I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
A lot of it is AstroTurf, but it only works by tapping into a couple of genuine fears.
One is that geometry hates cars and cars kill the concept. If you have enough road and parking space for most adults to drive regularly, homes, businesses and nice things end up too far apart. Hence the doom loop that leads to most modern British developments- provide sufficient space for cars and everyone ends up depending on them. To make the sort of walkable communities (that price signals show that people want to live in), there isn't really space for lots of cars.
Similarly, the standard British nice house (detached, two stories, largeish garden, double garage) is also pretty space hungry. To make 15 minutes work, you do need more terraces, mid rise and flats. Whilst they don't have to be crummy, too many of them have been shabbily built on the past.
So it's a concept that works better on practice than in theory. It also says to the generation that went all-in on cars "you rather messed up, and the freedom you went for isn't so desirable after all." Even if you don't say that bit out loud, it's strongly implied. My experience is that boomers (for it is they) don't like that at all.
(See also the "my car is essential and doesn't hurt anyone" stuff that accompanied ULEZ.)
Yes, 15 minute cities is really a very conservative urban idea, based on traditional housing of a century ago, rather than modern lifestyles. New developments in the style can work, but need to be appealing. Decent public transport and underground parking are key I think.
I like the idea of underground parking in theory, but do I trust a developer to design and build it properly, or would I expect a flash flood to destroy all the cars parked there as a near certainty?
See all the French towns that do this.
Geneva and Annecy (not to mention Montreux and Lausanne) even manage to build them right next to dirty great big lakes without them flooding.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
These days it's often hard to tell whether people on the right are saying things out of sheer desperation, in the forlorn hope of finally hitting on something that might save their political skins.
On reading the article, many of us live in 15-minute cities already in the sense there are local shops. London is often described as a collection of villages. What people object to is heavy-handed traffic restrictions so a minority of cyclists can ride wherever they like at the expense of people who depend on public transport.
I've never seen a LTN or other restriction that worsens public transport access.
Yes - a weird take. The idea of a bus running down a residential street (the kind that are inside LTNs) is laughable, even in cities with excellent bus services.
If we ever get back to the halcyon days of 2010, when there were double the number of bus services and you still had some running around housing estates, bus gates are a tried and tested solution. Or you just consult with the local bus companies and ensure routes aren't disrupted.
In the part of London where I live, huge chunks of bus lane were turned into cycle lane.
So the buses, which used to flow, now stop and start with the traffic. One lane in each direction…. This adds to an already problematic traffic situation - which the bus lanes had separated the buses from.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
These days it's often hard to tell whether people on the right are saying things out of sheer desperation, in the forlorn hope of finally hitting on something that might save their political skins.
On reading the article, many of us live in 15-minute cities already in the sense there are local shops. London is often described as a collection of villages. What people object to is heavy-handed traffic restrictions so a minority of cyclists can ride wherever they like at the expense of people who depend on public transport.
I've never seen a LTN or other restriction that worsens public transport access.
Yes - a weird take. The idea of a bus running down a residential street (the kind that are inside LTNs) is laughable, even in cities with excellent bus services.
If we ever get back to the halcyon days of 2010, when there were double the number of bus services and you still had some running around housing estates, bus gates are a tried and tested solution. Or you just consult with the local bus companies and ensure routes aren't disrupted.
In other bus news, Edinburgh's arms-length public bus company has returned us a nice £3.2 million dividend and 110 million journeys in 2023
"Edinburgh" - more correctly, Lothian: so the other councils get a share, too, but mostly Edin. So all the better.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
These days it's often hard to tell whether people on the right are saying things out of sheer desperation, in the forlorn hope of finally hitting on something that might save their political skins.
On reading the article, many of us live in 15-minute cities already in the sense there are local shops. London is often described as a collection of villages. What people object to is heavy-handed traffic restrictions so a minority of cyclists can ride wherever they like at the expense of people who depend on public transport.
I've never seen a LTN or other restriction that worsens public transport access.
Presumably if the congestion is down to the LTN and not the roadworks then the LTN will be abandoned at the end of the trial period. Traffic's always been pretty bad around there anyway: LTNs are often a response to motorists doing rat runs in residential streets owing to preexisting congestion on main roads. But they have to be carefully designed and if this one's not working it should be abandoned.
If it's the one in Streatham (checks: it is), it has already been suspended. The unfortunate paradox is that the more necessary such measures are (because the whole network is close to collapse) the harder they are to make work.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
These days it's often hard to tell whether people on the right are saying things out of sheer desperation, in the forlorn hope of finally hitting on something that might save their political skins.
On reading the article, many of us live in 15-minute cities already in the sense there are local shops. London is often described as a collection of villages. What people object to is heavy-handed traffic restrictions so a minority of cyclists can ride wherever they like at the expense of people who depend on public transport.
I've never seen a LTN or other restriction that worsens public transport access.
Yes - a weird take. The idea of a bus running down a residential street (the kind that are inside LTNs) is laughable, even in cities with excellent bus services.
If we ever get back to the halcyon days of 2010, when there were double the number of bus services and you still had some running around housing estates, bus gates are a tried and tested solution. Or you just consult with the local bus companies and ensure routes aren't disrupted.
In the part of London where I live, huge chunks of bus lane were turned into cycle lane.
So the buses, which used to flow, now stop and start with the traffic. One lane in each direction…. This adds to an already problematic traffic situation - which the bus lanes had separated the buses from.
The livable city logic is to ban private vehicles in that case. If there physically isn't space for everyone you would prioritise pedestrians and cyclists then public transport then private vehicles.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
These days it's often hard to tell whether people on the right are saying things out of sheer desperation, in the forlorn hope of finally hitting on something that might save their political skins.
On reading the article, many of us live in 15-minute cities already in the sense there are local shops. London is often described as a collection of villages. What people object to is heavy-handed traffic restrictions so a minority of cyclists can ride wherever they like at the expense of people who depend on public transport.
I've never seen a LTN or other restriction that worsens public transport access.
A bold claim, you might think, but let me explain.
A few years ago a few of us went on a bit of a piss up in that strange lull between Xmas and New Year. We started in the local Spoons. A few tables away was another party, quite rowdy. A wedding party, two blokes had got married, everyone was having a good time.
Both parties went their separate ways but a few hours later we rocked up in a pub and there were the same party, very much the worse for wear.
I went to the toilet, not separate urinals but one of those lovely troughs. At one end was one of the grooms, hammered.
I went to the other end of the trough and, as you do, fixed my gaze firmly on the wall directly ahead of me and let the process begin. I could see the groom wobbling in my peripheral as he struggled to stand upright. Then he leaned forward slightly, looked in my direction and said, and I quote verbatim, ‘That’s a lovely penis.’
My reaction? Well, being raised to be polite I simply said, as I zipped up and swiftly exited, ‘Cheers mate, thank you very much.’ Some people have said he was bang out of order and a pervert and I should have dropped him. Which I get, but he was very drunk, I don’t really think he knew where he was and what he was doing. Violence didn’t seem, in the few seconds the encounter lasted, to be a satisfactory way of resolving the matter.
What has always intrigued me more, when I reflect on his few, brief, enigmatic words, is what criteria he employs when deciding whether a penis is lovely or not. I assume, being of the homosexual persuasion, he has seen plenty in his time so I like to think my appendage was judged by an expert.
Of course, I would like to think his most important criteria would be sheer size but, sadly, I don’t think I can say that’s an area where my penis, if you will, stands out.
So what was it about my penis, briefly glimpsed from four feet away in a piss-ridden toilet of a scabby pub, that struck the man so deeply that he felt compelled to tell me my penis is lovely?
More detail on the Trump bond. Note the billionaire owner of the finance company has companies which have at least twice been found to have committed fraud. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Hankey
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
These days it's often hard to tell whether people on the right are saying things out of sheer desperation, in the forlorn hope of finally hitting on something that might save their political skins.
On reading the article, many of us live in 15-minute cities already in the sense there are local shops. London is often described as a collection of villages. What people object to is heavy-handed traffic restrictions so a minority of cyclists can ride wherever they like at the expense of people who depend on public transport.
I've never seen a LTN or other restriction that worsens public transport access.
Presumably if the congestion is down to the LTN and not the roadworks then the LTN will be abandoned at the end of the trial period. Traffic's always been pretty bad around there anyway: LTNs are often a response to motorists doing rat runs in residential streets owing to preexisting congestion on main roads. But they have to be carefully designed and if this one's not working it should be abandoned.
If it's the one in Streatham (checks: it is), it has already been suspended. The unfortunate paradox is that the more necessary such measures are (because the whole network is close to collapse) the harder they are to make work.
And no, there's nowhere to put a nice bypass.
Look for the worst available in the entire whole of London and smear the LTN concept with it. It's like complaining about the NHS because Shipman and Savile.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It also seems to be a favoured term of address for our Saturday Appearing Brethren.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
These days it's often hard to tell whether people on the right are saying things out of sheer desperation, in the forlorn hope of finally hitting on something that might save their political skins.
On reading the article, many of us live in 15-minute cities already in the sense there are local shops. London is often described as a collection of villages. What people object to is heavy-handed traffic restrictions so a minority of cyclists can ride wherever they like at the expense of people who depend on public transport.
I've never seen a LTN or other restriction that worsens public transport access.
Strange how so many people see a disjoint between the "local" and national picture.
I can't ever recall a similar sentiment here. "Things are booming everywhere else, but it's terrible in Manchester", or "We're doing fine, but the rest of the country's a mess" -- that's simply not what people think! -- at least in my experience.
Bear in mind that the UK is about the size of Oregon
Yes but how many Olympic-size double decker buses is that?
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
And an excellent piece from Janan Ganesh. Labour is the party of the public sector middle class as the Tories are the party of the elderly.
The dividing line in labours time in office will be less productive public sector, with ever increasing demands, versus the private sector which is seen as a cash cow.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
Sometimes they are empty, simply because they aren't connected to any other cycle lanes or off-road paths.
It's like building half a road bridge and complaining that no one is using it.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It also seems to be a favoured term of address for our Saturday Appearing Brethren.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
These days it's often hard to tell whether people on the right are saying things out of sheer desperation, in the forlorn hope of finally hitting on something that might save their political skins.
On reading the article, many of us live in 15-minute cities already in the sense there are local shops. London is often described as a collection of villages. What people object to is heavy-handed traffic restrictions so a minority of cyclists can ride wherever they like at the expense of people who depend on public transport.
I've never seen a LTN or other restriction that worsens public transport access.
Presumably if the congestion is down to the LTN and not the roadworks then the LTN will be abandoned at the end of the trial period. Traffic's always been pretty bad around there anyway: LTNs are often a response to motorists doing rat runs in residential streets owing to preexisting congestion on main roads. But they have to be carefully designed and if this one's not working it should be abandoned.
If it's the one in Streatham (checks: it is), it has already been suspended. The unfortunate paradox is that the more necessary such measures are (because the whole network is close to collapse) the harder they are to make work.
And no, there's nowhere to put a nice bypass.
Look for the worst available in the entire whole of London and smear the LTN concept with it. It's like complaining about the NHS because Shipman and Savile.
The problem is the no-investment, minimum bodge approach.
In the case of the high street where I live, they have massive (in places) pavements and a road with bus lanes.
A proper re-work to accommodate a safe cycle lane(s) and improve the experience for everyone would have cost money - initially.
Instead they shut a bus lane and fucked even that up. After rebuilding it 3 times, and a few accidents caused by insane decisions, they spent more money than a total rebuild.
My favourite was getting black curb stones to match the asphalt of the road and putting black asphalt on the bus “islands”. Which resulted in them being invisible at night.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
Sometimes they are empty, simply because they aren't connected to any other cycle lanes or off-road paths.
It's like building half a road bridge and complaining that no one is using it.
Surely if someone builds half a road bridge, the appropriate thing to do is, err, complain?
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
Sometimes they are empty, simply because they aren't connected to any other cycle lanes or off-road paths.
It's like building half a road bridge and complaining that no one is using it.
Surely if someone builds half a road bridge, the appropriate thing to do is, err, complain?
Don't worry - I'll be complaining about incoherent cycle networks till it gets banned as a topic like AI
Psilocybin is indeed a current area of psychiatric research. It also has a place at the root of the entire 1960's counterculture in the 1950's, and before the arguably more damaging LSD. Care needs to be taken that people try it in the right place and setting, though. Context is everything with hallucinogens, as the Amazonian tribes generally understand better than us in the West and Asia, with our all-against or all-for approach.
And an excellent piece from Janan Ganesh. Labour is the party of the public sector middle class as the Tories are the party of the elderly.
The dividing line in labours time in office will be less productive public sector, with ever increasing demands, versus the private sector which is seen as a cash cow.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
Sometimes they are empty, simply because they aren't connected to any other cycle lanes or off-road paths.
It's like building half a road bridge and complaining that no one is using it.
Surely if someone builds half a road bridge, the appropriate thing to do is, err, complain?
Went to Cape Town some 20 years ago and there was one outside our hotel. Allegedly the developer and the City Council disagreed about where it should end. Really bizarre look!
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
Sometimes they are empty, simply because they aren't connected to any other cycle lanes or off-road paths.
It's like building half a road bridge and complaining that no one is using it.
My favourite is when pavements are marked as cycle paths without any delineation between cyclists and pedestrians.
Can be quite alarming if it's adjacent to a busy road.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
The beauty of the cycle lanes debate is this:
Angry motorist video clips endlessly show them passing deliberately too close to cyclist then shouting at them for being on the road and not in the cycle lane. Angry motorists then complain endlessly that there are too many cycle lanes.
Isn't the simple truth that some people are impatient and have a base anger level that is bad for their blood pressure. Likely absorbing right wing media which makes them more angry. You can't make these people happy.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
Yep. London’s best bits are still those that present and perform as urban villages. 15 minute cities are a great idea. Who wants to get in their bloody car to buy a pint of milk or - even worse - a pint of beer?
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
Sometimes they are empty, simply because they aren't connected to any other cycle lanes or off-road paths.
It's like building half a road bridge and complaining that no one is using it.
Surely if someone builds half a road bridge, the appropriate thing to do is, err, complain?
Went to Cape Town some 20 years ago and there was one outside our hotel. Allegedly the developer and the City Council disagreed about where it should end. Really bizarre look!
Should claim it was designed by Damian Hirst and sell it on for $100m
My first normal wake-up time for quite a few days.
My morning reminder is a very much appreciated (really - it should confirm near normality) NHS text message of a bone marrow biopsy later this week, which for the non squeamish involves a just-under 2mm thick just under 2cm long piece of femur core being extracted.
That's as near as dammit the size of a standard matchstick.
Have a nice day, and enjoy feeding your pooch the Saturday morning bone marrow treat as a reward for accompanying you on the Park Run at the allowed one dog per person.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
The beauty of the cycle lanes debate is this:
Angry motorist video clips endlessly show them passing deliberately too close to cyclist then shouting at them for being on the road and not in the cycle lane. Angry motorists then complain endlessly that there are too many cycle lanes.
Isn't the simple truth that some people are impatient and have a base anger level that is bad for their blood pressure. Likely absorbing right wing media which makes them more angry. You can't make these people happy.
Which cyclists of a certain age and gender also suffer from. I’ve been sworn at by testosteroned-up Mamils on their way to work multiple times, usually for having the temerity to walk across the road in a traffic jam.
In Copenhagen or Amsterdam the worst you get from stepping accidentally into a cycle lane is an urgent ring of the bicycle bell as the commuters glide by on their sit up basket bikes. Much more civilised.
Like the motorists who like to do wanker sign at everything. Never understand where the pent up aggression comes from.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
That's a brilliant book and really opened up the subject for me. Mushrooms are a big part of our diet, and we've started growing our own Lion's Mane and Oysters. Have you watched his documentary?
Oooh no I haven’t but thanks so much for the tip. I will do so this weekend. I loved the book.
My parents did that - went on a mushroom course weekend, and became enthusiasts for something-somethings.
Fortunately they had a 2 acre Victorian-laid-out woodland garden, and even found some things at home.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
Yep. London’s best bits are still those that present and perform as urban villages. 15 minute cities are a great idea. Who wants to get in their bloody car to buy a pint of milk or - even worse - a pint of beer?
I think OnlyLivingBoy could well be right, that there is a corporate astroturfing contribution to the anti-15 minute cities idea, just as with certain global warming conspiracies.
However, there's also the fact that he refers to the 15-minute cities as less "masculine", which is just a rather debatable and subjective bit of current buzz-speak, and so also manna from heaven for any loony tendency wanting to recruit opposition. Those two elements are probably the main reasons why the loonies have taken up the theme.
Reading books is the biggest threat to the American way of life according to the Trump crowd. The war against librarians continues as Louisiana makes it a criminal offence to join the American Library Association
Actually the law has yet to pass - but it might, as a similar measure only narrowly failed in another state. Many such bills are have regularly been put forward by the GOP in the redder states as performative measures, which have no chance of passing. That has changed recently.
The article describes librarians as among the most trusted professionals, but they are also one of the least scrutinized professions. Librarians and library services can pretty much do what they like, without anyone ever questioning their professionalism. The result of this is that university library services in the UK have almost stopped buying BOOKS, and some are even throwing out the books that they still have. Almost all new books added to university libraries in 2024 are EBOOKS not books, You usually cannot find new books on the shelves on astronomy or machine learning, as they are nearly all in digital form now. This change has been done without announcement or consultation with students or teaching staff, who in many cases still prefer books to ebooks (if they were asked).
Research has suggested that most students learn more effectively from books than from ebooks. However, in CILIP (the library and information association) it is highly fashionable to buy ebooks and not books. Librarians keen to progress their careers have stopped buying books, and they are escalating withdrawals of existing physical books. University managements are looking the other way, because they TRUST the Heads of Library Services (who as librarians are EXPERTS whose judgements must be accepted), and they do not want to confront the dogma of librarians that ebooks are better than books. Vice Chancellors also do not want to consult with students, so their views are discounted even though physical books that are in demand are often unavailable as there are not enough copies.
It is high time for responsibility for managing library services to be removed from librarians, who are technical experts in information and cataloguing but not in education, and given back to Councillors and university academic boards and governing bodies who are ultimately responsible for providing library services.
The library profession is not a regulated profession. You do not need to be a qualified librarian to work in or to run a library. The library profession should be recognised for what it is: a group of people with technical skills in library systems. It should not be assumed that librarians are interested in books or in reading or research, just because they work with books. Librarians have too much power in libraries, and the interests of readers and students are being excluded.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
I live in an area which has cycle lanes, there's a cycle lane about 100m from my house.
I drive through my neighbourhood and I walk through it. Everyday.
I see vehicles, I see walkers.
Almost every minute there will be vehicles and walkers going past me.
But it can be weeks, even months, before I see a cyclist.
Now cycle lanes might have their places in inner cities and university towns.
But in other parts of the country the only thing they achieve is to widen the area people have to walk on.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
Sometimes they are empty, simply because they aren't connected to any other cycle lanes or off-road paths.
It's like building half a road bridge and complaining that no one is using it.
Surely if someone builds half a road bridge, the appropriate thing to do is, err, complain?
Went to Cape Town some 20 years ago and there was one outside our hotel. Allegedly the developer and the City Council disagreed about where it should end. Really bizarre look!
Should claim it was designed by Damian Hirst and sell it on for $100m
Politically the most famous is this one: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge ..The bridge was projected to cost $398 million. Members of the Alaskan congressional delegation, particularly Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens, were the bridge's biggest advocates in Congress, and helped push for federal funding.[1] The project encountered fierce opposition outside Alaska as a symbol of pork barrel spending and is labeled as one of the more prominent "bridges to nowhere".[2] As a result, Congress removed the federal earmark for the bridge in 2005.[3] Funding for the "Bridge to Nowhere" was continued as of March 2, 2011, in the passing of H.R. 662: Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011[4][5][6] by the House of Representatives, and finally cancelled in 2015...
Can people using electric mobility aids use cycle lanes?
No, not asking for a friend; I’m being assessed for such an aid later this month.
Assuming that you have a class 3 mobility aid:
This is where semantics becomes important. A cycle lane runs alongside or is part of the carriageway, and therefore a mobility scooter may not use them. You should be in the part of the road where the cars are (as wild as that is).
However, a cycle track, which is physically segregated from the carriageway, is permissible.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
That's usually because they are so much more efficient at moving people.
The people who would be in the queue have already reached their destination.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
I live in an area which has cycle lanes, there's a cycle lane about 100m from my house.
I drive through my neighbourhood and I walk through it. Everyday.
I see vehicles, I see walkers.
Almost every minute there will be vehicles and walkers going past me.
But it can be weeks, even months, before I see a cyclist.
Now cycle lanes might have their places in inner cities and university towns.
But in other parts of the country the only thing they achieve is to widen the area people have to walk on.
What’s so unique about those parts of the country that they can’t cope with cycle lanes? Do people not own bikes? Or could it simply be that the lanes are not properly linked in a meaningful safe network- same as how nobody walks in most American cities because they’ve not been properly designed for pedestrians.
Can people using electric mobility aids use cycle lanes?
No, not asking for a friend; I’m being assessed for such an aid later this month.
I believe you can use cycle tracks but not cycle lanes - the difference being that tracks are physically segregated from traffic whereas lanes are just paint.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
I live in an area which has cycle lanes, there's a cycle lane about 100m from my house.
I drive through my neighbourhood and I walk through it. Everyday.
I see vehicles, I see walkers.
Almost every minute there will be vehicles and walkers going past me.
But it can be weeks, even months, before I see a cyclist.
Now cycle lanes might have their places in inner cities and university towns.
But in other parts of the country the only thing they achieve is to widen the area people have to walk on.
What’s so unique about those parts of the country that they can’t cope with cycle lanes? Do people not own bikes? Or could it simply be that the lanes are not properly linked in a meaningful safe network- same as how nobody walks in most American cities because they’ve not been properly designed for pedestrians.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
On trigger topics for the gammonariti, I’ve just returned from a week’s holiday in west Wales. I was expecting to have to crawl along everywhere at 20 mph, but found that as in London the 20 mph zones were restricted to the most built up areas. And given the sharp curves and narrow lanes I often encountered, arguably more justifiable. What outrage against the motorist have I missed?
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It really isn’t though, not IRL.
It is in my RL.
MyRL. Or even IMyRL
We need a better phrase for this. Lived experience?
Can people using electric mobility aids use cycle lanes?
No, not asking for a friend; I’m being assessed for such an aid later this month.
Assuming that you have a class 3 mobility aid:
This is where semantics becomes important. A cycle lane runs alongside or is part of the carriageway, and therefore a mobility scooter may not use them. You should be in the part of the road where the cars are (as wild as that is).
However, a cycle track, which is physically segregated from the carriageway, is permissible.
Round here we have sections of road with cycles stencilled onto them. No white lines to right or left. AIUI motorists are supposed to give priority to cyclists on those sections of road, but I’m not sure. I’m looking forward to my mobility aid assessment. All sorts of issues around it, though!
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It really isn’t though, not IRL.
It is in my RL.
MyRL. Or even IMyRL
We need a better phrase for this. Lived experience?
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
I live in an area which has cycle lanes, there's a cycle lane about 100m from my house.
I drive through my neighbourhood and I walk through it. Everyday.
I see vehicles, I see walkers.
Almost every minute there will be vehicles and walkers going past me.
But it can be weeks, even months, before I see a cyclist.
Now cycle lanes might have their places in inner cities and university towns.
But in other parts of the country the only thing they achieve is to widen the area people have to walk on.
That sounds like one that may not have the network connected yet.
We have early bits of infra in a small number of places at my end of Ashfield, starting with the places where collisions have a record of putting people in hospital, and the Ashfield Independents are weaponising it in those terms.
Complete with labrador-denied-sausages level whining about proposed schemes, demanding changes 'to save the trees' and similar that will leave wheelchair users on horrible 3ft wide pavements. But they don't give a damn about marginalised people whose lives they make difficult as long as they get the votes - similar happening currently with the Lib Dem Council in Windsor and Maidenhead acting like Home Counties Tories with their PSPO renewal.
Elsewhere they are promising to cut down trees to create more parking in green lung verges on 1930s garden estates.
We're probably 20-30 years behind eg Manchester and Leicester - totally car-brained.
I think the contrast between London / Paris and UK / France (for example) is probably overblown by the Guardian's desire to have a go.
There are pros and cons to the Paris programme, especially where it is rough around the edges as it expands, but they started late and feel they need to catch up.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
Whereas there is a large lobbyist astroturf element to the support of these schemes. It works both ways.
Lobbying groups like Sustrans and cycling U.K. (of whom I’m a member) who get huge amounts of money from govt/local govt to then lobby the govt for their pet policies and objectives which often chime with those of said gov/local govt.
I don’t mind LTNs and cycle paths if they are done well. Often, by me, they are not as local govt listens to lobbying groups rather than speaks to people who, certainly in the case of cycle,paths, actually do the cycling.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It really isn’t though, not IRL.
It is in my RL.
MyRL. Or even IMyRL
We need a better phrase for this. Lived experience?
My world?
I'll use "IMyRL" for this concept. I will tell everybody I am clever for inventing a word. I will use it incessantly and nobody else will. I will eventually give up and collapse sobbing.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
That's a brilliant book and really opened up the subject for me. Mushrooms are a big part of our diet, and we've started growing our own Lion's Mane and Oysters. Have you watched his documentary?
Oooh no I haven’t but thanks so much for the tip. I will do so this weekend. I loved the book.
My parents did that - went on a mushroom course weekend, and became enthusiasts for something-somethings.
Fortunately they had a 2 acre Victorian-laid-out woodland garden, and even found some things at home.
There was a good cartoon a few years ago, possibly in Private Eye. The dinner guests were turning various shades of green and purple - apart from the hostess who was cheerfully burbling on about learning to forage for mushrooms on Wikipedia.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
I live in an area which has cycle lanes, there's a cycle lane about 100m from my house.
I drive through my neighbourhood and I walk through it. Everyday.
I see vehicles, I see walkers.
Almost every minute there will be vehicles and walkers going past me.
But it can be weeks, even months, before I see a cyclist.
Now cycle lanes might have their places in inner cities and university towns.
But in other parts of the country the only thing they achieve is to widen the area people have to walk on.
That sounds like one that may not have the network connected yet.
We have early bits of infra in a small number of places at my end of Ashfield, starting with the places where collisions have a record of putting people in hospital, and the Ashfield Independents are weaponising it in those terms.
Complete with labrador-denied-sausages level whining about proposed schemes, demanding changes 'to save the trees' and similar that will leave wheelchair users on horrible 3ft wide pavements. But they don't give a damn about marginalised people whose lives they make difficult as long as they get the votes - similar happening currently with the Lib Dem Council in Windsor and Maidenhead acting like Home Counties Tories with their PSPO renewal.
Elsewhere they are promising to cut down trees to create more parking in green lung verges on 1930s garden estates.
We're probably 20-30 years behind eg Manchester and Leicester - totally car-brained.
I think the contrast between London / Paris and UK / France (for example) is probably overblown by the Guardian's desire to have a go.
There are pros and cons to the Paris programme, especially where it is rough around the edges as it expands, but they started late and feel they need to catch up.
I've just spent a few days in France. It has to be said the urban fabric, and transport, in general in mid-France is looking in a lot better condition than here at home.
Wonderful food and beautiful ladies too, as always.
On trigger topics for the gammonariti, I’ve just returned from a week’s holiday in west Wales. I was expecting to have to crawl along everywhere at 20 mph, but found that as in London the 20 mph zones were restricted to the most built up areas. And given the sharp curves and narrow lanes I often encountered, arguably more justifiable. What outrage against the motorist have I missed?
I would just comment that there are places where the integration between 20mph zones and the public work well and as far as I am aware it is accepted that around schools and busy areas these zones are sensible, indeed they were in place before the radical change of all 30mph to 20mph
The controversy continues, but Gething and his new North Wales transport minister are reviewing the policy in conjuction with local authorities and the public to reinstate some roads to their previous limits but also to review the cancellation of road building in Wales by Drakeford
I would just, on a point of order, enquire who you mean by 'gammonarati' as the concern about some of the road changes is expressed across the political divide and frankly is not that political as can be seen in the increasing likelihood of no conservative mps being reelected in Wales and the Lib Dems have been near extinction in Wales for quite sometime
Strange how so many people see a disjoint between the "local" and national picture.
I can't ever recall a similar sentiment here. "Things are booming everywhere else, but it's terrible in Manchester", or "We're doing fine, but the rest of the country's a mess" -- that's simply not what people think! -- at least in my experience.
I think it was the case in the Eighties. I was at Med School in booming London, full of Yuppies, Filofaxes and Sloane Rangers. We went on a road trip to Newcastle one weekend stopping off at fellow students in Northampton, Mansfield and Newcastle. This was during the Miners strike and quite a different world.
Way back at the end of the 50s I went from being a sixth former in Southeast Essex to studying at what is now Sunderland University. Complete change of scene; very good for me!
And pleasant, bright morning here; some sun, scattered clouds and very little wind.
Morning, wind just starting to pick up here, dry and grey so far.
Can people using electric mobility aids use cycle lanes?
No, not asking for a friend; I’m being assessed for such an aid later this month.
Assuming that you have a class 3 mobility aid:
This is where semantics becomes important. A cycle lane runs alongside or is part of the carriageway, and therefore a mobility scooter may not use them. You should be in the part of the road where the cars are (as wild as that is).
However, a cycle track, which is physically segregated from the carriageway, is permissible.
Round here we have sections of road with cycles stencilled onto them. No white lines to right or left. AIUI motorists are supposed to give priority to cyclists on those sections of road, but I’m not sure. I’m looking forward to my mobility aid assessment. All sorts of issues around it, though!
Does seem a bit confusing. I'm always happy to see mobility scooters on any type of cycle lane - there are plenty of medical conditions that prevent driving and/or walking so it's good to see a positive secondary effect.
Strange how so many people see a disjoint between the "local" and national picture.
I can't ever recall a similar sentiment here. "Things are booming everywhere else, but it's terrible in Manchester", or "We're doing fine, but the rest of the country's a mess" -- that's simply not what people think! -- at least in my experience.
I think it was the case in the Eighties. I was at Med School in booming London, full of Yuppies, Filofaxes and Sloane Rangers. We went on a road trip to Newcastle one weekend stopping off at fellow students in Northampton, Mansfield and Newcastle. This was during the Miners strike and quite a different world.
Way back at the end of the 50s I went from being a sixth former in Southeast Essex to studying at what is now Sunderland University. Complete change of scene; very good for me!
And pleasant, bright morning here; some sun, scattered clouds and very little wind.
Morning, wind just starting to pick up here, dry and grey so far.
Good on the old power generation front. 48% from domestic wind atm with 9% solar.
Less good for those of us thinking of doing some work on the gutters!
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
Whereas there is a large lobbyist astroturf element to the support of these schemes. It works both ways.
Lobbying groups like Sustrans and cycling U.K. (of whom I’m a member) who get huge amounts of money from govt/local govt to then lobby the govt for their pet policies and objectives which often chime with those of said gov/local govt.
I don’t mind LTNs and cycle paths if they are done well. Often, by me, they are not as local govt listens to lobbying groups rather than speaks to people who, certainly in the case of cycle,paths, actually do the cycling.
The problem is that local authorities are often useless at cycle infrastructure, so depend on Sustrans for guidance.
We should employ a Dutch cycling dictator and let them loose on the country for 5 years.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It really isn’t though, not IRL.
It was in my last job, before I retired.
Firemen masculising everyone because most firefighters are… men.
And an excellent piece from Janan Ganesh. Labour is the party of the public sector middle class as the Tories are the party of the elderly.
The dividing line in labours time in office will be less productive public sector, with ever increasing demands, versus the private sector which is seen as a cash cow.
Strange how so many people see a disjoint between the "local" and national picture.
I can't ever recall a similar sentiment here. "Things are booming everywhere else, but it's terrible in Manchester", or "We're doing fine, but the rest of the country's a mess" -- that's simply not what people think! -- at least in my experience.
I think it was the case in the Eighties. I was at Med School in booming London, full of Yuppies, Filofaxes and Sloane Rangers. We went on a road trip to Newcastle one weekend stopping off at fellow students in Northampton, Mansfield and Newcastle. This was during the Miners strike and quite a different world.
Way back at the end of the 50s I went from being a sixth former in Southeast Essex to studying at what is now Sunderland University. Complete change of scene; very good for me!
And pleasant, bright morning here; some sun, scattered clouds and very little wind.
Morning, wind just starting to pick up here, dry and grey so far.
Morning Malc
Our son and his colleagues experienced heavy swell and seas yesterday evening when they undertook a five hour rescue of a yacht with 5 on board which had lost power and was drifting into the huge windfarm off our coast in the Irish Sea
Fortunately they successtully towed all safely to harbour despite the darkness and sea state
And an excellent piece from Janan Ganesh. Labour is the party of the public sector middle class as the Tories are the party of the elderly.
The dividing line in labours time in office will be less productive public sector, with ever increasing demands, versus the private sector which is seen as a cash cow.
And the party of the elderly isn't using working people and the private sector as a cash cow right now?
Plus financial parts of the private sector using other parts of the private sector as cash cows by loading them up with debt. Isn't that roughly what's killing Thames Water? (That, and not doing enough actual investment for decades.)
Also the private sector using the public sector as a cash cow seems to have become more of a thing recently.
All the public sector money comes from the private sector , molly coddled and pretty crap at providing the services given the cash they get to boot. I see a bunch of them are for striking because they are asked to go in to work 2 days a week, unbelievable. Phone any public service and it as leat half an hour before they leave their films to answer.
Strange how so many people see a disjoint between the "local" and national picture.
I can't ever recall a similar sentiment here. "Things are booming everywhere else, but it's terrible in Manchester", or "We're doing fine, but the rest of the country's a mess" -- that's simply not what people think! -- at least in my experience.
I think it was the case in the Eighties. I was at Med School in booming London, full of Yuppies, Filofaxes and Sloane Rangers. We went on a road trip to Newcastle one weekend stopping off at fellow students in Northampton, Mansfield and Newcastle. This was during the Miners strike and quite a different world.
Way back at the end of the 50s I went from being a sixth former in Southeast Essex to studying at what is now Sunderland University. Complete change of scene; very good for me!
And pleasant, bright morning here; some sun, scattered clouds and very little wind.
Morning, wind just starting to pick up here, dry and grey so far.
Morning Malc
Our son and his colleagues experienced heavy swell and seas yesterday evening when they undertook a five hour rescue of a yacht with 5 on board which had lost power and was drifting into the huge windfarm off our coast in the Irish Sea
Fortunately they successtully towed all safely to harbour despite the darkness and sea state
Brave men & women , I can just about swim from one end of apool to the other, could never do it.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It really isn’t though, not IRL.
It was in my last job, before I retired.
Firemen masculising everyone because most firefighters are… men.
Who knew?
Some real sourpuss party poopers on here, desperate to be offended by anything and everything.
And an excellent piece from Janan Ganesh. Labour is the party of the public sector middle class as the Tories are the party of the elderly.
The dividing line in labours time in office will be less productive public sector, with ever increasing demands, versus the private sector which is seen as a cash cow.
I've not paid much attention to the 15 minute city concept but when you read this you think what's not to like? I think it's already happening to some extent, there's a lot more work and social activity in a short walkable space in our neighbourhood than there used to be. I'd like to see this development continue. The traditional village is the ideal human settlement. It's quite a conservative idea in many ways, odd that people on the right resist it; it makes me wonder if there is a corporate AstroTurf element to the opposition.
What's not to like is the possibility of politicians and pressure groups from '15 minute cities' trying to impose the concept on other parts of the country where it is impossible for it to work.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
The “empty cycle lanes” meme has been debunked many times using traffic counters in various places. Cycle lanes look emptier than traffic filled roads because bikes take up much less space.
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
I live in an area which has cycle lanes, there's a cycle lane about 100m from my house.
I drive through my neighbourhood and I walk through it. Everyday.
I see vehicles, I see walkers.
Almost every minute there will be vehicles and walkers going past me.
But it can be weeks, even months, before I see a cyclist.
Now cycle lanes might have their places in inner cities and university towns.
But in other parts of the country the only thing they achieve is to widen the area people have to walk on.
That sounds like one that may not have the network connected yet.
We have early bits of infra in a small number of places at my end of Ashfield, starting with the places where collisions have a record of putting people in hospital, and the Ashfield Independents are weaponising it in those terms.
Complete with labrador-denied-sausages level whining about proposed schemes, demanding changes 'to save the trees' and similar that will leave wheelchair users on horrible 3ft wide pavements. But they don't give a damn about marginalised people whose lives they make difficult as long as they get the votes - similar happening currently with the Lib Dem Council in Windsor and Maidenhead acting like Home Counties Tories with their PSPO renewal.
Elsewhere they are promising to cut down trees to create more parking in green lung verges on 1930s garden estates.
We're probably 20-30 years behind eg Manchester and Leicester - totally car-brained.
I think the contrast between London / Paris and UK / France (for example) is probably overblown by the Guardian's desire to have a go.
There are pros and cons to the Paris programme, especially where it is rough around the edges as it expands, but they started late and feel they need to catch up.
I've just spent a few days in France. It has to be said the urban fabric, and transport, in general in mid-France is looking in a lot better condition than here at home.
Wonderful food and beautiful ladies too, as always.
We go to Brittany for a week of food and wine most years, and the quality of the public realm, the roads, the town centres really puts the UK to shame. The roads are like glass for the most part and every year they seem to have replaced even more of the old stock. I much prefer driving in France to here, despite the fact I have a RHD car! Cycle paths are great, too. It’s almost as if sustained public investment is a good idea.
Does the controller of Radio 4 or any of his friends/colleagues read PB? If so would you note that removing Tweet of the Day (90 seconds of birdsong just before 6 am) is a terrible decision. Instead it should be sacrosanct and used at other times of day as well. The one thing BBC radio is not short of is time. (Of many memorable moments the best of all was the Great Northern Diver).
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It really isn’t though, not IRL.
It was in my last job, before I retired.
Firemen masculising everyone because most firefighters are… men.
Who knew?
Some real sourpuss party poopers on here, desperate to be offended by anything and everything.
I wasn’t offended by it. I just challenged the idea that it is common (or indeed polite) for men to refer to women as “mate”.
And an excellent piece from Janan Ganesh. Labour is the party of the public sector middle class as the Tories are the party of the elderly.
The dividing line in labours time in office will be less productive public sector, with ever increasing demands, versus the private sector which is seen as a cash cow.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It really isn’t though, not IRL.
It was in my last job, before I retired.
Firemen masculising everyone because most firefighters are… men.
Who knew?
Some real sourpuss party poopers on here, desperate to be offended by anything and everything.
I wasn’t offended by it. I just challenged the idea that it is common (or indeed polite) for men to refer to women as “mate”.
And an excellent piece from Janan Ganesh. Labour is the party of the public sector middle class as the Tories are the party of the elderly.
The dividing line in labours time in office will be less productive public sector, with ever increasing demands, versus the private sector which is seen as a cash cow.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It really isn’t though, not IRL.
It was in my last job, before I retired.
Firemen masculising everyone because most firefighters are… men.
Who knew?
Some real sourpuss party poopers on here, desperate to be offended by anything and everything.
I wasn’t offended by it. I just challenged the idea that it is common (or indeed polite) for men to refer to women as “mate”.
anything goes nowadays
It really doesn’t. I wouldn’t call a barmaid or waitress or indeed any woman “mate” even if she was indeed my best friend. For the most part, women don’t like it.
And an excellent piece from Janan Ganesh. Labour is the party of the public sector middle class as the Tories are the party of the elderly.
The dividing line in labours time in office will be less productive public sector, with ever increasing demands, versus the private sector which is seen as a cash cow.
A very stark warning for those tempted to vote for the party.
I haven't read it but does he suggest we all vote for the party of the elderly instead? I tend to see Mr Ganesh as a contrarian who's analysis is very good but conclusions are often odd. Makes for interesting commentary though.
I see Labour MP Charlotte Nichols is suggesting the NHS could fund "magic mushrooms" as treatment for some mental health conditions.
How are we supposed to afford that has she not heard austerity Reeves telling us that there's no magic mushroom tree!!
Gets coat
There’s actually a serious point here which doesn’t deserve such a careless throwaway remark.
The potential curative mental health properties of Psilocybin is a genuine area of research. A psychiatrist friend of mine is researching it right now and, if you have not done so, you might try reading the best-seller 'Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake.
If I may say so, it’s fairly typical of the reactionary right to shout first and think later, if at all.
mate
????!!!
I know it might seem strange to you but some females inhabit this space.
TBF, 'mate' is regularly used as a non gender specific term these days. Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
It really isn’t though, not IRL.
It was in my last job, before I retired.
Firemen masculising everyone because most firefighters are… men.
Who knew?
When a lady calls you mate, it indicates that she doesn't find you attractive, or that she wishes to indicate that she doesn't. Which isn't the same thing.
And an excellent piece from Janan Ganesh. Labour is the party of the public sector middle class as the Tories are the party of the elderly.
The dividing line in labours time in office will be less productive public sector, with ever increasing demands, versus the private sector which is seen as a cash cow.
As was said about it at the time, it would have been cheaper to lower the ocean.
This is meant to be one of the reasons that a branch of ITV (like ITC or something) went out of the film business. They spent so much on Raise the Titanic and another film about The Village People, released just when disco had gone out of fashion, that they narrowly avoided collapse and went out of films.
Comments
So the buses, which used to flow, now stop and start with the traffic. One lane in each direction…. This adds to an already problematic traffic situation - which the bus lanes had separated the buses from.
A possible example being the increasing number of roads being narrowed to create cycle lanes. Cycle lanes which never seem to have any cyclists cycling on them.
We had someone making jokes about Dementia a few weeks back, literally the day after OGH announced his awful news.
People view local economies through their own personal experiences.
People view national economies through what the media reports.
And the media prefer bad news to good, problems occurring to problems being solved.
Watch a couple of episodes of Line of Duty if you doubt that.
Presumably includes tram operation, too.
And no, there's nowhere to put a nice bypass.
Note the billionaire owner of the finance company has companies which have at least twice been found to have committed fraud.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Hankey
Businessman behind Trump's NY bond says he charged him a 'low fee'
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/businessman-behind-trumps-ny-bond-190703360.html
Cycle lanes also take lots of traffic off the
roads making it more pleasant for drivers, as do buses. This really comes to a head on rainy days when commuters keep their bikes at home and drive, because the roads are much more choked.
It's like building half a road bridge and complaining that no one is using it.
Reform UK hits polling high as right-wing voters desert Conservatives
https://x.com/theipaper/status/1776318156241264912
In the case of the high street where I live, they have massive (in places) pavements and a road with bus lanes.
A proper re-work to accommodate a safe cycle lane(s) and improve the experience for everyone would have cost money - initially.
Instead they shut a bus lane and fucked even that up. After rebuilding it 3 times, and a few accidents caused by insane decisions, they spent more money than a total rebuild.
My favourite was getting black curb stones to match the asphalt of the road and putting black asphalt on the bus “islands”. Which resulted in them being invisible at night.
Psilocybin is indeed a current area of psychiatric research. It also has a place at the root of the entire 1960's counterculture in the 1950's, and before the arguably more damaging LSD. Care needs to be taken that people try it in the right place and setting, though. Context is everything with hallucinogens, as the Amazonian tribes generally understand better than us in the West and Asia, with our all-against or all-for approach.
So true
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/monkseaton-tree-stump-council-removed-28933630
Really bizarre look!
Can be quite alarming if it's adjacent to a busy road.
Angry motorist video clips endlessly show them passing deliberately too close to cyclist then shouting at them for being on the road and not in the cycle lane.
Angry motorists then complain endlessly that there are too many cycle lanes.
Isn't the simple truth that some people are impatient and have a base anger level that is bad for their blood pressure. Likely absorbing right wing media which makes them more angry. You can't make these people happy.
My first normal wake-up time for quite a few days.
My morning reminder is a very much appreciated (really - it should confirm near normality) NHS text message of a bone marrow biopsy later this week, which for the non squeamish involves a just-under 2mm thick just under 2cm long piece of femur core being extracted.
That's as near as dammit the size of a standard matchstick.
Have a nice day, and enjoy feeding your pooch the Saturday morning bone marrow treat as a reward for accompanying you on the Park Run at the allowed one dog per person.
In Copenhagen or Amsterdam the worst you get from stepping accidentally into a cycle lane is an urgent ring of the bicycle bell as the commuters glide by on their sit up basket bikes. Much more civilised.
Like the motorists who like to do wanker sign at everything. Never understand where the pent up aggression comes from.
Fortunately they had a 2 acre Victorian-laid-out woodland garden, and even found some things at home.
However, there's also the fact that he refers to the 15-minute cities as less "masculine", which is just a rather debatable and subjective bit of current buzz-speak, and so also manna from heaven for any loony tendency wanting to recruit opposition. Those two elements are probably the main reasons why the loonies have taken up the theme.
Research has suggested that most students learn more effectively from books than from ebooks. However, in CILIP (the library and information association) it is highly fashionable to buy ebooks and not books. Librarians keen to progress their careers have stopped buying books, and they are escalating withdrawals of existing physical books. University managements are looking the other way, because they TRUST the Heads of Library Services (who as librarians are EXPERTS whose judgements must be accepted), and they do not want to confront the dogma of librarians that ebooks are better than books. Vice Chancellors also do not want to consult with students, so their views are discounted even though physical books that are in demand are often unavailable as there are not enough copies.
It is high time for responsibility for managing library services to be removed from librarians, who are technical experts in information and cataloguing but not in education, and given back to Councillors and university academic boards and governing bodies who are ultimately responsible for providing library services.
The library profession is not a regulated profession. You do not need to be a qualified librarian to work in or to run a library. The library profession should be recognised for what it is: a group of people with technical skills in library systems. It should not be assumed that librarians are interested in books or in reading or research, just because they work with books. Librarians have too much power in libraries, and the interests of readers and students are being excluded.
No, not asking for a friend; I’m being assessed for such an aid later this month.
I drive through my neighbourhood and I walk through it. Everyday.
I see vehicles, I see walkers.
Almost every minute there will be vehicles and walkers going past me.
But it can be weeks, even months, before I see a cyclist.
Now cycle lanes might have their places in inner cities and university towns.
But in other parts of the country the only thing they achieve is to widen the area people have to walk on.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_to_nowhere
Politically the most famous is this one:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge
..The bridge was projected to cost $398 million. Members of the Alaskan congressional delegation, particularly Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens, were the bridge's biggest advocates in Congress, and helped push for federal funding.[1] The project encountered fierce opposition outside Alaska as a symbol of pork barrel spending and is labeled as one of the more prominent "bridges to nowhere".[2] As a result, Congress removed the federal earmark for the bridge in 2005.[3] Funding for the "Bridge to Nowhere" was continued as of March 2, 2011, in the passing of H.R. 662: Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011[4][5][6] by the House of Representatives, and finally cancelled in 2015...
This is where semantics becomes important. A cycle lane runs alongside or is part of the carriageway, and therefore a mobility scooter may not use them. You should be in the part of the road where the cars are (as wild as that is).
However, a cycle track, which is physically segregated from the carriageway, is permissible.
The people who would be in the queue have already reached their destination.
I’m looking forward to my mobility aid assessment. All sorts of issues around it, though!
We have early bits of infra in a small number of places at my end of Ashfield, starting with the places where collisions have a record of putting people in hospital, and the Ashfield Independents are weaponising it in those terms.
Complete with labrador-denied-sausages level whining about proposed schemes, demanding changes 'to save the trees' and similar that will leave wheelchair users on horrible 3ft wide pavements. But they don't give a damn about marginalised people whose lives they make difficult as long as they get the votes - similar happening currently with the Lib Dem Council in Windsor and Maidenhead acting like Home Counties Tories with their PSPO renewal.
Elsewhere they are promising to cut down trees to create more parking in green lung verges on 1930s garden estates.
We're probably 20-30 years behind eg Manchester and Leicester - totally car-brained.
I think the contrast between London / Paris and UK / France (for example) is probably overblown by the Guardian's desire to have a go.
There are pros and cons to the Paris programme, especially where it is rough around the edges as it expands, but they started late and feel they need to catch up.
Lobbying groups like Sustrans and cycling U.K. (of whom I’m a member) who get huge amounts of money from govt/local govt to then lobby the govt for their pet policies and objectives which often chime with those of said gov/local govt.
I don’t mind LTNs and cycle paths if they are done well. Often, by me, they are not as local govt listens to lobbying groups rather than speaks to people who, certainly in the case of cycle,paths, actually do the cycling.
I'll use "IMyRL" for this concept. I will tell everybody I am clever for inventing a word. I will use it incessantly and nobody else will. I will eventually give up and collapse sobbing.
Wonderful food and beautiful ladies too, as always.
The controversy continues, but Gething and his new North Wales transport minister are reviewing the policy in conjuction with local authorities and the public to reinstate some roads to their previous limits but also to review the cancellation of road building in Wales by Drakeford
I would just, on a point of order, enquire who you mean by 'gammonarati' as the concern about some of the road changes is expressed across the political divide and frankly is not that political as can be seen in the increasing likelihood of no conservative mps being reelected in Wales and the Lib Dems have been near extinction in Wales for quite sometime
Less good for those of us thinking of doing some work on the gutters!
We should employ a Dutch cycling dictator and let them loose on the country for 5 years.
Who knew?
Our son and his colleagues experienced heavy swell and seas yesterday evening when they undertook a five hour rescue of a yacht with 5 on board which had lost power and was drifting into the huge windfarm off our coast in the Irish Sea
Fortunately they successtully towed all safely to harbour despite the darkness and sea state
investment is a good idea.
Great swathes of the private sector are however very much looking forward to a change of government.
In my social circle we all refer to each other as Comrade.
I'm actually single... And enjoying the single life for now lol!
A lot of English women call each other guys nowadays.
The Heed v The Macc Lads
There may also be some fixtures of lesser importance.
Has anyone seen either? I'd like to.