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[BigFatCoward]

The Tyne and Wear metro is pretty extensive and efficient for a city of that size.

Also it was hilarious how long it said 'Wear' in the name but went nowhere near Sunderland. Used to drive them mental. 

[mormont]

8 hours ago, Rippounet said:

Why so? Genuinely curious.

Various reasons. In a lot of cases the suitable spaces for metro lines are already occupied by heavy rail or other infrastructure - including that devoted to cars, unfortunately. The cost of construction is high due to the age of the cities (which means complicated street layouts and lots of historically significant buildings) and high property prices. Some of the major cities without a metro are unsuitable for underground tunneling for geological reasons.

Trams are generally the best bet for UK cities - they mostly used to have them. But the funding issue means they need central government support to build, and that has not been forthcoming.

[Gaston de Foix]

I liked this piece because it challenged my priors: https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2023/08/labour-government-work-government

Does anyone understand what he means by moving close to Europe in practical terms?

A side-gripe:

Anytime an article starts by talking about the lost potential greatness of William Hague it loses me for obvious reasons. 

Weirdly the article ends by talking about the next Tory Leader being the 21st century's answer to William Hague.  Umm, William Hague was the Tory leader in the 21st century - the first in fact.  I was there, I remember all too well.  Strange to get (recent) history wrong.  

Edited August 26 by Gaston de Foix

[Spockydog]

Hague was baseball cap-wearing titan compared to every single member of the current cabinet.

I wonder why he really resigned. 

Edited August 26 by Spockydog

[Heartofice]

Not sure there is much of note to take from that article, it didn’t really say anything. 
 

Of course when Labour gets in power they will try and be more matey with Europe, but that won’t be much of a change to now as the tone has very much changed since the Johnson years. What won’t happen is us rejoining, so don’t get your hopes up on that one. 
 

I’m not sure I agree with the idea that the media will follow those in power and topics will suddenly stopped being discussed. Potentially the BBC might pivot a little, but every news agency is going to stick to its agenda. Channel 4 isn’t going to be any less left wing and GB news isn’t going to go all progressive.

If anything it gives the right wing media a bigger target, imagine Labour overseeing the level of immigration that the Tories have.. they will really struggle to deal with that.

[Denvek]

2 hours ago, Spockydog said:

Hague was baseball cap-wearing titan compared to every single member of the current cabinet.

I wonder why he really resigned. 

Losing a general election isn't enough on it's own?

[Spockydog]

He resigned, unexpectedly, from government in 2014.

All kinds of wild speculation as to why.

 

[Maltaran]

I see Mad Nad has finally quit

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Did she make Liz Truss's honour list?

[dog-days]

Full text of the resignation letter. It mostly seems to be spelled correctly and none of it's in crayon, so somebody else must have written most of it. 

eta: Though maybe she did – it's incredibly staccato:

As expected. She attacks Sunak. And blames him for wearing Prada. And not being Boris. And uses very short sentences. With the full stops. In odd places. 

Edited August 26 by dog-days

[dog-days]

Was in WHSmith today. As usual, bit of a ghost shop. Lots of floorspace in a central location with very few customers. 

If I'd been asked to place bets on which would be the next big-name high street business to go under, it would have been Smiths, not Wilko. The latter in my hometown was always bustling – people stepping awkwardly around each other in the beer brewing aisle or reaching over someone's head to grab a pack of felt pens etc. WH Smith like a funeral in comparison. 

I can only assume that the post office agreement plus the obscene amounts they charge for a bottle of water in train stations and airports are keeping the WH Smith balance sheets healthy. 

[Heartofice]

40 minutes ago, dog-days said:

Was in WHSmith today. As usual, bit of a ghost shop. Lots of floorspace in a central location with very few customers. 

If I'd been asked to place bets on which would be the next big-name high street business to go under, it would have been Smiths, not Wilko. The latter in my hometown was always bustling – people stepping awkwardly around each other in the beer brewing aisle or reaching over someone's head to grab a pack of felt pens etc. WH Smith like a funeral in comparison. 

I can only assume that the post office agreement plus the obscene amounts they charge for a bottle of water in train stations and airports are keeping the WH Smith balance sheets healthy. 

I hadn’t thought about just how crappy WHSmith’s was until I saw WHS Carpet’s Twitter account, which was just a collection of the terrible items they sell and yes, their carpets.

To be fair you can see how they have tried to adapt to changing tastes and trends. I know they have closed a lot of high street stores and tried to concentrate on stations and airports where there actually is demand.

These days most stores are closer to just stationary shops, the magazine section stuffed down the back and just some random items that make no sense being there scattered throughout. 

[BigFatCoward]

Of course we will investigate all thefts Suella, if you just confirm what you would like us not to investigate to make the time. 

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

15 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

Of course we will investigate all thefts Suella, if you just confirm what you would like us not to investigate to make the time. 

 

Traffic violations.

[BigFatCoward]

48 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Traffic violations.

I don't think I've seen a single one if my officers do any traffic stops in 4 years. Nobody does, we dont have the time/inflination for that either. And it only takes about 10-15 mins to write a ticket anway. 

We should do loads more. 3 x as many people die in traffic accidents due to dick heads as die due to murder. 

It's a universal truth that people that think police should do less traffic stops are exactly the ones we should stop more. Bad drivers are selfish cunts. 

Edited August 28 by BigFatCoward

[A Horse Named Stranger]

13 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I don't think I've seen a single one if my officers do any traffic stops in 4 years. Nobody does, we dont have the time/inflination for that either. And it only takes about 10-15 mins to write a ticket anway. 

We should do loads more. 3 x as many people die in traffic accidents due to dick heads as die due to murder. 

It's a universal truth that people that think police should do less traffic stops are exactly the ones we should stop more. Bad drivers are selfish cunts. 

You asked what you should scrap in her opinion. I just assume traffic violations would be something she would be very happy to scrap for reasons.

[BigFatCoward]

16 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

You asked what you should scrap in her opinion. I just assume traffic violations would be something she would be very happy to scrap for reasons.

And she would be a twat for saying so. 

[Which Tyler]

1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

And she would be a twat for saying so. 

You mean she isn't without saying so?

Edited August 28 by Which Tyler

[mormont]

It's irrelevant anyway. If the police spent all their time investigating thefts, then that would just increase the backlog in the court system, which Braverman refuses to do anything about. 

 

[Derfel Cadarn]

The Tories and the right wing media really going after the ulez thing - forgetting to mention that most vehicles are compliant!