Boris' Bike flop?

Total of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 236

That's exactly twice the total killed in the Charge of the Light Brigade

Mayor Boris has added to London pollution with his failure to strengthen the successful congestion charge scheme. He sold his soul to the petrol heads to get elected. He has been writhing since denying the obvious need to extend the congestion charge and to jack up the level of charges. The  welcome reduction in traffic that followed the original introduction has since disappeared.
   Congestion has returned to its original level.

This conclusion is based on subjective research over the years from my flat to the Commons four miles distant. By bus or car, journey times are back to their previous worst. Creditably Boris is introducing a borrow a bike scheme. Transport for London (TfL) began applying for planning permission for the 400 docking stations, where people will be able to pick up and drop off bikes around central London.

The docking stations will be built around 300m apart so that potential cyclists are never too far from being able to borrow and lock-up hired bikes. I have seen similar schemes in Barcelona and Paris. Neither seem to be working well. I took this picture in Paris this morning in Rue des Capucines, Not a single bike was in use.

Bon chance, Boris.

Faith in miracles

It's tricky decision. To be in London to ask Gordon Brown a question on his woeful Afghan Statement or be in Paris to cross -question the head of NATO. I have opted to speak at the Western European Union's meeting to many MPs from France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Parliament has heard my views many times.  

Talking to MPs from other countries in likely to be more beneficial. They are less inclined to believe in miracles.

Bad language

PASC has come up with a new idea to pressurised officials into using simple English.

It emerged that Tessa Jowell, the minister for the Cabinet office, kept a "little book of b*****ks" in which she noted down government jargon and 'gobbledegook'. It's probably the first time that bit of bad language has been used in a Select Committee report.

PASC suggested people should be able to complain about cases of confusing or misleading language as they would for other types of poor administration, and if government and public sector bodies do not respond, the complaints should be taken to an ombudsman.

BBC Wales kindly gave me the chance to give a few examples tonight. Pat McFadden once told our committee, 'Government planned a one-stop shop for anyone who had experienced a ‘citizen’s episode.’ These are births, marriages and deaths.

Minister James Purnell refers to someone having suffered ‘An employment cessation event.’ However you wrap it up it’s still the sack. In 2001 the Government introduced legislation designed  “to enable provision to be made for the purpose of reforming legislation which has the effect of imposing burdens affecting persons in the carrying on of any activity and to enable codes of practice to be made with respect to the enforcement of restrictions, requirements or conditions.”

The problem with the legislation that it was so infested with the jargon of regulation that it was virtually incomprehensible to anyone but the parliamentary draughtsmen who wrote it, (perhaps not even to them) and in 2006 the Act was repealed by the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act.

Liam Byrne has invented his own language, including urging everyone to 'raise their horizons'. If someone is travelling at high speed, horizons can advance or recede. If the horizon is rising, it means there's a tsunami on the way. It's time to make for the hills. But I don't think that is what Liam means.

Comments

[HuwOS]

What have London affairs to do with someone who spends a lot of his time working in London.
Hmmmm tricky one that.

[Dave]

What has London affairs got to do with a bigotted Anglophobe such as Flynn. Leave English Affairs to the English, if you want Welsh affairs left to the Welsh. Such hypocrisy.

[Bob Robinson]

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/432324/paris-bike-hire-scheme-hit-by-theft-and-vandalism.html

Regarding the French cycle hire scheme. Might I suugest you browse the above article.

[Paul Flynn]

The reason that I compare Helmand with the charge of the Light Brigade, Huw, is that I forecast this disaster in March 2006. John Reid said Helmand would last three years without a shot being being fired. I said it would be,
'Bush to the left of them, Blair to the right of them, hollered and thundered. Their's not to reason why, their's but to do and die. Into the Valley of the shadow of death, into the mouth of Helmand drove the 5,000.'

That was our last surge of troops. It resulted in a surge of deaths from 7 to 236.

[Huw]

The charge of the light brigade involved 600-700 men who in a single action against an overwhelming number of the enemy (over 5000 men) and the brigade lost 118 men in one day.
The numbers of British soldiers dead in Afghanistan is as you say twice that number, but that is over 4 years with what? about 9000 serving in Helmand at any one time, they are simply not comparable events.
While every life is precious and every family who loses a member is devastated, the rate of loss of life of British soldiers on duty in Afghanistan is less than those of British young men at home in Britain committing suicide and vastly less than the numbers of deaths due to road traffic accidents (646 pedestrian deaths in 2007 for example)

On the other side of course, Afhgans

“In the first 10 months of 2009, UNAMA recorded 2,021 civilian deaths, compared with 1,838 for the same period in 2008, and 1,275 in 2007"

Everybodies life is important to someone, and we can stop the deaths of British soldiers by leaving Afghanistan but the trouble you have Paul, is that the numbers are not significant enough for British people to actually care unless they were close to one of those who lost their life or someone who is permanently and horrifically injured or maimed, the Afghan numbers are enough, if only they weren't foreigners and alien to us.
Of course it's all really their fault, we've only been trying to help them all this time.
They are extremists and/or corrupt, we are noble, selfless and caring.

You hope that British lives lost will waken the country, it won't work, the losses are not bad enough; even if it did, against the price the Afghan's have paid for our adventuring it would be remarkably self absorbed of us as a country to find the small loss of lives on our side horrific compared to the massive loss of life for men women and children whose only crime was to have the misfortune of being "helped" by us.
Maybe, if you could focus a little more on the lives of the innocents we have helped to destroy.
If that would wake us out of our self satisfied complacency we might discover that perhaps there is still some spark of honour and decency burning somewhere deep, very very deep, within this nation's heart.

[Kay Tie]

The bike scheme is worth a try, since it might fit with the British psyche. Who knows? If it fails then at least we'll know not to bother in any other city.