Ed Douglas

Spinning your wheels Sir, R.L. Vickers ("Freight of history", Letters, Eye 1654) asserts that "public transport eats taxes, private transport provides tax revenues.” In fact, the hidden costs of motoring's many downsides far outweigh the tax receipts. These socialised costs - gridlock, air and noise pollution, emergency services costs, road damage, public health impacts from sedentary lifestyles and deaths from road crashes - are met only partially by motorists. Motoring taxation raises about £40bn per year, while a recent report from the Royal College of Physicians estimates that the annual cost of air pollution alone is as much as £50bn. If drivers had to pay the full and true costs of motoring the only people who could afford to drive would be multi-millionaires. CARLTON REID, Motoring journalist and author of "Roads Were Not Built for Cars", Newcastle on Tyne.

“If drivers had to pay the full and true costs of motoring the only people who could afford to drive would be multi-millionaires.”

My letter about the hidden costs of motoring is in the latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/davi...

For those who think building regs are put there to annoy developers and limit the economy...

🛑 Stop grouse shooting

📣 Join our walk to protest against this cruel and environmentally destructive practice.

🗓 10.30am on Sunday 10th August

📍Redmires Reservoir Car Park

🥾 Hike ~3km easygoing trail to a meeting point where we will gather for speeches and music

Absolutely. And it also likes the import taxes. Cleaner air is a great prize though and will save the govt money!

The Country Where 76% of Cars Sold Are Electric

A fuller analysis of how Nepal became one of the leaders in the EV switch. Yet not a word about putting bike lanes into a city that was almost made for them and where cycling is much faster than a taxi. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/b...

Nepal shifts gears as EVs hit 73 percent of 4-wheeler imports China dominates Nepali EV market as the hydropower-rich country struggles to align energy policies.

Nepal's EV sales are booming, but so are diesel imports. Make your minds up guys. kathmandupost.com/money/2025/0...

The cynic in me anticipates the Russian announcement of a meeting, probs in Turkey, probs for about three weeks' time, that will achieve nothing much.

A list with the following text: Climate crisis Everything's underwater and/or on fire but people are still sexy. And sometimes they're in space Nature cure I was depressed and unwell but felt better after a walk/ wild swim/ sexual awakening in a duckpond Folk Horror We came here to forget 'the accident', but ended up haunted by clunky metaphors and 1970s fashions Polyphonic social faux-pas Everyone in the tight-knit community is having an interior monologue about that terrible thing you did Re-written classic Previously minor character finally gets to tell the (handily out of copyright) story from their POV

After extensive research into the current book market, I’ve identified five potentially award-winning concepts for my next project. But which one should I go with?

NEW: Landmark decision on UK's failure to investigate Russian interference to be handed down tomorrow.

A five-year legal battle in UK and European courts comes to a head: will we finally - learn the truth about the Kremlin & the Brexit vote?

Sort of a Dune vibe, all that drone footage etc. I hope they'll get to interbreeding with other human species. Denisovan DNA helping Tibetans breathe and boosting immunity to Papuan pathogens.

Am watching Human on the BBC. 5 stars in the Guardian etc. Ella Al-Shamahi is good but it seems a bit creaky. Was sapiens really the first human to reach Sahul? What about all that Denisovan DNA? And let's hear it for Homo erectus. They lasted 2m years. More than we'll manage.

Nepal faces a double whammy—dry spell in Tarai, floods in mountains and hills The country is reeling from an extreme climate crisis, as hundreds of farmers in the Tarai are unable to plant paddy.

Two faces of climate change. The glacial lake outburst flood that devastated Nepal's one properly functioning trade link with China. And the lack of monsoon rain meaning farmers can't plant rice. kathmandupost.com/climate-envi...

Perfectly normal. Not at all alarming.

Tsering Döndrup’s defiant reckoning with Tibet’s legacy of violence I FIRST MET Tsering Döndrup at his home in Xining – the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau, located in Qinghai province in western China. This was in early 201

The uncompromising writer’s English translator Christopher Peacock reflects on how Tsering Döndrup’s banned ‘The Red Wind Howls’ reckons with China’s erasure of Tibet’s suffering while reclaiming Tibetans’ right to critique their own culture and history.

Wasting an opportunity like this to boost walking, wheeling and cycling (and the local economy), while announcing massive subsidies for electric cars?

Priorities 🤷‍♀️

God, I wish I were looking at this.

Two men behind ‘senseless’ felling of Sycamore Gap tree jailed for more than four years Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, sentenced for act of criminal damage that sparked widespread sadness and anger

Daft, and counter-productive. Reminds me of the Dylan lyrics. 'Steal a little and they throw you in jail, Steal a lot and they make you king.' www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I'd never been to Lord's until yesterday. Good day to break my duck. I even got to see Joe Root bat. The best bit was chatting with the India (and Indian) fans. One lad was a big England fan (because of Root, partly), his dad said, what can you do. Made me think how ridiculous Norman Tebbit was.

I can't answer that, but I just googled 'snail' and 'vibrate' and got more than I bargained for.

Country diary: As I cycle along, it feels as if each yellowhammer is handing me on to the next | Ed Douglas Kelso, Roxburghshire: It’s rare I hear this delightful bunting at home, but here in the Borders their numbers suggest farmers are doing the right things

Scribble larks ahoy. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Perhaps some wishful thinking in this, but the choreography has certainly changed, and that’s no accident.

Quite funny watching The Guardian ignore The Observer’s scoop on Raynor Winn’s backstory.

Excellent explanation from Kate Saunders of @savetibet.bsky.social on BBC R4 PM just now on the Dalai Lama’s statement today.

Great piece, thanks.

I’m doing a major Conference Call with Faith Leaders from all over the Country, and AT&T is totally unable to make their equipment work properly. This is the second time it’s happened. If the Boss of AT&T, whoever that may be, could get involved — It would be good. There are tens of thousands of people on the line!

congrats on the election, America

China's Clean Energy Boom Could Win the Race to Power the Future Beijing is selling clean energy to the world, Washington is pushing oil and gas. Both are driven by national security.

Trump is betting America’s future on selling hydrocarbons to the world. Big mistake. He’s handed the future to China. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Britain in 2025: sick man of Europe battling untreated illness crisis As poverty deepens across Britain, the Guardian visited some of the hardest-hit places where leaders are aiming to shift healthcare from hospitals to communities

Terrific journalism and insight into why this country is so unhealthy. Britain in 2025: sick man of Europe battling untreated illness crisis www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

😂😂😂😂

New isotherm 0°C record for June!

The radiosonde sent from Payerne today measured 5124.6 m, well ahead of the previous record (4912 m).

5th highest value of all seasons combined...

Up to... tomorrow! 🙃😰

Source @meteosuisse.ch