Haven’t done this for a while for various reasons. Most of which revolve on me not seeing any links I like. And then what happens? Four come along at once! BBC Mind The Gap: Bike hire etiquette: No animals allowed I'm not a cyclist myself, but I'd like to be (especially if I had a slightly shorter commute) but I can't help but notice that huge swathes of road near where I live have been painted blue. It's Boris's Cycle Superhighway, and it all looks rather pointless – a cycle lane merely painted blue. As can be seen in the report on the BBC London Mind the Gap Blog, there's certainly been a few problems. Still praise where praise is due – mirrors at traffic lights to help with HGVs blind spots are a very simple and a very good idea. Bashing the BBC: The peculiar rage inspired by the BBC – The Economist "Here is a curious paradox about British conservatives. Challenge them to defend grand British institutions, from the Royal Family to the House of Lords or the lack of a written constitution, and they argue passionately about the dangers of tampering and meddling with things that evolved... View Article
Every summer - World Cup or not - crowds and crowds of people descend upon a corner of South West London to go and eat strawberries and cream whilst watching some people hit a ball over a net.
For some reason I haven’t got round to posting links recently so they’ve been sitting around in Delicious just waiting for me to get my backside in gear. So here goes… Why don’t more restaurants do this?- 90 Percent of Everything What? Put on the bill the cost per person? Bonkers. It'll never take off… Old and resistant to change? Why embeddable fonts make me nervous… – Martin Belam’s currybetdotnet blog "I'm sure there were people complaining that the introduction of <font color="blue"> in HTML 3.2 would unleash anarchy…" Well it did. For a bit anyway. That crass and overly commercial cycle hire logo – MayorWatch "I’m sure we’re all very grateful to the shareholders of Barclays for spending some of their marketing budget on slapping their logo all over the bikes and uniforms of staff but frankly this new roundel (pictured) brings crass commercialism crashing down to whole new levels of bad. […] Allowing the roundel – a true icon of London – to be absorbed into a glorified advert like this is pretty crass. Sadly, in order to show you how bad it is I need to display it on the site otherwise it wouldn’t get screen space."... View Article
London’s ‘new Routemaster’ design unveiled – BBC News Apparently Boris thinks it's "iconic" and "beautiful". I think it looks like a bizarre red curvy box. It's certainly not a Routemaster. Given how much the thing is costing London, perhaps it should be really called "Boris's Folly" instead… Photo of a Bristol VR And to show you my inner bus geekiness (a mis-spent youth spent riding the wheels around Tameside), the so called "New Bus for London" has a body quite clearly based on the 1960s Bristol VR… Wimbledon estate agent’s porn site prank ‘went wrong’ – Wimbledon Guardian In the dark world of estate agents, one company bought a domain name with the name of another company and set it to redirect to hardcore porn. Given the very poor image many people have of estate agents, it's perhaps not the best way to represent your profession… BBC 6 Music’s audience rises 50% – The Guardian One of those "Well who would have thought it? Oh yes, I am being sarcastic…" moments. 6music has some proper publicity, LOTS of people find out what it does, and ratings increase. Shame BBC management couldn't be bothered to promote it properly BEFORE trying to... View Article
Election already over in nearly 400 seats – Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society believe that there's 382 safe seats – that's over half the seats in parliament – that just won't change hands in this forthcoming election. One of them is Mitcham and Morden where the current Labour MP's 60,000 odd majority seems unlikely to be toppled. (Siobhain McDonagh seems to be noted mainly for spending more on stationary than every other MP and the fact she tried and failed to topple Gordon Brown.) The Tories were out campaigning at the tube station the other night but, bless their little cotton socks, they don't stand a chance. Personally I will be voting as I do in almost all elections – for the candidate I believe in most. It's unlikely it will make a difference either way, but no vote is a wasted vote. Nick Ferrari earns record five Sony nods as 6 Music makes strong showing – guardian.co.uk Someone notices quality when they see it then… (I'm talking 6music, not Nick Ferrari…) Campaign to save 6 Music takes the Biscuit – The Guardian Get your Joy Division Oven Gloves! 6 Music: Adam Buxton and Liz Kershaw join protest... View Article
GMG to drop original programming and cut staff at Channel M – guardian.co.uk Says something about local TV in the UK if Guardian Media Group can't even make it work in a city the size of Manchester. Sam Smiths Pubs Locations Sam Smiths are a strange company. They don't do music. They don't advertise. Food is usually very basic. It's hard to buy their beers anywhere other than their pubs. They only sell their own products, with the odd exception of McCoy's crisps. They don't even have a website. Their pubs don't even have their logo on it. They don't particularly innovate. At all. And they haven't put their prices up (bar duty) for about 18 years, so you can get a pint for less than £2. Oh and they have some of the finest, best looking and well looked after pubs you'll find in the UK. But you'd never know where they are. Unless someone created a website to tell you… Top marks to James Gretton then! A brief view of the power of Samuel Smiths Old Brewey – Tadcaster From BBC's Inside Out Yorks and Lincs, a different insight into the strange world of Sam Smiths, and their... View Article
When I lived in Ealing and wanted to go to the pub, the discussion between meself and Catherine usually went 'Pub?' 'Yeah. Go on then.' Then we'd leave the house. Near six years in Merton and the conversation still goes "'Pub?" "Yeah. Which one?'
London’s lighthouse and the story of Trinity Quay Wharf – BBC London London has a lighthouse. I never knew. Residents want answers over “hated” Colliers Wood tower – Wimbledon Guardian "At a public meeting last week more than 100 residents voiced their anger at the condition of the 17-storey structure – which they claim is crumbling dangerously and has become home to rough sleepers." Whether London's ugliest eyesore has or not become home to rough sleepers, I don't know. I do know that someone asked me for some spare change a couple of nights ago – and that's never happened in the six years I've lived in the area. UK Newspapers Want BBC Mobile Apps Blocked For ‘Undermining’ Them, BBC Disagrees – paidContent:UK "I wondered how long it would be before print media pointed at the BBC’s new smartphone apps plan as another example of expansion in to their commercial territory. The answer: just 24 hours…" How Time Lord Doctor Who took on Mrs Thatcher – BBC Newsnight "Doctor Who actor Sylvester McCoy has claimed that scriptwriters of the cult TV show wrote material in the 1980s which was designed to undermine Margaret Thatcher's government." BBC R&D Heritage Microphones On... View Article
BBC Trust’s service review of Radio 2 and 6 Music As a 6music listener, I was particularly keen to see what the Trust thought of the station during its recent review. It seems pretty positive stuff with some sensible tweaks to the format and encouragement. Flickr: London dot gov The Greater London Authority is getting all social media and inviting you – yes that's YOU – to join their flickr group and post photos of London. I suspect they won't want ones of graffiti, overcrowded tube trains and traffic jams though. Ban all advertising in public spaces, says thinktank – guardian.co.uk If I remember correctly, over in the kingdom of Bhutan they did something akin to what this thinktank are suggesting. The idea is that the key to success of the country is not wealth but the happiness of the population. I think they banned billboards as part of that. It's an intriguing concept and as someone who has to walk past about 15 billboards in a mere ten minute walk to the tube station, one I'd happily support! Gross national happiness – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wikipedia explains Bhutan's concept of Gross National Happiness Noel Edmonds develops TV quizshow... View Article
