Rockets

It's rank hypocrisy. Punish those who want to better their children's education whilst you do exactly what you are attacking....very left wing of him! The problem is those who send their children to private school already pay taxes that contribute towards state education - places in state schools that they do not take, so they are already doing their bit! Now with the removal of business rates relief there is going to be a lot mroe pressure on smaller private schools. This is a policy born out of Labour's hatred of private schools - like Greece it is ideological left-wing "socialism". Stuff it to those who want to strive to do the best for their family. Get used to it folks because they're coming for anyone who works hard and dares do something they don't, ideologically, agree with. All of those additional local taxes for those who have gardens or cars in Southwark is just the tip of the iceberg...watch for similar policies to be rolled out at national level. One wonders who they will upset next in October.

Errrmmm, check out the name of the poster someone is playing with you......is it LTNBooHoo or Mr Chicken back again...;-)

My money is on shenanigans.....someone will have promised something to someone and there would have been some quid pro quo involved.... One day we will find out...after all for the council to ignore the pleads of the emergency services for so long and continually delay response times the strategic reasons for keeping that junction as was must have been huge.

Could it be, per chance, because they had to as the other options to do their journey did not work for them? Throw in a lack of East/West routes across Dulwich, a smattering of awful PTAL scores and it doesn't take a genius to work out why...... Congestion is indeed caused by traffic but, in 2017, increased congestion at that junction was caused by the council's attempts to make it less congested. A bit like the displacement from the LTNs...caused solely by the council's actions. In years to come someone will expose why Southwark councillors spent so much money on that junction and why. Remember this current round of works was submitted as an £8m project that was laughed out of the room. One has to question whether Southwark councillors and the council are up to the job.

Yes they put in a special anti-forestalling clause to prevent people pre-paying that came into force yesterday. Friends of ours live in Beckenham and the local state schools are preparing to increase class sizes by, initially, two to accommodate those potentially leaving the private sector.

I had presumed it was because we had not locked it properly but they seem to have worked out that if you knock the handle down a treasure trove of goodies awaits...it seems from the mess on surrounding streets that word is spreading amongst the fox community!

Anyone else got a problem with super smart foxes who have worked out how to get into the brown caddy bins (even when locked) and rummage through, and scatter, the food waste?

Wow...the government have just announced they will apply it from Jan 1st, which just about everyone thought would not happen due to the disruption caused by doing it midway through an academic year.

But the increased congestion at that junction (and associated increased pollution) occurred after the council made their alterations. The uptick was part of the council's report into the alterations - they basically admitted they had made the problem worse (at great expense to the tax payer). It was an awful junction and is much better now but no-one has yet managed to explain why the council keeps throwing millions of tax-payer's money at it and why they are so obsessed with that junction when they overlook far more dangerous and pressing needs like the junction of Lordship Lane and East Dulwich Grove. All they have done is moved the problem on from there to other areas - the very best example of displacement actions in play.

It was downright hypocrisy and that is what the Economist journalist is highlighting with his comment about the gap between real life and ideology. He is setting up for his punchline about Mr Tsipras and it is a bit of a stretch to suggest the Economist is racist and akin to The Daily Mail in it's coverage! The journalist makes a very salient point about the gap between ideology and real life and this is what the Labour party are finding now on this policy. It's all well and good dog-whistling to the left by creating the impression that anyone who goes to private school is akin to a Bullingdon Club toff and lean-in on the Class War/Eat The Rich narrative. But real life is very different, despite what the likes of our own Cllr McAsh (an advocate to abolish private schools completely) thinks: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/labour-party-conference-abolish-eton-private-schools-boris-johnson-a9113156.html Granted, there are schools with very, very rich pupils but also many schools that are filled full of the children of "working people" who only want the best for their children (it is interesting, ahem, to note how some of the most left-leaning Labour MPs have seemingly also wanted for their children) - and it is the smaller schools that will be impacted by this. For every Dulwich College, Alleyn's and JAG's there are a host of much smaller Rosemead's, Oakfield's and Herne Hill's - where the margins are much smaller and the parents very much "working people". The Greece example shows just how difficult this is to do and how sometimes pragmatism needs to rule over ideology because very often decisions driven by ideology don't work out well at all. Even Emily Thornberry, in the run-up to the election, acknowledged this could lead to an increase in class sizes in state schools.

I believe this phase of the works is costing £1.5m and the running total of spend at that junction since the very initial OHS alterations that made congestion and pollution worse, now upwards of £5m.

The video, and the "cars kills more people than cycles" lobbyists overlook one key, but very important, point: KSIs from motor vehicles have been declining over the last 10 years KSIs from cycles have been increasing over the last 10 years As groups like TFL try to force cycles and pedestrians to co-habit spaces (like floating bus stops) then this trend will continue and the "yeah but, look what's happening over there and we're not as bad as them" approach is doing the cycle lobby no good whatsoever. I do think it is interesting that there are growing calls to better record and track injuries caused by bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters. This article from Bristol on the issue with e-scooters was very interesting: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8865env3q3o

With quality content like that you can see why Warner Bros shut down a lot of Global Cycling News (GCN) content channels...honestly it's like watching an episode of the Day Today (without the irony!) I really felt Chris Morris was going to appear on-screen with some pithy comment about cycle-clips....he would have had a field-day with "motonormativity". I presume there must also be such a thing as "cyclonormativity" - that might explain the rapid increase in bad, inconsiderate cycling. March46 - posting this stuff really does nothing to further your cause.

It does create a major choke-point especially is they have customers eyeing up the kumquats!

Not sure where you are getting your info from but below is the Economist article from 2015 that highlights what actually happened in Greece - the similarities with the UK are clear. As the article I linked to in a previous post highlights - it is going to be very difficult for the government to be VAT prejudicial against private schools without dragging a whole load of other VAT-exempt private education establishments (nurseries, academies, sports clubs, universities, SEND schools, Faith schools etc) into the mess. VAT law is incredibly complicated and nuanced...as the Tories found out to their cost during the pasty-tax saga! Additionally, Starmer got himself into a bit of a pickle ahead of the election by declaring that anyone with an ECHP at private school would be exempt from the VAT. But the ECHP system is cumbersome, incredibly slow and massively flawed and a large percentage of children who have SEND issues at private schools (and are often funded by local authorities because they cannot be taught in the state system) do not have ECHPs. And there are more challenges and complications ahead... https://inews.co.uk/news/education/nine-reasons-taxing-private-school-fees-not-straightforward-3158472 Unfortunately soundbites, ideology and left-wing dog whistles won't unravel the potential mess this could create.....as the Greeks found to their cost...read below... https://www.economist.com/europe/2015/10/30/greece-reconsiders-a-tax-on-private-education BEFORE Greece’s snap elections in September, the outgoing left-wing government laid out plans for a value-added tax of 23% on private education. The measure, dreamed up by the governing Syriza party as an alternative to raising tax on beef, featured in their manifesto as a blow against plutocracy. It looked like a double win that would simultaneously please creditors and demonstrate the government’s commitment to helping the underprivileged. Unsurprisingly, it did neither. Some of the country’s reasonably priced private schools were forced to close, leaving staff jobless. Elsewhere, fees rose. Those affected were not just rich families. Greece has more than 300 full-time private schools, attended by about 6% of school-age children, many of whom come from middle- and lower-income families. With tuition fees as low as €2,500 ($2,750) a year, some operate in working-class areas and attract parents who are keen to give their children a leg up. Those whose parents were unable to pay higher fees moved into the already overwhelmed state system. At the beginning of term in September, Greek schools were short of some 12,000 teachers, according to the ministry of education. Some predict the shortfall will soon exceed 20,000. The tax was imposed on almost all types of private educational establishments, including language and music schools and technical colleges. It even applies to evening schools, which are a huge social phenomenon in Greece and an integral part of the education system. Full-time private education is a minority choice, but for hundreds of thousands of Greeks, evening schools (known by the ancient Greek name of frontisterion) have served as an indispensable supplement to state schooling. For low-paid teachers in the state sector, these schools are a way to boost their monthly income, and for countless pupils they have served as a vital gateway for university entrance exams. The country’s 9,000 language and evening schools employ more than 80,000 teaching and administrative staff. In the new climate, “lay-offs are inevitable, but so is tax avoidance,” says Christos Georgousopoulos, owner of Diakrotima, an evening school in the town of Lamia. Charging lower prices under the table, or employing uninsured staff may become more widespread. The general mayhem caused by the tax is forcing the government to reconsider. Indeed, Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, had already thought better of the move before the recent election and promised to reverse it. But that has proved difficult: the deadline for the government to find an alternative revenue-raising measure passed on October 23rd, putting the 23% VAT rate into automatic effect. A new deadline has been set for November. The government is reported to be scrapping the idea of taxing private tuition and imposing higher road taxes instead. As in so many areas of Greek life, the dispute has highlighted a gap between theory and practice. There is a strong ideological antipathy in Greece to the idea of education as a profitable enterprise. In deference to that ideology, state universities, which account for most higher education, offer free tuition. Private campuses exist, but the degrees they offer are not recognised by the state. But a gap between ideology and real life is something with which many Greeks seem to live quite contentedly. Take Mr Tsipras: despite his professed admiration for state provision, he has enrolled his son in a well-known Athenian private school.

But what age groups though? The pupil shortage is affecting the primary sector - all of the schools closing locally are primary and, in fact, a Southwark report on the issue cites a significant fall in birth rates between 2010 and 2020 as one of the main causes of the problem (see paras 14 to 21 in the attached): https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/s114684/Report Mitigating falling pupil numbers in schools.pdf There are a very limited secondary school places - it is one of the reasons Charter East was built. And it will take at least 5-10 years for the fall in primary pupils to have a big impact on secondary. This is an utterly misguided policy that has a very high chance of backfiring spectacularly and making some private schools even more elitist (Dulwich College had aspirations to have 50% of their pupils from state on bursaries but one wonders whether they can pursue this now and we know people with children at some of the most elitist private schools in the country who have pre-paid for their children's education and thus will avoid the VAT), closing down of many the smaller private schools, putting an increased burden on the tax-payer and ultimately impacting everyone's education negatively. Never mind the impact on nursery provision, vocational and college, academy or university courses or schools that are focussed on faith, disabilities or SEND - all of which are currently VAT free but are considered "private education". Ask the Greeks how it went for them - the left-wing dog whistle they blew backfired spectacularly and it was the very people they were trying to help who took the brunt of the fallout as the state system was over-run. Within two years it was reversed. Here's another article that cuts through some of the noise and lays out how complex this is going to be for the government and what a minefield it is for them: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/business-tax/labours-private-school-fees-pledge-requires-lesson-in-vat

Which is why march46 should never have posted that info in this thread, but they were clearly trying to suggest that the accident was caused by dangerous driving. This is a dangerous precedent to set especially if the police/persons involved are appealing for witnesses but a tactic straight from the DulwichRoads playbook where they try to project that any motorised vehicle accident is caused by speeding/dangerous driving or a combination of both. Clearly issues of potential sub judice do not apply if you are a pro-active travel lobbyist with an X account!

Clearly it's not but you may be onto something about the smugly bit! It's about trying to get cyclists to obey the rules and be respectful of other roads users, especially pedestrians (who are the most vulnerable road users and are afforded protection as such in the Highway Code - which many cyclists seem not to be aware of or ignore). The problem of bad cycling is growing, and at a far greater rate than any cycling growth. The 33% increase in pedestrians being hit by cyclists since 2020 is a very telling stat - one that many on the pro-cycle lobby seem keen to ignore. What it is actually trying to do is to get people like you (and March46) in the cycle lobby to acknowledge there is a problem and work with people to help resolve it instead of having you bury your heads in the ideological sand and try to convince people there is not a problem. The pro-cycle lobby can deflect and derail as much as they like (they seem to be trapped in this narcissistic headspace that only cyclists matter) but the problem is not going away and I suspect the only resolution is for draconian measures to be brought upon all cyclists to ensure compliance. Interestingly Peter Walker has another, ahem, "exclusive" (how does he do it!) where the cycle lobby calls for an end to the culture war on cyclists, whilst lobbying for more cycle infrastructure and investment: https://amp.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/jul/21/cycling-campaigners-call-for-end-to-culture-war-on-active-travel What's really interesting is that, whilst calling for 10% of all transport spend to be invested in active travel and at the same time lobbying for more cycle infrastructure, the head of Cycling UK calls for any debate on the issue to be "evidence based". This seems like a very risky strategy for the cycle lobby as clearly the investment in cycle infrastructure (which has come at a massive detrimental cost to public transport and pedestrians) has not delivered what was promised and any proper independent evidence-based analysis would likely say cycling is not delivering and that the priority needs to be focussed on buses and pedestrians (especially in cities like London that have pretty much ground to a halt due to the over-indexing on cycling from the cycle-lobby leaders that have been given roles to manage active travel prioritisation and investment).

I also think, that unless the facts on what actually happened have been established, that the post should not be in a thread entitled "Dangerous drivers everywhere!!" especially if witnesses are being sought - it creates the impression/suggestion that this was due to dangerous driving. People also need to think carefully about reposting content from Dulwich Roads as they have a long history of posting details of accidents without ever establishing what actually happened. They are using their channel to try and create the impression that every accident is due to speeding or dangerous/bad driving and when they have been alerted to the actual causes they refuse to provide updates - blinkered by their own self-importance and ideology.

I very much hope the person injured is OK. By the way, as you have posted this in a Dangerous Drivers Everywhere thread are you trying to suggest this was the result of a driver driving dangerously?

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/cyclists-london-safe-bike-pedestrian-drivers-roads-b2583927.html

Be careful what you wish for and anyone with kids in the state system should be concerned about this too. The Greeks did this in 2015 with disastrous consequences. The measures negatively impacted the state school system and the policy had to be reversed. https://www.economist.com/europe/2015/10/30/greece-reconsiders-a-tax-on-private-education The problem is that the likes of DC, Allen's, JAGs etc will survive (and can probably absorb the costs) but smaller schools will inevitably go under - which is exactly what happened in Greece and that led to a big influx of children into the state system and class sizes grew to breaking point. Teachers from the private system who lost their jobs did not move to state and were lost to education. There is also the complex issue of exemptions for SEND pupils which is a minefield for the government as there are many SEND children in private without the relevant documentation as it can take years to get. Additionally, it is not just private schools that get tax benefits but vocational courses and even sports clubs so the impact may be much broader. As the Greeks found to their cost.

More than a few of whose owners no doubt come from the champagne branch of socialism....and we know how influential they can be once they get tje ear of local councillors! 😉

Yes Malumbu, of course you are, because you got what you wanted (but of course had no actual input as you don't actually live in the borough) but let's see how you feel if the same thing gets played back to you on something you don't want...then let's see if you are happy to turn a blind eye to willful political abuses of power. Be careful what you wish for and all that.

Southwark Labour actively avoided any mention of LTNs in their council election missives, hustings or propaganda. It was almost as if they were not a thing they ever forced upon their constituents under the cover of Covid without any proper consultation. The moment they won....ta dah...they are back again...claiming they had a mandate to continue rolling them out...charlatans....!