Jams In The West End
There has been a lot of controversy lately about the City of Westminster, bringing in parking charges in the evenings and on Sundays. Here ‘s a report from the Telegraph.
It seems to me that most of the opposition is led by celebrities such as Peter Stringfellow, who claim they are worried about jobs and of course where to park their own limos and excessive people carriers.
As I said the 38 bus was delayed getting to Shaftesbury Avenue and it took half an hour to travel the last bit from Bloomsbury. My progress after alighting from the bus, wasn’t helped by the fact that a coach was parked on the pavement, making both walking and driving difficult.
After the play it was worse and getting back up Shaftesbury Avenue was not easy, as drivers were blocking pavement and trying to go at speed into and out of the side roads. It wasn’t helped by the fact, that a large number of police cars and ambulances were trying to get through.
I finally got to the stop for the 38 bus and after checking by text, I found I had seven minutes to wait.
Whilst waiting you realised that what was holding up the traffic was the vast number of cycle rickshaws, which were illegally touting at the bus stops. A guy in the queue near me, who had the aura of a taxi-driver, said that mos of the rickshaws aren’t insured and he wouldn’t go near them. He was actually a van driver, who’d had a nght out with his family and was also waiting for a 38. There’s more on illegal rickshaws here.
It was also a night, when I wished I’d had my camera with me, as I would ave got a picture of a 19 bus, seemingly pushing a rickshaw slowly along the road.
Finally, I got my 38 back to the local stop.
So what would I do to improve matters?
It would appear that the 38 bus, might be one of the first routes to get the new Routemaster in 2012. Certainly, as they are quicker to board and exit, they should help a bit. Banning the rickshaws from bus lanes would also help.
I’ve always been in favour of pedestrianising Oxford Street or perhaps building a raised walkway above the middle of the street to speed people from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch and perhaps relieve the Central line. Although a bit to the north of theatreland, it would make it easier to get to Soho and then come south to Shaftesbury Avenue. My thoughts on the walkway are in this post.
I think I would make a large area of Soho a pedestrian only zone, as this would increase the capacity of the area dramatically. And the more visitors it gets, the more money gets spent. Perhaps, small electric buses could be used on the north-south routes to move people about.
But perhaps what will help most is already being built; CrossRail. Although it only goes to Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street stations, the high-capacity trains will probably run later than the Underground and they will at least get a lot of West End traffic away after the theatres and shows finish. I would run a shuttle service through from say Stratford to Heathrow to aid those, like essential workers, who had to travel in the middle of the night.
It has always puzzled me why there is no Underground station at Cambridge Circus. Perhaps the walking routes to Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road stations need to be improved.
The Ladykillers
I went to see The Ladykillers last night.
Shaftesbury Avenue is very easy for me, as I just got on a 38 bus all the way. Although, I did think of walking the last kilometre or so, as the traffic was so bad, as all the world and his wife, seemed to be driving into the West End.
The play was really worth seeing, with one of the most spectacular and innovative sets, I’ve ever seen in the theatre. The story and script stuck very much to that of the film, although with a few modern changes. I hadn’t realised before but the original very English screenplay had been written by an American, William Rose, who dreamt the whole thing and then wrote it down with the help of his wife, when he awoke. He later went on to write Guess Who’s coming to Dinner?
Bankers Get Their Just Desserts
I like this story in The Times about how Bob Diamond has fired some of the jerks in Barclays. Remember that Mr. Diamond has dual British-American nationality so he obviously knows the British equivalent of jerk. I wonder if he called them all a wunch of bankers as he gave them their P45s.
I particularly liked this bit.
Mr Diamond referred to an infamous episode in 2002, when six Barclays bankers celebrating their bonuses spent £44,000 at the London restaurant Petrus, as “the no jerk rule personified”.
“That was embarrassing,” he said. “It was taking advantage — we have a responsibility to our colleagues and to have acted that way in a public place was inexcusable.”
The bankers consumed a 1982 Montrachet costing £1,400 and three bottles of Petrus Pomerol, the 1945 at £11,600, the 1946 at £9,400, and the 1947 at £12,300. There was also a dessert wine, costing £9,200. The restaurant threw in the food for free.
They may have got their food free, but did that include desserts. There’s more details of it here on the BBC.
30 Pieces of Spam
This morning the blog had thirty inappropriate comments, that all linked to stes, I would only endorse with large amounts of crinkly blue notes in a brown paper parcel.
As ever the WordPress spam filter trapped them all. And I have just despatched them to cyber-oblivion.
Boris on the Euro Crisis
Boris Johnson is always quotable, but this is one of his best.
The EU’s move to protect the euro might “save the cancer rather than the patient”.
Where would newspapers be without Boris?
The Olympic Torch is Going to Dublin
I didn’t realise this, until I read this article in the Irish Times.
But then the Irish always like a good party.
And I’ve always found, that the English often get on better with the Southern Irish, than they do with the Scots and the Northern Irish.
Hampstead Heath Station
I went to Hampstead Heath station on the North London line yesterday.
It has been updated with some original artwork. The work is entitled Evenings’ Hill and it is by Clare Woods.
Whilst I was waiting, two freight trains passed through in opposite directions. Not unusually on the North London line, but it did seem a bit strange. One was full of new Ford vehicles.
All the station needs now is a pair of lifts. But it’s a big improvement on the station I first used about ten years ago.
Technology Means It Would Be Easier to Leave the Euro Than It Was To Join
When I wrote the piece about Michael Spencer’s thoughts on the drachma, I didn’t think the whole thing through. I didn’t think about all the new notes that would need to be printed and the conversion of cash machines.
But this article sets it all out. It also contains this interesting paragraph.
“It also rather depends on how individual institutions adapted their systems to the original change-over to the euro,” says Lewis. “My guess is that many organisations in Greece might simply have put a converter around their existing systems, rather as some UK companies did when we went decimal in 1971 – we discovered in the run-up to the year 2000 that at least one major insurance company’s accounts were still running in pounds, shillings and pence!”
So we were still using £sd in 2000. I’ll also admit that in some of the systems I’ve programmed, where we displayed data in Iranian dates or Korean currency, what went on underneath wasn’t pretty. But it worked!
So how did I find the article. A friend told me that De La Rue were printing drachma notes. So I used Google and found that Greece would probably use its own security printer.
Although the De La Rue share price was up by one percent today.
The Sharing of Patient Data
David Cameron is getting a lot of criticism about his plans to anonymously share patient data with private companies.
As someone, who has lost two close relatives to difficult cancers and suffered a serious stroke, I can’t see what the problem is about, if the patients personal details are kept confidential.
I was once told by a senior research manager of a big German pharmaceutical company, that only about fifteen percent of medical databases have been analysed to any great extent. He felt that it would take an increasing part of medical research.
My son was part of a major trial being coordinated by a renowned British University. I was invited to see their work and was totally impressed at the care they were taking to make sure the data was correct and properly safeguarded. They were also looking for patterns in the data, as any clue, however small, might be invaluable in the fight against disease.
One thing that has to be said, is that if you are looking at any database for patterns, then that database must be complete, with no errors in the data. I have come across researchers, who when they are trying to prove something in a field like archaeology, first clean the data of anything that doesn’t fit their theories.
That is the biggest problem in research.
Michael Spencer’s Thoughts on the Drachma and Taxation
Michael Spencer is the CEO of ICAP and someone whose business judgement I respect. He’s also a man with strong Suffolk connections, which is always a plus point.
An article with the headline of “Spencer ready for return of drachma”, sums up his view on what to do, if or when Greece falls out of the euro.
He s also very forthright on what would happen if the financial transaction tax is imposed on the City.
After reading the article though, I suspect it will never be levied, as everybody has too much to lose. Except of course countries like Dubai, who’d laugh all the way to the bank, if it was implemented in substantial parts of the world.
One thing I like about Mr. Spencer, is that his company does its bit for charity. Here’s their page.
If you can get a copy of the article, read it!
If you look at ICAP’s major competitors, they are either in London or based in the United States. Not one is based on German or French soil. So if the European Union brought in a unilateral transaction zone and the UK didn’t levy it, they’d raise precisely zilch. Would banks like Deutsche Bank do their business in Frankfurt, when they could do it cheaper in New York? Of course they would!
The Anonymous Widower 