view and turn a blind eye to them or whether he sees them as prospective supporters of a Union minority Government.
Will AfD be the German version of the Sweden Democrats and support a centre-right minority or will they end up like VOX who had a poor election on Sunday in Spain? There's still a long way before the next German election (late 2025) so it'll be interesting to see how Merz takes his new line of co-operating with the AfD locally.
He might have some Party management issues as some elements of the CDU are strongly opposed to AfD.
Annoyingly it had a canopy over a decent chunk of the platform but it got tatty and taken down to save on refurbishment, presumably - back in the 70s when the future of th eline was in doubt.
Now, if you want to volunteer to work (get your hands dirty) to build a new station in a *dangerous* environment, feel free to argue for that right. If you want others to build stuff in a dangerous environment so you can save 1/2p on your tax, I might suggest you go to Bakhmut.
Though I'm pretty indifferent to stations personally. Functional and not outright ugly will do, where victorian grandeur is not viable
Frankly I think her position is untenable
I must confess many of their mental processes are a complete mystery to me.
As for costs, Willington station in Derbyshire opened in 1995 for ... £565,000. We do have to ask why costs have increased so much, although park and rides will always cost more than the small Willington.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willington_railway_station
How did that ... oh ...
The whole thing is a miserable, depressing spectacle.
:
If you turn city centres into residential areas (which I tend to approve), good public spaces become more important, not less.
Or do they just want a bit more attention paid to their design, so they both function better, and are less ugly ?
Though ag. land is a very tempting target given that we need to increase the tax take by about £300bn pa (about 30%) if we are to pay out debt interest, stop our addiction to borrowing and pay for even a quarter of the extra things to R4 Today programme tells us the taxpayer needs to pay more for each day.
A real shop on the High Street would need to pay high rates of NNDR (commercial Council Tax). This can help make real shops unviable.
An empty shop would see the Landlord responsible for the NNDR while not getting rent
Charity shops are exempt from NNDR.
So a charity gets land the landlord can't let at a cut down rent or even rent free. Landlord avoids being responsible for NNDR anymore, shop opens that doesn't pay taxes and barely has to pay rent if it has to pay any at all.
Meanwhile commercial rivals have to pay taxes and rent. And taxes go higher on them as not paid by everyone, so they become unviable, so land is unrented, so more charity shops open in a vicious circle.
This should not be impossible with a budget of £35 million
Yet we have Thanet Parkway, a station so bad even @Sunil_Prasannan won’t go there
Britain deserves better than the design of that station.
This is a good primer on why some buildings are considered 'beautiful' - if all public architecture followed these lines, it could be as sleekly modernist is it wished.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C9pg2j2oGy0&embeds_referring_euri=https://theaestheticcity.com/&feature=emb_logo
It doesn't have to be St Pancras, but it shouldn't be ugly.
Around the world you see them wanting to remove checks and balances and ensure continual re-election.
The right wing need to stfu about woke. The biggest danger to the public are these right wing nutjobs.
1) The needs of people using it
2) Cost
3) looking pretty
A question: when was the last 'beautiful' new station built in the UK, on a non-city centre site?
Then there are two former governors in the race, Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson, both of whom would probably be fine presidents. Incidentally, in part of his long career, Hutchinson prosecuted a number of "mendacious grifters".
For example: "In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Hutchinson U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. At age 31, Hutchinson was the nation's youngest U.S. Attorney. He made national headlines after successfully prosecuting The Covenant, The Sword, and The Arm of the Lord (CSA), a white supremacist organization founded by polygamist James Ellison. The CSA forced a three-day armed standoff with local, state, and federal law enforcement. As U.S. Attorney, Hutchinson personally negotiated a peaceful conclusion to the standoff."
(Links omitted.)
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_Hutchinson
I hope I am helping you out of your struggles.
Then again, brutalism is sh*t.
Two sort of overlapping "missions":
A) I've visited every station in London,
and
B ) been on all "normal everyday" National Rail, Tube, Light Rail and Tram lines in Great Britain.
whether he can make sure he has enough cash liquidity to keep his Coutts' account open forevermore via some litigation. What the price to satisfy Nige's reputation? £5m, £10m, £20m, £50m. It's not like NatWest can't afford it.
The apology isn't really an apology, its essentially blaming the BBC journalist as being a wally.
Somebody is lying because BBC say they double checked with their source at the bank before running the story.
Its like the spiderman meme where they are all pointing at one another.
https://londonist.com/london/secret/urine-deflectors
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/urine-deflectors-of-fleet-street
https://www.google.com/maps/@57.6430163,-3.3109223,3a,75y,228.53h,79.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3y-hSNluV5SUJNQyDFNkzQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu
After all, they voted it the world's best new town.
From this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slough_bus_station#/media/File:Slough_bus_station_berkshire.jpg
To this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slough_bus_station#/media/File:Side_view_of_Slough_bus_station_(geograph_3459140).jpg
This may be controversial, but the new one is as bad as the old. Especially if there is a fire:
https://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/23676591.no-update-slough-bus-station-nine-months-fire/
In 2011, Hampshire Police moved into a new building in Southampton. It looks cool; but sadly is going to at least partially close after only a decade or so due to floods and a legionnaire outbreak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:So'ton_Central_Police_Station.jpg
We can perhaps add a 4) to the above:
4) Maintainability. The ongoing costs of operating and maintaining the structure.
AND it’s modern. Not Poundbury
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-64944542
Something has to give.
I suspect this is a lot larger as a percentage of the whole than you realise. PB is infested with engineering geek/data types. Beauty is not their thing
For many people, it matters quite a lot
We got ONLY Thanet Parkway for £35m
Anyway you asked for a beautiful, new modern station, not in a city centre. I fulfilled the brief
I don't claim beauty is not important I am just saying catering for the needs of those using it and cost are more important. Cater for 1 and 2 then make it beautiful not make it beautiful but impractical. Slough's new bus station is a prime example of the latter
Headed for the Lakes for a fortnight tomorrow and the forecast is dire.
Pah!
Still better than Thanet, mind
And BTW, when it comes to cost, that's a new line. Thanet was built on an existing line, which *really* increases cost.