Will Young Talks Sense
Will Young writes an opinion in The Times today, that everyone should read. Here’s the second paragraph.
There are so many theories being bandied around as to why young people reacted as they did. Modern Britain is a blamocracy: people look to pass the buck. Governments, we are told, have created a society of idleness, in which a mood of entitlement has fermented. Add to this the onward march of capitalism, family breakdown and a fettered education sector and things look bleak.
I bet he doesn’t get called in by David Cameron.
He’s so right about how we all live in a blamocracy.
Getting On Our Bikes
According to this report on the BBC, cycling is booming, with several millions of extra cyclists.
This can only be good. It’s certainly taking off down here in london, but it taking off in the same way everywhere. It would be nice to see a breakdown of the statistics by county and city.
Let’s Get Gaddafi To The Hague
I suspect that the cruel and idiotic Gaddafi has a few tricks up his sleeves yet. But wouldn’t it be a victory for everybody, especially the Libyan people, if he felt the respected justice of the International Criminal Court.
If they’re short of cells, he could share with some of the other dictators and war criminals under arrest in The Hague. They all deserve each other.
Perry Is George Bush on Steroids
That was said by John Morgan, a professional impersonator as he sees Perry as an equally rich seam to be milked for all its worth. Here’s the story.
Good luck to him! But not to the odious Rick Perry!
I like this quote on Rick Perry, by Bruce Bartlett, who was an advisor to Ronald Reagan.
Rick Perry’s an idiot and I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.
It’s funny how in United States politics, the scum always seems to float to the surface.
How Do We Revive Tottenham?
What caused the riots that happened last week is very much a matter for others to decide.
I’ve known the area for years and quite frankly parts of it haven’t changed much since the end of the Second World War. As an example, the scruffy garage where I parked my bike in the 1960s to go to see Spurs is still there and it looks as if it hasn’t been painted in the last fifty years.
Transport is a major problem and it is even worse when Spurs are at home.
In the short term, I’d do three things.
In the first place, bring the area maps and the bus information up to the same standard that Londoners expect and get in other areas like Islington, Hackney and Westminster.
And then I’d put some investment into the railway that runs between Hackney Downs and Silver Street, by trying to improve the dreadful and dangerous steps. Escalators are expensive, but certainly a single escalator with a double width staircase could be used to improve safety at White Hart Lane. Lifts should also be selectively installed, so that step free access for the disabled is available at probably White Hart Lane, Seven Sisters and Hackney Downs.
One of the problems of the railway is that entry and exit at some stations is quite low. Could this be because it’s a difficult climb, whereas the nearby buses are just a step on and off? Also the trains are not Oyster-friendly! That would be the thrd thing!
So perhaps as I said earlier, should this line and the other Lea Valley lines be added to the Overground? Yes, I think it’s a no-brainer.
Incidentally Hackney Central on the Overground has substantially more passengers going through its doors than the nearby Hackney Downs.
Lots of things need to be done, but let’s improve the transport first.
The second thing that must be done is that Tottenham Hotspur decide quickly what they are doing with White Hart Lane stadium and the derelict land north of it. If they moved the stadium further north, it would actually be nearer to an upgraded White Hart Lane station. The station could even be renamed as Tottenham Hotspur.
Walking Along Tottenham High Road
From Bruce Grove, I walked up Tottenham High Road, intended to get as far as White Hart Lane station.
There is some sign of looting and arson.
The Gutted Aldi Store on Tottenham High Road
This Aldi store had seen its last, but on the other side of the road, things were different.
Opposite the Gutted Aldi Sore in Tottenham High Road
The criminality seems to have been very selective. This Grade II Listed building at 639, seems to have been untouched except for the windows.
639 Tottenham High Road
But had they been boarded up before? Let’s hope someone finds a worthwhile use for the building.
It was just opposite the Carpetright store, that is now completely flattened.
One thing I noticed was that the bus and location maps that are so common in Hackney and Islington seemed to be totally missing from the bus stops.
An Almost Information-Free Bus Stop
As this area gets more visitors than most because of Tottenham Hotspur, surely they should be on every bus stop. And whilst on the subject of buses, there are not too many light-controlled crossings in the area, which doesn’t make it the most pedestrian-friendly of areas, as often to get to your bus stop, you need to brave the traffic.
Ecstasy Can Be Good For You!
Who’d have believed it. But it’s here on the BBC.
But it doesn’t mean we should all take it.
Along Tottenham High Road
As the cricket was called off today, I decided to go to IKEA today, as I needed to check out a few ideas.
The 341 bus, that I take goes along the Tottenham High Road, which was badly affected by the riots last week.
It looked to me, that apart from one or two notable exceptions, the damage wasn’t as bad as it had been painted by the media.
One of the pictures shows the entrance to the garage, where I used to bike for half-a-crown to see Spurs in the early 1960s. It doesn’t look to have been done up at all since.
The Tottenham area of Haringey was never the best, and as the pictures show, there are very few quality buildings except for White Hart Lane Stadium and that is too small and parts of it were built in the 1930s.
Spurs say they intend to build a new much larger stadium on the land north of the existing stadium, but whether they will is open to question. The stadium has always suffered from access problems, but then so has Chelsea and West Ham.
But developing the football club and the surrounding area could be a stimulus to the whole area, especially, if the Lea Valley Lines were upgraded.
Camera Trap Study Reveals Wildlife
The world’s largest camera trap study has revealed lots of animals in remote locations. Read about it here.
I’m all for this type of work, but we must analyse the data correctly. It must not be hi-jacked and interpreted on a basis to prove questionable theories or promote dubious business models.
The Otters Are Back
According to this report, otters are now back in every county in England.
Many years ago, when supposedly otters were extinct in Suffolk, I used to know a real countryman, who in his time, had been the Master of the East Anglian Otter Hounds. They hadn’t hunted otters for many years and just followed the scent they left. If they wanted sport, they hunted the two pests of mink and coypu.
He believed that otters were there and said that the reason they were never seen, was that those who looked didn’t know how to find them, as they tended to look for the signs of otters, rather than the animals themselves. He also felt that if people believed otters to be extinct, this would mean more money and visitors for otter sanctuaries. Others like Bjorn Lomborg believe that some organisations make out that things are worse than they are for their own selfish reasons.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if my friend was right, that otters were about, but preferred to keep their own company.
That is not to say that their numbers were small because of pesticides, bad water quality and other problems. Another naturalist once told me, that the biggest threat to otters on places like the Norfolk Broads was powerboats, as the boats’ wakes drowned otters and their young in their holts.
There was also a story last year about koi carp being stolen from an ornamental pond in Birmingham. The usual suspects were put in the frame and CCTV was setup. Everybody was surprised when the culprits were identified as otters from a nearby canal.
It just goes to show that animals are much more common than you think.
How long before an otter gets spotted in the Olympic Park. They already have foxes and a dead otter was found in Wapping in 2006.
The Anonymous Widower 