malumbu

I look out for them tomorrow over Horniman Gardens. Separately our garden has been invaded by large birds, magpies, a jay or two, starlings, a couple of wood pigeons and less great and blue tits than usual, virtually no long tailed tits and only the occasional dunnock. No blue tit nesting this year either..... Here's a lovely picture when the common redpolls visited a few weeks ago, feeding on sunflower chips with the goldfinches. Note the home made anti-parakeet cage (from a squirrel proof feeder)

Special Advisors aka SPADs didn't want the report published, I know as I have the contacts. And that isn't Peter Walker. It was published because it was leaked. Look through the executive summary line by line and there are some positive views and some negative ones. This therefore comes across as balanced; as all academic studies should be. Sunak want to appeal to the motorists vote, and therefore Harper picks on the negatives. The Guardian, LCC and the like pick on the positives. That's the way the world works. But as said government wanted it to be a hatchet job, and it wasn't. I expect the LTNs to be still there in years to come. Let's see how Starmer reacts now the ULEZ has got the thumbs up in the Mayoral elections.

Britain First took things to another extreme: "London is fast becoming a Third World cesspit, where crime is rampant and radical Islamist extremists dominate the streets!" Probably the best outcome for Scanlon is that Orpington returns to Kent, although that would be unfair both on the residents of Kent, and many who live in the London Borough of Bromley irrespective of who the voted for. Hooray for Count Binface eh?

I don't think attacking an academic is particularly helpful. The work was commissioned through a proper process. Findings similarly would have been rigorously examined. Government weren't particularly happy with the outcome and tried to bury it, but somebody in government thought this wrong and leaked it. Government put their spin on it, which governments do, but the data gave some positive outcomes. My issue is with those who continue to drive whatever barriers (physical and others) are put in their place. Hopefully with time more will use cars less, share journeys, decide that the journey is not essential eg working from home instead etc. CleanAirDulwich, from my take, are mainly pushing active transport; one more journey walked is one less car on the road.

If he achieves half of these then that will be some legacy. Put aside your dislike of the man and look at the positives. All politicians fail to deliver all of their pledges - a fact of life, doesn't make it right but things get in the way or priorities change. You can look at Livingstone, ignoring his later demise, and see him as a force of change and supporting the ordinary Londoner. He said he was going to bring back bus conductors. How silly. 70p fixed bus fair in outer London. Just wouldn't work - instead a pound to travel wherever you were going on the bus. Sounded daft, but we've had the single fair for, well, must be 20 years now. Interesting review of Johnson's 2019 pledges. He fully met his target for a bad Brexit. So lots of ticks there, but after that, pretty poor. https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/annex-conservative-manifesto-half-time-analysis.pdf Sunak almost an abject failure, but when we get some clarity on Labour we will be having discussions on some of their failures in years to come.

PM has reduced from road traffic primarily due to effective emission standards, started off following the bad Los Angeles smogs of the 60s and 70s that led to petrol vehicles moving from carburetors to fuel injection, and the three way catalyst. As diesel cars became more popular, leading to more soot, as well as that already emitted from heavy vehicles new vehicle emission standards effectively brought down particulate emissions. You always have to look at street level emissions rather than total emissions, as these have the greatest impact on human health. Car exhausts are closer to people's lungs than industrial stacks. London all but met legal standards by the tens and Johnson, funded by DfT had a push to meet these on all roads. Whether legal limits could be tighter is a question, as there is no such thing as a safe level. Renewal of bus fleets and retrofitting older vehicles was important. London as far as I am aware has the most modern/cleanest of all in the country, Livingstone wrongly supported the bendy bus, not a bad vehicle but made for wide straight boulevards. Johnson and the new routemaster was just stupid, it vibrates, rarely running in electric mode, wasted space with the extra door and stairs, and I've seen some spewing out soot, so obviously the filter has failed. There was a loophole that encouraged some drivers to get rid of their diesel filters after they became blocked rather than cleaning them out, but the MOT was toughened. You still see the odd vehicle spewing out smoke, police do have powers to stop and get the owner to test, but this is not a priority. There is a smoky vehicle government hotline but not sure if this is effective. https://www.gov.uk/report-smoky-vehicle I've worked in and around this area for years so have some broad knowledge. I'm more active in promoting active travel nowadays. I'd push government on driving standards which should be a quick win on safety, carbon, air quality and congestion but they are not bothered as this would mean accepting that most of us are not good drivers (subjective term but if you had a random driving retest programme most would fail). I think too much is made of ClearAirDulwich, I doubt whether they are a major lobby group but provide some good stories for people like me. I've called Alleynes a couple of times and got them to instruct drivers to turn their engines off, it's pretty good in recent months. There is a downside to every intervention (well apart from flouride in water but that is another story). We moved to unleaded, and some were disadvantaged, even though there were phenomenal public health benefits. E10, reducing carbon emissions but a small number of older cars have problems. Close a road, make it one way or introduce parking fees, as we have done for decades across London, will always upset some people. Paris in desperation during 40 degree summer temperatures with no wind introduced alternate days for vehicle access, odd and even number plates. When this was done in Lagos the wealthy owners simply had two vehicles one with odd, one with even. So whatever you do this will in all likelihood have a lower impact on the rich.

Maybe the discussion should be about why the Tories did not put up a better candidate, and have a positive campaign. As for salaries I expect that half my street is on £100k plus, and a few on a quarter of a million. That's what (some) people in London earn, and unless they have family financial support, or have bought and sold at the right time, will need to earn that to buy a property in this area. Not that I have ever been in that earning bracket.

Friend recommends Penge Cycle Club. Southwark Cyclists usually do two social cycle rides on Saturday, you don't need to be a member (London Cycling Campaign) but recommended. They are advertised on the What's On section of EDF. And you can go on their other Borough group rides, Lewisham Cyclists often do long rides. Generally very cycle friendly around here, despite occasional on line hostility.

Well done to Khan, having to face voter apathy in particular in inner London, where some in particular the young may have not voted due to forgetting ID, the negative campaign from Hall, in particular wishing to reverse measures that make our air cleaner, thinly veiled racism against him, and the Evening Standard which was manufacturing their own vision of events in the run up (although I understand they switched sides at the end).

Emissions from motor vehicles, in particular diesels and even more so pre-2016 for cars, are the main source of roadside nitrogen dioxide. Therefore you have two choices, cleaner motor vehicles or less motor vehicle journeys. Drivers and owners are the main cause. Clean Air Dulwich are championing less car use.

Big up for the SE23 Massive! Good discussion on their local forum (which has become a bit more interesting after being in the doldrums for a decade): https://www.se23.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=14870 The Times article is a bit (trying to think of an inoffensive word) but they and the Standard have to fill their property pages with something

The point I am making is that rich people will always be able to afford better things in life. The industrialists who took over from gentleman farmers, particularly on the arrival of the railways, hardly made Dulwich into Welwyn Garden City, Saltaire or Bourneville. Although you could argue the Dulwich Estate did something like this in parts of the village and West Dulwich in the 60s and 70s. Clean air is a relative term, cleaner air would be better. From my understanding Clean Air Dulwich are promoting active travel and less car journeys. Clean air for all, and One Dulwich, are principally against restrictions on drivers. You cannot get cleaner air without some restrictions on drivers. It's fair to ask who is behind all the groups, although I sense and agenda on this thread.

It feels like a group who don't believe that private motoring should be discouraged and have no answers to the air quality problem, whereas the original Cleanairdulwich are campaigning to reduce pollution. Sadly we live in a world where if you are rich, you will generally live in nicer houses, have nicer environments and cleaner air. That is capitalism for you, but I doubt whether there would be greater health equality in the former Soviet Union either. Dulwich village was once full of industrialists and the like who didn't want to live in polluted central London where most would have made their money. I will contact Cleanairdulwich and hopefully provide a better perspective. Whether it is one individual or a whole community I support agree with what they are doing.

I've not heard of many moving to SE23 from SE22 or choosing SE23 over SE22 in the first place. Certainly Clapham and other expensive places to the west. It may be that this is my demographic but there was always a feeling that Forest Hill was rougher, off the beaten track, until the arrival of the Overground changed everything. But there again the gentrification of Penge is astonishing

Rather presumptuous of you saying culprits You can befriend them on Facebook, get updates from their website or email them at [email protected] https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.CleanAirDulwich.co.uk%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR01aih80tPEKaU9kXypIITY-v0ZIhYEUXvwE3PImJzgnyGFUuJVE-i5DWk_aem_AXLC6W7mwtwkeKWZS9PplAlis6PKyTssL7WRhyNp4F7txEfLFqFOs1pW5oPQEGf1Xg8MIFLEtVo7LOYDc5-Syhe6&h=AT0NTPvL3xl2XWsIWMII3GauR5mmr8mpMZWaj9w55rKGvALOi3n_atkvPyBGcVBhV9t2Kb8vD1s4BzMcqLmUsoujGSsMGgWdn-duhVcofBi_RDqoM2eFT_wMsK_RW_2VYvWQDuozP7tommVcEoI maybe better link https://cleanairdulwich.eo.page/signup?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR01aih80tPEKaU9kXypIITY-v0ZIhYEUXvwE3PImJzgnyGFUuJVE-i5DWk_aem_AXLC6W7mwtwkeKWZS9PplAlis6PKyTssL7WRhyNp4F7txEfLFqFOs1pW5oPQEGf1Xg8MIFLEtVo7LOYDc5-Syhe6

Back to the good things about cycling - social rides organised by Southwark Cyclists, wonderful, always posted on the events page

Article is about Government enabling cycling, which would be a good thing. Sadly Sunak doesn't like active travel and public transport and wants to win votes by appealing to hard line motorists. His days are numbered. If you look at Johnson's manifesto he had failed on most pledges the most spectacular being delivering the benefits of Brexit. He also failed on free cycle training for all children. Barriers to increased cycling include larger cars and poor driving standards.

Definitely a joy! I'll post elsewhere 😃

Thread about what's good. Please don't hijack. By all means start a separate thread

Flavours are great, takeaway dosas really don't work as they are soggy not crisp. I order dosas when eating at a small chain in Harrow, comparable flavours, crispy, and maybe 40 percent cheaper, reflecting Harrow not Peckham and that the chain has a good flow of eat in diners. But Harrow a long way! Certainly not a generic Indian takeaway which I find all the same.

Forest Hill has bust the £2.5m barrier with the Huf Hause (or Huf Hause style) overlooking central London, for those of you unfamiliar with this Bauhaus (architecture not the 80s band)architectural tradition : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huf_Haus Very much divides opinion - me? Great design, wrong location, would hate to be the houses overlooked by it.

Plenty of properties getting up to 2 million, and a few beyond, in SE23. Premium for large Victorian houses, such as the lovely Christmas houses which come with large gardens, and being on a hill, many 30s houses extended and modernised. Down side is perpetual building work, noise, skips, builders. Expect that the same in newly gentrified atras