Dogkennelhillbilly

Unbelievably, the employer unilaterally cut their hourly rate after the cleaners at JAGS voted to strike. The union representing the cleaners at JAGS says that action is illegal, and they will take it to the courts.

It seems some of the resident employers don't want to pay a living wage for the jobs that are required to keep businesses and institutions operational. The cleaners of JAGS are being told to accept an hourly rate of £11.55. Their employer actually cut the hourly rate from £13.15 after the cleaners voted to strike. This is nuts. It is shameful. How are people supposed to live in London on 11p above the legal minimum wage? People are entitled to fair pay for fair work no matter where they are from. https://www.uvwunion.org.uk/en/press-releases/2024/07/prestigious-24000-a-year-private-school-jags-cuts-cleaners-pay-by-12-after-strike-vote/

JAGS's subcontractor has not solved its labour dispute with the cleaners that work at JAGS. As a result, the union says that the cleaners will be on strike for 2 September, 3 September and 5 September. Embarrassing for JAGS. I hope a fair pay deal between the cleaners and their employers can be agreed, the term can start as normal, and no-one has to miss out on income due to strikes.

SEN is Southend, not Stansted. Only a handful of slots per day are taken at the moment at SEN. Air traffic doesn't need to fly over central London. There's a dedicated train station with fast trains from London. It's about 7 minutes between getting off the train and walking through security. They have the most up to date security scanners so no liquids ban etc. There's no reason why the government needs to authorise more slots at LCY except to make more money for LCY's Kuwaiti and pension fund owners. Don't forget holding your breath...

In any case there is already tons of capacity at SEN, which is 55 minutes by rail from Liverpool St and has much less congested airspace. LCY is 30 minutes from Liverpool St and 24 mins from Canary Wharf. We're going to expose hundreds of thousands of Londoners to more air and noise pollution so a handful of City flyers can save 20 mins on their short haul flights? None of it makes sense.

Narrowly, that's good news. More broadly, expanding access to LCY is nuts - much more carbon emitted globally and much more noise and air pollution locally. 25% of all flights out of LCY are to Amsterdam and Edinburgh, both of which are perfectly well served by train from London, and where there is more capacity to put on additional services. The government could have followed the French model of prohibiting air corridors where decent train services exist. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/17/london-city-airport-journeys-take-under-six-hours-train-data

lol "being a very political politician (now Socialist not Marxist) [McCash] may just be trying to buy time, as you say, while presenting different faces and 'takes' according to his audience; has anyone else noticed how borderline besotted Margy Newens appears to be with him, when she chairs the Scrutiny sessions?" https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/329019-southwark-wide-cpz/?do=findComment&comment=1641314

lol "Rejoice in our socialist council, giving to the rich and taking from the poor."

They weren't ignored. The council spent endless time over the years responding to the increasingly arcane queries of a dwindling number of "no surrender" Dulwich Village locals. They simply haven't got their way.

Is that before or after the Bill Gates COVID microchips are implanted in us? The woke active travel conspiracy goes back further than I thought!

Discussion of a street party has moved into full-on conspiracy theory mode. #southwarkderangementsyndrome

This PTAL stuff is a complete distraction and concern trolling. Mr OneDulwich has never explained why removing an LTN to allow private cars more road access everywhere will improve public transport. He has never explained why he is also opposed to LTNs in places with high PTAL scores. And he has never proposed any measure that would improve public transport generally or PTAL scores specifically.

Cheer up, it's National Wet Blanket Day the week after.

If people on a street decide to organise a little street party, they're not doing it to disrupt their neighbours. If they don't decide to do it, there's no disruption to worry about.

Instead of getting into meta-arguments about what people do and don't remember the history to be, why not just link to the data?

You can't even move (let alone time restrict, charge or even delete) a parking space without it being portrayed as part of a council cash grab, a conspiracy to destroy high streets, a left woke virus 5G war on motorists...

If you've got a garden that's big enough to host a party for your whole street, then a) congratulations and b) can I be invited too?

Point of order: where are private schools banned? They exist in Denmark, Sweden, Norway - not many of them, but they're not banned. Dulwich College has apparently put their prices up 8% this year, as they have in most recent years. One leftist rag pointed out that boarding fees at Dulwich College have been higher than at Eton even before COVID. DC just built a new junior school, so evidently there aren't empty classrooms despite years of above-inflation price rises. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-pay-for-the-privilege/ The recent fee increases at Dulwich College are not connected with its participation in an illegal price fixing cartel - all that behaviour is in the pas. But even through that period of anticompetitive prices rises, the schools didn't suffer a drop-off enrolment due to raising fees. https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/the-public-school-maffia-6987085.html

So allocating road space for car parking instead of bus lanes doesn't slow buses, but there needs to be a balance between car parking and bus lanes when allocating road space, but there's no halfway house between bus lanes being important or unimportant? Crikey. If that was the clear answer to one half of a yes/no question, I won't ask again for the other half. Still, TfL and Southwark Council will be very encouraged to hear they're doing a perfect job in balancing car parking and bus lanes (apart from Waterloo Bridge, I suppose). It's a contrast to the abuse and conspiracy theory they normally get treated to on here. I might make them a little plaque to commemorate it! Cheerio!!!

No, I'm trying to work out what the answers to the yes/no questions are! Do you think that the volume of other vehicles parked or being driven on roads in Dulwich affects the speed or reliability of buses - yes or no? There's been a bit of a U-turn on the first bit (first saying car parking doesn't slow buses down at all, and then saying a balance is needed), and an answer to the second bit hasn't shown up yet...maybe it's stuck behind a bunch of private cars...

So is what you're saying that allocating road space to car parking instead of bus lanes can slow buses down, but that might be a price worth paying for other benefits?

But if allocating road space to car parking instead of bus lanes doesn't slow down buses, then why is there between the two?

Buses are quicker along the roads (like bits of Lordship Lane, Dog Kennel Hill, bits of the South Circular) where there are bus lanes, and slower along the bits where there are not bus lanes. In some places, the road is too narrow for a bus lane under any conditions - some of the roads in Dulwich were designed for Victorian carts. In other places, there has been a decision to allocate road space to car parking instead of a bus lane. The consequence of that decision is that buses are slower because they have to wait behind all the other traffic. This is undeniable. Whether the bus can "traverse" these roads at all is a red herring. The question is whether bus speed and reliability is adversely impacted. This made me lol! Does it go the other way too? If we pushed people off buses into low occupancy private cars, do you think that would improve bus speeds? 😀 😄

You certainly do! Some six year old document based on even older data seems very important to you. Meanwhile, for anyone else who has an interest, the up to date PTAL data is freely available on the TfL website (link below). People can come to their own conclusion about whether Mr OneDulwich's multiyear odyssey to abolish LTNs and increase private vehicle access will make public transport better or worse. https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/urban-planning-and-construction/planning-applications/planning-with-webcat

It depends if the drivers have time and can be bothered. I’ve seen them swap a couple of batteries and drive off, leaving loads of them all over the shop. It’s the companies’ fault, really…