2017: I formally asked NorwichCC to take part in World Car-Free Day: they liked the idea, but didn't commit.
2019: 1st #NorwichCarFreeDay took place (22/09) thanks to a @Transcendental1 motion
2020: #NorfolkCarFreeDay is born, supported by @NorfolkCC & all district councils!...
...personally, I'm dead chuffed. Yeah it's taken a lot of emails, meetings & conversations - and yes a LOT more ambition is needed - but it feels like the #carfree movement is finally starting to take root in our region...
...perhaps even more excitingly, we've persuaded NorfolkCC to scrap their road closure charges for community events, meaning amazing schemes like @playingout should have a chance to thrive here too. Big thanks to supportive Cllrs, officers & the @CarFreeNorwich team. \m/
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I'm disappointed by this #CleanAirDay thread. Strikes me as a token gesture, esp when many of the tweets are directly copied & pasted from your thread last year (bar a few changes). So it's hard to believe your ❤️'s really in it. As others have noted, the sentence
"The improvement in air quality during #COVID19 shows that further progress is possible, if balanced alongside the social and economic needs of the city" is toe-curling. This is a false dichotomy. #AirPollution costs the UK economy ~£20bn p.a. cdn.friendsoftheearth.uk/sites/default/…
People used to say the same about #ClimateChange: we can do some stuff, but not if it hurts the economy! Thankfully they don't say that anymore, not really - because it was nonsense. And it is here too.
1/ Not saying anything revolutionary here but thought I'd gather my thoughts in a big ol' #thread on #smoking, esp why I think pubs/bars/restaurants should voluntarily create generously-sized outdoor #nonsmoking areas ASAP (esp aimed at #Norwich venues bc of self-interest!)
2/ New gov guidance suggests venues will have to provide outdoor non-smoking areas soon anyway, though it's not clear from exactly when (anyone know?). gov.uk/government/new…
3/ But pubs should do it soon, before they are forced to, from a sense of moral duty & to protect punters from 2nd hand smoke (SHS).
My chest is not its best, so I'm back on the IVs for 2 weeks. This is what 14 days of intravenous antibiotics looks like in its constituent parts. It's been 5 & 1/2 months since I was last on IVs - a good stretch for me. I put it partly down to that sweet sweet lockdown air...
...Remember that? Wasn't it amazing?
I'm particularly worried about our #airquality in the next couple of weeks with the return of the school run. Our government has messed up an amazing opportunity to really change public transport habits for the better, & I'm livid...
...So yeah, I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this before, but #AirPollution kills. Please only drive if you absolutely have to. And don't ever idle your engine unnecessarily - that's a real 🍆 move. Huge thanks as always to the @NNUH staff, & everyone fighting for #cleanair
Last night on the #NNUH ward I had the pleasure of listening to @AilbheDarcy's perfect piece of radio about Inger Christensen's 'alphabet', a poem I was previously oblivious to. The poem concerns the threat of nuclear devastation under the atom bomb 1/4 bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…
By coincidence, last week I got talking to a ward-mate. As an airman he was one of 20,000 who witnessed the 1957 Christmas Island atom bomb test. Today there are fewer than 600 survivors. The bomb fell through the air and exploded via barometric fuse, above sea level 2/4
in an attempt to minimise fallout. They were told they were a safe distance away from the blast, but he suspects his health conditions now are partly a result of the exposure. This conversation made the story of Alphabet all the more real to me, 3/4