Rockets

I think HappyMe5 is right that this is some sort of social media trend, knock-down ginger with a twist that kids kick the door rather than ring a doorbell.

Many of which led to those famous words: "A consultation is not a referendum". You don't have to spin your way out of a mess by saying that if you have majority support...

But that's where you are very wrong because the very council that cited poor PTAL scores as the reason there was so much car use in Dulwich then said that LTNs should only be put in areas with high PTAl scores. And then proceeded to put them in the very place they said would not be good for them, an area with poor PTAL scores. So the issue is not with distraction or trolling but one of rank hypocrisy from a council who have, since then, lied, misled and tried to manipulate the narrative. It's just some of us as smart enough to take a step back and say hang on a minute this is not right and a very dangerous precedent. Others seem happier to turn a blind eye and lap up the council Kool-Aid like George Galloway drinking milk from Rula Lenska's imaginary cup!

Data released by a council who are, ideologically, desperate to show their intervention is working, and which you admit yourself is incomplete (Underhill) is certainly indicating but not proving a positive impact - its a lesson in spin! At every juncture the council has lied and tried to mislead residents about the real impact of LTNs. The very existence of One Dulwich is because a lot of people were fed up with the claptrap the council was peddling to validate their LTNs.

Yes and unfortunately for them, the councillors and others in the cycling lobby we have long memories, took good notes and don't fall for the spin! #accountability

Sorry to go all Ben Kingsley on you from Sexy Beast but No...no,no,no,no,no,no,no...No.... The council's data collection of the "wider area" was so fundamentally flawed that it is laughable anyone takes it seriously..."that didn't include Underhill"...hmmmm why might that have been.....it didn't include a lot of the boundary roads soaking up the displacement. If I remember rightly the A205 was not monitored because "that was the responsibility of TFL". And the monitoring on Lordship Lane (near Melford) did not include any vehicle going under 10 after they moved the strips from near the entrance of Court Lane to adajcent to Melford...again why did they do that...? Interesting as well that their last update to their own dashboard showed marked increases in traffic above pre-Covid levels on many of the boundary roads. And a final reminder that the council initially only installed monitoring strips on roads INSIDE the LTNs rather than outside and only put them outside when they were forced to by public pressure. Again, why did they only want to monitor traffic levels INSIDE the LTNs.. No that was in 2022. Are you also suggesting TFL stating what they did that forced Will Norman to intervene was part of the anti-LTN lobby? They clearly stated delays were a direct consequence of the displacement from Dulwich LTNs, Southwark councillors took offence, made a load of TFL people cry and Will Norman was forced to wade in and try to keep the peace. There was actually from TFL not long after the measures went in and it was impacting Lordship Lane (in one direction if I remember rightly).

Dulwich College is not at all like the vast majority of private schools and they will see minimal impact from this. Many of DC's International boarders will likely not be impacted by this, DC is what the government want you to imagine every private school is like - schooling the offspring of world leaders and the super rich. The same cannot be said for smaller schools like Oakfield, Rosemead or Herne Hill and it is those that are most at risk from this policy and the parents there are not the super rich or the global leaders and elite.

It does appear that some sober realities are starting to have to be addressed around the active travel gold rush.

BBC News - Public outrage prompts Melbourne e-scooter ban https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3w68ywqv2go

Of course not because the blinkered view of the cycle lobby is that everything has to come after cyclists...everything...no matter what the impact. Defeaning silence on this one...

You do realise, don't you, that the same definition of private education applies within UK VAT legislation as well and the government are going to have a challenge to unpick it all. Interesting article here: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/business-tax/labours-private-school-fees-pledge-requires-lesson-in-vat One wonders why the Greek government had not thought about this challenge but this is the problem with ideological policies...the finer detail tends to get in the way of the dog whistling. As the Greek government found to their, and their education system's cost. A big difference between "evidence" and "modelling " and the report to which Malumbu refers is based on modelling (and roundly, and predictably, criticised by those against the measures) not evidence. There was "evidence" that state schools were being bombarded with requests for places from parents with children at private school but this was spun as private parents doing it deliberately whether they needed a place or not. We have to hope that is the case because if not then the state sector could be brought to its knees but I do think it is interesting schools in Beckenham are apparently being told to prepare to increase classes by two. Time will tell....

So would you then also then advocate the removal of many of the cycle lanes in London that were installed at the cost of bus lanes and bus passengers? And, as TFL has stated in relation to Croxted Road, conjestion and bus delays are being caused by displacement from the LTNs - I presume you aren't supportive of lobbying to have LTNs removed...of course not because in the blinkered world of pro-LTN lobbyists the prviate car is the sole reason for every problem there is......? Do you have a more recent council review of transport in the area that states anything other than PTAL scores are poor?

Of course I do because the left-wing Greek government was the only government that has tried to do something similar and it was an absolute disaster - again driven by a blinkered idealogical hatred of private schools. Perhaps you know of a country that did this and it was a rip-roaring success? As Starmer tries to cozy up to Europe again it will be interesting to see what the EU makes of this as they jumped on the Greeks very quickly when they tried this to tell them to stop. BTW interesting that other countries take a very different approach - I didn't realise that private schools in France are funded/part-funded by the state.

I repeat...the council themselves concluded.... The Dulwich area has a low level of public transport accessibility. Areas around the main stations only reach a PTAL 3 and The Village a PTAL 2 whilst the main commercial area around East Dulwich has a PTAL 3. Other parts of Dulwich, particularly those where schools are located have a level 2 of accessibility translating into a higher use of car and coach for pupils outside of Dulwich.... .....since they haven't done another Transport report since 2018 and since, if anything, the provision of public transport accessibility has declined since then it seems the conclusion the council came to holds true. Around the same time the council suggested that only areas with high PTAL scores would be suitable for LTNs....and then what did they do...put and LTN right in the middle of an area that they concluded that: "the area has a lower public transport accessibility level than the remainder of Southwark".... Kind of a bit daft dont you think?

Southwatk's own reports state otherwise and your cant rewrite published data and comments from Southwark themselves...According to the Southwark Council 2018 Transport report (https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/6887/Dulwich-TMS-SDG-Full-Report-Final-April-2018-.pdf) Southwark states categorically that: The Dulwich area has a low level of public transport accessibility. Areas around the main stations only reach a PTAL 3 and The Village a PTAL 2 whilst the main commercial area around East Dulwich has a PTAL 3. Other parts of Dulwich, particularly those where schools are located have a level 2 of accessibility translating into a higher use of car and coach for pupils outside of Dulwich. This is confirmed also by more general DfT accessibility statistics which show that, in general the area has a lower public transport accessibility level than the remainder of Southwark whilst by car it tends to be on par with the other parts of the borough or somewhat higher for hospitals, particularly due to the proximity of Dulwich Community Hospital.

That tends to come before a carpet bombing of new bikes in an area...

It would appear that Southwark think differently to you as they state that the PTAL scores are low/poor in Dulwich. And that is the measure of public transport accessibility used across the country so that seems to be a far better indication of the reality than your personal analysis. In fact, and it is worth mentioning, Southwark said that areas with low PTAL scores are not good for LTNs as there are so few alternative travel options.....

We will find out who is right at the beginning of the next calendar year. The Greeks also predicted it would not cause any problems and then, ooops, someone was left with egg on their face. Also remember that every child leaving private education to enter state not only impacts the revenue predicted from the application of VAT but also takes a place that was previously empty but being funded by the parents of said private pupil - thus costing more from the tax-payers purse in the form of a double-whammy. There is also lots of research that suggests a small shift will mean the government will be left with a big hole to fill. Let's see who is right...I know what my money is on as a lot of.privately educated children don't come from families rolling in cash (the reality is a long way from the spin put out by the government). Of course but maybe some also choose to use their hard earned money on something else...like, (ahem) for example, owning a second home in France.....they may, justfiably in some minds, also find themselves in the tax cross-hairs come October....;-)

Challenge is if you report this to your insurance company as a possible scam they log it as a potential claim on your account which impacts your premiums for three years.

Admin...probably a good time to do your thing now....;-)

Who needs their own views when articles like this sum things up so perfectly.. The Labour Party is being deliberately disingenuous over what it terms private schools, but which in realty are predominantly not-for-profit independent schools. For Labour, ‘private’ education is equated with advantaged people and their children, but the reality is vastly different. ...There is a major problem here. Labour does not like ‘private schools’ and one could argue that this is one of the party’s ideologically derived blind spots. Across the EU, educational services are exempt from VAT and this reflects a responsible and informed approach to the contribution educational services make to national economic stability and responsible and inclusive economic growth. Any nation that places taxes on the provision of educational services is a foolish nation and the same holds for any political party. For those on the left who respond to the dog whistle many don't actually take time to understand or learn about the potential consequences - that the very people that this is designed to protect may actually end-up being the ones negatively impacted the most by this blinkered ideological policy.

Yup, but that's not the issue. The issue is how much money the council has wasted spending on this junction since it was closed and why the council, and the ward councillors, refused to listen to the evidence from emergency services that their continued blocking of the junction was delaying response times. Which councillor kept advising to ignore that input? And, perhaps more importantly, why was that junction design more important than emergency vehicle response times? No one seems to be able to provide a rational explanation...why? Because there isn't one. Ideology was prioritised over emergency vehicle response times. What a sorry state of affairs and the person/s responsible should hang their head in shame. One day we will learn who it was.

Going to get worse now due to VAT on private school fees as schools like JAGs will be looking to cut costs - expect this sort of approach across the board now.

Bravo! Well said! And the council.were pleading poverty with every other word they uttered...go figure...might they have been, ahem, being a little economical with the truth...

Don't bite.....I give you the raptor truck...you're being played....