malumbu

In deed, the money could be better spent, eg sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.....

Soot from wood burners can be higher than cars in urban areas (as filters on diesel cars have successfully cut emissions, as fuel injection and three way catalysts did for petrol cars a decade or two earlier). A case for control would you not say? Indoor air quality is not controlled, beyond in hazardous industries. Here's an alarmist article from the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/15/gas-stoves-pollution-alternatives And more informed view: https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pb-0054/ Extracting from this: The Government has established a cross-department working group and pledged to tackle aspects of indoor air quality in its 2019 Clean Air Strategy. This included several commitments to reduce emissions in the home such as prohibiting the sale of the most polluting fuels and stoves, improving consumer awareness, and giving new powers to local authorities to take action to minimise air pollution. Air pollution can be worse in your vehicle than on the street - perhaps a case for even more controls on driving https://www.london.gov.uk/publications/vehicle-exposure-traffic-and-road-generated-air-pollution

Another Brexit benefit, for your liver, controls on what we can bring into the country from the EU, from unlimited for booze and fags to, for example, 24 bottles of wine each. So you if you driving to Calais to get the bubbly for your wedding in a hire van, beware. Although I'd quite happily allow no fags, successive governments being guilty of not discouraging cheap imports, duty paid, and duty free. https://www.gov.uk/bringing-goods-into-uk-personal-use/arriving-in-Great-Britain

Sorry to hear of the phone snatching, it must have been horrible. There is a lot of concern that the Met should be doing more. Perhaps one of you will contact them and the Mayor to ask why this is not higher priority. I looked at the MPS website and there is some good (if obvious) advice about reducing the likelihood of theft: https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/about-us/about-the-met/campaigns/be-safe-campaign/be-safe-mobile-phone-theft/ https://www.met.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/personal-safety-how-to-stay-safe/protect-your-mobile-phone-against-criminals-on-bikes-and-mopeds/ Ten years or so most of us would not have been carrying around such expensive and relatively light equipment. I had a brick mobile taken when my house was burgled 20 years ago and they used this to make some expensive calls to abroad, I suspect to family members as most probably went to answerphone. T-mobile, as is, profited from this before I called them maybe a couple of hours after the break in, when I got up in the morning, I think it is useful to look at the numbers, 150 phones taken each day in London, maybe equates to maybe two dozen criminals. Hopefully many will be caught. There are probably 7 million mobile phone users in London, so less than 1% chance (1 in a 100) of your phone being stolen in a year. That sounds like a lot (and is too much), but around twice as many bikes are stolen each day across the whole of the UK with about the same number of users (7 million). And about 1 in 20 of us will be victims of fraud. Crime is a societal issue, and very much for the government of the day, as well as us as good citizens. I'm not sure where mobile phone theft lies in police priorities, as this is usually direct crime against the individual I understand that it should be higher than bike theft (which has certainly slipped down the order with the disbanding of a small special group which was part funded by TfL). This is not a discussion on bike theft, just a comparison.

I keep seeing lost cat at the top of one of the forums, now it's changed to found cat. Good news! I'll post something more relevant later

On new builds absolutely. Harvesting rain water too. More challenging to retrofit. We water some plants but certainly not the garden, but even with 300 litres capacity that will not last all summer, then it is syphoning bath water and got to move the taste of soapy water.

Nice picture snowy. Thread's become a little sidetracked on the uptake of cycling, prompted no doubt by my earlier post on the increase of cycleways under the current mayor. I'm keen on this, but will perhaps set up a separate thread on the transport section as feels more relevant there. I've got some funny/worrying stuff from Reform that I'd be happy to discuss further, but it is late and I am up early in the morning. Funnily enough cycling to Paddington and on from there. I'll shut up now. Good night all.

Interesting reading in the House of Lords Report on local authority funding and spending: https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/local-government-finances-impact-on-communities/ Extracting some key parts of the report: According to the NAO, total spending power for local authorities fell by 26% between 2010/11 and 2020/21. In local authorities with social care responsibilities, their spending on social care rose from 52% to 80% of their spending power. Services that saw spending reductions between 2010/11 and 2019/20 include: cultural and related services (–36.8%) planning and development services (–35.7%) non-schools education (–31.6%) housing services (general fund revenue account only) (–25.7%) highways and transport services (–23.6%) central services (–16.4%) environmental and regulatory services (–10.5%) The report states that some efficiencies were gained and that up to 2018 general satisfaction remained high. On the down side: he miles covered by bus routes fell 14% between 2009/10 and 2019/20, with deprived areas more likely to see reductions in routes. A third of England’s libraries closed between 2009/10 and 2019/20 with more closures in the most deprived areas. The timeliness of reviews for children on child protection plans declined. 91% of children on child protection plans had their reviews carried out within the required timescales in 2017/18, compared to 97% in 2009/10. The Local Government Association (LGA) has also highlighted effects of reductions in funding. Writing about this in January 2024, it said:[ Spending is increasingly concentrated on fewer people, because councils have protected services such as social care (adult and children’s) where there are clearly defined statutory responsibilities and regulatory oversight. Worth reading this report and the more alarmist paper from London Councils https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/our-key-themes/local-government-finance/london’s-local-services-investing-future/decade-austerity Over the decade to 2020, while overall public spending (Total Managed Expenditure) will have increased by 5 per cent, London local government will have seen the core funding it receives from government reduce by 63 per cent in real terms. Even after allowing for grants from government and Council Tax, boroughs’ ‘spending power’ will have fallen by over a third (37 per cent in real terms per person, compared with 29 per cent across the rest of England). Worth reading through both reports, the bigger picture is that there was a decade of unnecessary austerity (thanks Osborne ) worsened by government ducking the issue of social care as we get older and creakier, with I expect the mental health of the younger generation affected by the pandemic with societal changes putting more stress on local authorities. Please do read and share your views, thanks

A different thread but how would Southwark charge for wood burners? Would there be enforcement officers going round with sniffer devices? Would all open fires be included? Just interested on whether this is practical , irrespective of the argument for and against. There's been anti pollution zones since the clean air act. Best controlled at source ie you could no longer order vast quantities of smokey coal at a time when it was the main way most heated their homes. Now it is more niche using coal, and wood, difficult at retail, and you can just chop down a tree in you garden or forage elsewhere.

Back to the nonsense that is going on at the moment. Rumbles of discontent in the Tory party as many MPs fear annihilation. No bounce from increasingly desperate measures; the manufactured culture wars in particular 'ending the war on motorists' having virtuyally no impact. Most wont switch their votes due to LTNs, 20mph and ULEZ, and many who do will go to Reform and split the right wing vote. I'd love a major party that would make the environment one of its central pledges. LTNs of course were a Johnson initiative, one of the few things that I agree with him on. The pity is that they wont go now, and will leave scorched earth for Labour to inherit late in the year. The most pathetic example is the ads encouraging drivers not to hog the middle lane. One of the least of the frustrations in terms of poor motoring, and not a patch on poor urban driving which kills and seriously injures far more. Badged as National Highways rather than the 'desperate party'. www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-campaign-targets-middle-lane-hogging-and-tailgating. What a shame Starmer didn't take a stronger line following Uxbridge. Well if those people prefer air pollution compared to improving health then stuff them. Or even better this was a decision for our elected mayor, and stuff Uxbridge, it's hardly a target seat.

Very thoughtful and illuminating post. I've never been attacked, and seen few incidents over the years. Most worrying has been road rage and whilst I have been in the right, you learn when not to challenge someone (difficult at times to say can you please give me space, look before you turn and the like). When I first came to London you'd see the odd brawl outside a pub, but it felt worse when I lived in more rural areas - bored youths and more tribal (the Abingdon youths having a brawl with Didcot). Had one break in, two cars and three bikes stolen whilst I have been in London, although all but one bike not particularly valuable. Breaking into builders vans seems the current trend, and stealing some high end motors - the latter was common when I worked on this issue twenty years ago so hasn't been sorted. But ultimately most of us are decent people, and our kids grow up to be decent people. Although my peer group is people like you DD so I am somewhat biased! How much greed/Thatchers children has changed things over the last forty years I don't know. Of course nothing wrong with individuals wanting to be successful and to be a new owner/occupier in this area now you need to have some money behind you rather than us old hippies who moved in when it was a very different area. And the high costs of renting too. Good points on the gangs, sadly I don't know the solutions. I work with younger children and sometimes wonder how it can go so wrong in a few years time.

Poltergeist part 2 (They're back). Bit quiet without you Cat. On this subject Brexit was about getting our country back, 8 years later Reform (ex Brexit party) are still campaigning with this slogan. (Part 1 was on my bring back Boris thread)

Wow that is rather judgemental and borderline offensive. I assume that you are being facetious (big word wokes use for humour)

Funnily enough went there to order a prescription an hour ago, gent at reception helpful, polite and said it would be over the road at Day Lewis by end of the day. Bigger issue was someone chatting to me, and I just couldn't remember how I knew them. Think I've worked it out 🙂

A totally different conversation which is worthy of different threads. Taxation - government is keen to reduce NI and in turn income tax but needs to maintain revenue, in part this is the stealth tax if not raising income tax thresholds. And as you say as we reduce general revenue as cigarette consumption reduces and less CO2 from vehicles how is this made up? Certainly not through fuel duty as this has been frozen/reduced over the last twenty years. A headache for Labour should they win the next election, how much will their manifesto address this. A second thread can be on incentivising reduced domestic energy usage. Really no point Torries in pushing heat pumps until we insulate our housing stock better

It would be helpful to know how much you are paying and what kind of car. If it is a large diesel then you may be paying more due to the relatively high emissions of pollutants and carbon dioxide. As far as I understand CPZs incentivise cleaner vehicles, such as electric, or smaller more fuel efficient engines. It's also worth considering the total cost of motoring, depreciation, servicing, insurance, MoT as well as fuel. In this respect the cost of parking on the public highway may not seem that steep irrespective of the hefty increase. Are you close to the stations and/or high street? I expect most parts of the country will have restrictions on parking here. Many just consider the cost of fuel rather than whole life costs. At 50 pence plus a mile for private motoring, Zip car and/or Uber may make more sense. And if you are confident on two wheels then a cargo bike can be great to do the weekly shop or those trendy people carrying bikes for getting the kids to school - pretty popular around here. Anyway some food for thought.

Suggest 999 rather than 101 as there is enough info that they are crimms. A threatening look would be good enough for me.

For those of you who are not fond of the new cycleways, you may be pleasantly surprised if you try them. They tend to be on segregated pathways, often away from the road, or quiet roads, some of which were already closed to through traffic. C10 is an interesting one as it takes you through some of the grittier areas of SE London - think Jason Statham movies. There may be confusion between Johnson's earlier cycle superhighways that would more often take away some of the main road, although I'm happy with this eg the embankment. My big criticism here is that during commuting time they can be too popular, ie too many bikes, which if you are not familiar with the area can be overwhelming. The new batch, certainly this side of the river, are more relaxing. As for alternatives to Mayor Khan I see that the SDP are standing. Although it doesn't appear to be really the SDP (ie the centre leftish lot of the 80s who could have changed things if history had gone in their way) but what is portrayed as a conservative left (perhaps left of Reform...) www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67871119 " Speaking to the BBC, Ms Gallagher said London had become "more divided" and that the current mayor was "spending too much money on campaigns that are all about virtue signalling". If elected, her top priority would be to "defund divisive diversity and inclusive spending". Her other two priorities would be to "depoliticise the police" and "improve public transport infrastructure and make all transport free for under-25s". She added that she was "firmly against" the Ultra Low Emission Zone and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and would scrap both." Well I quite like the public transport infrastructure and free transport, although I am not sure how she would do better than the current mayor on infrastructure unless she would prioritise buses over private motoring (yay!) Others will have views on the populist stuff she is saying, which leads me onto Reform which echo some of the above. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67312289 I tried to watch a bit of his interview on the London politics programme but after a few minutes though my late breakfast would be better spent watching Countryfile on catch up. How woke am I!! www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000dk0q/politics-london

As for my original post, it doesn't seem relevant whether a parent is parking for 20 seconds or 20 minutes, if they are doing this inconsiderately, on zig zags, yellow lines, on pavements, by school gates, across drives. And then some will do three point turns in the street just to add to the danger. I was working in Lambeth yesterday, not only restrictions on some of the streets by schools, but two, yes two, enforcement officers on push bikes. I chatted to them, and one story is that a parent was so angry when the restriction was introduced they reversed without looking and crashed into another car. A single anecdote not a scientific study. Article on breakfast this morning about a new school street in Kent, schools says great, Councillor says great, local resident says great, grandparent in car angry, resident a few streets away upset as inconsiderate parents now park across their drive. Usual range of views

Dawn, back to my earlier question, how do you actually attract swifts to your nest box? I know that they have lost habitat, this is not just in the UK, ie where they originate from and their stopping points on their route. I see a small number above Horniman, and in the Forest Hill/Sydenham area. I was by the River Lee last summer and it was lovely seeing them swooping low - something I've not seen in SE London RSPB publish some good advice - I used this to build my own and I have posted the relevant section. Not knocking your good work I hasten to add 😃 "It’s not guaranteed that Swifts will find your box, but you can boost the chances by playing taped Swift calls via loudspeaker during the breeding season (May-July). If you do manage to attract them, remember Swifts are sensitive to disturbance and protected by law, so watch the nest box from the ground or install a camera inside before the breeding season starts." www.rspb.org.uk/helping-nature/what-you-can-do/activities/create-a-high-home-for-swifts

As the Tories and Labour are unlikely to put the environment as a major (or the major) issue I may have to vote elsewhere. I can see both pushing back on net zero for fear of losing votes to Reform

Where are the twitchers in SE23. Just been told more likely to be a common rather than lesser redpoll. Well I never

Sorry, they are vermin. Please don't feed them or the feral pigeons. On a more positive note please see a couple of lesser redpolls in my garden feeding with a goldfinch. They must be closely related as no aggro between the two. Sorry not a better picture, this was through a closed window, I doubt if they would pose if you get closer.

I was looking for the thread about what has the Mayor done for us, but it seems to have gone. Anyway he has quadrupled cycleways, well done. Even the most staunch of his critics must welcome that. https://lcc.org.uk/news/cycleway-4-open-today/?utm_campaign=website&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendgrid.com

Hadn't realised that it had closed, used it a few times in the 00s, then it had a makeover that was very busy on the eye (spose it goes with some psychedelic rave image). Walked down from Crystal Palace a couple of weeks ago to see it was closed, and an enforcement notice on the door saying that the gas and leccy meters had been removed, so owners gone bankrupt.