Stephen Gower

Scholars may have decided that it's looking backwards over its wings, but have they considered it may instead be the earliest picture of @owlsintowels.org ?

Photo of the described owl art. It looks like muddy scratch marks on a mottled brown cave wall. The head is very round with two upright lines for ears and a line in the center for a beak. Numerous parallel lines suggest plumage on the wings.

The oldest known image of an owl:

More than 30,000 years ago, someone skillfully scratched the figure of a long-eared owl (Asio otus) into the soft outer layer of the walls of Chauvet Cave, France. The owl is looking backward over their wings, head turned 180 degrees
carnegiemnh.org/ancient-owl-...

Oh no he isn't.

‘Can cork man stay afloat?’ was right there.

What's the nicest model filter in terms of placemaking?

I've gone off the planter thing a bit and am beginning to think a row of wooden bollards is as nice as anything, especially in a location that gets a lot of littering.

Also the Love Coffee van is often parked nearby.

Botley Road, from Frideswide Square. Diggers are removing the old pedestrian walkway of the old bridge.

A closer look at the old Botley Road bridge. The decks have been removed, diggers are removing the abutment.

From Botley side of the Botley Road, the construction site with the railway in the background. The bridge decks have been removed and diggers are removing the abutment.

A large crane lifting a bridge section off the back of a lorry.

It's all go down at Oxford station. The old bridge decks have been removed, with work now focusing on removing the abutments.

So locally Your Coop, with some of their stores branded "Your Coop Food" and some "The Co-operative Food", has become Our Coop, but the food stores that use the Coop branding remain part of The Co-operative Group (coop.co.uk) and they all cooperate under Co-operatives UK (uk.coop) - is that right?

A PIR detector, with a code label on it (DB AL 21/CCT 7L2). Directly above is another label that reads "STAIR LTG EMG TEST KEY SW IN MAINS RM RISER"

I just like to say STAIR LTG EMG TEST KEY SW IN MAINS RM RISER

Sam's tactic was actually good for the team during the game. The shield was there to waste time as people looked for it rather than the answer. He completely nullified that in the first move. #TheTraitors #TheTraitorsUK

🚨 BREAKING:
A legal bid to halt Oxford’s congestion charge has been turned down. The High Court today refused an application for judicial review by Open Roads For Oxford Ltd, which had raised £60,000 “from private donations, transfers from aligned funds, and our GoFundMe campaign” to bring the case.

I'd ask my own councillor to ask cabinet to restrict taxis, but since he's a taxi driver himself, that doesn't seem likely to happen. (Earlier post, now deleted, said PHV driver, but I double checked and he's a Hackney Carriage driver)

Given the material increase in the number of PSVs in the city, I am very keen to know when this review will take place and what form it will have. I shall write to the cabinet member concerned, but wonder if any county councillor would be willing to ask the question formally.

Text from the minutes of a meeting: "(c) Subject to approval of (b) above, approve exemptions for emergency services, waste and postal vehicles, taxi and private hire vehicles through the restrictions enforced by ANPR on Divinity Road, James Street and Magdalen Road. The use of ANPR and/or exemptions will be reviewed prior to/during the trial of the traffic filters." The last sentence has been outlined in orange.

At the time, the cabinet member commented that when traffic filters came into use "the situation would change and be reviewed." The later decision to allow a similar bypass route through East Oxford explicitly says the exemptions will be reviewed prior to or during the trial of the traffic filters.

Five years ago, the Low Traffic Neighbourhood made it safe for my daughter to cycle unaccompanied to primary school and after-school activities. Now, at those times, a stream of taxis uses the bypass route, and that opportunity is no longer available to others who might follow her example.

Street map of a part of Cowley in Oxford. Classified (A- and B- ) roads are shown in yellow, other roads in white and narrower. A red highlight marks a route taking Cornwallis Road and Littlehay Road, then Marsh Road and Crescent Road, to get from Donnington Bridge to Hollow Way, bypassing the classified-road route along the B4495 Church Cowley Road.

In June 2023, the County Council decided to replace some physical Low Traffic Neighbourhood filters with ANPR enforcement and, without prior consultation, allowed taxis to use them, creating an east–west route that bypasses the classified road network.

A line chart titled "Licenced Taxi Vehicles in Oxford". X-axis shows dates from 08/07/023 to 20/12/2025. A purple line shows the number of Hackney Carriage Vehicles staying steady at around 110. A green line shows the number of Private Hire Vehicles starting at 637 with a steady increase until June 2024 when it plateaus (and even falling slightly) until May 2025 from where there is a much faster increase to reach 1020 by the end of the graph. A vertical blue line labelled "Uber Licenced as operator" intersects the graph in late February 2025.

The number of private hire vehicle (PHV) taxis in Oxford has risen by 60% since July 2023.

(Source: www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/numb...).

And the consequence to this is of course that those parking in the public domain without paying rent are in fact stealing land from the public and the public have every right to want their land back

👆Sorry, that reply was in a lost browser tab, unintentionally unsent!

The benefit to the top 10% comes from rising land values under enforced scarcity. If supply is allowed, land rents fall even while builders earn returns, and higher density makes local shops and services viable too, like food prices fell after Corn Law repeal even though farming continued.

Russian Blue cat with its front paws stretched towards the viewer.

Renewing #proofofcat

What proportion of local authorities will use these powers, do you expect?

Hope Macaulay, my daughter (15) tells me.

Parking on the pavement in London has been illegal for 52 years and in the rest of the UK it's just a fact of life. Central government just opted against a blanket national ban. Anyway here's an excellent advert from when it was banned in London: www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Yg...

Planning currently enforces housing scarcity. Change would lower costs of one of the biggest expenses for households while reducing the scarcity rents that mainly accrue to the top 10%. I think it's a good analogy to Corn Law repeal.

Radical planning reform. Start with an automatic permission to build dense (5-10 storey) housing on low-quality Green Belt land within walking distance of rail stations. Then automatic right to convert existing urban areas to mid-height (6 storey) development. No veto from neighbours, councils, etc.

Yes, the wording seems to suggest they're only used by residents. If you think there's a good location that's missing a bin, it's a good thing for local councillors to actually get done, so do get in touch with the appropriate one for the area.

Yes, that's my real takeaway from this, and other examples like the Islamic Studies Centre on Marston Road. All sorts of things are agreed when concerns are expressed during planning consultations, but they either do expire over time or get ignored once the heat is off.

A map of Oxford, with callouts from every grit bin giving a description of the location.

Grit Bins in Oxford (data from Feb 2024 www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/grit... )

22 The development shall be managed in accordance with the approved Meadowbrook College Car Park and Access Management Plan and Swan School Car Park and Access Management Plan for the lifetime of the development unless otherwise agreed in writing by the local planning authority.

3.15 In the afternoon peak, the classes will finish at 16:45 (16:00 on Fridays) and the vehicular gate will be closed until 17:00 (16:15 on Fridays) ie until all students, that walk or cycle, leave the school site. From 17:00 (16:15 on Fridays) the vehicular access gate will be open, and parents will be able to access the school site to collect students. The Swan School Car Park and Access Management Plan 4479/008/R04F Page 9

I hadn't realised - a breach of planning regulations, I think.