Any question answered...

Call and response.

Nice hotels in London that are kid friendly (but not oligarch kid)?

I guess West-ish but open.

2 adults and a 5 yo sharing a room ideally.

Is there a front and rear light system that uses one rechargeable battery (which can be taken off to charge) and has lights bright enough for winter riding/commuting at 6am on unlit streets?

Having 4 separate lights that need taking off the bike and charging individually is doing my head in.

Something from Exposure, with a Redeye at the back?
Dynamo also sounds like a good option for your needs.

Dynohub.

It needs to go between bikes, I understand the advantages of dynos, but really just want a rechargeable.

Powerbank
Waterproof cables
?

How come you have 4 lights?

Just typed out a long reply that disappeared lol.
Battery life on my lights is unreliable, I like to have a bit of redundancy/backup, so two at the front and two at the back works for me.
And dismounting all of them to charge them is annoying.
Looks like there’s lots of 12v wired lights available, so might just have to put it all together myself. But for something that I assumed was a common problem, there are surprisingly few options.

Switch to a helmet light?

Might be tricky to find something that provides decent illumination front and back without being too heavy. On the unlit back roads in the small hours I want lights that throw enough of a beam to let drivers know that I’m just round the corner. The idea of the detachable battery was partially so I could accommodate more powerful lights.

dismounting all of them to charge them is annoying

..yeah, but don't you take the expensive lights with you whenever you lock the bike anyways?
I know keeping them charged is a bit of a hassle, but for me it would not matter if it's two or four (I have half a couple full of old usb chargers and cables).

Anyway
headlamps / helmet lamps are grrreat - I used one for running a lot and it was awesome, only used while cycling a bit, but immediately noticed how much brighter head headlamp was vs. my regular bike lights (some little Moon "Orion" nuggets).
That the light goes where you turn your head to takes some getting used to but can be very handy.
I have a "Nitecore" one, can definitely recommend.

That being said I would actually prefer to have two sets of lights, ideally one on up there on my head and one on the bike, if riding super dark streets like that.

On the unlit back roads in the small hours I want lights that throw enough of a beam to let drivers know that I’m just round the corner.

I'd say this can definitely be done with batteries - I mean how many lumens are you thinking? I got a 400 one and on the max setting that's super fucking bright.

You could argue that the car around the corner has headlights blasting so bright though that they might overpower whatver you mount on your bike, be it rechargeable or not.. (meaning you will definitely see them coming but they will not see you) 💁

yeah, but don't you take the expensive lights with you whenever you lock the bike anyways?

No, bike goes from home to work and back, never gets locked out my sight.

The desired effect is to just illuminate road/hedges ahead of you the same way a car does, it definitely works in a car for spotting cars before they come around corners, should be doable with a half decent light too.

The other thing is that once it’s dark on my commute home (it already is on the way there). It’s near enough 2 hours of time on the bike a day, which means lots of recharging.

Please people, just trust me that I’ve thought about why I want what I want, lol.

Dynamo!

Are you sure you would not rather buy a car?

A brief word on super bright headlamps, be careful where you point them. I've been dazzled by them twice in the last week whilst driving (most of us have to at times). OK, I'm pretty tolerant, but you don't need to give a twat in 2 tons of WankPanzer a further excuse for turning you into a smear on the road.

I assume you've looked at mtb lights? they have a lot of crazy lumen, run off a separate battery jobs.

A brief word on super bright headlamps, be careful where you point them.

..absolutely; I've noticed this a lot with other runners (who are not aware how bright their light is), it's really blinding.. so I always kinda looked away / to the side when passing others to not annoy them.

That being said when "used properly" headlamps can be non-annoying, while lights mounted on the bike do always blind others to a degree.

Some running headlamp/body mounted lights have a rear light as well

Poorly set up lights - both car and bike - are a constant literal headache for me. Flashing front bike lights, stupid LED headlights, bike lights pointed at eye level etc. I remember running through the park with my headtorch last winter. Always have mine pointed at the ground in front of me, yet constantly blinded by cyclists and dog walkers with lights pointed upwards/at eye level.
It’s a cunty move but I started just pointing my headtorch straight at their faces. Some at least got the message, although most are just oblivious rather than just cunty.

Bike cunts with super bright dazzling lights shining directly into my eyes are the worst of all bike cunts

I've never been a fan of any death-laser rear lights. I've driven behind plenty of them, and even the ones that are setup as close to correctly as possible spill out a huge amount of light that is horrible on a wet windscreen.

I really wouldn't to be riding a bike with a light like that with Mr Sub-Average Impatient Cunt Driver behind me.

I've typed a whole bunch of replies to Nef's original post and deleted them. Maybe I should ask what's the thing that annoys you most about your current setup?