This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
Why is he such a charmless tosser in public then?
Such a charmless tosser he has won the presidency. Twice
Don't you claim you helped furnish charmless Starmer with a landslide?
Charmless psychopath Putin wins election after election with increasing percentages. Even bumbling twat Johnson won a landslide too.
The electorate is often not a great reflection of taste, or even what might be in their own interests. Snake oil can provide the basis for a heady cocktail.
I'm merely pointing out that he did the necessary to win two elections. So obviously he's either charming a surprising number of people, making him charming by definition, or the opposition is deemed as being even worse
Probably the latter
I don't suppose he has to be charming to win an election. Adolf was a humourless thin skinned tyrant. I suspect that's all it takes. Any charmless buffoon can paint a picture that "others" are ruining your lives through lies and fake news. If they then claim they are the answer to resolve the issue they win elections. They might have used guile, cunning and grift but they remained charmless throughout.
If it is you banging in the "flags" against my posts, although I am sure you are not that sad party, as you claim to quite justifiably ignore my ramblings, you've missed a trick. Anyone who has a dozen active accounts could give a dozen flags for each post.
I've never knowingly flagged anyone in my life, I regard the gesture as pathetic. I might have done it with drunken fat fingers, but no, not deliberately. If I want to annoy or harangue someone I do it in a way that entertains me
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
Merci!
I've just looked into this and it might explain why I keep infringing (when I really am quite careful). Often French roads do not have speed limit signage, you are expected to "know"
Everyone in France uses Waze, despite it being illegal to have a database showing where the speed cameras and police traps are. Just make sure you have it set to incognito settings and, if you get pulled over, exit the App before les gendarmes arrive at your car window.
You can’t record the fixed camera positions in France, so everyone logs them as police checks on Waze. France is the one country where Google Maps won’t help you, for the reasons given in the article.
Endless tickets for the most trivial offences was actually one of the reasons I abandoned my own car in London (plus I hardly ever used it anyway). Several times I wondered if I had even offended at all, but the process of challenging them is such a chore it's easier to pay up. The only time I did challenge was a parking fine in Camden and I won, but I did that because I had a distinct memory of the incident. How often is that the case?
But that's good advice on France. Ta
I’m still chuffed to have come back from the States for the first time ever without having been pulled over by a Sheriff or State Trooper.
My regular trick was to latch onto another speeding car on the Interstate and follow it at a respectable distance, but it was only more recently that someone tipped me off that this only works if you pick a car with an out-of-state numberplate.
And Americans are finally getting the hang of the ‘reporting’ button on Google maps, which helps greatly.
Last year, I got my first ever speeding ticket, in rural Alabama. I was pulled over by a Sheriff's Deputy with a gold tooth, and handed a ticket for doing 68 in a 60 zone. (Which was a 65mph zone until it suddenly dipped to 60 for no obvious reason.)
Every couple of days for the next three months, I called the rural Alabama courthouse that had issued the ticket. And each time, they told me the ticket had not been posted.
I began to get optimistic, maybe the Deputy had taken pity on a Brit only doing slightly more than the speed limit.
Nope.
It turns out that they do post the speeding ticket eventually. And I paid $150.
But what they want -apparently- is for you to give up calling, so that there's a court date, you don't show, and they can ramp the fine to $2,000.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
If you haven't done the course, it's quite good if approached with an open mind. And is effectively the only form of Continuing Driver Education available in this country - short of channels such as Ashley Neal, ROSPA / IAM and making a decision to engage a driving instructor yourself.
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
Why is he such a charmless tosser in public then?
Because the public expect their leaders to be charismatic in public and journalists like them to be charming in person.
And a truly manipulative sociopath, who isn't worried about truthfulness, changes his skin like a chameleon.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
Why is he such a charmless tosser in public then?
Such a charmless tosser he has won the presidency. Twice
Don't you claim you helped furnish charmless Starmer with a landslide?
Charmless psychopath Putin wins election after election with increasing percentages. Even bumbling twat Johnson won a landslide too.
The electorate is often not a great reflection of taste, or even what might be in their own interests. Snake oil can provide the basis for a heady cocktail.
I'm merely pointing out that he did the necessary to win two elections. So obviously he's either charming a surprising number of people, making him charming by definition, or the opposition is deemed as being even worse
Probably the latter
I don't suppose he has to be charming to win an election. Adolf was a humourless thin skinned tyrant. I suspect that's all it takes. Any charmless buffoon can paint a picture that "others" are ruining your lives through lies and fake news. If they then claim they are the answer to resolve the issue they win elections. They might have used guile, cunning and grift but they remained charmless throughout.
If it is you banging in the "flags" against my posts, although I am sure you are not that sad party, as you claim to quite justifiably ignore my ramblings, you've missed a trick. Anyone who has a dozen active accounts could give a dozen flags for each post.
I've never knowingly flagged anyone in my life, I regard the gesture as pathetic. I might have done it with drunken fat fingers, but no, not deliberately. If I want to annoy or harangue someone I do it in a way that entertains me
Just ignore them!
You have at least two simpering fanbois then. On my flag before last post I got two flags for insulting, checks notes- Leon. Perhaps the Crabbe and Goyle to your Malfoy.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
Merci!
I've just looked into this and it might explain why I keep infringing (when I really am quite careful). Often French roads do not have speed limit signage, you are expected to "know"
Everyone in France uses Waze, despite it being illegal to have a database showing where the speed cameras and police traps are. Just make sure you have it set to incognito settings and, if you get pulled over, exit the App before les gendarmes arrive at your car window.
You can’t record the fixed camera positions in France, so everyone logs them as police checks on Waze. France is the one country where Google Maps won’t help you, for the reasons given in the article.
Endless tickets for the most trivial offences was actually one of the reasons I abandoned my own car in London (plus I hardly ever used it anyway). Several times I wondered if I had even offended at all, but the process of challenging them is such a chore it's easier to pay up. The only time I did challenge was a parking fine in Camden and I won, but I did that because I had a distinct memory of the incident. How often is that the case?
But that's good advice on France. Ta
I’m still chuffed to have come back from the States for the first time ever without having been pulled over by a Sheriff or State Trooper.
My regular trick was to latch onto another speeding car on the Interstate and follow it at a respectable distance, but it was only more recently that someone tipped me off that this only works if you pick a car with an out-of-state numberplate.
And Americans are finally getting the hang of the ‘reporting’ button on Google maps, which helps greatly.
Last year, I got my first ever speeding ticket, in rural Alabama. I was pulled over by a Sheriff's Deputy with a gold tooth, and handed a ticket for doing 68 in a 60 zone. (Which was a 65mph zone until it suddenly dipped to 60 for no obvious reason.)
Every couple of days for the next three months, I called the rural Alabama courthouse that had issued the ticket. And each time, they told me the ticket had not been posted.
I began to get optimistic, maybe the Deputy had taken pity on a Brit only doing slightly more than the speed limit.
Nope.
It turns out that they do post the speeding ticket eventually. And I paid $150.
But what they want -apparently- is for you to give up calling, so that there's a court date, you don't show, and they can ramp the fine to $2,000.
Yes, it's a worldwide phenomenon - or at least a western world-wide phenomenon
Such an easy way to generate money, juice all the drivers with endless tickets that can easily spiral into enormous sums. Bring on the autonomous cars, I say
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
Merci!
I've just looked into this and it might explain why I keep infringing (when I really am quite careful). Often French roads do not have speed limit signage, you are expected to "know"
Everyone in France uses Waze, despite it being illegal to have a database showing where the speed cameras and police traps are. Just make sure you have it set to incognito settings and, if you get pulled over, exit the App before les gendarmes arrive at your car window.
You can’t record the fixed camera positions in France, so everyone logs them as police checks on Waze. France is the one country where Google Maps won’t help you, for the reasons given in the article.
Endless tickets for the most trivial offences was actually one of the reasons I abandoned my own car in London (plus I hardly ever used it anyway). Several times I wondered if I had even offended at all, but the process of challenging them is such a chore it's easier to pay up. The only time I did challenge was a parking fine in Camden and I won, but I did that because I had a distinct memory of the incident. How often is that the case?
But that's good advice on France. Ta
I’m still chuffed to have come back from the States for the first time ever without having been pulled over by a Sheriff or State Trooper.
My regular trick was to latch onto another speeding car on the Interstate and follow it at a respectable distance, but it was only more recently that someone tipped me off that this only works if you pick a car with an out-of-state numberplate.
And Americans are finally getting the hang of the ‘reporting’ button on Google maps, which helps greatly.
Last year, I got my first ever speeding ticket, in rural Alabama. I was pulled over by a Sheriff's Deputy with a gold tooth, and handed a ticket for doing 68 in a 60 zone. (Which was a 65mph zone until it suddenly dipped to 60 for no obvious reason.)
Every couple of days for the next three months, I called the rural Alabama courthouse that had issued the ticket. And each time, they told me the ticket had not been posted.
I began to get optimistic, maybe the Deputy had taken pity on a Brit only doing slightly more than the speed limit.
Nope.
It turns out that they do post the speeding ticket eventually. And I paid $150.
But what they want -apparently- is for you to give up calling, so that there's a court date, you don't show, and they can ramp the fine to $2,000.
I hadn’t heard that.
But it does seem to be accepted in the US that enforcement targets out of state drivers, because they know they aren’t going to return to contest the fine. Hence speed cameras haven’t really taken off in the States, being indiscriminating, and despite being the world’s economic powerhouse, they still think it’s worthwhile to employ thousands of people sitting in cars waiting to raise some extra funds for their local county by catching people speeding by. On a wide multi-carriageway road that’s dead straight with light traffic and some silly speed limit that everyone is ignoring.
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
It's articulate, but is an argument presented in a characteristicaly modern and useless form; sentimental arguments dealing sentimentally with the strong points which favour your view. OTOH good and useful arguments deal with the other side's strongest points and your side's weakest ones.
The reluctance in modern debate to engage in this way is intellectually crippling.
(Note: Jenrick may of course have done this elsewhere, I don't know. And yes, Tories chose the wrong leader. A right one was not available.)
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
Why is he such a charmless tosser in public then?
Such a charmless tosser he has won the presidency. Twice
Don't you claim you helped furnish charmless Starmer with a landslide?
Charmless psychopath Putin wins election after election with increasing percentages. Even bumbling twat Johnson won a landslide too.
The electorate is often not a great reflection of taste, or even what might be in their own interests. Snake oil can provide the basis for a heady cocktail.
I'm merely pointing out that he did the necessary to win two elections. So obviously he's either charming a surprising number of people, making him charming by definition, or the opposition is deemed as being even worse
Probably the latter
I don't suppose he has to be charming to win an election. Adolf was a humourless thin skinned tyrant. I suspect that's all it takes. Any charmless buffoon can paint a picture that "others" are ruining your lives through lies and fake news. If they then claim they are the answer to resolve the issue they win elections. They might have used guile, cunning and grift but they remained charmless throughout.
If it is you banging in the "flags" against my posts, although I am sure you are not that sad party, as you claim to quite justifiably ignore my ramblings, you've missed a trick. Anyone who has a dozen active accounts could give a dozen flags for each post.
I've never knowingly flagged anyone in my life, I regard the gesture as pathetic. I might have done it with drunken fat fingers, but no, not deliberately. If I want to annoy or harangue someone I do it in a way that entertains me
Just ignore them!
You have at least two simpering fanbois then. On my flag before last post I got two flags for insulting, checks notes- Leon. Perhaps the Crabbe and Goyle to your Malfoy.
Flagging is an excellent way to police commentary, and I don't understand the hysterical "anti-flag brigade" on PB, with their joyless, strident hatred of a simple click. A flag is a brisk, sharp, efficient means to tell idiots to shut the fuck up
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
In the same breath, Jenrick is concerned about the very poorest as well as those with inheritances to protect. He is just chucking every argument he can think of at the wall to see what sticks.
Jenrick is seen as being insincere, of following his followers. During the leadership election, he was a centrist cos-playing the hard right. So Jenrick would have been the wrong leader.
Unless you think the above proves he will pragmatically manoeuvre the Conservatives to wherever the focus groups mandate in order to win; the sort of chap who'd performatively ride a bike while his chauffeur drove behind. Then he'd be your man.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
Merci!
I've just looked into this and it might explain why I keep infringing (when I really am quite careful). Often French roads do not have speed limit signage, you are expected to "know"
Everyone in France uses Waze, despite it being illegal to have a database showing where the speed cameras and police traps are. Just make sure you have it set to incognito settings and, if you get pulled over, exit the App before les gendarmes arrive at your car window.
You can’t record the fixed camera positions in France, so everyone logs them as police checks on Waze. France is the one country where Google Maps won’t help you, for the reasons given in the article.
Endless tickets for the most trivial offences was actually one of the reasons I abandoned my own car in London (plus I hardly ever used it anyway). Several times I wondered if I had even offended at all, but the process of challenging them is such a chore it's easier to pay up. The only time I did challenge was a parking fine in Camden and I won, but I did that because I had a distinct memory of the incident. How often is that the case?
But that's good advice on France. Ta
I’m still chuffed to have come back from the States for the first time ever without having been pulled over by a Sheriff or State Trooper.
My regular trick was to latch onto another speeding car on the Interstate and follow it at a respectable distance, but it was only more recently that someone tipped me off that this only works if you pick a car with an out-of-state numberplate.
And Americans are finally getting the hang of the ‘reporting’ button on Google maps, which helps greatly.
Last year, I got my first ever speeding ticket, in rural Alabama. I was pulled over by a Sheriff's Deputy with a gold tooth, and handed a ticket for doing 68 in a 60 zone. (Which was a 65mph zone until it suddenly dipped to 60 for no obvious reason.)
Every couple of days for the next three months, I called the rural Alabama courthouse that had issued the ticket. And each time, they told me the ticket had not been posted.
I began to get optimistic, maybe the Deputy had taken pity on a Brit only doing slightly more than the speed limit.
Nope.
It turns out that they do post the speeding ticket eventually. And I paid $150.
But what they want -apparently- is for you to give up calling, so that there's a court date, you don't show, and they can ramp the fine to $2,000.
I watch traffic stop videos in the Deep South states on YouTube. PIT manoeuvres at 150 mph in Arkansas are interesting.
A one hundred and fifty bucks fine could be classed as a big win after an Alabama traffic stop.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
If you haven't done the course, it's quite good if approached with an open mind. And is effectively the only form of Continuing Driver Education available in this country - short of channels such as Ashley Neal, ROSPA / IAM and making a decision to engage a driving instructor yourself.
I did one in around 2015, and enjoyed it.
I have done two and socially they were both somewhere between a rural WI and a village gardening club run by someone borrowed from a middle class decent junior school. Quite enjoyed it.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
Why is he such a charmless tosser in public then?
Such a charmless tosser he has won the presidency. Twice
Don't you claim you helped furnish charmless Starmer with a landslide?
Charmless psychopath Putin wins election after election with increasing percentages. Even bumbling twat Johnson won a landslide too.
The electorate is often not a great reflection of taste, or even what might be in their own interests. Snake oil can provide the basis for a heady cocktail.
I'm merely pointing out that he did the necessary to win two elections. So obviously he's either charming a surprising number of people, making him charming by definition, or the opposition is deemed as being even worse
Probably the latter
I don't suppose he has to be charming to win an election. Adolf was a humourless thin skinned tyrant. I suspect that's all it takes. Any charmless buffoon can paint a picture that "others" are ruining your lives through lies and fake news. If they then claim they are the answer to resolve the issue they win elections. They might have used guile, cunning and grift but they remained charmless throughout.
If it is you banging in the "flags" against my posts, although I am sure you are not that sad party, as you claim to quite justifiably ignore my ramblings, you've missed a trick. Anyone who has a dozen active accounts could give a dozen flags for each post.
I've never knowingly flagged anyone in my life, I regard the gesture as pathetic. I might have done it with drunken fat fingers, but no, not deliberately. If I want to annoy or harangue someone I do it in a way that entertains me
Just ignore them!
You have at least two simpering fanbois then. On my flag before last post I got two flags for insulting, checks notes- Leon. Perhaps the Crabbe and Goyle to your Malfoy.
Flagging is an excellent way to police commentary, and I don't understand the hysterical "anti-flag brigade" on PB, with their joyless, strident hatred of a simple click. A flag is a brisk, sharp, efficient means to tell idiots to shut the fuck up
Lol! Someone flagged your post. I promise it wasn't me. Whoever did that has justified the flag system. Well done whoever you are.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
For whoever tagged this as a Troll (and yes, I know who you re), I think @biggles was joking.
Just saw some pictures of Notre Dame and have to say well done to the French, it looks like a great restoration and they've avoided some of the idiotic suggestions of modernisation and they've done it much faster than we would have. Bravo.
Hopefully when the Palace of Westminster inevitably burns down from neglect and delay they can select the same people to restore it as the ones who did Notre Dame.
Only if we resite Parliament.
I would recommend Loghborough.
I recommend Buckingham Palace.
Good idea. The Ballroom is bigger than the Lords and Commons chambers combined, St James's Palace is still where the court officially resides, and the King actually lives in Clarence House. The only bits of Buckingham Palace that are actually used for worthwhile state functions are the State Dining Room, the Throne Room, and the garden - and there are plenty of potential alternatives for all three
It'd mean restricting access to the public for the duration, but you could balance that by promising to opening up the whole thing (garden and all) once parliament is back in Westminster.
It doesn't seem to have been an option that's been considered by parliament, though - I wonder why not?
It's not practical. There would not be enough office space for the civil servants let alone any MPs who would need an office on site. Unless you build temporary ones in the garden.
Portcullis House, which houses 213 MPs and their staff, would still be available.
It's 7 minutes by bike. 19 minutes walking.
100s of civil servants work in the Palace of Westminster to facilitate it. Having worked in both Palaces, I can tell you it's a non-starter. Buckingham palace barely has enough desk space for the staff that work there now.
As a pedant I feel compelled to note that no civil servants work in Parliament. However, under the House of Commons Administration Act 1978 their terms and conditions of service of staff must be kept 'broadly in line' with the Home Civil Service.
Idea
Relocate Parliament and hangers on to a tent city in an empty field in the middle of nowhere.
They can build what they want - buildings, roads, railways. From scratch. And if they want to hold planning enquiries for a decade about it, fine.
That was basically my idea, a new Canberra style city.
There really is no upside to them being in London.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
Merci!
I've just looked into this and it might explain why I keep infringing (when I really am quite careful). Often French roads do not have speed limit signage, you are expected to "know"
Everyone in France uses Waze, despite it being illegal to have a database showing where the speed cameras and police traps are. Just make sure you have it set to incognito settings and, if you get pulled over, exit the App before les gendarmes arrive at your car window.
You can’t record the fixed camera positions in France, so everyone logs them as police checks on Waze. France is the one country where Google Maps won’t help you, for the reasons given in the article.
Endless tickets for the most trivial offences was actually one of the reasons I abandoned my own car in London (plus I hardly ever used it anyway). Several times I wondered if I had even offended at all, but the process of challenging them is such a chore it's easier to pay up. The only time I did challenge was a parking fine in Camden and I won, but I did that because I had a distinct memory of the incident. How often is that the case?
But that's good advice on France. Ta
I’m still chuffed to have come back from the States for the first time ever without having been pulled over by a Sheriff or State Trooper.
My regular trick was to latch onto another speeding car on the Interstate and follow it at a respectable distance, but it was only more recently that someone tipped me off that this only works if you pick a car with an out-of-state numberplate.
And Americans are finally getting the hang of the ‘reporting’ button on Google maps, which helps greatly.
Last year, I got my first ever speeding ticket, in rural Alabama. I was pulled over by a Sheriff's Deputy with a gold tooth, and handed a ticket for doing 68 in a 60 zone. (Which was a 65mph zone until it suddenly dipped to 60 for no obvious reason.)
Every couple of days for the next three months, I called the rural Alabama courthouse that had issued the ticket. And each time, they told me the ticket had not been posted.
I began to get optimistic, maybe the Deputy had taken pity on a Brit only doing slightly more than the speed limit.
Nope.
It turns out that they do post the speeding ticket eventually. And I paid $150.
But what they want -apparently- is for you to give up calling, so that there's a court date, you don't show, and they can ramp the fine to $2,000.
Yes, it's a worldwide phenomenon - or at least a western world-wide phenomenon
Such an easy way to generate money, juice all the drivers with endless tickets that can easily spiral into enormous sums. Bring on the autonomous cars, I say
Parking fines are one of the few ways local councils can simultaneously improve the lives of their citizens, in particular disabled people, while not costing them loads of money.
The main issue is they are deeply regressive, with the fine easily affordable for your high earning SUV owner. Needs to be linked to incomes.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
Good impression but not enough CAPS LOCK to be the real thing.
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
It's articulate, but is an argument presented in a characteristicaly modern and useless form; sentimental arguments dealing sentimentally with the strong points which favour your view. OTOH good and useful arguments deal with the other side's strongest points and your side's weakest ones.
The reluctance in modern debate to engage in this way is intellectually crippling.
(Note: Jenrick may of course have done this elsewhere, I don't know. And yes, Tories chose the wrong leader. A right one was not available.)
It is one of the arguments against Assisted Self Murder, and he gives it with great eloquence. There are others. As you say he may or may not have covered them elsewhere in the speech, so your critique is otiose
That said, on a bad day he can ALSO come across as the worst kind of scheming Tory boy, and if entitled and forced to vote I would likely have voted for Kemi. Lets hope she improves
She got married 12 years ago and changed her name.
But what were you insinuating, pray?
It was also 6 years before she became an MP.
What was it that she said that was of interest?
If it was the Euston TEDx talk it’s worth listening to - why she got into politics
Essentially the teacher at her school discouraged her from applying to Oxbridge because “it’s not for the likes of you and me”. She went to Sussex - but now regrets not trying. She wants to challenge the poverty of low expectations.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
For whoever tagged this as a Troll (and yes, I know who you re), I think @biggles was joking.
I suspect it might have been the thin skinned Donald Trump posing as a PB poster again. If I get a flag for this post, that'll prove I'm right!
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
Merci!
I've just looked into this and it might explain why I keep infringing (when I really am quite careful). Often French roads do not have speed limit signage, you are expected to "know"
Everyone in France uses Waze, despite it being illegal to have a database showing where the speed cameras and police traps are. Just make sure you have it set to incognito settings and, if you get pulled over, exit the App before les gendarmes arrive at your car window.
You can’t record the fixed camera positions in France, so everyone logs them as police checks on Waze. France is the one country where Google Maps won’t help you, for the reasons given in the article.
Endless tickets for the most trivial offences was actually one of the reasons I abandoned my own car in London (plus I hardly ever used it anyway). Several times I wondered if I had even offended at all, but the process of challenging them is such a chore it's easier to pay up. The only time I did challenge was a parking fine in Camden and I won, but I did that because I had a distinct memory of the incident. How often is that the case?
But that's good advice on France. Ta
I’m still chuffed to have come back from the States for the first time ever without having been pulled over by a Sheriff or State Trooper.
My regular trick was to latch onto another speeding car on the Interstate and follow it at a respectable distance, but it was only more recently that someone tipped me off that this only works if you pick a car with an out-of-state numberplate.
And Americans are finally getting the hang of the ‘reporting’ button on Google maps, which helps greatly.
Last year, I got my first ever speeding ticket, in rural Alabama. I was pulled over by a Sheriff's Deputy with a gold tooth, and handed a ticket for doing 68 in a 60 zone. (Which was a 65mph zone until it suddenly dipped to 60 for no obvious reason.)
Every couple of days for the next three months, I called the rural Alabama courthouse that had issued the ticket. And each time, they told me the ticket had not been posted.
I began to get optimistic, maybe the Deputy had taken pity on a Brit only doing slightly more than the speed limit.
Nope.
It turns out that they do post the speeding ticket eventually. And I paid $150.
But what they want -apparently- is for you to give up calling, so that there's a court date, you don't show, and they can ramp the fine to $2,000.
Yes, it's a worldwide phenomenon - or at least a western world-wide phenomenon
Such an easy way to generate money, juice all the drivers with endless tickets that can easily spiral into enormous sums. Bring on the autonomous cars, I say
Parking fines are one of the few ways local councils can simultaneously improve the lives of their citizens, in particular disabled people, while not costing them loads of money.
The main issue is they are deeply regressive, with the fine easily affordable for your high earning SUV owner. Needs to be linked to incomes.
The fun times were when councils could use their CCTV systems to catch people for parking or other traffic infringements and fine them through the post, without ever needing to have anyone on the spot. It brought in so much money, avoiding unpopular cuts, that no councillor could afford to argue with it. Sadly - for them, not us - the government stepped in and stopped remote enforcement of parking offences.
"If I were a British trade union putting out a press release for an "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People", I simply would not open that press release with a supportive quote from a Nazi war criminal. But that's just me."
88 for a majority, so any government requires two of the big three parties, and it would be pretty hard for FF or FG to do a deal with SF given what all three parties said about each other during the campaign. So who do FF+FG do a deal with?
The talk is that they'll go to Independents, but this might be a negotiating tactic to lower the price paid for support from Labour or the Social Democrats. No fourth party on above 10 seats, so the small parties don't offer much more in the way of reliable support than the Independents, compared to the 12 seats that the Green party delivered to the last coalition.
Perhaps Labour and the Social Democrats will do a deal between themselves to negotiate together to form a coalition with FF+FG? This might drive FF/FG to form a deal with Independents to avoid encouraging that sort of behaviour from the smaller left-wing parties. I think that's the most likely outcome.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
Why is he such a charmless tosser in public then?
Such a charmless tosser he has won the presidency. Twice
Don't you claim you helped furnish charmless Starmer with a landslide?
Charmless psychopath Putin wins election after election with increasing percentages. Even bumbling twat Johnson won a landslide too.
The electorate is often not a great reflection of taste, or even what might be in their own interests. Snake oil can provide the basis for a heady cocktail.
I'm merely pointing out that he did the necessary to win two elections. So obviously he's either charming a surprising number of people, making him charming by definition, or the opposition is deemed as being even worse
Probably the latter
I don't suppose he has to be charming to win an election. Adolf was a humourless thin skinned tyrant. I suspect that's all it takes. Any charmless buffoon can paint a picture that "others" are ruining your lives through lies and fake news. If they then claim they are the answer to resolve the issue they win elections. They might have used guile, cunning and grift but they remained charmless throughout.
If it is you banging in the "flags" against my posts, although I am sure you are not that sad party, as you claim to quite justifiably ignore my ramblings, you've missed a trick. Anyone who has a dozen active accounts could give a dozen flags for each post.
I've never knowingly flagged anyone in my life, I regard the gesture as pathetic. I might have done it with drunken fat fingers, but no, not deliberately. If I want to annoy or harangue someone I do it in a way that entertains me
Just ignore them!
You have at least two simpering fanbois then. On my flag before last post I got two flags for insulting, checks notes- Leon. Perhaps the Crabbe and Goyle to your Malfoy.
If he put his mind to it and logged into all his past accounts, his every post would be getting a whole stack of likes.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
For whoever tagged this as a Troll (and yes, I know who you re), I think @biggles was joking.
You mean, there aren’t trolls who are just doing it for the lolz?
On the parking thing - it needs regulating. Casino rightly described the parking companies as vultures - they exist to issue tickets and send threatening letters. Operating a car park is merely their entrapment scam.
I had a run-in with one of them a decade or so back. Parked in a leisure park on the edge of the town centre. Crossed the road at the edge of the park, went into one shop for 2 minutes then into the cinema on the park. Came back and found that I had been ticketed for "leaving the leisure park".
So I went round with a camera doing my research. There was a sign with their terms and conditions. Not on the access road I entered on, not in the car park I parked in, not on the (extended) footpath to the pedestrian crossing by the cinema which I briefly crossed. Off in the other corner where no-one could see it. Whats more there's no cameras at the pedestrian crossing owned by the leisure park (just traffic cams pointing at traffic on the crossing lights).
So how had I been seen breaking the rule that I hadn't contractually accepted? Then I spotted the gnome in his cabin. Genuinely sculking about following pedestrians. Their evidence was their employee following me to catch me leaving.
Lets just say that I had fun writing the successful appeal letter...
I think that fairly significant intervention on this may well be an upside with little downside for then Govt.
There are certain obvious nonsenses, such as enforcement being almost impossible especially on my own drive, but also on private land, without a civil action. If I park my car on IDS's drive whilst having a day in London, there's very little he can do about it.
It needs testing in court. Is the Parking Co able to prove that its consequential loss equivalent to the fine handed out? If not ........
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
For whoever tagged this as a Troll (and yes, I know who you re), I think @biggles was joking.
I suspect it might have been the thin skinned Donald Trump posing as a PB poster again. If I get a flag for this post, that'll prove I'm right!
Aha! So Robert at least now knows the PB identity of Donald J Trump!
88 for a majority, so any government requires two of the big three parties, and it would be pretty hard for FF or FG to do a deal with SF given what all three parties said about each other during the campaign. So who do FF+FG do a deal with?
The talk is that they'll go to Independents, but this might be a negotiating tactic to lower the price paid for support from Labour or the Social Democrats. No fourth party on above 10 seats, so the small parties don't offer much more in the way of reliable support than the Independents, compared to the 12 seats that the Green party delivered to the last coalition.
Perhaps Labour and the Social Democrats will do a deal between themselves to negotiate together to form a coalition with FF+FG? This might drive FF/FG to form a deal with Independents to avoid encouraging that sort of behaviour from the smaller left-wing parties. I think that's the most likely outcome.
Much though I understand why they think they have to do it, keeping SF excluded is only going to end one way in the end isn’t it?
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
For whoever tagged this as a Troll (and yes, I know who you re), I think @biggles was joking.
I suspect it might have been the thin skinned Donald Trump posing as a PB poster again. If I get a flag for this post, that'll prove I'm right!
Aha! So Robert at least now knows the PB identity of Donald J Trump!
We can at least eliminate @biggles from the possibilities.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
Merci!
I've just looked into this and it might explain why I keep infringing (when I really am quite careful). Often French roads do not have speed limit signage, you are expected to "know"
Everyone in France uses Waze, despite it being illegal to have a database showing where the speed cameras and police traps are. Just make sure you have it set to incognito settings and, if you get pulled over, exit the App before les gendarmes arrive at your car window.
You can’t record the fixed camera positions in France, so everyone logs them as police checks on Waze. France is the one country where Google Maps won’t help you, for the reasons given in the article.
Endless tickets for the most trivial offences was actually one of the reasons I abandoned my own car in London (plus I hardly ever used it anyway). Several times I wondered if I had even offended at all, but the process of challenging them is such a chore it's easier to pay up. The only time I did challenge was a parking fine in Camden and I won, but I did that because I had a distinct memory of the incident. How often is that the case?
But that's good advice on France. Ta
I’m still chuffed to have come back from the States for the first time ever without having been pulled over by a Sheriff or State Trooper.
My regular trick was to latch onto another speeding car on the Interstate and follow it at a respectable distance, but it was only more recently that someone tipped me off that this only works if you pick a car with an out-of-state numberplate.
And Americans are finally getting the hang of the ‘reporting’ button on Google maps, which helps greatly.
Last year, I got my first ever speeding ticket, in rural Alabama. I was pulled over by a Sheriff's Deputy with a gold tooth, and handed a ticket for doing 68 in a 60 zone. (Which was a 65mph zone until it suddenly dipped to 60 for no obvious reason.)
Every couple of days for the next three months, I called the rural Alabama courthouse that had issued the ticket. And each time, they told me the ticket had not been posted.
I began to get optimistic, maybe the Deputy had taken pity on a Brit only doing slightly more than the speed limit.
Nope.
It turns out that they do post the speeding ticket eventually. And I paid $150.
But what they want -apparently- is for you to give up calling, so that there's a court date, you don't show, and they can ramp the fine to $2,000.
Yes, it's a worldwide phenomenon - or at least a western world-wide phenomenon
Such an easy way to generate money, juice all the drivers with endless tickets that can easily spiral into enormous sums. Bring on the autonomous cars, I say
Parking fines are one of the few ways local councils can simultaneously improve the lives of their citizens, in particular disabled people, while not costing them loads of money.
The main issue is they are deeply regressive, with the fine easily affordable for your high earning SUV owner. Needs to be linked to incomes.
The fun times were when councils could use their CCTV systems to catch people for parking or other traffic infringements and fine them through the post, without ever needing to have anyone on the spot. It brought in so much money, avoiding unpopular cuts, that no councillor could afford to argue with it. Sadly - for them, not us - the government stepped in and stopped remote enforcement of parking offences.
That just sounds like productivity growth, typically stifled by central government.
"If I were a British trade union putting out a press release for an "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People", I simply would not open that press release with a supportive quote from a Nazi war criminal. But that's just me."
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
For whoever tagged this as a Troll (and yes, I know who you re), I think @biggles was joking.
I suspect it might have been the thin skinned Donald Trump posing as a PB poster again. If I get a flag for this post, that'll prove I'm right!
Aha! So Robert at least now knows the PB identity of Donald J Trump!
We can at least eliminate @biggles from the possibilities.
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
No, Kemi will grow into the role. Jenrick would have just grown into a bigger shape shifting lizard.
Well you'd know wouldn't you.....
On a day when everyone is flagging everyone else that is a remarkably personal slur. I try to keep my shape shifting lizardry to myself. If you get flagged, rest assured it wasn't me!
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
For whoever tagged this as a Troll (and yes, I know who you re), I think @biggles was joking.
I suspect it might have been the thin skinned Donald Trump posing as a PB poster again. If I get a flag for this post, that'll prove I'm right!
Aha! So Robert at least now knows the PB identity of Donald J Trump!
We can at least eliminate @biggles from the possibilities.
That's quite a helpful intervention. I'll scratch his name from my list.
Impossible to say exactly what's happening, but something is happening
Aye, like the Russians would leave the lights on. It's some kid having fun, just look at the altitude and the speed difference.
Yup. Few hundred feet at most. A 12 year old had a birthday.
If there is anything bothering those airbases, this is unrelated. And you wouldn’t send a fast jet to investigate a drone! The stall speed must be, what, 160mph?
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
For whoever tagged this as a Troll (and yes, I know who you re), I think @biggles was joking.
I suspect it might have been the thin skinned Donald Trump posing as a PB poster again. If I get a flag for this post, that'll prove I'm right!
Aha! So Robert at least now knows the PB identity of Donald J Trump!
We can at least eliminate @biggles from the possibilities.
That's quite a helpful intervention. I'll scratch his name from my list.
We’ll soon know if Trump is snooping here. He’ll go off on one about UFOs and LLMs; and he will invest billions of DoD cash in What3Words.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
For whoever tagged this as a Troll (and yes, I know who you re), I think @biggles was joking.
I suspect it might have been the thin skinned Donald Trump posing as a PB poster again. If I get a flag for this post, that'll prove I'm right!
Aha! So Robert at least now knows the PB identity of Donald J Trump!
We can at least eliminate @biggles from the possibilities.
Or is that what I want you to think?….
It's just on the Dark-PB that this stuff really happens. It's past it's heyday mind, just Lizz Truss, Leon, and David Icke now as regulars. They've been flagging Leon too.
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
No, Kemi will grow into the role. Jenrick would have just grown into a bigger shape shifting lizard.
Well you'd know wouldn't you.....
On a day when everyone is flagging everyone else that is a remarkably personal slur. I try to keep my shape shifting lizardry to myself. If you get flagged, rest assured it wasn't me!
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
AIUI if caught with a service like that switched on in France, the vehicle could be confiscated.
Do "show the speed limit" features work in France? My 6 year old car displays the speed limit on the dash reliably here. It's a German car, so presumably it should work in most of Europe.
88 for a majority, so any government requires two of the big three parties, and it would be pretty hard for FF or FG to do a deal with SF given what all three parties said about each other during the campaign. So who do FF+FG do a deal with?
The talk is that they'll go to Independents, but this might be a negotiating tactic to lower the price paid for support from Labour or the Social Democrats. No fourth party on above 10 seats, so the small parties don't offer much more in the way of reliable support than the Independents, compared to the 12 seats that the Green party delivered to the last coalition.
Perhaps Labour and the Social Democrats will do a deal between themselves to negotiate together to form a coalition with FF+FG? This might drive FF/FG to form a deal with Independents to avoid encouraging that sort of behaviour from the smaller left-wing parties. I think that's the most likely outcome.
Much though I understand why they think they have to do it, keeping SF excluded is only going to end one way in the end isn’t it?
You'd think so. Although the STV system does make it easier for voters to leapfrog to other parties if they're still put off by SF.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
AIUI if caught with a service like that switched on in France, the vehicle could be confiscated.
Do "show the speed limit" features work in France? My 6 year old car displays the speed limit on the dash reliably here. It's a German car, so presumably it should work in most of Europe.
If it’s like mine, it works by reading the signs. So.. only if there are signs.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Maybe they don't know it is kids with toys until they investigate.
And the trouble is, even if it is kids, the Pentagon might not want high quality pix of B2 hangars on TikTok, or lone wolf drones triggering yet another terrorism or mental health debate.
John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · 1h Blairites are in despair over Keir Starmer’s flailing leadership. My weekend article for The Independent, free to read www.independent.co.uk/voices/starm...
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Have you ever driven in London?
Breaking news: sometimes drivers in London can drive quite aggressively. Likewise, cyclists. Right behind you
This wedding ring has been retrieved for a Donegal voter - it slipped off his finger as he pushed down the ballot paper into a box in Moville-he realized straight away and a note was out on the box - Clr Ali Farren will get it back to him
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Leon's right. (Two words you rarely see together.)
When pulling out to overtake or even crossing a junction it is simply common sense to minimise your time in the danger zone. It doesn't matter how much care you took, if some idiot coming the other way is breaking the law you want to be out of their way asap.
The ability to accelerate out if trouble is a safety feature. If you have ever driven a car with poor acceleration you will know how unsafe it feels.
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Have you ever driven in London?
Breaking news: sometimes drivers in London can drive quite aggressively. Likewise, cyclists. Right behind you
I learned to drive in London. It's been a few years since I last drove there admittedly. I think my point stands.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
Doing 24 in a 20 will get you a fine in London, if you’re passing a speed camera at the time.
I'm not sure that doing 24 as you see it on your speedometer will. I think that your car probably overeggs your speed slightly and that the cameras are set slightly towards underestimation. Additionally the police probably allow you a slight leeway. All in all I guess you'd have to be going at something like 28 (on the speedometer) in a 20 to get a ticket.
AIUI prosecution threshold in the UK is usually something like +10% + 1/2 mph over the limit.
But it's a policy matter for the Chief Constable, so varies by force.
I prefer the French system where they enforce to the limit, but have fewer points for the first 5kph over. UK tends to do nothing then straight to 3 points. I'd like 2 points from the speed limit + 1.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Leon's right. (Two words you rarely see together.)
When pulling out to overtake or even crossing a junction it is simply common sense to minimise your time in the danger zone. It doesn't matter how much care you took, if some idiot coming the other way is breaking the law you want to be out of their way asap.
The ability to accelerate out if trouble is a safety feature. If you have ever driven a car with poor acceleration you will know how unsafe it feels.
Thankyou! Someone sensible on PB
It's one of the reasons, when I did own cars, I got fast cars with good acceleration. They are actively safer as you can speed away from danger (thereby making life safer for others, as well)
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
No, Kemi will grow into the role. Jenrick would have just grown into a bigger shape shifting lizard.
Well you'd know wouldn't you.....
On a day when everyone is flagging everyone else that is a remarkably personal slur. I try to keep my shape shifting lizardry to myself. If you get flagged, rest assured it wasn't me!
I never flag anyone.
I'd bet quite a few of them are mistakes. If you're on a phone and scrolling down a thread it's possible to make a fleeting but sufficient contact with 'flag' without meaning to.
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
It's articulate, but is an argument presented in a characteristicaly modern and useless form; sentimental arguments dealing sentimentally with the strong points which favour your view. OTOH good and useful arguments deal with the other side's strongest points and your side's weakest ones.
The reluctance in modern debate to engage in this way is intellectually crippling.
(Note: Jenrick may of course have done this elsewhere, I don't know. And yes, Tories chose the wrong leader. A right one was not available.)
It is one of the arguments against Assisted Self Murder, and he gives it with great eloquence. There are others. As you say he may or may not have covered them elsewhere in the speech, so your critique is otiose
That said, on a bad day he can ALSO come across as the worst kind of scheming Tory boy, and if entitled and forced to vote I would likely have voted for Kemi. Lets hope she improves
Surely plain wrong rather than otiose. Nice word, otiose. Lots of otioseness would produce better arguments.
WSJ columnist @PeggyNoonanNYC had refused to meet Trump for eight years: “I had a feeling that up close he would be charming and funny—and that it would mess with my swing as an observer.”
After finally meeting him a couple weeks ago, she told herself: “Honey, your intuition was right.”
I suppose people with age related dementia have good and bad days.. My mother in law was like that. One day unusually civil, most days the joyless, impish fun vacuum she had perfected throughout her life.
The "flag" seems to get used these days when a poster merely disagrees with another poster. Unless of course Donald Trump is posting on here and is as incredibly thin skinned as the reports suggest. I wonder who he posts as? I have an idea ...
People are saying I’m the best poster. I’m not so sure, but they are saying it. I do get over 5000 likes on the average post.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Leon's right. (Two words you rarely see together.)
When pulling out to overtake or even crossing a junction it is simply common sense to minimise your time in the danger zone. It doesn't matter how much care you took, if some idiot coming the other way is breaking the law you want to be out of their way asap.
The ability to accelerate out if trouble is a safety feature. If you have ever driven a car with poor acceleration you will know how unsafe it feels.
It depends on you're reference point. The need for speed suggests it's not a safe manoeuvre in the first place. And it won't help you much in court:
You should always reduce your speed when - the road layout or condition presents hazards, such as bends
- sharing the road with pedestrians, particularly children, older adults or disabled people, cyclists and horse riders, horse drawn vehicles and motorcyclists
This is extremely articulate from Robert Jenrick, on Assisted Suicide, even if you entirely disagree with him
Robert Jenrick MP @RobertJenrick “There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
No, Kemi will grow into the role. Jenrick would have just grown into a bigger shape shifting lizard.
Well you'd know wouldn't you.....
On a day when everyone is flagging everyone else that is a remarkably personal slur. I try to keep my shape shifting lizardry to myself. If you get flagged, rest assured it wasn't me!
I never flag anyone.
Nor do I. I don't know what the bloody thing is for, and I wouldn't even know if someone flagged me. How can you tell?
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Leon's right. (Two words you rarely see together.)
When pulling out to overtake or even crossing a junction it is simply common sense to minimise your time in the danger zone. It doesn't matter how much care you took, if some idiot coming the other way is breaking the law you want to be out of their way asap.
The ability to accelerate out if trouble is a safety feature. If you have ever driven a car with poor acceleration you will know how unsafe it feels.
Thankyou! Someone sensible on PB
It's one of the reasons, when I did own cars, I got fast cars with good acceleration. They are actively safer as you can speed away from danger (thereby making life safer for others, as well)
I have a Golf GTI and its 'toe' did in fact get me out of a hairy situation on the M1 a few weeks ago.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
Merci!
I've just looked into this and it might explain why I keep infringing (when I really am quite careful). Often French roads do not have speed limit signage, you are expected to "know"
Everyone in France uses Waze, despite it being illegal to have a database showing where the speed cameras and police traps are. Just make sure you have it set to incognito settings and, if you get pulled over, exit the App before les gendarmes arrive at your car window.
You can’t record the fixed camera positions in France, so everyone logs them as police checks on Waze. France is the one country where Google Maps won’t help you, for the reasons given in the article.
Endless tickets for the most trivial offences was actually one of the reasons I abandoned my own car in London (plus I hardly ever used it anyway). Several times I wondered if I had even offended at all, but the process of challenging them is such a chore it's easier to pay up. The only time I did challenge was a parking fine in Camden and I won, but I did that because I had a distinct memory of the incident. How often is that the case?
But that's good advice on France. Ta
I’m still chuffed to have come back from the States for the first time ever without having been pulled over by a Sheriff or State Trooper.
My regular trick was to latch onto another speeding car on the Interstate and follow it at a respectable distance, but it was only more recently that someone tipped me off that this only works if you pick a car with an out-of-state numberplate.
And Americans are finally getting the hang of the ‘reporting’ button on Google maps, which helps greatly.
Last year, I got my first ever speeding ticket, in rural Alabama. I was pulled over by a Sheriff's Deputy with a gold tooth, and handed a ticket for doing 68 in a 60 zone. (Which was a 65mph zone until it suddenly dipped to 60 for no obvious reason.)
Every couple of days for the next three months, I called the rural Alabama courthouse that had issued the ticket. And each time, they told me the ticket had not been posted.
I began to get optimistic, maybe the Deputy had taken pity on a Brit only doing slightly more than the speed limit.
Nope.
It turns out that they do post the speeding ticket eventually. And I paid $150.
But what they want -apparently- is for you to give up calling, so that there's a court date, you don't show, and they can ramp the fine to $2,000.
Yes, it's a worldwide phenomenon - or at least a western world-wide phenomenon
Such an easy way to generate money, juice all the drivers with endless tickets that can easily spiral into enormous sums. Bring on the autonomous cars, I say
It's been much more cynical in some places in USA, in that some places tried to use traffic camera revenue to fund their local government, and entered into very profit driven contracts with providers who were given enough leeway that they could heavily abuse the systems they put in.
The whirlwind from that was that it became discredited and some places have banned traffic cameras, which helps make USA roads 3-5x more dangerous than Europe.
Here, I think it has been quite strictly regulated at local level, and the Treasury nicks all the revenue. I'd prefer revenue to be useable for funding specialist traffic police, which Blair abolished as a separate stream around 2002. So our traffic police are less specialist than they were, and there about half as many of them. Not good for certain offences such as drug driving and mobile phone offences.
Maybe they don't know it is kids with toys until they investigate.
And the trouble is, even if it is kids, the Pentagon might not want high quality pix of B2 hangars on TikTok, or lone wolf drones triggering yet another terrorism or mental health debate.
The RAF and USAF are strongly suggesting that it is Russian drones
However, they might be saying that because they are embarrassed at getting over excited by... a bunch of kids with toys
The shot of the blue sphere on the airport runway is quite odd. Looks like a battered weather balloon to me, but there are other theories....
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
Why on earth park in a disabled bay in the first place? If it was deserted why not park somewhere else? The disabled bays are often designed to be wider or closer to amenities. Why is it alright to take it when a disabled driver might turn up.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Have you ever driven in London?
Breaking news: sometimes drivers in London can drive quite aggressively. Likewise, cyclists. Right behind you
I learned to drive in London. It's been a few years since I last drove there admittedly. I think my point stands.
It does. You're both right. Accelerating can make you safer but you shouldn't be so up the arse of the car in front that you'd hit them if they braked sharply.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Have you ever driven in London?
Breaking news: sometimes drivers in London can drive quite aggressively. Likewise, cyclists. Right behind you
I learned to drive in London. It's been a few years since I last drove there admittedly. I think my point stands.
It does. You're both right. Accelerating can make you safer but you shouldn't be so up the arse of the car in front that you'd hit them if they braked sharply.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
I'm sure there are circumstances where a turn of speed will get a driver out of trouble, but anyone behind you should be leaving enough space to stop safely in case the car ahead does an emergency stop. So that's not a good reason to avoid braking yourself.
Leon's right. (Two words you rarely see together.)
When pulling out to overtake or even crossing a junction it is simply common sense to minimise your time in the danger zone. It doesn't matter how much care you took, if some idiot coming the other way is breaking the law you want to be out of their way asap.
The ability to accelerate out if trouble is a safety feature. If you have ever driven a car with poor acceleration you will know how unsafe it feels.
Thankyou! Someone sensible on PB
It's one of the reasons, when I did own cars, I got fast cars with good acceleration. They are actively safer as you can speed away from danger (thereby making life safer for others, as well)
I have a Golf GTI and its 'toe' did in fact get me out of a hairy situation on the M1 a few weeks ago.
Quite so
When you overtake you want to get it done fast, because it is inherently risky, even on a motorway. Especially when overtaking a lorry which suddenly kicks up spray making everything invisible
Vote share estimate for SF of 18.5% based on seat tallies, putting them in third, rather than leading as the exit poll had them. Another indication that the position of FF/FG is a bit stronger, and they might only need a handful of Independents to reach a majority (although they'd want to bring a larger crowd on board so that their majority wouldn't be so vulnerable to a single individual walking out).
John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · 1h Blairites are in despair over Keir Starmer’s flailing leadership. My weekend article for The Independent, free to read www.independent.co.uk/voices/starm...
John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · 1h Blairites are in despair over Keir Starmer’s flailing leadership. My weekend article for The Independent, free to read www.independent.co.uk/voices/starm...
Blair in 1997 had the very considerable benefit of receiving an economy in very good order, growing well and generating plenty of tax revenues spinning off a boom in financial services. Starmer has a much, much harder row to furrow.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
AIUI if caught with a service like that switched on in France, the vehicle could be confiscated.
Do "show the speed limit" features work in France? My 6 year old car displays the speed limit on the dash reliably here. It's a German car, so presumably it should work in most of Europe.
Hint: the car's camera sees the signs and displays the last one it's seen; it doesn't know which country it's in.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
AIUI if caught with a service like that switched on in France, the vehicle could be confiscated.
Do "show the speed limit" features work in France? My 6 year old car displays the speed limit on the dash reliably here. It's a German car, so presumably it should work in most of Europe.
Hint: the car's camera sees the signs and displays the last one it's seen; it doesn't know which country it's in.
Mine has both a satellite system, and the supplementary extra camera (which I ordered as it allowed me to switch on various other options when I got hold of the relevant software), so also works in an absence of signs.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
You need Waze (set to not reveal your use to other users, since it’s illegal in France)
AIUI if caught with a service like that switched on in France, the vehicle could be confiscated.
Do "show the speed limit" features work in France? My 6 year old car displays the speed limit on the dash reliably here. It's a German car, so presumably it should work in most of Europe.
Hint: the car's camera sees the signs and displays the last one it's seen; it doesn't know which country it's in.
I think that depends on the system. On my Rivian, it's based off of OSM road encodings, which I know because it shows part of the 405 near my home as a 45mph limit - a bug that is in OSM, but not in Google or Apple Maps.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
Why on earth park in a disabled bay in the first place? If it was deserted why not park somewhere else? The disabled bays are often designed to be wider or closer to amenities. Why is it alright to take it when a disabled driver might turn up.
Christ, PB and its lack of imagination
This is why I parked in a disabled bay. I was driving along a very long, one way, uphill road in the Provencal hills. Very narrow. Nowhere to turn. I then encountered a bunch of tree surgeons who were blocking the road with their equipment, meaning I couldn't get past. But nor could I reverse 3km downhill, not safely, and - as I say - there was nowhere to turn.The tree surgeons were, also, nowhere to be found
However about 100m before the blockage was just one parking bay. Disabled. I put my car there as it seemed the safest option while I went off to find out what was going on. Turned out the tree surgeons were having a pastis in the village square further ahead, they eventually sauntered down and unblocked the road, allowing me to proceed
But some officious twat decided to ticket me anyway, even though I had surely chosen the safest of several bad options
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
Why on earth park in a disabled bay in the first place? If it was deserted why not park somewhere else? The disabled bays are often designed to be wider or closer to amenities. Why is it alright to take it when a disabled driver might turn up.
Christ, PB and its lack of imagination
This is why I parked in a disabled bay. I was driving along a very long, one way, uphill road in the Provencal hills. Very narrow. Nowhere to turn. I then encountered a bunch of tree surgeons who were blocking the road with their equipment, meaning I couldn't get past. But nor could I reverse 3km downhill, not safely, and - as I say - there was nowhere to turn.The tree surgeons were, also, nowhere to be found
However about 100m before the blockage was just one parking bay. Disabled. I put my car there as it seemed the safest option while I went off to find out what was going on. Turned out the tree surgeons were having a pastis in the village square further ahead, they eventually sauntered down and unblocked the road, allowing me to proceed
But some officious twat decided to ticket me anyway, even though I had surely chosen the safest of several bad options
Well that lacks total credibility to defend the indefensible. If the road was blocked why not get out there to find them and if there was a bay and the width of a car to reverse 100m to it you could have turned using the road and the extra width offered by the bay. Sounds like a cock and ball story to me.
88 for a majority, so any government requires two of the big three parties, and it would be pretty hard for FF or FG to do a deal with SF given what all three parties said about each other during the campaign. So who do FF+FG do a deal with?
The talk is that they'll go to Independents, but this might be a negotiating tactic to lower the price paid for support from Labour or the Social Democrats. No fourth party on above 10 seats, so the small parties don't offer much more in the way of reliable support than the Independents, compared to the 12 seats that the Green party delivered to the last coalition.
Perhaps Labour and the Social Democrats will do a deal between themselves to negotiate together to form a coalition with FF+FG? This might drive FF/FG to form a deal with Independents to avoid encouraging that sort of behaviour from the smaller left-wing parties. I think that's the most likely outcome.
Much though I understand why they think they have to do it, keeping SF excluded is only going to end one way in the end isn’t it?
I'm not so sure. SF aren't some booming populist alternative that are being ignored, and the keep shooting themselves in the foot.
John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · 1h Blairites are in despair over Keir Starmer’s flailing leadership. My weekend article for The Independent, free to read www.independent.co.uk/voices/starm...
Summary: Everyone knows that Starmer and Reeves are wrong but no-one can say what they would do instead.
The critique is sharper than that. This is astute:
"Above all, what some Blairites fear is that Starmer lacks the ability to communicate a sense of hope – that the work of his government will be organised around delivering just two or three believable improvements in people’s lives. Instead, as Ian Leslie, the cultural commentator, observes about the election: “What have been the three biggest political debates since then, all initiated by the government? Means-testing of the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, inheritance tax for farmers, and assisted dying. Ageing, death, death.”"
This government is just so DEPRESSING. All they do is moan and bleat and whine about even more pain ahead. And Starmer and Reeves do it in their reedy pathetic voices, while lecturing you about your smoking and drinking, or maybe criticising you for laughing too much
Yeah, there may be pain ahead, but there are still ways of evincing optimism. This is what Rayner manages to convey, almost uniquely in the government. She looks like she enjoys life, she doesn't mind you having an extra sherry she's got an optimistic disposition, and the UK desperately needs that
88 for a majority, so any government requires two of the big three parties, and it would be pretty hard for FF or FG to do a deal with SF given what all three parties said about each other during the campaign. So who do FF+FG do a deal with?
The talk is that they'll go to Independents, but this might be a negotiating tactic to lower the price paid for support from Labour or the Social Democrats. No fourth party on above 10 seats, so the small parties don't offer much more in the way of reliable support than the Independents, compared to the 12 seats that the Green party delivered to the last coalition.
Perhaps Labour and the Social Democrats will do a deal between themselves to negotiate together to form a coalition with FF+FG? This might drive FF/FG to form a deal with Independents to avoid encouraging that sort of behaviour from the smaller left-wing parties. I think that's the most likely outcome.
Much though I understand why they think they have to do it, keeping SF excluded is only going to end one way in the end isn’t it?
I'm not so sure. SF aren't some booming populist alternative that are being ignored, and the keep shooting themselves in the foot.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
Why on earth park in a disabled bay in the first place? If it was deserted why not park somewhere else? The disabled bays are often designed to be wider or closer to amenities. Why is it alright to take it when a disabled driver might turn up.
Christ, PB and its lack of imagination
This is why I parked in a disabled bay. I was driving along a very long, one way, uphill road in the Provencal hills. Very narrow. Nowhere to turn. I then encountered a bunch of tree surgeons who were blocking the road with their equipment, meaning I couldn't get past. But nor could I reverse 3km downhill, not safely, and - as I say - there was nowhere to turn.The tree surgeons were, also, nowhere to be found
However about 100m before the blockage was just one parking bay. Disabled. I put my car there as it seemed the safest option while I went off to find out what was going on. Turned out the tree surgeons were having a pastis in the village square further ahead, they eventually sauntered down and unblocked the road, allowing me to proceed
But some officious twat decided to ticket me anyway, even though I had surely chosen the safest of several bad options
Jeepers, this is the second time in an hour I've been moved to support you.
If it was quiet and the chances of anyone needing the bay were next door to zero why not use your common sense and occupy the disabled bay? Bad luck there was an officious twat around without any common sense, mais c'sest la vie.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
Why on earth park in a disabled bay in the first place? If it was deserted why not park somewhere else? The disabled bays are often designed to be wider or closer to amenities. Why is it alright to take it when a disabled driver might turn up.
Christ, PB and its lack of imagination
This is why I parked in a disabled bay. I was driving along a very long, one way, uphill road in the Provencal hills. Very narrow. Nowhere to turn. I then encountered a bunch of tree surgeons who were blocking the road with their equipment, meaning I couldn't get past. But nor could I reverse 3km downhill, not safely, and - as I say - there was nowhere to turn.The tree surgeons were, also, nowhere to be found
However about 100m before the blockage was just one parking bay. Disabled. I put my car there as it seemed the safest option while I went off to find out what was going on. Turned out the tree surgeons were having a pastis in the village square further ahead, they eventually sauntered down and unblocked the road, allowing me to proceed
But some officious twat decided to ticket me anyway, even though I had surely chosen the safest of several bad options
Well that lacks total credibility to defend the indefensible. If the road was blocked why not get out there to find them and if there was a bay and the width of a car to reverse 100m to it you could have turned using the road and the extra width offered by the bay. Sounds like a cock and ball story to me.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
This morning I received my first speeding fine in 20 years for doing 24 mph in a 20 mph zone in Kew at 10:20 on a Sunday morning. I'm normally careful. I just can't remember this event. I'll just pay up or agree to be re-educated.
Getting a fine for doing 24mph in a 20mph zone seems absurd. Gouging
Also one often HAS to speed, briefly, in a big city like London - to avoid accidents. A wobbly bicyclist, a dog running into the road, there are many times the best thing you can do is press the pedal and get past quickly
I'm disagreeing on that one, having lived in Central / Outer London for nearly a decade.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
You'd have to be mad to introduce more kinetic energy and longer stopping distances to a situation involving a vulnerable road user. Silly behaviour that could land you in jail.
What are you talking about. There are loads of occasions when speeding is the only option
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
In the UK the police are required to serve a Notice of Intended Prosecution on the vehicle owner within 14 days. That's the basic system. So "months" cannot apply.
It's a frustration for cam reporters. It is common for police to make a bad decision, or lose an email and take more than 14 days, so that the point of the report or the opportunity to educate a dodgy driver is lost. Drivers who kill or seriously injure often have a number of previous offences or reports, and the KSI could have been avoided if it had been nipped in the bud.
And - afaik - it is only the police who deal with speeding, except perhaps in *very* rare circumstances, such as local bylaws. And I am not even sure whether those are enforcible, and if so will not involve License Points, just a PCN.
(I'm staying off the 'speeding out of danger' thing.)
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
Why on earth park in a disabled bay in the first place? If it was deserted why not park somewhere else? The disabled bays are often designed to be wider or closer to amenities. Why is it alright to take it when a disabled driver might turn up.
Christ, PB and its lack of imagination
This is why I parked in a disabled bay. I was driving along a very long, one way, uphill road in the Provencal hills. Very narrow. Nowhere to turn. I then encountered a bunch of tree surgeons who were blocking the road with their equipment, meaning I couldn't get past. But nor could I reverse 3km downhill, not safely, and - as I say - there was nowhere to turn.The tree surgeons were, also, nowhere to be found
However about 100m before the blockage was just one parking bay. Disabled. I put my car there as it seemed the safest option while I went off to find out what was going on. Turned out the tree surgeons were having a pastis in the village square further ahead, they eventually sauntered down and unblocked the road, allowing me to proceed
But some officious twat decided to ticket me anyway, even though I had surely chosen the safest of several bad options
Well that lacks total credibility to defend the indefensible. If the road was blocked why not get out there to find them and if there was a bay and the width of a car to reverse 100m to it you could have turned using the road and the extra width offered by the bay. Sounds like a cock and ball story to me.
88 for a majority, so any government requires two of the big three parties, and it would be pretty hard for FF or FG to do a deal with SF given what all three parties said about each other during the campaign. So who do FF+FG do a deal with?
The talk is that they'll go to Independents, but this might be a negotiating tactic to lower the price paid for support from Labour or the Social Democrats. No fourth party on above 10 seats, so the small parties don't offer much more in the way of reliable support than the Independents, compared to the 12 seats that the Green party delivered to the last coalition.
Perhaps Labour and the Social Democrats will do a deal between themselves to negotiate together to form a coalition with FF+FG? This might drive FF/FG to form a deal with Independents to avoid encouraging that sort of behaviour from the smaller left-wing parties. I think that's the most likely outcome.
Much though I understand why they think they have to do it, keeping SF excluded is only going to end one way in the end isn’t it?
I'm not so sure. SF aren't some booming populist alternative that are being ignored, and the keep shooting themselves in the foot.
Better than shooting others in the kneecap I suppose.
John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · 1h Blairites are in despair over Keir Starmer’s flailing leadership. My weekend article for The Independent, free to read www.independent.co.uk/voices/starm...
Summary: Everyone knows that Starmer and Reeves are wrong but no-one can say what they would do instead.
Well, I'll go for it. In my view it would have been much better to reduce the huge benefits that higher rate tax payers (like myself) get from pension contributions and indeed the "tax free" lump sums that can be drawn down on retirement. At the moment the cost of those reliefs is hugely weighted towards the best paid in our country.
Increasing the cost of employing people, particularly marginal employment for those on minimum wage (whilst increasing that sharply at the same time) is likely to result in a steady increase in unemployment and completely undermines the government's target of getting the participation rate up to 80%.
In round terms I would have been looking to increase taxes by about £40bn (which she pretty much did), cut current spending by at least £50bn (which she very definitely didn't) and increasing capital spending by at least £30bn. I would have looked to spend £10bn or so on extra incentives for capital investment and training by businesses to try and improve our productivity.
That would have resulted in a significant fall in our borrowing, some increase in investment leading to higher growth and a step towards fairness where those who can use capital to make additional pension contributions can opt out of so much tax.
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
Why on earth park in a disabled bay in the first place? If it was deserted why not park somewhere else? The disabled bays are often designed to be wider or closer to amenities. Why is it alright to take it when a disabled driver might turn up.
Christ, PB and its lack of imagination
This is why I parked in a disabled bay. I was driving along a very long, one way, uphill road in the Provencal hills. Very narrow. Nowhere to turn. I then encountered a bunch of tree surgeons who were blocking the road with their equipment, meaning I couldn't get past. But nor could I reverse 3km downhill, not safely, and - as I say - there was nowhere to turn.The tree surgeons were, also, nowhere to be found
However about 100m before the blockage was just one parking bay. Disabled. I put my car there as it seemed the safest option while I went off to find out what was going on. Turned out the tree surgeons were having a pastis in the village square further ahead, they eventually sauntered down and unblocked the road, allowing me to proceed
But some officious twat decided to ticket me anyway, even though I had surely chosen the safest of several bad options
Well that lacks total credibility to defend the indefensible. If the road was blocked why not get out there to find them and if there was a bay and the width of a car to reverse 100m to it you could have turned using the road and the extra width offered by the bay. Sounds like a cock and ball story to me.
It was a ONE WAY ROAD
So why not leave it at the blockage
Because what if I went off to find the tree surgeons, couldn't find them, but in the meantime they came back and buggered off? That would leave my car blocking an entire road, whereas by putting it in the disabled bay I at least left the road open to others, should it becone unblocked during my investigations
Question: did the huge shortage of men in post WW2 Germany (6 million were killed) impact its demographics and recovery, and are the effects of that still being felt today?
Speaking of parking fine anecdotes, my month in France in July has now produced no less than FIVE traffic offences, slowly arriving through my front door in London
Three speeding fines, one maneuvering fine, one parking fine
Thing is, I am a fairly careful driver these days. I rarely speed. I was especially careful because half of that month I was ferrying my older daughter around
The fines were for things like "driving at 88kph in an 80kph temporary zone". The parking fine was an insane €135 for "parking in a disabled bay" - which I did, on a deserted Sunday, in a remote village in Provence, for about 40 minutes, with not a soul to be seen in the burning heat
From this I have deduced:
1. The French have speed cameras everywhere, it's worse than the UK 2. The French state desperately needs income 3. It will be a while before I willingly drive in France again
Why on earth park in a disabled bay in the first place? If it was deserted why not park somewhere else? The disabled bays are often designed to be wider or closer to amenities. Why is it alright to take it when a disabled driver might turn up.
Christ, PB and its lack of imagination
This is why I parked in a disabled bay. I was driving along a very long, one way, uphill road in the Provencal hills. Very narrow. Nowhere to turn. I then encountered a bunch of tree surgeons who were blocking the road with their equipment, meaning I couldn't get past. But nor could I reverse 3km downhill, not safely, and - as I say - there was nowhere to turn.The tree surgeons were, also, nowhere to be found
However about 100m before the blockage was just one parking bay. Disabled. I put my car there as it seemed the safest option while I went off to find out what was going on. Turned out the tree surgeons were having a pastis in the village square further ahead, they eventually sauntered down and unblocked the road, allowing me to proceed
But some officious twat decided to ticket me anyway, even though I had surely chosen the safest of several bad options
Jeepers, this is the second time in an hour I've been moved to support you.
If it was quiet and the chances of anyone needing the bay were next door to zero why not use your common sense and occupy the disabled bay? Bad luck there was an officious twat around without any common sense, mais c'sest la vie.
Comments
Robert Jenrick MP
@RobertJenrick
“There will be imperceptible changes in behaviours. There will be the grandmother who worries about her grandchildrens’ inheritance if she does not end her life. There will be the widow who relies on the kindness of strangers, who worries; it preys on her conscience. There will be people who are (and we all know them in our lives) shy, who have low self-esteem, who have demons within them. I know those people. I can see them in my mind’s eye. They are often poor, they are vulnerable, they are the weakest in society. And they look to us. They look to parliament to represent them, to support them, to protect them. In their interests, I am going to be voting against this Bill today".
https://x.com/RightToLifeUK/status/1862486667296137643
Did the Tories choose the wrong leader?
Just ignore them!
Every couple of days for the next three months, I called the rural Alabama courthouse that had issued the ticket. And each time, they told me the ticket had not been posted.
I began to get optimistic, maybe the Deputy had taken pity on a Brit only doing slightly more than the speed limit.
Nope.
It turns out that they do post the speeding ticket eventually. And I paid $150.
But what they want -apparently- is for you to give up calling, so that there's a court date, you don't show, and they can ramp the fine to $2,000.
I did one in around 2015, and enjoyed it.
And a truly manipulative sociopath, who isn't worried about truthfulness, changes his skin like a chameleon.
Such an easy way to generate money, juice all the drivers with endless tickets that can easily spiral into enormous sums. Bring on the autonomous cars, I say
But it does seem to be accepted in the US that enforcement targets out of state drivers, because they know they aren’t going to return to contest the fine. Hence speed cameras haven’t really taken off in the States, being indiscriminating, and despite being the world’s economic powerhouse, they still think it’s worthwhile to employ thousands of people sitting in cars waiting to raise some extra funds for their local county by catching people speeding by. On a wide multi-carriageway road that’s dead straight with light traffic and some silly speed limit that everyone is ignoring.
The reluctance in modern debate to engage in this way is intellectually crippling.
(Note: Jenrick may of course have done this elsewhere, I don't know. And yes, Tories chose the wrong leader. A right one was not available.)
Is it not possible, in your tiny Tenerife toe-tappers' mind, that he actually believes this? Many do, and he phrases it well
Jenrick is seen as being insincere, of following his followers. During the leadership election, he was a centrist cos-playing the hard right. So Jenrick would have been the wrong leader.
Unless you think the above proves he will pragmatically manoeuvre the Conservatives to wherever the focus groups mandate in order to win; the sort of chap who'd performatively ride a bike while his chauffeur drove behind. Then he'd be your man.
A one hundred and fifty bucks fine could be classed as a big win after an Alabama traffic stop.
There really is no upside to them being in London.
The main issue is they are deeply regressive, with the fine easily affordable for your high earning SUV owner. Needs to be linked to incomes.
That said, on a bad day he can ALSO come across as the worst kind of scheming Tory boy, and if entitled and forced to vote I would likely have voted for Kemi. Lets hope she improves
Essentially the teacher at her school discouraged her from applying to Oxbridge because “it’s not for the likes of you and me”. She went to Sussex - but now regrets not trying. She wants to challenge the poverty of low expectations.
"If I were a British trade union putting out a press release for an "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People", I simply would not open that press release with a supportive quote from a Nazi war criminal. But that's just me."
https://x.com/Daniel_Sugarman/status/1862472341415932287
FF 46
SF 40
FG 39
SDP 9
Lab 8
PBP-S 5
88 for a majority, so any government requires two of the big three parties, and it would be pretty hard for FF or FG to do a deal with SF given what all three parties said about each other during the campaign. So who do FF+FG do a deal with?
The talk is that they'll go to Independents, but this might be a negotiating tactic to lower the price paid for support from Labour or the Social Democrats. No fourth party on above 10 seats, so the small parties don't offer much more in the way of reliable support than the Independents, compared to the 12 seats that the Green party delivered to the last coalition.
Perhaps Labour and the Social Democrats will do a deal between themselves to negotiate together to form a coalition with FF+FG? This might drive FF/FG to form a deal with Independents to avoid encouraging that sort of behaviour from the smaller left-wing parties. I think that's the most likely outcome.
Speeding to get past is a bad option in general. it's a better option to wait until it is safe to proceed, or say overtake, then do so. AIUI it's a basic never to drive, especially speed, into a recognised hazard. Stopped vehicles cause no hazard whilst the situation resolves.
In this day and age, there's a fair possibility that you could get an Operation SNAP report from a dash cammer or cycle cammer. If trend continues the Met will be receiving 100k+ reports in 2024/25, then 10-11k per month the next year.
There are "anti" contributions I've seen and liked. But, no, not this one. I'd say the same if I didn't know who it came from.
It purports to show a fighter jet approaching the drone, and then the drone skedaddling in short order
https://x.com/528vibes/status/1862057287126294555
Impossible to say exactly what's happening, but something is happening
If there is anything bothering those airbases, this is unrelated. And you wouldn’t send a fast jet to investigate a drone! The stall speed must be, what, 160mph?
It probably comes across better in print than spoken.
1. Being surrounded by a bunch of cyclists and some of them are not in control and look like they might fall under your car if you all continue at the same speed. What do you do, let them fall under your car and die? You can't stop dead because vehicles or cyclists behind you will collide with you
The only option is to accelerate away, breaking the speed limit - esp easy in London where it is 20mph
2. You see a car pulling out of a side road and the driver's not looking properly, she's on the phone, whatever; if you continue at the same speed you will crash into her. Again slowing suddenly is too dangerous for cars behind. But the road ahead is clear: ergo, the best thing is to floor the pedal and avoid the crash
I can think of half a dozen similar scenarios where speeding is the safest alternative. Indeed it is one of the reasons you are allowed to challenge a speeding ticket: if staying in the limit means a likely accident
The problem is the tickets arrive weeks or months after the event by which time you've entirely forgotten this one moment and you have no way of proving it, anyway
Do "show the speed limit" features work in France? My 6 year old car displays the speed limit on the dash reliably here. It's a German car, so presumably it should work in most of Europe.
But then one has to ask why we've got British troops out and about hunting down kids with toys
"British troops help investigate mysterious drones spotted flying near US bases in UK
The United States Air Force said it was monitoring the airspace over RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell"
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/drones-ufos-raf-lakenheath-us-air-force-bases-uk-b1196386.html
And the trouble is, even if it is kids, the Pentagon might not want high quality pix of B2 hangars on TikTok, or lone wolf drones triggering yet another terrorism or mental health debate.
John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social
·
1h
Blairites are in despair over Keir Starmer’s flailing leadership. My weekend article for The Independent, free to read www.independent.co.uk/voices/starm...
https://bsky.app/profile/rentouljohn.bsky.social/post/3lc6blvqufk2l
Breaking news: sometimes drivers in London can drive quite aggressively. Likewise, cyclists. Right behind you
https://x.com/RTEDonegal/status/1862888012407038330
This wedding ring has been retrieved for a Donegal voter - it slipped off his finger as he pushed down the ballot paper into a box in Moville-he realized straight away and a note was out on the box - Clr Ali Farren will get it back to him
When pulling out to overtake or even crossing a junction it is simply common sense to minimise your time in the danger zone. It doesn't matter how much care you took, if some idiot coming the other way is breaking the law you want to be out of their way asap.
The ability to accelerate out if trouble is a safety feature. If you have ever driven a car with poor acceleration you will know how unsafe it feels.
Now AD has passed the first reading I'd hope to see a switch away from soul-searching towards the practicalities of how it's going to work.
But it's a policy matter for the Chief Constable, so varies by force.
I prefer the French system where they enforce to the limit, but have fewer points for the first 5kph over. UK tends to do nothing then straight to 3 points. I'd like 2 points from the speed limit + 1.
It's one of the reasons, when I did own cars, I got fast cars with good acceleration. They are actively safer as you can speed away from danger (thereby making life safer for others, as well)
You should always reduce your speed when
- the road layout or condition presents hazards, such as bends
- sharing the road with pedestrians, particularly children, older adults or disabled people, cyclists and horse riders, horse drawn vehicles and motorcyclists
Wanna try it, just for the lolz?
The whirlwind from that was that it became discredited and some places have banned traffic cameras, which helps make USA roads 3-5x more dangerous than Europe.
Here, I think it has been quite strictly regulated at local level, and the Treasury nicks all the revenue. I'd prefer revenue to be useable for funding specialist traffic police, which Blair abolished as a separate stream around 2002. So our traffic police are less specialist than they were, and there about half as many of them. Not good for certain offences such as drug driving and mobile phone offences.
However, they might be saying that because they are embarrassed at getting over excited by... a bunch of kids with toys
The shot of the blue sphere on the airport runway is quite odd. Looks like a battered weather balloon to me, but there are other theories....
When you overtake you want to get it done fast, because it is inherently risky, even on a motorway. Especially when overtaking a lorry which suddenly kicks up spray making everything invisible
Happened to me a couple of times. Nasty
This is why I parked in a disabled bay. I was driving along a very long, one way, uphill road in the Provencal hills. Very narrow. Nowhere to turn. I then encountered a bunch of tree surgeons who were blocking the road with their equipment, meaning I couldn't get past. But nor could I reverse 3km downhill, not safely, and - as I say - there was nowhere to turn.The tree surgeons were, also, nowhere to be found
However about 100m before the blockage was just one parking bay. Disabled. I put my car there as it seemed the safest option while I went off to find out what was going on. Turned out the tree surgeons were having a pastis in the village square further ahead, they eventually sauntered down and unblocked the road, allowing me to proceed
But some officious twat decided to ticket me anyway, even though I had surely chosen the safest of several bad options
"Above all, what some Blairites fear is that Starmer lacks the ability to communicate a sense of hope – that the work of his government will be organised around delivering just two or three believable improvements in people’s lives. Instead, as Ian Leslie, the cultural commentator, observes about the election: “What have been the three biggest political debates since then, all initiated by the government? Means-testing of the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, inheritance tax for farmers, and assisted dying. Ageing, death, death.”"
This government is just so DEPRESSING. All they do is moan and bleat and whine about even more pain ahead. And Starmer and Reeves do it in their reedy pathetic voices, while lecturing you about your smoking and drinking, or maybe criticising you for laughing too much
Yeah, there may be pain ahead, but there are still ways of evincing optimism. This is what Rayner manages to convey, almost uniquely in the government. She looks like she enjoys life, she doesn't mind you having an extra sherry she's got an optimistic disposition, and the UK desperately needs that
If it was quiet and the chances of anyone needing the bay were next door to zero why not use your common sense and occupy the disabled bay? Bad luck there was an officious twat around without any common sense, mais c'sest la vie.
I need a lie down.
It's a frustration for cam reporters. It is common for police to make a bad decision, or lose an email and take more than 14 days, so that the point of the report or the opportunity to educate a dodgy driver is lost. Drivers who kill or seriously injure often have a number of previous offences or reports, and the KSI could have been avoided if it had been nipped in the bud.
And - afaik - it is only the police who deal with speeding, except perhaps in *very* rare circumstances, such as local bylaws. And I am not even sure whether those are enforcible, and if so will not involve License Points, just a PCN.
(I'm staying off the 'speeding out of danger' thing.)
Increasing the cost of employing people, particularly marginal employment for those on minimum wage (whilst increasing that sharply at the same time) is likely to result in a steady increase in unemployment and completely undermines the government's target of getting the participation rate up to 80%.
In round terms I would have been looking to increase taxes by about £40bn (which she pretty much did), cut current spending by at least £50bn (which she very definitely didn't) and increasing capital spending by at least £30bn. I would have looked to spend £10bn or so on extra incentives for capital investment and training by businesses to try and improve our productivity.
That would have resulted in a significant fall in our borrowing, some increase in investment leading to higher growth and a step towards fairness where those who can use capital to make additional pension contributions can opt out of so much tax.
Are you a moron?