Paul Bower
@paulbower.bsky.social
Reposted by Paul Bower
Under the road bridge #AlphabetChallenge #WeekUForUnloved
November 21, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Under the road bridge #AlphabetChallenge #WeekUForUnloved
Reposted by Paul Bower
"Councillors estimate the cost of providing free car parks to be around £10 - £15 [per household per year]: equivalent to a ten per cent increase in council tax."
- I find this story interesting mostly because it's rare that the true cost of free parking sees the light of day.
- I find this story interesting mostly because it's rare that the true cost of free parking sees the light of day.
Ever wondered what it costs to provide free parking?
Thetford Town Council have decided to keep all car parks at an increase of £10-15 per year for every council tax payer in the town.
Details below
www.edp24.co.uk/news/2558378...
Thetford Town Council have decided to keep all car parks at an increase of £10-15 per year for every council tax payer in the town.
Details below
www.edp24.co.uk/news/2558378...
Tax hikes loom as market town votes to take over car parks
Thetford Town council has taken a decisive step towards taking over its car parks, which could see locals pay more in council tax.
www.edp24.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 9:46 AM
"Councillors estimate the cost of providing free car parks to be around £10 - £15 [per household per year]: equivalent to a ten per cent increase in council tax."
- I find this story interesting mostly because it's rare that the true cost of free parking sees the light of day.
- I find this story interesting mostly because it's rare that the true cost of free parking sees the light of day.
Reposted by Paul Bower
"Parking is such sweet sorrow"
Shakespeare family home damaged by reversing driver
Shakespeare family home damaged by reversing driver
A 17th-century building that housed William Shakespeare's family has been left damaged after a driver reversed into it.
news.sky.com
October 19, 2025 at 10:45 AM
"Parking is such sweet sorrow"
Reposted by Paul Bower
This is a brilliant demolition of Kemi Badenoch's nonsense about the Climate Change Act by @fionaharvey.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
As Tories vow to scrap ‘failed targets’, how do their climate claims stack up?
We fact check Kemi Badenoch and her party after she promised to repeal Climate Change Act if they win power
www.theguardian.com
October 3, 2025 at 10:03 AM
This is a brilliant demolition of Kemi Badenoch's nonsense about the Climate Change Act by @fionaharvey.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Paul Bower
I would be interested in seeing a decent engineering drawing, details of how the motoring network has been unravelled and a forecast of expected cycle and motor flows.
Based on the image? Not a cycle street with parking bays sticking out like that.
1/5
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Based on the image? Not a cycle street with parking bays sticking out like that.
1/5
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
England's 'first official Cycle Street' being built in Cambridge
It aims to make one of the city's busiest routes safer by giving cyclists priority over motorists.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 3, 2025 at 6:14 AM
I would be interested in seeing a decent engineering drawing, details of how the motoring network has been unravelled and a forecast of expected cycle and motor flows.
Based on the image? Not a cycle street with parking bays sticking out like that.
1/5
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Based on the image? Not a cycle street with parking bays sticking out like that.
1/5
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Paul Bower
And sorry to dunk on people trying stuff, we absolutely need all of the tools in the box, but we also need to be doing it *really* well for the approach to gain credibility.
October 3, 2025 at 6:18 AM
And sorry to dunk on people trying stuff, we absolutely need all of the tools in the box, but we also need to be doing it *really* well for the approach to gain credibility.
Reposted by Paul Bower
Also, it looks very similar to GM's previous Velocity 2025 scheme, which largely focused on traffic-free routes, like the Bridgewater Canal path, because it meant not having difficult conversations about taking space away from cars.
September 10, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Also, it looks very similar to GM's previous Velocity 2025 scheme, which largely focused on traffic-free routes, like the Bridgewater Canal path, because it meant not having difficult conversations about taking space away from cars.
Reposted by Paul Bower
So GM's latest initiative for walking, wheeling and cycling is #CyanLines, which is a series of routes to connect the city's blue/green spaces cyanlines.com
I'm a regular user of blue/green spaces, largely on bike, but also on foot. So I'm definitely supportive of the scheme. But... 🧵
#BikeSky
I'm a regular user of blue/green spaces, largely on bike, but also on foot. So I'm definitely supportive of the scheme. But... 🧵
#BikeSky
September 10, 2025 at 4:54 PM
So GM's latest initiative for walking, wheeling and cycling is #CyanLines, which is a series of routes to connect the city's blue/green spaces cyanlines.com
I'm a regular user of blue/green spaces, largely on bike, but also on foot. So I'm definitely supportive of the scheme. But... 🧵
#BikeSky
I'm a regular user of blue/green spaces, largely on bike, but also on foot. So I'm definitely supportive of the scheme. But... 🧵
#BikeSky
Reposted by Paul Bower
The #CyanLines initiative sounds really good, but there’s concern it’s going to be the usual conflation of #ActiveTravel with leisure cycling & that GM councils will use it as a substitute for a proper AT network, especially given the slow progress of the original #BeeNetwork vision.
August 7, 2025 at 6:47 AM
The #CyanLines initiative sounds really good, but there’s concern it’s going to be the usual conflation of #ActiveTravel with leisure cycling & that GM councils will use it as a substitute for a proper AT network, especially given the slow progress of the original #BeeNetwork vision.
Reposted by Paul Bower
Please please see @londoncycling.bsky.social ’s Women’s freedom after dark report. this looks and smells to me like a council that just doesn’t want to reallocate road space and thereby shows they actually don’t care about safety after all, ie fob off alert
September 11, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Please please see @londoncycling.bsky.social ’s Women’s freedom after dark report. this looks and smells to me like a council that just doesn’t want to reallocate road space and thereby shows they actually don’t care about safety after all, ie fob off alert
Reposted by Paul Bower
Meanwhile, in Greater Manchester, we continue to do things differently.
the results so far on congestion pricing in new york have been so outrageously good that opposition to it works as a convenient identifier of unserious buffoons www.reuters.com/world/us/new...
September 9, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Meanwhile, in Greater Manchester, we continue to do things differently.
Reposted by Paul Bower
Needed to go to big Asda.
Baby too small for the trike still so we got the bus.
Awful driver.
Then we get off the bus and are greeted by this massive junction without signalled pedestrian crossings.
No wonder people drive ten minute journeys.
Baby too small for the trike still so we got the bus.
Awful driver.
Then we get off the bus and are greeted by this massive junction without signalled pedestrian crossings.
No wonder people drive ten minute journeys.
August 22, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Needed to go to big Asda.
Baby too small for the trike still so we got the bus.
Awful driver.
Then we get off the bus and are greeted by this massive junction without signalled pedestrian crossings.
No wonder people drive ten minute journeys.
Baby too small for the trike still so we got the bus.
Awful driver.
Then we get off the bus and are greeted by this massive junction without signalled pedestrian crossings.
No wonder people drive ten minute journeys.
Reposted by Paul Bower
Media coverage is fuelling a backlash against e-bikes. But often, the stories aren't even about e-bikes at all.
Last week, the BBC reported that an "e-bike" was involved in a serious incident. But it was actually a high-powered electric motorbike.
Here's how it got changed...🧵
Last week, the BBC reported that an "e-bike" was involved in a serious incident. But it was actually a high-powered electric motorbike.
Here's how it got changed...🧵
July 29, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Media coverage is fuelling a backlash against e-bikes. But often, the stories aren't even about e-bikes at all.
Last week, the BBC reported that an "e-bike" was involved in a serious incident. But it was actually a high-powered electric motorbike.
Here's how it got changed...🧵
Last week, the BBC reported that an "e-bike" was involved in a serious incident. But it was actually a high-powered electric motorbike.
Here's how it got changed...🧵
Reposted by Paul Bower
Interesting-looking new study from the UK finding that being hit by an SUV (as compared to a regular car) "considerably" increases the risk of death for children, and even more so for young children doi.org/10.32866/001...
July 28, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Interesting-looking new study from the UK finding that being hit by an SUV (as compared to a regular car) "considerably" increases the risk of death for children, and even more so for young children doi.org/10.32866/001...
Reposted by Paul Bower
Air pollution raises risk of dementia, say Cambridge scientists
Air pollution raises risk of dementia, say Cambridge scientists
Most comprehensive study of its kind highlights dangers of vehicle emissions and woodburning stoves
Exposure to certain forms of air pollution is linked to an increased risk of developing dementia, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.
The illness is estimated to affect about 57 million people worldwide, with the number expected to increase to at least 150m cases by 2050. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
July 24, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Air pollution raises risk of dementia, say Cambridge scientists
Reposted by Paul Bower
This is every bit as sinister and dangerous as the worst anti-immigrant propaganda from the last Tory government. Starmer's Labour is a disgrace.
July 24, 2025 at 11:01 AM
This is every bit as sinister and dangerous as the worst anti-immigrant propaganda from the last Tory government. Starmer's Labour is a disgrace.
Reposted by Paul Bower
Can we agree that if you've got an emotional support vehicle so big that the wheels on one side are touching the kerb and the others aren't even in the bay it should be classed as a HGV & fitted with a speed limiter & tachometer?
July 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Can we agree that if you've got an emotional support vehicle so big that the wheels on one side are touching the kerb and the others aren't even in the bay it should be classed as a HGV & fitted with a speed limiter & tachometer?
Reposted by Paul Bower
Wait till you hear about cars.
"It’s time to stop pretending we’re protecting the public from some great e-bike emergency. The real emergency is that we’ve accepted cars killing people as a fair trade for getting to Costco five minutes faster." electrek.co/2025/07/20/i...
"It’s time to stop pretending we’re protecting the public from some great e-bike emergency. The real emergency is that we’ve accepted cars killing people as a fair trade for getting to Costco five minutes faster." electrek.co/2025/07/20/i...
If you think electric bikes are bad, there’s a much bigger menace hitting our roads
Electric bikes are a menace. They go almost as fast as a car (if the car is parking), they’re whisper...
electrek.co
July 22, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Wait till you hear about cars.
"It’s time to stop pretending we’re protecting the public from some great e-bike emergency. The real emergency is that we’ve accepted cars killing people as a fair trade for getting to Costco five minutes faster." electrek.co/2025/07/20/i...
"It’s time to stop pretending we’re protecting the public from some great e-bike emergency. The real emergency is that we’ve accepted cars killing people as a fair trade for getting to Costco five minutes faster." electrek.co/2025/07/20/i...
Reposted by Paul Bower
Oh yeah, because this won't in any way shape or form lead to people attacking delivery persons, Uber drivers etc. FFS, the image alone is meant to instil fear. That is guaranteed to lead to attacks.
Labour's new pledge "actively inciting violence to gain votes"
Labour's new pledge "actively inciting violence to gain votes"
July 23, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Oh yeah, because this won't in any way shape or form lead to people attacking delivery persons, Uber drivers etc. FFS, the image alone is meant to instil fear. That is guaranteed to lead to attacks.
Labour's new pledge "actively inciting violence to gain votes"
Labour's new pledge "actively inciting violence to gain votes"
Reposted by Paul Bower
This really was a thunderingly important day on Vision Zero at City Hall yesterday - about eliminating road deaths in London. I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Huge thanks to Caroline Russell.
Also it took me 4 hours to write the below thread so go read it. Thanks bye.
Also it took me 4 hours to write the below thread so go read it. Thanks bye.
July 24, 2025 at 5:10 AM
This really was a thunderingly important day on Vision Zero at City Hall yesterday - about eliminating road deaths in London. I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Huge thanks to Caroline Russell.
Also it took me 4 hours to write the below thread so go read it. Thanks bye.
Also it took me 4 hours to write the below thread so go read it. Thanks bye.
Reposted by Paul Bower
Today I was honoured to attend a hugely important event on Vision Zero at City Hall, ran by the indomitable Assembly member @carolinerussell.bsky.social, Green group leader and Transport Lead.
She started with a powerful speech. “Vision Zero is the most important policy that TFL has. - 1/12
She started with a powerful speech. “Vision Zero is the most important policy that TFL has. - 1/12
July 23, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Today I was honoured to attend a hugely important event on Vision Zero at City Hall, ran by the indomitable Assembly member @carolinerussell.bsky.social, Green group leader and Transport Lead.
She started with a powerful speech. “Vision Zero is the most important policy that TFL has. - 1/12
She started with a powerful speech. “Vision Zero is the most important policy that TFL has. - 1/12
Reposted by Paul Bower
After the media damage is inflicted and seen by millions of eyes,you receive a private email to say there's no evidence and no action,seen by two people only
There's no public apology. They don't send this to media or post it on police accounts
We will continue to fight.
We will continue to win.
There's no public apology. They don't send this to media or post it on police accounts
We will continue to fight.
We will continue to win.
![Email from Avon and Somerset Police to Kneecap legal team: "I am Senior Investigating Officer for Avon and Somerset Police's investigation into Kneecap's performance at the Glastonbury Festival on 28th June 2025. Following a review of the evidence, I have determined there will be no further action.
I would be grateful if you could communicate this to your clients, and/or advise me of an alternative way if contacting them.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Regards,
Detective Superintendent [Name redacted]"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gksmwsy2s4gke7dr3msuyytq/bafkreibktbk4klg2aecbjn4yike7cpu27op56pvpkiwvic23ebu2hjq2xi@jpeg)
July 18, 2025 at 12:28 PM
After the media damage is inflicted and seen by millions of eyes,you receive a private email to say there's no evidence and no action,seen by two people only
There's no public apology. They don't send this to media or post it on police accounts
We will continue to fight.
We will continue to win.
There's no public apology. They don't send this to media or post it on police accounts
We will continue to fight.
We will continue to win.
Reposted by Paul Bower
Surely that's what the big round signs with red borders and numbers inside are for. Make sure the dial on your vehicle doesn't go above the numbers on the signs and you're good.
Easy #lifehack right there.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Easy #lifehack right there.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
'Public should have been told about North Yorkshire speed camera' - BBC News
The fixed camera on the A64, near Malton, was vandalised hours before it was due to be switched on.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 19, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Surely that's what the big round signs with red borders and numbers inside are for. Make sure the dial on your vehicle doesn't go above the numbers on the signs and you're good.
Easy #lifehack right there.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Easy #lifehack right there.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Paul Bower
In the Netherlands, you tap in and out of the station at the gates and don't have to worry about paying through the nose. The UK is an expensive joke.
Buying train tickets is one of my least favourite parts of adulting, but I thought even I could manage to buy a ticket that was valid. I was wrong ⬇️
At around 8 PM on Monday evening, I bought a ticket from the machine at Euston station from London to Liverpool Lime Street. 1/8
At around 8 PM on Monday evening, I bought a ticket from the machine at Euston station from London to Liverpool Lime Street. 1/8
July 19, 2025 at 9:55 AM
In the Netherlands, you tap in and out of the station at the gates and don't have to worry about paying through the nose. The UK is an expensive joke.