In the news

Yeh poor management and low investment have nothing to do with it, just a bad mind set and attitude outside of London

Only Portugal and (mostly southern) Italy have lower PPP adjusted wages than the UK in Western Europe.

And that's your answer. Productivity measures economic value created over certain time interval, not wether any particular worker did the job at a fast or slow pace. And UK workers, due to stagnating wages that again has created less incentive for UK companies to invest in automation, just cannot add as much to the GDP as other European workers can. A highly automatised production line with German or Nordic union wages on the other hand. That's productivity.

And while I am at it, the fabled Chinese worker that Liz is referring to is even less productive than any European worker. I'm not saying lazy, it's just that they can't create much economic value with the hand they've been dealt. That's why their wages are low and Chinese stuff is cheap. Millions of workers doing manual labour to make worthless trinkets might be the 19th century dream world the Tories are hoping for, but it isn't productive.

Global warming is causing cracks in infrastructure all over the place. Cities in Siberia are falling apart https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/oct/14/thawing-permafrost-destroying-arctic-cities-norilsk-russia

just a bad mind set and attitude outside of London

That’s me!
Well, actually
Rather don’t give a fuck about chasing worthless targets for try-hards who never gave two shits about me
Also, TrussTories can all. Fuck. Right. Off. Forever

Tons of dead fish in the Oder, cause unclear, probably most of life gone. Polish asshole government of course didn't inform Germany in time to maybe shit off sidearms.
Let's hope it doesn't affect the delta too much, it is, as is a load of the river, a beautiful place.

Guardian has most if it right as far as I can see.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/15/oder-river-mystery-of-mass-die-off-of-fish-lingers-as-toxic-substances-ruled-out

It's about adding value, which requires skills, which need long term investment

DM reporting that we (cyclists) may be required to register, insure, and abide by taffic laws, depending how a government review goes.

Guardian has it as well, its dog whistle time to get those Tory votes for your endorsed candidate:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/16/registration-plates-and-insurance-for-cyclists-on-table-in-review-of-road-laws?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It seems to say we should face the same speed limits as cars, especially in a 20 zone. But to do that we need identifiable markings and lets chuck in mandatory insurance for good measure.

Yep, number plates are the DM headline. I'd love to be able to consistently achieve the 20 mph speed limit, I usually average 15 on a ride.

Didn't they throw this out recently?

And they'll throw it out again.

In an idea world I agree with mandatory insurance. But even with cars there is limited capacity to police and enforce rules - so what's the value?

It reminds me of their drugs clamp down where they breezed past the bit about needing an absolutely fucking monumental increase in police numbers and expansion of the court system to have any meaningful implementation.

we (cyclists) may be required to... abide by traffic laws

Never!

It’s possible where required to implement speed limits for bikes

Can you get done for speeding on a bike?
Generally speaking, on normal public highways, the speed limits do not apply to bicycles. (If you do manage to cycle at 60mph though, please let us know...we'd like to see that).

The Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act speeding limits apply only to motor vehicles and their drivers.
However, it is possible for local authorities to impose speed limits on cyclists but this is rarely done. The local council would have to state specifically the limit and the penalty for breaching that limit.

The case is different however for royal parks. Previously, speed limits in royal parks were applicable to bicycles, because the, The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997 amended by the Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces (Amendment) Regulations 2004 outlined that speed limits in the parks applied to all vehicles.

This was amended to be specific to motor vehicles meaning that it does not apply to bikes. It was then un-amended (revoked) such that speed limits do apply to bicycles in royal parks

If you do manage to cycle at 60mph though, please let us know...we'd like to see that

There’s a video in the Colombia, not Columbia thread you should watch

Judging by the Ron Burgundy crisis beard, Sajid Javid has not taken rejection by the Tory party well

It’s possible where required to implement speed limits for bikes

There's a pretty intense debate about cyclists observing the speed limit in Greenwich Park at the moment. There have been two fatalities (maybe three I think) involving cyclists and pedestrians colliding/swerving in recent years and popular opinion (not based in any known facts) is that if they cyclists were observing the speed limit they perhaps would not have lost control.

AFAIK none of the accident reports or inquests have mentioned speed because how can you know for sure how fast they were going? One of the inquests suggested that the most likely cause of the fatal accident (in the absence of eyewitnesses) was a cyclist trying to avoid a dog or squirrel and losing control. Doesn't stop the locals blaming speeding though. From a park user perspective, now that it is closed to motor vehicles, it is quite jarring to be crossing the road and being buzzed by a roadie doing 30 on the downhill. It is actually quite hard for old folk to cross the road safely...you can start crossing when its clear and end up dodging a cyclist if they are giving it the beans.

I think the "popular" solution is to speed bump the fuck out of the hill. Not sure how I feel about that.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/cyclist-dies-greenwich-park-a4518921.html

Edit: For balance there have been several deaths of cyclists in collisions with vehicles suspected of speeding in the park too over the lats 15 years or so.

Not enough police to enforce existing speeding rules for cars, where I live I see zero enforcement of escooters and de-restricted ebikes which I see as a bigger problem as they go on the pavement but suddenly they think they will be able to enforce speed limits for bikes?

Can you imagine how many people they'd need to hire to enforce it? Even just to process the fines!

This is the bit of the whole tough on crime piece they avoid.

Surely we just need to pass a law to make crime illegal, right?

“Somewhere where cyclists are actually not breaking the law is when they speed, and that cannot be right, so I absolutely propose extending speed limit restrictions to cyclists,” he said. “Particularly where you’ve got 20mph limits on increasing numbers of roads, cyclists can easily exceed those, so I want to make speed limits apply to cyclists.

If there's going to be a zero tolerance to motorists and cyclist for 20mph limits I'd be happy with that, half the motorist in the country would be ban inside of a week.

If there's going to be a zero tolerance to motorists and cyclist for 20mph limits I'd be happy with that, half the motorist in the country would be ban inside of a week.

Yes! lets add everyone to Strava so irrespective of vehicle we can centrally monitor all speeds and apply fines automatically!

See how the Daily Mail likes that.

hahaha I spotted the crisis beard too!