Alex
@alexsz.bsky.social
Cycling, urbanism, politics, housing, London, sometimes dogs
Yes, for example we all talk about RBKC, but beside a few good quality routes Westminster is pretty dire too and then I haven't even started on the feeling of crossing from WF to Redbridge for example, or venture into Barking etc.
December 2, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Yes, for example we all talk about RBKC, but beside a few good quality routes Westminster is pretty dire too and then I haven't even started on the feeling of crossing from WF to Redbridge for example, or venture into Barking etc.
These cycling statistics, especially from Outer London are so depressing. I would be okay with around 20% growth in a year. Except for a few boroughs, London cycling growth is basically stagnant.
December 2, 2025 at 1:36 PM
These cycling statistics, especially from Outer London are so depressing. I would be okay with around 20% growth in a year. Except for a few boroughs, London cycling growth is basically stagnant.
Government needs to ban wood burners where there is an alternative way of heating in the house straight away. I understand for example canal boats are a more complicated problem, but if someone has a £2m house in Hampstead, then they should survive somehow without having a working fireplace.
December 2, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Government needs to ban wood burners where there is an alternative way of heating in the house straight away. I understand for example canal boats are a more complicated problem, but if someone has a £2m house in Hampstead, then they should survive somehow without having a working fireplace.
Residential starts, from here
data.london.gov.uk/dataset/resi...
data.london.gov.uk/dataset/resi...
December 2, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Residential starts, from here
data.london.gov.uk/dataset/resi...
data.london.gov.uk/dataset/resi...
Yes! Plus we need a lot more LTNs and figuring out local safe routes in Outer London. Having two neighbouring boroughs like Hackney and Tower Hamlets with 8% and 2% modal share is crazy.
December 1, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Yes! Plus we need a lot more LTNs and figuring out local safe routes in Outer London. Having two neighbouring boroughs like Hackney and Tower Hamlets with 8% and 2% modal share is crazy.
In the meantime we have a lot of real, structural crises, but those can't be neatly fit in power plays, so unfortunately will never really be tackled, they just become the underpinnings and defining factors of these pseudo dramas.
December 1, 2025 at 3:39 PM
In the meantime we have a lot of real, structural crises, but those can't be neatly fit in power plays, so unfortunately will never really be tackled, they just become the underpinnings and defining factors of these pseudo dramas.
We are a really small step away from the introduction of a Thursday crisis, or even better a Tuesday crisis to make it easier to fill podcast episodes.
December 1, 2025 at 3:39 PM
We are a really small step away from the introduction of a Thursday crisis, or even better a Tuesday crisis to make it easier to fill podcast episodes.
The problem is that 24 hour news cycle, later social media made it necessary to create more and more intense crises and crunch points. Now budgets, announcements of dull documents, or migration numbers, everything has to be in a crisis narrative, otherwise they are drowned in the noise.
December 1, 2025 at 3:39 PM
The problem is that 24 hour news cycle, later social media made it necessary to create more and more intense crises and crunch points. Now budgets, announcements of dull documents, or migration numbers, everything has to be in a crisis narrative, otherwise they are drowned in the noise.
Please allow me to elaborate:
December 1, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Please allow me to elaborate:
I mean, LAs have their advantage too, these providers get their money by applying to them for every single client, so if the council had enough staff they could have surely checked what is going on at these places.
November 30, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I mean, LAs have their advantage too, these providers get their money by applying to them for every single client, so if the council had enough staff they could have surely checked what is going on at these places.
other boroughs as they don't have any use of providers who are not commissioned and house people without local connection to the borough.
Why is Birmingham different?
Why is Birmingham different?
November 30, 2025 at 8:07 PM
other boroughs as they don't have any use of providers who are not commissioned and house people without local connection to the borough.
Why is Birmingham different?
Why is Birmingham different?
What is also interesting here is that the council has not stepped up its checks on these providers yet. In London a lot of providers have been shut down in the past few years as LAs got more powers to deny HB when no support or support need can be proven. I assume they want to push providers into
November 30, 2025 at 8:07 PM
What is also interesting here is that the council has not stepped up its checks on these providers yet. In London a lot of providers have been shut down in the past few years as LAs got more powers to deny HB when no support or support need can be proven. I assume they want to push providers into
I wonder how much more landlords read these compared to "mansion" owners. Even when the two often overlap.
November 30, 2025 at 9:19 AM
I wonder how much more landlords read these compared to "mansion" owners. Even when the two often overlap.
Next time I will not forget to choose richer parents before I move to London!
November 29, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Next time I will not forget to choose richer parents before I move to London!
Not just this, but:
and wage cost the company at least £18/hr, that is £54, (but more likely above £100 due to maintaining minimum staff levels organizing, bus pass for staff etc.) while the cab on average probably can be done for around £20.
November 29, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Not just this, but:
This story shows larger systemic issues of decision making and I really hope at some point someone will look at the asylum system as it is really not a system but just incompetency, racism and political shortsightedness in a trench coat.
November 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
This story shows larger systemic issues of decision making and I really hope at some point someone will look at the asylum system as it is really not a system but just incompetency, racism and political shortsightedness in a trench coat.
I used to work in supported accommodations, that is where my assumptions come from. I might be wrong about some details, as asylum seeker support might work a bit differently than the projects I worked at, but I am pretty sure I am basically right.
November 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
I used to work in supported accommodations, that is where my assumptions come from. I might be wrong about some details, as asylum seeker support might work a bit differently than the projects I worked at, but I am pretty sure I am basically right.
Instead of looking in the weeds the political machine finds the solution: act tough and make the story go away. But this will only mean that the staff at these sites will need to find other solutions that will come out more absurd or corrupt or both as the obvious solutions made more difficult.
November 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Instead of looking in the weeds the political machine finds the solution: act tough and make the story go away. But this will only mean that the staff at these sites will need to find other solutions that will come out more absurd or corrupt or both as the obvious solutions made more difficult.
There is the problem that some cab companies are cheating the system, that some asylum seekers are placed far from services without means of mobility and that staffing levels are inadequate to provide support for people with support needs. The symptom is high costs of aggregate cab bills.
November 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
There is the problem that some cab companies are cheating the system, that some asylum seekers are placed far from services without means of mobility and that staffing levels are inadequate to provide support for people with support needs. The symptom is high costs of aggregate cab bills.
The wider issue is, that these kinds of decisions should never end up at this level of decision making. Partly because they don't understand everyday management of the issue and partly because on this level decision makers aggregate very different problems and "solve" them only caring about politics
November 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
The wider issue is, that these kinds of decisions should never end up at this level of decision making. Partly because they don't understand everyday management of the issue and partly because on this level decision makers aggregate very different problems and "solve" them only caring about politics
and wage cost the company at least £18/hr, that is £54, (but more likely above £100 due to maintaining minimum staff levels organizing, bus pass for staff etc.) while the cab on average probably can be done for around £20.
November 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
and wage cost the company at least £18/hr, that is £54, (but more likely above £100 due to maintaining minimum staff levels organizing, bus pass for staff etc.) while the cab on average probably can be done for around £20.
Due to this it is often cheaper to put them in a cab and ask the driver to show them where to go in the hospital, compared to getting a staff member on the bus with them, who will wait in the hospital for hours. Saying that an average trip like this is 3 hours (travel, waiting treatment)
November 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Due to this it is often cheaper to put them in a cab and ask the driver to show them where to go in the hospital, compared to getting a staff member on the bus with them, who will wait in the hospital for hours. Saying that an average trip like this is 3 hours (travel, waiting treatment)