Chris Mosey, discussing the arrival of motor cars in American cities at the turn of the 20th century, in Car Wars p36. In America too there was initially considerable opposition to the introduction of cars. A New York alderman unsuccessfully propo…
a couple more delightful extracts from Chris Mosey’s Car Wars, on how the car came to be accepted — abridged from p39. A poster from this period read: “Men of England. Your birthright is being taken away from you by Reckless Motorists. Reckless M…
enjoyed this, from Chris Mosey’s Car Wars, p64.And it came to pass that in the white heat of Wilson’s scientific revolution, the planners decreed that Birmingham — Britain’s second city in the industrial West Midlands — would become the country’…
Chris Mosey’s Car Wars on Cecil Parkinson’s response to the “London Assessment Studies” and Archway Road battles (pp94-95): The uproar so rattled the government that in the spring of 1990, Parkinson announced that the Studies would be scrapped. At…
A little bit in John Vidal’s description of the M11 link protests, from the Graun, quoted in the Chris Mosey’s Car Wars, sounded somehow familiar… Vidal was there when the tree finally came down. “It has been a life-affirmative drama,” he wrote,…
A couple of weeks ago Oliver Wright of The Independent ran a hatchet job, both horrible and nonsensical, about the head of the RCGP, Clare Gerada — the tireless and currently ubiquitous critic of the NHS privatisation Health and Social Care Bill. You may remember Ben Goldacre wrote about Oliver […]
This is another archival repost from the old blog. Wikipedia avoids weasel words. It attributes statements to their sources, rather than to “some people say”. Can you imagine a newspaper surviving five minutes with such a policy? When somebody hoaxes Wikipedia, the article quickly gets investigated and deleted within three […]
In an historic and decisive election, David Cameron has won an astonishing slightly more seats than the other parties, catapulting him to the possibility of forming a government. Despite all of the stumbling blocks standing in his way, including vastly superior funding, the support of major newspapers, an innate sense […]
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This is another archival repost, written for the old blog in June 2009. This week Gordon Brown gave his cabinet a shuffle, after a bunch of his friends walked out on him. He managed to upset scientists twice. First he merged the department of universities and whatsits into the department […]
Humphrey Lyttelton, 1921 – 2008 Humph tells me he has to leave us now as he’s been invited to a club night by St Peter, and this is something of a climax for him. He’ll drop everything to be taken to heaven by St Michael. He says he can’t wait […]
This is another archival repost, originally written for the old blog in May 2005. The Rt Hon Lord Mayor of London, Michael Berry Savory, on behalf of The Corporation of London, today banned suits and ties from the City of London, the main business and financial district in Britain’s capital […]
Blair: likes war, hates Bach This is another archival reposting, originally written for the old blog during the general election campaign in April 2005. The Labour Party today launched their manifesto for the general election, which includes just two policies. Blair assembled his cabinet at London’s Mermaid Theatre to announce […]