Spartacus

Yesterday Kieron Williams was on the BBC London news stating that after being allowed to raise council tax by 5%, Southwark were still going to have to make budget savings and possibly cut services. Perhaps if they stopped implementing cockamamie traffic schemes or host unwanted (and leading) consultatuons, they could save money to be spent on essential services like libraries or social care. 🤔

Being disabled, I find your comment about disabled rights very nasty. I challenge you to take a few days in my situation and see how f@(/ing inconvenient lime bikes sprawled across the pavement really are !

Not when it makes it dangerous for the blind, elderly or less mobile who require clear pavements to get around. Making it convient for one group (cyclists) at the expense of all others is not a solution that is viable.

The track and trace site for Royal Mail seems to be down which makes it even more fun trying to gauge if your letter or parcel will arrive

I intensely dislike, to the point of wanting to throw something at the television, the adverts for "Poonami" products. Especially when they come on at meal times...

There's the chinese one on the corner of hanover in Peckham

Mal, Smart meters on their own don't reduce consumer consumption, as the advert says "consumer action required." All they do is highlight when you are using energy. With a bit of forethought, simple measures will save anyone (smart metered or not) energy. This includes not leaving laptops or phones on charge when they don't need to be, switching off lights, using low energy bulbs, switching plugs off when not in use (including the TV that's always on standby)... none of these are "managed" by a smart meter, it only alerts you that power is being consumed. This is part of why I believe they are there for the suppliers benefit, not the Consumers. On your battery front, agreed that most modern electric cars do have a bigger battery but as, in London for example, so few people have crossovers and off street parking at their property then the ability to store excess electricity in your car battery is limited to those who can park on their own drive. Looking down most streets here, thats not a feasible concept.

I, bizarrely, got one letter yesterday. Addressed to "the legal owner" from Foxtons Junk, paid for mail seems to be getting through 😂

All very aspirational energy storage ideas Mal but let's be honest 99.99% of the population isn't in a position (physically or financially) to do that. The market for domestic energy currently isn't peak demand lead and it will potentially disadvantage those who are, for example, housebound and don't have the option to use electricity at low demand times. You also failed to address the zeppelin in the room that people are being remotely switched to pre pay meters without warning or discussion when they are on so called smart meters.

Bring this older thread back to life. As predicted in my earlier post, they are now trialing peak rate charging but repackaging it as a discount or refund if you avoid peak time consumption. How long before, like retail contract billing, we see demand based rates? As a side there's a worrying article on the bbc news that discusses people on smart meters being remotely switched to a pre payment plan (non smart meter users would be physically changed with a court issued warrent) sometimes with no warning or looking at users circumstances (sickness, disability or other) BBC News - Rise in energy firms remotely switching homes to prepay meters https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63554879 You still think they are here for the benefit of the user ?

DR Rather then slating Cat, why not explain why they were wrong in their use. It's always easy to criticise but better to educated to stop it happening again.

In all three cases, not enough There's no excuse for drinking before using the road, be it a car, scooter or cycle

If you think it's bad now, I feel that the Christmas post rush will make ot ten times worse

Bikes, no. There's no law of cycling while under the influence although the police can stop you riding for your own safety, they can't actually arrest you for it. Scooters, yes! They're under different legislation and because it's a trial scheme and you need to sign up on the app using a driving licence, the same drink drive (drink ride?) laws apply. I know of at least one case, I'm sure there are probably others... https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/man-caught-drink-driving-e-5557035 Ex , there is the potential for fines if cycling under the influence The maximum penalty for cycling whilst under the influence of drink or drugs is a £1,000 fine. This is also the case for careless or inconsiderate cycling. The maximum penalty for dangerous cycling is a £2,500 fine. See https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/newsroom/is-it-illegal-to-ride-a-bicycle-when-drunk/#:~:text=Cycling%20under%20the%20influence%20of,cycling%20accident%20than%20sober%20cyclists.

There's an interesting point being raised at COP 27 that richer nations who have in the past or are still polluting should pay into a fund for developing nations to ease their transition into a carbon free or reduced state. It is seen as a northern vs southern hemisphere debate with northern countries seen as the richer ones and southern countries the developing nations. There are fears by some that it could be an admission of guilt and that it will open a floodgate of claims from countries most effected by climate change (Pakistan and her recent flooding for instance) Of course rich countries will point to the global recession and say "we can't afford it" Good debate subject and what would people on here say needs to happen globally to balance the equation, especially as developing nations are normally more reliant on fossil fuels as they may not have the resources (yet) to go green

When I'm in the only manned checkout queue and there's 10 people also in the queue but other staff look then wander off without opening another one. Some people don't like / can't/ won't use the self checkouts

The expression "why have a dog and bark yourself" comes to mind. We all pay council tax so that Southwark provide services like leaf clearing and street sweeping. Whilst it's easy to do it ourselves, if it's not reported to the council they won't know there's a problem hot spot and won't assign resources to it in the future. Not very public spirited of you Spartacus! We could all ignore neighbourhood issues and leave them for the council to deal with, or with a simple act clear the leaves and prevent a bigger community problem. Super Sleuth you seem to be missing the point, unless it's on the councils radar through reporting, it won't be registered as a problem and will occur again. By reporting it the council will prioritise it for leaf cleaning and litter removal going forward. It's akin to saying, crime is uncontrolled but not reporting crime to the police. By failing to report the police aren't aware a crime has occurred or where to deploy resources. Reporting the problem is they key act that needs to occur and if someone wants to also clear the drain then tjats good of them.....

The expression "why have a dog and bark yourself" comes to mind. We all pay council tax so that Southwark provide services like leaf clearing and street sweeping. Whilst it's easy to do it ourselves, if it's not reported to the council they won't know there's a problem hot spot and won't assign resources to it in the future.

This is the pdf version of the plan. https://consultations.southwark.gov.uk/environment-leisure/ivanhoe-road-safety-improvements/supporting_documents/LBSMWIVANHOE_RD900110001%20revC%20master%20plan%20091221.pdf First impressions are 1. The planting on the corner of Malfort Road will obstruct the vision of cyclists and cars turning out of Malfort Road onto Ivanhoe Road and is an accident waiting to happen. 2. The junction at Avondale Rise will be set back obscuring the sightlines for cyclists and cars trying to exit Avondale Rose onto Ivanhoe Road again creating the potential for an accident to happen (compounded by trees planted directly in the sightlines along Ivanhoe Road) I have to question the safety factor of this proposal as it makes the exits from two roads potentially more dangerous by restricting sight lines. It feels like someone has designed this without actually visiting the site to see what impact it will have on exiting the junctions.

Today Elon announced that to have a blue verification tick, which was previously free, users will have to pay a monthly fee. Will current blue tick users take it up or will they let their blue ticks expire thus making it harder to identify they are who they say they are. Is this the thin end of the wedge that may eventually push users to the next free social media tool? Remember the lessons from tools like friends reunited that fell to the wayside when the next free fad sicial media platfirm came along. Guess it's something to watch and see but I'm curious to see what others predict will happen.

Best quote of the day Dave "PUDDING HEADED PLANNING" made me laugh 😃

Fee due on both days once when they enter, once when they leave and also once for every day that they drive in the ULEZ zone.

Just been driven back from Surrey and lime bikes are dotted all over pavements along the route, some in clusters of 4 to 6 blocking the pavements. It's not just here that it's happening and feedback to the trial should state they shouldn't be abandoned outside of specific drop points or blocking pavements for pedestrians, buggy and wheel chair users.

Am I alone in getting frustrated with the BBC News app which has breaking news every Sunday morning, whom Laura is interviewing later! Whilst it's interesting if you want to see it, it's hardly news or breaking news Hundreds of South Koreans dead or injured last night is, but the BBC seem to use their news app to advertise upcoming programs. Grump grump grump ☹️

This year is unusual Last week was Diwali, festival of lights (and celebrated with fireworks) and then in few days its Guy Fawkes night again celebrated with fireworks I understand the stress it causes to animals, goldie my fish hates it, but to propose a NFN is really pushing the nanny state envelope IMHO. What next, no walking on the cracks on the pavement in case the lines (or is ir lions) get you ? No whistling happy tunes? Are we in the Republic of Gilead akready?