Christopher

The Guardian view on Labour targeting nature: the problem isn’t snails, but a broken housing model | Editorial Editorial: Rachel Reeves’s drive to speed up development is beginning to treat wildlife and the environment as expendable. Voters want homes built, but not at any cost

Of all the disappointing thing this Labour govt is doing, launching a war on nature is the most incomprehensible and counter-productive www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

They're better than most.

www.ukonward.com/transparency/

Onward have always struck me as one of the more sensible think tanks. I doubt this iteration of Badenoch would want to be associated with it.

How to Better Design Cities for Families The architecture of housing, transportation and public space could support children and caretakers, writes design critic Alexandra Lange in her Pulitzer Prize-winning series.

READ THIS!

Designing Cities for Families: A Pulitzer Prize-winning [yes, you read that right, PULITZER PRIZE] series explores how urban design and architecture affect parents and kids.

By the great @langealexandra.bsky.social in @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/features/des...

Pope Francis’ tweets on climate change, sustainability, etc.

I remember how important it was when Pope Francis posted these messages on Twitter back in 2015. Passionate messages on sustainability, #climatechange & equity. @pontifexes.bsky.social #LaudatoSi #PopeFrancis

Declan Rice is a special human being. Arsenal 🚀🚀🚀

Separated Bike Lanes Means Safer Streets, Study Says — Streetsblog USA Cities that build protected lanes for cyclists end up with safer roads for people on bikes and people in cars and on foot, a new study of 12 large metropolises revealed Wednesday.

Never forget, a 13-year study found that protected bike-lanes led to a drastic decline in fatalities for all road users.

ALL ROAD USERS.

And painted bike-lanes? No safety improvement at all.

For sharrows, it’s actually safer to NOT have them.

Via @usa.streetsblog.org @nyc.streetsblog.org

BREAKING: Earthquake destroys mosque in Mandalay, Myanmar, at least 20 killed - local media

A lady waits on her bike at a red traffic light on a cycleway whilst a lorry proceeds through the junction

To stop cycle fatalities you need:

✔️Protected cycle tracks on main roads that continue at junctions that keep vulnerable road users and large vehicles separate.

You don't need:
❌Helmets
❌High Viz
❌Cycle training

I note with interest right-wing media's total absence of any concerns about prominent BBC presenter Armstrong expressing his highly political opinions. As was always perfectly clear to many of us, the problem was not that Lineker had views, but the fact they didn't approve of his views.

An instant classic of the genre. Bravo!

I don't get why this is controversial.

Buildings need to be maintained. If you buy a [share in a] building, you need to pay for [your share of] its upkeep. Sometimes there are unexpected costs.

When crossing a tram track on a bike, you have to navigate a slow and difficult set of barriers

When crossing a tram track in a three tonne van, you can fly across at 40mph with only a stop sign preventing you from a catastrophic incident.

Today's death was preventable

⚡️ The historic moment of Estonia leaving the Russian-fed power grid.

On February 8, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia left Russia and Belarus energy system. By the end of the day today, they will have joined the European grid.

Charing Cross Road, pedestrianised today. Glorious. Because whenever you take cars away, cities get better.

Cycle-track in central Copenhagen.

“While Mayor, I was often asked ‘how have you been able to afford bike-lanes in #Copenhagen?’ I’d reply, ‘how have you been able to NOT afford it? 25 years ago we were a few days away from going bankrupt. So the city invested in the cheapest infrastructure… bicycling.’” — @mortenkabell.bsky.social

Slide by @toderianUW.bsky.social saying “Adding car lanes to deal with traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity.“ – Lewis Mumford, 1955

It's a goal of mine to help make this the most famous, well-known and UNDERSTOOD quote about cities in history. Please share it as much as you can. #InducedDemand

physics of climate impacts 101:
- Stuff gets hot (worse heatwaves)
- Hot air holds more water vapor (heavier rainfall)
- Hot air is thirstier air (higher drought risk)
- Warm water is hurricane food (stronger storms)
- Hot water expands and hot ice melts (sea level rise)

Every time this comes up, I try to defend separation of art and artist and come up short. Image is such a big part of the any work, and can enhance or detract from it. Now, there is art I enjoy without context, but as soon as context is added it changes it, for better or worse.

Love the reframe. Would you step into the street without looking is a good one around schools. If the answer's no, the design needs to change.

New housing in a cleared area : a study of St Mary's, Oldham : Great Britain. Department of the Environment : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive 2 unnumbered pages, 76 pages : 30 cm

It was one of a series, from memory. The 'new housing' one came after a study of the area before it was cleared.

Here's the full document that you linked to:
archive.org/details/b322...

The previous one may only be in the local archives in Oldham.

There's a fantastic ministry of housing study about the slum clearances in St Mary's that preceded these houses and blocks. It was a flagship scheme in the 1960s.

Complete with milk float several storeys up. Love that little piece of history.

The body that represents the UK cycling industry has formally complained about the Panorama programme on "e-bikes". Good.

bicycleassociation.org.uk/news/press-r...

You don't have to pick one thing and say that's *the* problem. It's all of it. The size of vehicles. The fact that the bollards were being repaired, allowing the driver easy access to the street. A culture soaked in violence. Leaders who make excuses and laws protecting drivers who kill. Etc.

a screenshot of a google search resulting in 10 news headlines, each of which uses the passive voice to describe a driver who used a pickup truck to attack dozens of people in new orleans

a driver used a pickup truck as a weapon to attack dozens of people in new orleans this morning and the news reflexively uses the passive voice to avoid explaining this

This is the true purpose of the Christmas holidays. See you in a few hours; I'm going in!

A young boy on a bicycle waits at a stop light at an intersection in Delft. An older woman in a headscarf on a tricycle waits next to him.

Let’s be clear: cycling is the tool, not the goal.

By changing how we move, we can change how cities work; allowing everyone to use public space on their own terms, without feeling excluded. Whether they're an 8-year-old or an 80-year-old, we can make them feel welcome.

WATCH: vimeo.com/1029701639

You recreated the cover of Skunk Anansie's Post Orgasmic Chill, without the band?