BTW, if you're wondering what the real price attached to this current TfL settlement by the government is, then a big part of it is killing off TfL/SK's efforts to increase the social housing stock in London.

That's how vindictive this government is.
TfL Business Plans are, essentially, one of the few real things over which the Mayor of London has near-absolute control.

i.e where he gets to set policy as he likes AND wield TfL's significant budget, fund raising and market pressure to facilitate meaningful change.
Both this settlement and the one before it are really about clipping that power and forcing the DfT (for which read 'Cabinet Minister') into the TfL planning and budgeting process.
As with universities, Stonewall, museums, councils and everything else. This government is trying to use reconstruction and support as a way of preventing people from "stepping outside their lane"

That lane being defined by the government, and their own belief on what Britain is
Here, that's about making it so TfL are forced to commit to savings in "non-transport" activities, and then forcing future revenue spend to be gate-kept by the DfT as agent of government.
"Oh we like that idea but we can't approve it, we don't think that's the best use of transport spend" is something you'll hear A LOT in future about TfL (and Mayoral) policy proposals when they suggest things like area regeneration rather than, I dunno, building roads or summat.
You'll also see a lot more of Johnson's old trick of forcing TfL to commit its budget to supporting non-London projects, or projects that in any sane world would land on the DfT's budget line instead.

Boris did it with Met Line extension. DfT are doing it with Hammersmith Bridge

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with John Bull

John Bull Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @garius

1 Jun
Not a silly question, but one that isn't necessarily immediately obvious.

Firstly, because the doors are in different places. That brings all sorts of problems - because where do you put the PEDs, and how do you get them to open in a way that doesn't interfere with boarding? /1
Secondly, because your carriages will be designed differently and because some of them will be designed for use WITH PEDs and others not.

Is the gap between door and platform too wide? Can you retrofit the sensors necessary to line doors up?
Thirdly, passengers move through trains and platforms differently on busy stations with PEDs. Pop down the Canary Wharf Jubbly platforms to see this in action.

People queue!

But how do you handle/help them navigate when it's not obvious which PEDs will open or not?
Read 4 tweets
1 Jun
Remember this every time Shapps/Boris make a BIG SIGHING NOISE about funding TfL in the pandemic:

1) The gov DEMANDED TfL be funded by fare revenue. Boris agreed as Mayor
2) The gov DEMANDED full service patterns rn
3) They've given MORE cash to regional rail with no conditions.
So if you're outside London, thinking "well this is just bloody London getting more money than the rest of us yet again."

Remember that THIS IS THE NARRATIVE THEY ARE DELIBERATELY PUSHING ON YOU.

You know how they're fucking the northern cities? They're doing it to London, too.
And that's the ENTIRE reason they push this narrative

Because they want you to think of us as "them." Their absolute worst case nightmare is people in Manchester, or Blackburn or in any of the other cities they're fucking realising that London isn't your enemy. We're your ally.
Read 12 tweets
30 May
There are a LOT of people discovering right now that English Catholicism has a habit of quietly ignoring the crappy bits of the rules when nobody is watching.

Not as much as it should, because it depends on how decent the priest is, but more than most realise.
Having the medieval version of Boris Johnson do a Brexit on your churches tends to leave you somewhat pragmatic about how you practice your faith.
Bluntly: I've been in Anglican churches that are more "Catholic" than most Catholic masses I've been in, in England, during my life.

As a kid, most of the chats I had with my local priest were when he was out in the car park fixing his motorbike and we cycled past to the park.
Read 7 tweets
7 May
Okay. Let's talk incumbency and why Johnson isn't cursed with.

For a new PM of an existing government party to be seen as an incumbent government, they have to represent some kind of continuation of the ideas and policies of the previous PM.
Now traditionally this has always happened at least partially, because the new PM has either come from the same wing as the old one.

Especially in the Tories, where rebellions tend to eat the candidate that kicked them off, with a continuity candidate of sorts winning.
The two notable instances of this NOT happening in British politics in the last 70 years or so are both in weird extreme circumstances:

Churchill (who then led a National Government anyway) and Boris Johnson.
Read 17 tweets
6 May
One of my friends has just admitted to me that he had to get his cat its own prayer mat to avoid issues during Ramadan, which I absolutely love and is the most cat thing ever.
Now I am googling "cats on prayer mats" and am amaze.
This is 100% one of those things thats like:

"Oh wait. Of COURSE this would be an issue"

Once you stop and think about it for even a second.
Read 4 tweets
6 May
Everyone forgets that there was a DEEPLY shit TV series remake of Passport to Pimlico in the 90s, which focused on how funny it would be if one shit little town in England decided it didn't want to be in the UKEU etc.

I think about that a lot.
I have at various points tried to track it down, just to horror-watch it again, but with little luck.
The two leads were the rabble-rousing woman who owned a shop and led the town in standing up against elf and safety gone mad etc. etc.

And the civil servant sent to tell the town to stop being silly who magically fell in love with her and decided the town had a point.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(