I never noticed this wonderful bit of London transport history captured in Mission Impossible. ‘DLR now open at weekends’ on the side of the bus.

Austria win the Eurovision song contest - with 178 public votes, to add to their 258 jury votes

Israel easily won the public phone vote - with 297 votes, to add to their 60 from the juries (15th)

In 2024, Israel also top with 323 public votes + 52 from juries

Bara Brith I have a particular fondness for Bara Brith, the traditional Welsh fruit-speckled tea bread. My late sister Thomasina lived and worked in Wales, and my first taste of it came courtesy of her next door...

I feel the weekend calls for slices of Bara Brith, the traditional Welsh fruit-speckled tea bread, spread so thickly with butter you leave tooth marks when you bite into a slice. (The Danes call this happy state of affairs tandsmør, incidentally.) www.nigella.com/recipes/bara...

This is why I don’t buy much from Amazon any more…

Diesel leak in Croydon pollutes river Wandle in Mitcham area The river Wandle in south-west London is hit by a diesel spill leaving wildlife covered in oil.

I’m aware of the oil spill into the River Wandle in Croydon. I’m requesting urgent action and regular updates from the Environment Agency.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Russia supported sabotage spree in Germany to roil election campaign, report says A wave of car vandalism, initially blamed on climate activists, is now being linked to Moscow.

German investigators allege Russia hired petty criminals to pose as climate activists and vandalize hundreds of cars across Germany in an effort to spark a backlash and turn voters against the Green Party ahead of the upcoming federal election

After Judicial Ruling, M.T.A. Says Congestion Pricing to Begin on Sunday The decision in a lawsuit brought by the State of New Jersey meant that the tolling plan could go ahead as planned, New York said. A lawyer for New Jersey disagreed.

After a ruling in a New Jersey case, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it would proceed with implementing New York City’s congestion pricing program on Jan. 5.

Mail front page: PM'S 'REWARD FOR FAILURE' AS SADIQ KHAN IS KNIGHTED

sports quiz of the year - Howto de-age your brain w The Daily Eelegraphy INSIDE Swing into action Ten biopics that monkeyed around ArtH The Secret Prisoner Life inside is turning me into a criminal Features Save your skin How to fix 'wine face', 'sugar face' and 'cheese face' Features PM knights Southgate wins a title Khan in 'reward for failure'

this kind of obviously biased headline is so frustrating when MSM is fighting for credibility

1) New Year’s Honours list is nominated by public not by political leaders

2) Khan has won three elections so the average Londoner clearly doesn’t think he’s a failure

The image is an announcement regarding Greater Manchester's new transport system pricing, starting March 2025. The background is bright yellow, with bold black text and a structured table. At the top, the text reads, "From March 2025," marking the start of the system. Below, a paragraph describes a shift towards a London-style transport model with contactless payments. A table outlines the maximum daily and weekly prices for different combinations of bus and tram ticket zones. The pricing details are organised in columns under "Day" and "Week." Logos for Bee Network, Transport for Greater Manchester, and the Mayor of Greater Manchester are placed at the bottom of the image.

The image is a promotional graphic presenting ticket prices for the Bee Network, effective from 5 January 2025. The background is bright yellow, and the main text at the top reads, "It’s cheaper to travel with the Bee Network" in bold black lettering. Below this, there is a table listing ticket options and prices. The table has two columns for ticket types: "Adult price" and "Child price," along with rows for different ticket categories such as Hopper, 1-day Bee Bus, 7-day Bee Bus, 28-day Bee Bus, and Bee Bus annual. The prices are listed in pounds. At the bottom, logos and text for "Bee Network," "Transport for Greater Manchester," and "Mayor of Greater Manchester" are displayed.

The image shows two bright yellow double-decker buses parked next to each other, with a narrow asphalt lane between them. Both buses have large, bold black text on their sides that reads "BEE NETWORK," accompanied by a logo of a bee within a hexagonal shape. The buses are lined up in a spacious, open garage area with a large industrial building in the background under a cloudy sky. The buses have tinted windows and sleek, modern designs. Photo by TfGM

The image displays a row of yellow double-decker buses parked side by side. Each bus is predominantly yellow with large front windshields and tinted upper-deck windows. The buses have the letters "AD" on the front. On the lower front corner of each bus, blue and white icons denote wheelchair accessibility, priority seating, and a stroller or pram-friendly feature. The buses are parked on a paved surface, with a fence and industrial buildings visible in the background. Photo by TfGM

Greater Manchester launches cheaper, simpler bus fares on 5 January 2025, with single fares at £2 for adults and £1 for children. New Bee Bus Annual tickets offer unlimited travel for £2.20/day, with over 250 routes joining the Bee Network.
news.tfgm.com/press-releas...

I don’t think you would need to change to get to Curzon St, there would be direct service from Manc; it’s more the time it takes to interchange between Curzon St and New St that’s the issue

Oh good about, I hadn’t seen that!

I also loved Citizen Sleeper

Thirded!

(PDF) “Will you fuck off please”. The use of please by London teenagers PDF | The paper investigates how the politeness marker please is used by young people to distinguish themselves from adults and create an identity of... | Find, read and cite all the research you need...

Reminded me of this paper from 2015, which has one of my favourite titles. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

NEW RECORD: 2024 is the first year in history when wind, solar and hydropower generated more electricity than fossil fuels in the UK.

"SUNDAY TIMES TABLES": "LABOUR set to build fewer houses than the Tories," warned a Sunday Times headline on 17 November. To evidence this claim, the article explained: "The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is projecting that 1.3 million homes will be built across the UK over the course of the current parliament - fewer than the 1.6 million built since 2010 under the Conservatives." Or, in other words, according to the figures cited by the Sunday Times - one of which relates to just five years while the other to 14 years - Labour are projected to build 145,714 more homes a year than the Tories did!

Dire stuff from the Sunday Times. It would be funny, if the paper didn't have the influence it does. Via Private Eye

The environmental assessment for the 4-mile (6.5-kilometer) extension of Line 11 was just 19 pages long. It covered a few requirements related to cultural heritage, air quality, waste removal, and environmental surveillance that were easily met. Contrast this with the 3.3-mile (5.3-kilometer) Portishead branch line reopening in the South West of England, which had a 17,912-page-long environmental statement. On a per-mile-of-new-track basis, Portishead's was 1,142 times longer than Madrid's. While the costs of Madrid's environmental monitoring plan were assessed and controlled, in Britain environmental mitigations can run into the hundreds of millions. As part of building the high-speed railway HS2, the British built a kilometer-long tunnel to protect bats, at a cost of more than £100m, despite there being no evidence that bats were at risk from the trains.

Great long read on how Madrid expanded its Metro for a tenth of the cost London managed. Part of the explanation is reduced environmental reporting requirements. A UK rail scheme had over 1,100 pages of environmental reporting for every one page in Madrid. worksinprogress.co/issue/how-ma...

Cannot be reposted enough. Drivers of overpriced railways in english speaking countries. Including expensive routes to placate nimbys, overengineering, consultants, absence of pipeline. Congratualtions to the authors. stateofcitiessummit.ca/files/041224...

Securing a platform feels like an insurmountable hurdle for most stations. Is it worth checking out places where efficient on-the-move security and border checks are done? Or is that an oxymoron

More smart design: recall loving this poster for #London #Underground in the #1970s. But was it secretly foretelling a future Theresa May looky-likely? I think we should be told! @ltmuseumfriends.bsky.social

That makes more sense; I reckon you still need a lot of buffering to be able to match the gen to the demand so a fair amount of battery storage but seems theoretically possible!

my sister: why do you delete so many posts

me: sometimes you don't know something's really stupid until you send it out into the world

my mother: *staring at me just a beat too long*

I'm more impressed with TfL's rapid chargers (450kWh), I think these in conjunction with BEVs are the way to go.

However, getting the infrastructure right is still challenging, as many operators have found out.

Bluesky will be launching a subscription service by the end of the year. There are no details yet on how many tiers. Premium tiers will likely include higher-resolution pics, more/longer video uploads, and profile/page customization aesthetics. Longer term, there's a monetization plan for creators.

Exclusive: Biggest overhaul of local government in over 50 years
- Dozens of councils abolished to make more "efficient" large authorities with populations of 500k+
- First wave of restructuring includes Essex, Kent, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk

A map of England showing proposals for new local government.

With local government reorganisation on the agenda, Centre for Cities have published their proposal:
- Mets and Combined Authorities for cities
- Single-tier unitaries elsewhere, based on the places people live and work being mostly in the same authority
- All district councils scrapped.

Chart showing energy prices in London dropping to near zero in the evening

Finally, the wind is back and I can stop trying to work out if it’s worth charging the battery at 18p/kWh to avoid paying 21p #octopusagile

For these rapid charges at the termini it seems like a big ask - each bus needing, say, 10-20kWh each time - if that’s happening every 10 mins then you need 60-120kW which is 15x what’s on my roof in the height of summer. More realistic to store the power and use it offset at expensive grid times

I like the trains it just feels like it’s trying a bit too hard. I don’t mind it on the livery, it’s the announcements