In the news

boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

it's going to trickle down, ok?!

commie.

Tsunami Alert for West coast of N. America.
Tsunami travel time to USA shores means it might be there in a couple of hours.

Edit: Alert called off a few hours later.

“Though the US government shutdown has now ended, it's not clear that everyone will be back at work. The US Geological Survey would usually be working on this, for instance, but it's last tweet makes clear that "During the federal government shutdown, we will not monitor or update social media". It's not posted since.

Services like the tsunami centre that are required to protect life are allowed to keep going even when the rest of the government is shut down. But the problems of the last few days might delay the response.”

From the trial of the alleged Finsbury Park attacker

https://twitter.com/kirkkorner/status/955772353434222592

For those pondering Khan and his varied achievements the New London Plan is here https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/new_london_plan_december_2017.pdf

There's some reasonable stuff in there that may be implemented by 2030 and then more ambitious things like expanding the cycle hire network and reducing fleet emissions which should nicely tie in with my retirement in 2041.

I was amused by this line

This Plan will be the third London Plan, the previous ones being the 2004 Plan produced by former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and the 2011 Plan produced by former Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

Good to see that these long-term plans have an impact and stick around.

There've been multiple iterations over the years based on amending the plans which is fine but then it all gets ripped up by the next person and they start again.

There is an argument that current control on vehicles is based the LEZ and CC which started in 2008 and 2003 respectively.

It makes a lot less sense to write a 25 year plan and then stick to it for 25 years no matter what,

Isn't that how PFI works. Lock into a 25 year plan, transfer all the financial risk from the government to the employees' pension fund and to small subcontractors. And it only costs us 40% more than managing it directly.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/22/carillion-privatisation-myth-councils-pfi-contracts

That's pretty much my point. Actually do something tangible whilst you're in charge to set the tone going forward rather than talk about doing a lot of things in the future. Once something has happened it's a lot more difficult to reverse it compared to ignoring plans (look at CS11 for instance).

Maybe in the next three years Khan will start putting things into action (Oxford Street for instance) but it's hard to think of much he's done so far (not just in terms of cycling but generally, the bus hopper fare is pretty much all I can think of).

Maybe in the next three years Khan will start putting things into action (Oxford Street for instance)

I wonder if the Oxford Street thing is TFL being told to get their buses off the street by Westminster & the various Oxford Street interests. That it was in the manifesto makes me wonder if it had been decided a long time ago and the blocker was working out how to get the pesky transport off the road and in to the surrounding streets.

tl;dr you wouldn't put something like that as a pledge if you didn't know it was a sure thing.

Happy days (kinda) if everyone can come together and make it happen though.

Whereas its a lovely theory you're extolling, I have never seen anything to suggest that it is anything but something driven by Khan.
It has been a source of bewilderment to me over the last few years that Oxford Street has consistently been the most polluted street in London, whilst being the busiest shopping street in Europe seemingly receiving half a million visitors a day. I have thought that this is a national disgrace and as Khan has now got the go ahead and work due to start before the end of the year he deserves some acknowledgement.

Some 'nalysis here but yes, a part of it is probably Westminster and others wanting to develop the area around Oxford Street, or at least why they're not objecting.

Good read, thanks for the link.

Thanks, a good read.

Doodlepets (potentially distressing images of dead puppies) - avoid these guys like the plague. Known to the RSPCA separately. Lot of action going on in the background with the local council to take this Ian Thomas guy out of business as a breeder but really this stuff needs to be front and centre on a google search to ward careless buyers off. These puppy farm breeders really are scum of the highest order.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42805485
This story needs memes

I'm not one to comment on other people's appearance's but my God, that guy is like an uglier version of Barry from Eastenders

The domestic dog has become one of mankind's most grotesque creations.

Hyperbole: one of mankind’s most grotesque creations.

Ha, fine, in breeding is pretty sick though

http://bigthink.com/articles/vets-urge-dog-owners-to-stop-buying-pugs-and-bulldogs

I've seen a pug with its eyes hanging out twice now. Both times while waiting in the vet with our cat. First one sneezed its eyes out and the second one had some kind of impact on the back of his head causing them to fall out.

Really not cool.

Nation of animal lovers, apparently...

My brother-in-law has a pug. It's probably coming up to three years old now.

It's had a hernia operation, at least two eye emergencies (blisters and foreign objects), breathing difficulties and has a major spinal defect which they are choosing not to operate on because there's a 50/50 chance of permanent paralysis.

It does make them look super cool though /s

There are some horrible breeders out there. But I’d be hard pressed to say that pet dogs are worse than some of the things that you see in factory farms.

https://youtu.be/rn-wrPf5Ls0

If pugs were human they'd be the aristocracy.