I can't believe that Network Rail is planning to build a tower block over the spectacular Liverpool Street Station concourse - and to demolish this excellent Victorian Gothic building in the process. 1960s thinking. Is the @thevicsoc on this? Crazy vandalism and will leave a horrible darkened concourse underneath an office slab after years and years of unbearable disruption

Tim notes the UK has seen the highest ever recorded Covid-19 cases, an increase of 47% in a week! #ToryCovidDisaster 1 in 24 people in Britain currently have Covid-19. The highest rates are in London, Scotland and the South-East.

Nine facts about #ActiveTravel #LTNs #walking #cycling

Fact 1: 75% of people would like to see more money spent on cycling in their city.
The types of infrastructure people would find most useful are segregated on-road tracks (64%) and traffic- free cycling routes (60%). Fact 2: Cycle lanes move more people than car lanes.
A three-metre wide lane can move 700 to 1,100 people per hour in cars, whereas for bicycles and walking this increases to 2000 to 6,500.

The nine most common #ActiveTravel myths busted.
#LTNs #cycling #walking

Link to full report at the end of this thread.

Myth 1: There is no public support for investment in cycling infrastructure Myth 2: Road space reallocation to bicycles will bring urban traffic to a grinding halt.

Myths and Misinformation Undermine the NHS – Byline Times bylinetimes.com/2020/10/01/myt… "According to Hartley-Brewer, 91% of COVID-19 cases were in fact false positives. Lockdown sceptic Toby Young amplified this, saying the Government was hiding the scale of the problem for “nefarious reasons”. I haven’t seen a retraction or apology yet.

Where is the evidence that early pub closures will lower infection rates? | Prospect Magazine prospectmagazine.co.uk/science-and-te… "The 10pm curfew looks, then, worryingly like a cosmetic attempt to be seen to be “taking action” while in fact making a political calculation.

Coal’s deadly legacy in Australia and the US | The Fifth Estate thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/envir… "A recent Greenpeace report found that in Australia alone, coal pollution was responsible for 800 premature deaths, 15,000 asthma symptoms in children and 850 new cases of low birthweight amongst infants.

England's test and trace is a fiasco because this government hates the public sector | Coronavirus outbreak | The Guardian theguardian.com/commentisfree/… This is utterly damning of the government:

"The Nobel laureate and head of the Francis Crick Institute, Sir Paul Nurse, wrote three times to Downing Street and Hancock at the start of the pandemic, offering to coordinate university labs to help the NHS in testing for Covid.

The UK’s economic illiteracy is Ireland’s opportunity | David McWilliams davidmcwilliams.ie/the-uks-econom… "Johnson’s aim is to create an industrial powerhouse in the north using taxpayers’ money, picking tech winners that will be identified by bureaucrats rather than the market and propped up by government intervention.

Japan trade deal commits UK to stricter state aid curbs than in EU talks | Financial Times ft.com/content/edb7d1… "In the bilateral UK-Japan agreement announced in principle on Friday, London and Tokyo have agreed to replicate the restrictions on subsidies in the EU-Japan deal that went into effect last year.

For the Tories, breaking the law is just a sign of strength

Our leaders enjoy indulgent impunity while those they deem to be outcasts face ‘zero tolerance’ and merciless persecution
theguardian.com/commentisfree/… "To this party, rule-breaking isn’t an outcome of the incompetence and the inattentiveness of its premier, it isn’t an impish prank; it is central to its pitch to voters. To them, rule-breaking implies strength, and establishes status and dominion over others."

Boris Johnson's 'oven-ready' Brexit had a secret footnote: we'll rehash it later | Brexit | The Guardian theguardian.com/commentisfree/… "In openly admitting that it signed the withdrawal agreement with the EU in bad faith, Johnson’s Vote Leave government also implicitly confessed that it lied wholesale to the electorate in December’s general election.

Ireland accuses Boris Johnson of trying to sabotage peace process theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/s… Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s European affairs minister, branded the UK government’s claims that it was to protect the peace process as “completely false”

Clearly, Johnson had always planned to go back on his word in signing the Withdrawal Agreement. This blog hits the nail on the head

(Brexit: Little lies have long legs - The Federal Trust) fedtrust.co.uk/brexit-little-… "It is now clear that such reservations were overcome by disingenuous assurances from Conservative Ministers that the Withdrawal Agreement could and would be rapidly superseded by a generously wide-ranging new EU/UK trade agreement that would render the WA a dead letter."

Went to look at the Canonbury East LTN last night. Very neat camera gates: no problem for emergency services The overall feeling was calm and quiet. I saw one vehicle doing a u-turn having entered without realising. No burning tyres, no pitchforks, no drama.

How an Australian-style track and trace system would work: a lesson from Down Under. My sister lives in Sydney. Last weekend she felt unwell, so she went to get a Covid-19 test. The testing centre was in her own neighbourhood. Testing centres in Oz are small and distributed very widely so that people can easily get to them.

Great Senior Short Sale threatens housing market | CNU cnu.org/publicsquare/2… "A growing mismatch between America’s housing supply and changing demographics could trap millions of senior citizens in unwanted houses, according to a report by University of Arizona researcher Arthur C. Nelson.

Blog: The Planning White Paper and that morning after feeling - Hugh Ellis | Town and Country Planning Association tcpa.org.uk/blog/blog-the-… "evidence to justify the proposed changes is almost completely absent from the paper. As a result, the allegations about the performance of the current planning system are at best partial and simply do not justify the kind of radical change the PM's rhetoric is advocating.

The bog blog: everything you never knew you needed to know about peat - CPRE, the countryside charity cpre.org.uk/discover/every… "In the UK, it’s estimated that there are over 3 billion tonnes of carbon stored in the peatlands – equivalent to all carbon stored in the forests of the UK, Germany and France put together!"

What if Facebook Is the Real ‘Silent Majority’? - The New York Times nytimes.com/2020/08/27/tec… "But what sticks out, when you dig in to the data, is just how dominant the Facebook right truly is.

Why vaping may increase your risk of developing COVID-19 theconversation.com/why-vaping-may… "We need to move away from ambiguous public health messaging around vaping, in which we suggest that it’s “safer” than smoking.