The local Highways Authority (WSCC) has recalculated the cost projections to make them look much more expensive, while at the same time the county’s budget deficit has ballooned. This is partly attributable to lack of funding from central government. www.westsussex.gov.uk/campaigns/bu...

Confiscating jewellery from survivors of a war zone makes you look like a fucking Nazi. And the obscene thing is, that is the intention. It's there to look appropriately harsh. Indecent. Filthy. A moral stain. And no-one of good character would have ever proposed such a thing in the first place.

The politician who has issued this warning wants to snatch jewellery from the desperate. How exactly is this in line with Labour’s values?

There is no excuse for supermarkets selling refill packets for more than the jar they’re meant to refill #Sustainability #ClimateEmergency

"The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said that without the shake-up, another 2,200 vehicles would be driving in the zone on an average weekday, making it no longer fit for purpose."

We s-t use Just Eat for takeaways (1x/month?). Don't use others. We also order directly. I've noticed recently restaurants we order from via JustEat (mostly long established) do their own delivery. I am curious why as seems to be new development. Is it for cost, reliability or ethical reasons?

A lot of good stuff in this week’s #SundaySchool, including a reminder that the bottle and can #DepositScheme is a litter prevention scheme as much as anything else. Not clear why we seem to be the only country in Europe that can’t do this.

Rumours of a gambling tax in the budget. I think taxing this industry that causes so much misery is something we can all get behind.

Anyone who uses the delivery ‘platforms’ is consciously or unconsciously blinding themselves to the fact that the business model only works by exploiting the vulnerable. #GigEconomy

Donald Trump destroyed public service broadcasting in the US - it's little surprise Nigel Farage wants to do the same thing here. Trump’s America, don’t let it become Farage’s Britain.

At the last General Election, Labour's slogan was "Change". At the next General Election, Labour's slogan will simply be "Tommy".

The LDFoWWC AGM is today with an excellent opening speech from @ollyglover.bsky.social If you are a member of the @libdems.org.uk join us here and campaign for safer walking, cycling and wheeling. #ActiveTravel www.libdemcycling.org.uk

Anyone who agrees that these workers are exploited, yet keeps using the services of companies that exploit the workers, is quietly assisting with the exploitation.

Wait, Shabana Mahmood, the reactionary Glasman-approved immigrant-basher who represents what the majority of Labour hates most about Starmer, is planning a leadership bid??

We are living in a real-life episode of Black Mirror: an app dispatches workers, monitors their every move, while riders - some using rented identities - risk abuse, exhaustion and invisibility. “We are a very modern kind of slave.” www.theguardian.com/business/202...

It's not just that work under these platforms is often done illegally (illegal vehicles; uninsured; breaking road traffic laws; modern slavery infiltrated labour). But even if you solve those problems; the employment model is exploitative to try and hide the fact that these are, in fact, employees.

If you want people to feel that their day to day lives are improving then make sure that local government is properly funded. You could call it “the pothole theory of everything”.

More evidence that carrot and no stick does nothing to encourage #ModalShift. Greater Manchester’s politicians need to be braver and bring in the #CleanAirZone and #CongestionCharge the city so desperately needs

The government is proposing to abolish the right to asylum. Fuck Starmer and fuck Mahmood, they are traitors to their entire electorate cosying up to the far right.

Terrific, thought-provoking piece by @chrisdillow.bsky.social:

That’s why “blue Labour” is doomed and was doomed from the start: you cannot make water run uphill. A party whose core electorate for over a decade has been socially liberal university graduates and ethnic minorities cannot sell itself as a party hostile to socially liberal values.

I came to this country as a child refugee. No English, no certainty, no idea what my life could become. Britain gave me refuge. Not on a timer, not with conditions attached, but with a chance to grow roots. A thread 🧵 1/8 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Right on cue - and it’ll rise in line with public transport fares. This is the right decision #CongestionCharge

Good stuff from @chrisboardman.bsky.social in the latest @callingallstations.bsky.social about the transformative effect, particularly for women, of #BigBirminghamBikes - would be great to see a similar scheme in @Rochdalecouncil.bsky.social @triciaayr.bsky.social @walkrideGM.org.uk

Why I have zero sympathy for Burnham's stance on a GM congestion charge. I understand the politics but it's fantasy to pretend that better public transport will tempt people out of cars, particularly when that public transport requires subsidy to make it attractive.

Meanwhile in Greater Manchester…

Lady, this is your 5th driving offence (4th speeding) in 8 years. If losing the privilege of driving would cause you exceptional hardship, then perhaps you should have been less careless with that privilege. www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/kirs...

💥Our very own Kate Bartlett of the LCC Women's Network smashing it last night - presenting to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Walking & Cycling 💥 You could hear a pin drop after our film on abuse against women cycling in London 😨 See it here: lcc.org.uk/campaigns/wo...

I do wonder if labour are just chucking ideas at the wall to see what sticks, and what the reaction is. They just seem to be fiddling at the edges and avoiding the big issues. JUST RAISE BLOODY FUEL DUTY www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"Because his level of ambition is blindingly obvious"

If you've never watched the Canadian series of #RaceAcrossTheWorld it basically goes like this "we need to get to Simpatico Falls" "hey my brother Ted lives there, take my minivan and Ted will drive it back next week" "OMG really" "oh sure, let me just fill the tank and buy you some snacks"

I FOI'd English councils whether they use legal land purchase powers to create traffic-free paths. Just 1% said they have successfully. Why is something that's so common for roads almost never done for cycle routes? And what does it mean for cycling? lauralaker.substack.com/p/cycleways-...

This is a complete failure of planning. Why was no #SelectivePermeability mandated?

It was expanded by Livingston and then shrunk by Johnson The format of the charge hasn't changed since it started in 2003. Needs a review.

Resident doctors begin striking tomorrow. There'll be regional and local pickets between 14-19 November, across England. If you're planning on picketing or showing solidarity at a picket line, make sure you've read our guidance: www.bma.org.uk/our-campaign... #DoctorsStrike

Loughborough has gone balls to the wall on halls (!) because it can only expand if it provides accommodation. The local authority will not licence any new student HMOs. The economics also work because the university owns land which is its contribution to PFIs.

At the risk of becoming a "one neat trick" policy poster, I come back to these. Tenements in Scotland are frequently mixed age. One flat will be HMO students, one will be young professionals, a retired couple, a young family etc The solution is literally build more missing middle housing

On the "we need large flats/apartments suitable for families" point that's been raised in this thread, there is a *reason* why the Singapore HDB doesn't just build 1-2 bedroom flats, many are ~2000 square foot 4 bed family homes!

We lease a car through work and use it at weekends! All criticisms of bike work schemes fall apart when you compare to work car leading

Axing the cycle-to-work scheme might seem like low-hanging fruit for a cash-strapped Treasury, but it would be a big mistake. Particularly with expensive kid-carrying cargo e-bikes, it's one of the most effective modal shift levers out there. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Thanks to open data, it's possible to look at what the spending on the cycle to work scheme is compared to other similar schemes, say vehicle salary sacrifice. Both involve buying things before tax on wages so reducing your tax bill, giving an idea of the tax raising potential from each.

Right to Buy might have secured homes for a generation who purchased them but “many of these homes were not replaced with fresh council housing stock, leading to a lack in provision of socially rented properties. And yet today, more than 40% of the homes sold under the scheme are privately rented.”

“Cycle to Work should be about helping ordinary commuters switch to greener travel, not giving tax breaks to high earners buying £4,000 e-bikes for weekend rides in the Surrey Hills”. To the contrary, £4k can get a young family out of a car and onto a cargo bike in a cycle lane.

But she's more than happy to subsidise people who can afford to buy £40k electric cars but more than the cost of a decent bike. And through salary sacrifice schemes too. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

“The political strategy, at its core - get into power and instead of looking after your base, devote the first year to p***ing off your base, in favour of voters who will probably never come to you - is so poor and predictably disastrous that I don’t understand how McSweeney is still in Downing St.”

#CycleToWork has a number of problems, but this isn’t addressing the biggest one - that those on the lowest wages who would benefit the most can’t access the scheme. #DecarbonisingTransport @walkridegm.org.uk @heidialexander.bsky.social

Getting the train *south* from #Preston: slightly disorientating.

🎯 Davey is spot on. "We can have criticism of the BBC, but within that, we need to recognise how valuable an institution it is [and how] precious to our country. And that's one of the reasons why people like President Trump and Nigel Farage, want to undermine the BBC." 👏🏽~AA

#GreaterManchester, would you like a calmer, safer, less polluted journey to school? #SchoolStreets reduce traffic and #AirPollution around schools and encourage walking, cycling & scooting. Get in touch with our GM Co-ordinator Liz at [email protected] if you want this at your school!