It's Simon, yeah?

It's Simon, yeah?

@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Drinking beer, riding bikes and fixing stuff. Post about active travel, music and a bit of tech and politics. And riding bikes. And drinking beer.

877 followers1K following2K posts

It's Simon, yeah? reposted

Tuffy
@smtuffy.bsky.social
Reuters@reuters.com

BREAKING: A hacker is attempting to breach the US Federal Election Commission's systems and that agency has had to 'temporarily shut down' its web-facing services as a result, according to an email seen by Reuters reut.rs/4zY7fwQ

It's Simon, yeah? reposted

Sam Freedman
@samfr.bsky.social

Amazing how many Labour MPs do not understand this quite basic point.

Christabel Cooper@christabelcoops.bsky.social

Really worth noting that even in Red Wall constituencies which backed Leave, most *Labour* voters back rejoining the EU. Over 90% of Labour considerers back rejoin - opposition to EU membership is mainly coming from non-Labour voters in these seats. Was on Times Radio yesterday making this point.

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Man who spends 40% of his Gross income - £750 a month - on his car 'wants a cut to fuel duty'. Even at current prices his fuel costs for his commute are no more than £120 a month. he wants to look at why he's spending and £620 every month? What's he driving?

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

you can lease a brand new R5 electric with 1 month deposit for only £330 a month. Insurance might take that to 36. Fuel costs charging at home would minimal. That's halved his monthly costs with a fancy brand new vehicle. If you're earn 22k & drive something ridiculous you deserve no help at all

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

The Dulwich Bus Campaign supposedly wants better bus services in the area. Unbelievably (not) they're opposed to this bus priority project because 'it will have severe consequences for people who need to drive to Lordship Lane to shop" 🤡

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

This is not wholly surprising if you know the history of transport schemes in the Dulwich are.

It's Simon, yeah?@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

The long saga of a cycle route through Dulwich Village has finally reached it’s ‘season finale’ as the new square is revealed. It’s a great new public space and a key enabler of cycling in the area... and a case study on why consultation is a waste of time and money.

It's Simon, yeah? reposted

Brian Phillips
@brianphillips.lol

In the bedrock of my soul I know he started out thinking the press pool was a literal pool and has been seething with disappointment since he discovered the mistake

The New York Times@nytimes.com

President Trump has pushed to move briefings out of the White House press room. Aides say he wants an indoor swimming pool instead. nyti.ms/4eoW3AV

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Spent the weekend in Cheltenham again. Traffic speeds feel so high coming from London. Still 30mph through central streets. And this road is 40mph! There’s a (new/upgraded) cycleway alongside. But of course the junctions have loads of collisions (last 5 years data)

It's Simon, yeah?@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Gloucester is just to the west. It's c10miles from the centre of one to the other - again, easily cycle able in 45mins - 1 hour (a pretty standard commute in London) CycleOSM shows a route between the two towns - I believe a fairly recent addition/upgraded route.

It's Simon, yeah? reposted

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Replying to @hoxtonrich.bsky.social

I couldn't put it better than this from yesterday. But theres also the clash of the 'working class' electrician one man business who earns more than a 'wage slave' graduate office worker whose job security is at the mercy of the next annual reorg.

Jo Kibble (Political Animal)@politicanimal.bsky.social

It’s that great new British class system again, where ‘working class’ means ‘manual tradesman with van’, not distribution centre workers filling up buses in Northampton at shift change time, the London night buses full of cleaners, or the retail worker who relies on Islay’s carefully-timed buses.

It's Simon, yeah? reposted

Peter Walker
@peterwalker99.bsky.social

Long tribute from Kemi Badenoch in her conference speech to Jeffrey Archer, complete with round of applause. The world is a "less colourful" place without him, she says, which is one way to describe a serial fraudster, fantasist and liar who wrecked several lives in the process.

It's Simon, yeah? reposted

Robert Wright
@reporterrwright.ft.com

I see a lot of people complaining about the undoubtedly stressful conditions at present on London's roads. But I see few people complaining about motor vehicles. Yet in the last 24 hours three vulnerable road users have died after being hit by people driving motor vehicles.

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Bus priority scheme in Lambeth includes new informal crossings with central islands. As a pedestrian I think these should be zebras which actually give clear priority As a cyclist these create scary pinch points with drivers trying to overtake and cut back in.

View full thread
It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Bus priority scheme in Lambeth includes new informal crossings with central islands. As a pedestrian I think these should be zebras which actually give clear priority As a cyclist these create scary pinch points with drivers trying to overtake and cut back in.

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

This is the proposed new crossing linking a quiet street and a road that’s filtered to motor vehicles across Acre Lane (>10k vpd) It looks overcomplicated to me (long wait times?). How could this be simpler?

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

This is what I've always found bizarre about the Soho Society - they often seem to claim they want to 'preserve Soho's character' but the area has massively gentrified in the time they've been operating, and they surely have had much do with that. But now...

Luke Turner@luketurner.bsky.social

If The Soho Society want to "preserve the character of Soho" from the decade of their founding surely they should be advocating for the reopening of the sex cinemas, peep shows, grot shops, dodgy clip joints and brothels, all of which have pretty much vanished as Soho has gentrified in recent times

View full thread
It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

But here, when pedestrianisation of Beak Street was proposed the society's position was to oppose it. Number plate recognition so residents could continue to drive as now, no further pedestrianisation.

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

This is what I've always found bizarre about the Soho Society - they often seem to claim they want to 'preserve Soho's character' but the area has massively gentrified in the time they've been operating, and they surely have had much do with that. But now...

Luke Turner@luketurner.bsky.social

If The Soho Society want to "preserve the character of Soho" from the decade of their founding surely they should be advocating for the reopening of the sex cinemas, peep shows, grot shops, dodgy clip joints and brothels, all of which have pretty much vanished as Soho has gentrified in recent times

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

they seem to fight changes that would make Soho better to "live work and visit". Wider pavements, less space taken up by parked vehicles and much less through traffic would be the best thing for the area, but they've consistently opposed that.

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

While Bus stop bypasses are back in the press (again) worth looking at how other countries around the world deal with cycleways and bus stops interacting.... There is pretty much a global consensus on this

It's Simon, yeah?@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

A refreshing view on “access frictions” from active travel infra - which are not cyclists vs disabled but actually needs of different disabled people. From: @tricyclemayor.bsky.social

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

People who oppose creation of a Dutch style cycle network (main roads cycleways + LTNs) usually have some attractively simple sounding alternative that doesn’t stand up to any real world scrutiny. - Just do routes to school - Separate cycling from bus routes - Put routes in quiet back streets

It's Simon, yeah?@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Whenever a main road cycleway (Streatham A23 this time) is announced opposition springs up saying that it should be on "adjacent, much quieter roads" instead. Here's regular comedy contributors SocEnvJust/John Stewart with their poorly thought through proposal. Lets look at the issues...

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Looking at the stuff on their map in the south of the borough Chelsea Bridge Road has a painted lane and no parking enforcement (it's supposed to be no loading or waiting) Oakley St (north of Albert Bridge) looks like this....

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Also of note - we rode 24 miles with two people who live in rural France who'd never ridden in a big city before. Clapham - Vauxhall - Westminster - Tower Hill - Brick Lane - Canary Wharf - Island Gardens Battersea Power Station - Clapham Old Town @willnorman.co.uk

It's Simon, yeah?@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Forest bike review. The 9.99 day pass is a great way to spend a day in London. We rode 24 miles with visiting nephew today, using 184mins of our 1440! Just over 5p a minute. The bike itself? Doesn’t have the very fast acceleration of Lime but has a lot of over run (power after you stop pedalling

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Pretty much the entirety of the route (red line) was either on Cycleway or through LTNs. Much of this has been built since 2020. Almost none of it existed 15 years ago. Theres no way I'd have taken them before that. (and the sketchiest part of the lot was Westferry Road where no Thames path)

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Forest bike review. The 9.99 day pass is a great way to spend a day in London. We rode 24 miles with visiting nephew today, using 184mins of our 1440! Just over 5p a minute. The bike itself? Doesn’t have the very fast acceleration of Lime but has a lot of over run (power after you stop pedalling

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

Brakes seemed worse than lime but bike felt lighter. Saddle height is way too low for tall riders (and newest are labelled “new lower saddle” which is even worse). A few GPS glitches - go slow near park, allowing 1 bike in a bay but not others) Had no trouble finding bikes today.

It's Simon, yeah?
@coldwarcliff.bsky.social

And confirmation that blocked pavements aren’t all down to riders. We parked these neatly in a motorbike parking bay (1mb, loads of space) and came back to find the mb gone and Forest in a heap blocking pavement. 1 broken as a result.

It's Simon, yeah? reposted

David Zipper
@davidzipper.bsky.social

Meanwhile, the US was the only country in the world to oppose a recent UN declaration about the need to reduce crash deaths. The vote was 162 to 1.

Look Both Ways with David & Wes@lookbothwayspod.bsky.social

In the new episode, @davidzipper.bsky.social noted that the US is so uniquely bad at road safety that the OECD now calculates global crash trends without including US data. That prevents America's struggles from overshadowing other countries' progress.