Blah Blah

Also the only way to know if there's a chip is from a scanner. Hope he recovers and finds his owner.

Good post bobbsy. There is too much emphasis on demonising modes of transport without really considering why people need or choose those forms of transport. I too hate subterfuge and just wish we stopped knee jerk single issue policies and looked instead at overall strategies. Traffic flow is as important a part of any strategy as safety is.

Also I don't think anyone has ever said that everyone should cycle to be fair. The push has always been to get MORE people cycling, because that's seen as a good move away from congestion. And it makes sense as many cars/vehicles have just one person in them. Smart cars were part of the effort to address that too. But the reality is that a car is the size it is because of all the other occasions, where items and friends/ family have to be transported. It's an all round vehicle, and the expense of such things (esp insurance) don't make having a selection of transport options available, cost effective to most people. Occasional users of vehicles do use schemes like Zip car, because that's cheaper than keeping a vehicle all year round, but it's no good for someone needing a vehicle 2-3 times a week or more. My frustration with public transport in London it the time it takes to get anywhere. I cycle on journeys that I can (and I don't work far away so that includes going to work).

Agreed on the train thing. Mnay areas of South London are poorly served by rail infrastructure. At least we have a few stations nearby. Many areas don't. But tube infrastructure is really the issue. If we can build Crossrail, we can give South London better tube coverage - especially given how those on lower wages are being driven further out.

I don't understand why anyone is attacking cycle netwrok provision in ED as there isn't really anything significant to speak of. We have no cycle super highway and many of the cycle routes are on residential roads. It's not really an issue. There are however lots of road humps and traffic calming measures, which were not put there because of cyclists, but because of drivers unable to adhere to speed limits or drive according to conditions and common sense safety. I'll be the first to say there are too many humps and I've criticised the blanket 20mpr limit too, but let's not confuse cycling safety with measures to make drivers stick to rules of the highway.

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/technical-note-04-how-has-cycling-grown-in-london.pdf "In some locations, cyclists account for a significant proportion of the traffic. Cycle traffic is rising fast on the central London Thames road crossings, and counts carried out in the City of London in October 2012 found that cyclists accounted for around a third of the vehicular traffic in the morning and evening peaks." https://www.london.gov.uk/media/mayor-press-releases/2015/06/london-cycling-now-the-highest-on-record-as-rate-of-deaths-and The rush hour journeys were measured in the City and Central London and it is those figures that justify the spending on cycle infrastructure in those areas. So my point was that Scooting is quite wrong to suggest the cycling infrastructure is carried out disproportionately to need. He seems also to have forgotten that Crossrail, one of the most expensive transport infrastructure projects ever is ongoing and that new additions like DLR are relatively recent too. So there is plenty of investment in transport and it's ongoing.

27% of all journeys in London during rush hour are by cycle Scooting, so I don't know how you can say that cycling is only for a small percentage.

Haven't been there IlonaM but will add it to my list next time go there too.

I second Loz post. We too have a routine (around the kids) and work. Just on tumble dryers. They do eat a lot of power. Our home still had a little pantry in an extended kitchen when we bought it. And we turned that into a drying space by installing a low powered extraction fan in the window. So we hang washing in there (straight out of the machine), turn on the fan, and it's pretty much dry by the next day. I'm pretty sure the same would work in a small bathroom. Much cheaper alternative to a tumble dryer in the winter.

Jennys Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Have you been to the Sainte chappelle? > Breathtakingly beautiful stained glass. Seconded.

If you want a not so touristy attraction, check out the Catacombs!

Yes TTIP is worrying. It will open the way for NHS privatisation from a country that has the most expensive healthcare in the West. There have been recent examples of corporations buying up drug patents in the USA and then increasing the price of those drugs by up to 10 times. And it's alarming to note that in looking for solutions to the cost of NHS care, the government have looked to how things work in the USA, rather than looking at other European countries that have state and private healthcare combined. It's clear to me which model the Government prefers. There is sense in Mcdonnell opposing Osbourne's bill. Borrowing for consumption and investment are not the same thing and Osbourne is trying to say they are. The amatuerism from him is on blurring the lines of good economics. We don't borrow to buy food, but we do borrow to buy a house. That makes sense because the house is an asset. The food is consumption. In the same vein, a business will borrow to build a factory and buy plant machinery. They are assets against the loan. So when Mcdonnell argues that removing the ability for a government to borrow for investment and capital projects is a bad idea, he is right. What is amaturish from both him and Corbyn though, is the way they go about things.

I think anyone joining the property ladder post 2000 is pretty doomed unless they have the kind of job that is transferable to another part of the country. We bought in 1997, with parental help (on both sides) and were able to get a three bedroomed property, large enough for our family. We couldn't do it now. Part of problem is the desperation for first time buyers to buy anything, just to get a foothold. Even fix-me-uppers are overpriced now. I think the consensus is to look further out. Useful calculator from the Guardian here. Shows just how ridiculous the situtaion has become. http://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2015/sep/02/unaffordable-country-where-can-you-afford-to-buy-a-house

No mention of the huge cuts to local authorities from government then?

Something came up on my facebook about this. It seems to be affecting the closure of three libraries, not just the Carnegie and I believe there was a public meeting last night? Every time I go into Peckham Library with my kids, every available study space, table is occupied, often with young people, for some of whom the library is probably the only quiet space they have to do homework. Every computer is always in use. Libraries are vitally important for many people.

???? I've always argued for PR even when the Tories didn't win elections. I've always held the view that our electoral system is bad for democracy and that it protects a two party system. And to be fair you know nothing about me DaveR, or my views beyond a few posts on here. Idiots do not make millions, or have best selling books. I don't agree with much of what he says, but that in itself doesn't make him an idiot.

Ahhh maxxi. Hard to tell sometimes if something is written in jest :) All I'm saying Dave is that 76.5% of the electorate didn't vote for the government we now have and that I am for electoral reform to a PR system as a result, even if that means we have coalition government forever.

Can't agree the general election turned out for the best Maxxi. And the overwhelming millions who didn't vote Conservative over those who did would agree with me. Perhaps if those who didn't vote at all had voted, we wouldn't be witnessing the ideological attacks on the poorest that we are. But we have no way of knowing how those people would have voted of course.

I think his telling people not to vote did for him really. It's hard to have credibility campaigning for change if you start by telling people not to do the one thing that can bring about change.

There's more to narcissism than that. It's not an accurate definition of the condition. It would be correct however to define him as egotistic. I also wouldn't go as far as to call him an idiot either. Idiots don't become successful self made millionaires. He is also a fairly decent writer (not that I agree with him on many things) and again, not really the skillset of an idiot.

Yet another gaff that the Conservatives will be able to exploit. The inexperience and niaivity of the Corbyn/ Mcdonnell partnership is startling. I don't give Corbyn even 18 months if it continues like this. Polly Toynby made a good point in saying that Corbyn is so used to opposing everything, that he has no idea how to unify.

I'm not really interested in reading an article about a millionaire taking a taxi to appointments and meetings. It's not a story. I am more interested in the issues that Brand speaks about. I do think he is sometimes incoherant but sneering at him rather than considering the issues he's highlighting displays everything that is wrong with the mentality of parts of both the press and the public.

But who pays for the car? And is it really that unusual that someone uses a driver (taxi) to make sure they get to appointments on time? These are not the kinds of things that really matter. If wealthy people can't have views on poverty, then given that Parliament has been full of them forever and a day, no social reform would have ever happened. And at least Brand has a background in touch with ordnary people. Cameron certainly doesn't. Are you really saying that only if someone gives up their wealth, can they have a valid view on austerity? That's just bonkers. He also doesn't fullfil the clinical definition of narcissism either, given that he IS capable of empathy and doesn't appear to sufffer from underlying esteem issues, both of which are necessary attributes of narcissism.

????, when in London, Brand cycles a lot to get to places. As someone who has been to some of those anti-austerity marches, there are all kinds of people there, not just the loony lefty stereotypes that you seem to think everyone who opposes this government is. I do agree he's an egomaniac though, and his treatment of women has been very dubious in the past too. Don't really know the ins and outs of it all Duncan, just know they don't pay for their own tickets. I think most people though, given the choice, and flying long hual, would go first class if they could. I'm around the same height as Brand (I think) and leg room in economy is an issue.

lol now that IS funny :D