Nick Lester-Davis

A sensible manifesto for main roads in cities

Dawn over a very frosty Loch Ard

Minus 6 on a very clear dawn on Loch Ard.

Loch Ard under the grey skies typical of the last month

We’ve now had a month of leaden skies, a bitter east wind and not much rain. There seems to be little prospect of this changing in the next fortnight. Is this some form of (dismal) record @metoffice.gov.uk ?

I see the Highland Sleeper has been running to Fort William and Aberdeen on alternate days since the new year, although this is not advertised. Does anyone @seatsixtyone.bsky.social know when it will revert to the advertised timetable?

Similarly, many Teslas I see have been debadged

Reminds me of the Khyber Pass in the old Met/circle line station at King’s Cross

In theory, road schemes have to demonstrate value for money, but the Treasury accepts all sorts of dodgy claims of benefits while reducing rail benefits because of a claimed 'optimism bias'

Congratulations, John. Hope you have every success

But, if you are a car owner, average costs become more important than margainal costs if you get the point of giving up ownership. Reducing car ownership is good news

I just paid a similar amount for a return to Leeds from Stirling - first class.

But he has surrounded himself with too many people who wouldn’t now have a future in politics.

I strongly suspect that, in reality, the ‘standards’ will be set by the adjudicators, irrespective of any local views.

The rules are normally that (a) the width of the white lines is within the bay; and (b) to get a PCN in these cases you have to have at least one wheel wholly outside the bay.

It will be almost impossible to enforce as any motorist getting a PCN will go straight to the adjudicator and argue that their parking was ‘necessary’. At best the adjudicators will decide what is acceptable. At worst nothing will change from today.

Local authorities are in part to blame as many opposed a national ban because of the work involved in identifying exemptions. Instead they opted for an unworkable civil contravention of ‘unnecessary obstruction’.

Even if there had been a national ban, there would have been local discretion to allow pavement parking in places. However the presumption would have been that it was banned. DfT have made the presumption that pavement parking is allowed.

Over 60 years, assuming nobody changes their journeys during that time

Yes it should be. But it is debatable whether travelling by train should be both cheaper than other modes and infinitely flexible at the same time. In an ideal world possibly, but then the taxpayer costs would be very high.

But you wouldn't say this if you had to travel anywhere by plane (or even by Eurostar). At least trains do offer flexible ticket options - and it would have cost Carla one £22 extra.

But why does any one expect shopkeepers to be expert transport planners?

About 50 years ago, I caught 37 bus from Herne Hill to Clapham Junction, a train to Feltham and a bus to Heathrow Airport - on Christmas Day

She confuses a right of free speech with a right to be heard

When we were installing the first red route, more than 30 years ago, a seller of antique marble fireplaces objected strongly on the basis of losing passing trade.

Yes, higher frequencies are attractive and will encourage more use. But you are capacity limited to one train load of passengers without any way of increasing it. With two trains an hour you can add an extra.

It’s amazing that so many people think that basic laws of economics - such as demand and supply - don’t apply to motoring.

Time to give up your driving licence permanently

Yes they are. But they are very low capacity and expensive in that context. So good in some specific circumstances but no silver bullet

The supplementary should be: when the minister says ‘soon’ does she mean any sooner than when she said ‘soon’ six months ago?

I see that Kemi Badenoch would scrap the 2030 ban on the sale of new fossil fuelled cars - demonstrating, once again, the Tories’ mistaken belief that there are millions of car brained voters who will allow freedom to drive as you like to determine their votes.

Nor is there any evidence that offering free parking boosts local economies