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The health benefits may well be well known but we have seasons. Even hardened cyclists like myself do not like cycling in wind and rain and sometimes struggle to cycle in strong wind. Expecting a whole bunch of people to ditch their cars or public transport for that is just unreasonable. I challenge anyone to try arriving at work soaked through and see how their day goes. So, given that it is not practical nor reasonable for a lot of people to cycle, good transport management has to be about incentivising reasonable use of any mode of transport. It is never a binary thing, and I would argue that better investment in electric powered alternatives is probably the better way to go on this, if we want to reduce pollution. As for congestion, London is a city of 8 million people with another estimated 3 million people traveling in for work every day before the lockdown. All of our transport networks are limited by capacity (as anyone traveling at peak hours knows), so the problems are not as simple as saying everyone should ditch their cars and get on a bicycle. Infrastructure isn't keeping up.

That is so funny. But also not surprising. Trump is a narcissistic populist after all :D

Personally I think the design of masks is pretty poor Pugwash. A lot of people have different shaped and size ears, and faces too. As far as I can see, the masks on sale are a one size fits all design and I wonder if this has an impact on the levels of compliance too. Btw, I don't think anyone here is judging you for using a visor over a mask. It is quite clear that you fall into the exemption category and that you still try to do something to mitigate is to be praised. In fact, I think a lot of people with genuine exemption are using visors instead.

diable rouge Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A Dutch journalist got into his Twitter account by > guessing the password was MAGA2020... :) Really? lol

It was an interesting debate if only for that reason, Trump being unable to bully his way through, shouting down any attempt from his rival to counter punch. Trump was unable to let go though until he had said everything he felt he needed to say, which for the most part was the mud slinging. The other difference is that this time round, Trump is not the incumbent, so trying to argue that Biden did nothing in the past as though Trump has done everything he promised he would do, is hollow. As for those who voted for Trump, a good number of them won't be doing so this time (including lifelong Republicans). That is why he is so behind in the polling in some key states. We shall see.

And that is the problem. A good number of those not wearing masks have no exemption from doing so. I would wager also that they outnumber those who do. That is the cause of resentment.

Visors are designed to protect eyes, not nose and mouth. The reason we are asked to wear masks is so that if we cough or sneeze, and are carrying the virus, the viral load we send out into the air is reduced. Visors are designed to protect the eyes, if you are coughed at and are more effective than glasses. That is why medical staff wear both visors and masks.

There is a great documentary series on channel five catch up here.... https://www.my5.tv/america-s-great-divide-from-obama-to-trump It is a reminder of how Trump was helped into power by many dynamics that he does not have the benefit of this time round, and the dangerous game played by Fox News and Brietbart, who pretty much set America on itself to get him there. It is also interesting to note that Trump is going about his rallies with exactly the same combative narrative he used against Hilary. Very little on policy, but plenty on the mud slinging and acerbic tone. I suspect that what many people want now is actual policy and a vision for America's future. They won't get that from Trump. One note of caution though. While Trump is behind in the polling, Biden is doing very little actual traveling and campaigning. Last time round, Hilary lost in places she should have won, but didn't go to on the campaign trail. Once again, Trump is doing the travelling, doing the rallies. In America, that matters. If Biden stands back too much, it might cost the Democrats again.

I think you illustrate perfectly how politics is often defined by the wrong decision being made, usually by people who are blinded by their own limitations and/or ambition. Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course, but outcomes are more often than not, predictable too.

The attacks on Sadiq will ramp up as the Mayoral Election approaches. The squabble on Tfl may well be used for political gain by the Tory candidate, even though transport in London has always been subsidised and you don't have to be the brightest button in the box to understand the loss of revenue from the pandemic reducing use. It strikes me as though Boris is deliberately trying to force Sadiq to raise local taxes in order to have something to attack him on. But there is also a sense of history repeating, with a central Tory government coming to loggerheads with elected Labour regional leaders over money. Is this the GLA and Liverpool council all over again? Thatcher's solution was to abolish regional government. We really are going to see fireworks I think when government begins the process of paying off the debt. Councils and the public sector have already been stripped back to the bone on central funding during Austerity Round 1. There is no room for further savings there.

And there in a nutshell is the problem with unenforced or unenforceable measures. The app is pretty much useless for this reason. Some people can't use it at all (lacking a modern enough phone to do so) and others refuse to use it. We are ridiculously adverse to enforcement.

This on Southwark Cyclists..... 'The closure of Peckham Rye to cars should extend all the way from Peckham Rye up through Rye Lane so that it's possible to get from Peckham High Street to Peckham Rye Park via Rye Lane without encountering cars.' .....is precisely the problem with single issue lobby groups.

So the council are using the London Streetspace Scheme as the excuse for this, even though there is no problem for pedestrians with social distancing on this stretch and nor it is cycle unfriendly.

Well said Peckhamrose. I would also add that forcing cars to go out of their way, burns more fuel, causes more pollution and nothing is more polluting than cars idling in traffic clogged up as increasing numbers are forced onto fewer roads. The southbound cycle lane works perfectly well. It is not an accident hotspot. Cycling Northbound has never been an issue either. Southwark might do better to address some of the disintegrating road surfaces instead, which are becoming a bigger hazard for cyclists and motorcyclists alike. Having run out of roads to put speed humps on, closing roads to general traffic seems to be their next fad.

Signed.

There is no alternative for redressing the impacts of bias. If we want to get to a place of true meritocracy, there have to be role models and peers for all ethnic groups to aspire to. That can be done in different ways though. For example, I would argue that one of the better ways to empower young people is through education and history. Who were the trailblazers for them? This is why something like Black History Month has positive value imo, and it is a history we all should learn, because it is a shared history in many parts. Eventually that will help feed down to a mindset of equality hopefully.

Heartblock is spot on. For all those reasons, things are going to get worse, a lot worse, if government dithers too much on efforts to slow spread. Some would argue they have already missed the point at which a significant difference could be made, but it will be on their heads if SAGE advice they ignored, evolves into a crisis that could have been mitigated. My prediction? Boris replaced by the end of January or February, and not by Gove either, but Sunak. There won't be any shift in direction or outcome until that corrupt Tory leadership and their cronies are gone.

The bubble thing is explained here; https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/support-bubble-tier-2-3-what-rules-covid-restrictions-social-explained-713956 Agreed on simply delaying the inevitable. Liverpool now only has 10 percent of ICU capacity free. The issue I have with the tier system, is that without honesty around failings by government, and honesty about public behaviour, there is little point in these intermediate restrictions. Once infection rates are on that exponential curve, it becomes very difficult to slow down without draconian measures. This seems to be the very thing the government are now ignoring.

The libertarian right stance on Brexit DR is not as out of sync with covid restrictions as you might think. Those people only care about personal profit over regulation. Brexit for them was about removing regulation, like employment rights and food standards.They never actually care if anyone else earns enough or lives. In other words, whether it is EU regulation or a pandemic, how dare any of it get in the way of their ability to make money, and as much of it as possible.

It is all very well someone saying 'what right to government have to condemn someone to an untimely death due to the wider impact of a lockdown' but that is said in complete ignorance of the impact of hospitals filled with covid patients also condemned to untimely deaths - some 40k plus so far. It is not a binary issue and I wish those taking binary positions would remember that. For example, there are almost 8.8 million people over the age of 70 in the UK. Of those that get covid in that age group, 1 in 20 die. That is before we get into the number of people who need ICU care and recover. If we do not limit the spread of the virus, what do those complaining about restrictions think is going to happen? You can not isolate almost 9 million people from a virus spreading freely. So there is no question that there have to be efforts to restrict spread of the virus. The difficult part is in knowing how long that approach can be sustained before economics and other factors become more critical. And then we really do get into the terrain of discussions around the value of life. There are of course, lots of differing views on that too.

The scenes from Liverpool are precisely why half-hearted measures on pubs are not going to work. Government to be fair, is trying to keep businesses open to protect the country from having a full economic meltdown, but if people won't do as they are asked, it is inevitable that a second full lockdown will come. Christmas especially, is going to be real challenge, as millions of people travel around the country to be with family and friends, and fill any bars or restaurants that are open. The government can close the bars and restaurants, but it is very hard to see how people can be stopped from observing any rules on travel and numbers of people mixing in homes at Christmas itself. Cue a spike around the end of January.

I think all the proposals are a good idea. The number of times the EDR junctions severely flood in winter from water run and drains that can not cope is all the evidence needed to see that something needs to happen. Perhaps some kind of underground storm drain through the park down to the sewer would help too.

Also, it provides an out for government in the blame game. Only, it it becomes one part of the public blaming another in reality (divide and rule yet again). Today it has emerged that government largely ignored the advice of SAGE over the recent days, on the way to proceed. We will see what happens to the infection rates over the coming weeks to see who was right.

The next four weeks will probably decide the future of Harding. If the government track and trace fails to keep up with infection rates, then we will switch to a localised setup with money going directly to local authorities. Persisting with expensive contracts (given to Tory party chums) that do not deliver, will not be tolerated for much longer I think.

I have to agree diable. March and April were awful for the NHS. Being able to manage the virus and avoid a repeat of that always depended on getting a working track and trace system in place, and the public doing their part. There is no excuse for the lack of delivery of the former. And on the latter, it was always going to be a challenge in a country that is densely populated by a public who in significant part, do not have the kind of self discipline the Scandinavians do for example. Bear in mind, that daily stats are a measure of where the transmission rate was two weeks ago. Allowing for exponential percentages, we are going to be back in full lockdown territory within weeks. It is that longish incubation period that is the problem when it comes to accurately knowing infection rates. To give credit to Boris today, he seems to finally have ditched the bravado and false promises. When asked about a vaccine, he was candid and pointed out that Sars Cov 1 still has no vaccine after 14 years. There is going to have to be some thinking now about how we live with this virus longer term, if indeed it takes 3 or more years to find a vaccine. And that sadly is going to mean seasonal closures of spaces where people congregate.