Published on 28 October 2011 in Transport, bus deregulation, buses, politics
Rumours that this Bus Week series was just a flimsy excuse to show pictures of old buses dressed up as a study of politics and the way it was applied to public transport are, frankly, unjust and uncalled for.
Published on 26 October 2011 in London, Politics and Government, Transport, bus deregulation, buses, London, politics
In the 1980s and 1990s a series of changes saw the UK's bus operations go from mostly publicly owned, to mostly privately owned. In a series of privatisations, bus companies were flogged off. But in the intervening 25 years, what has actually happened is that the UK's bus market has come under the control of a handful of large companies. So what actually happened to the UK's publicly owned bus operations?
Published on 25 October 2011 in Transport, bus deregulation, buses, London, London buses, politics
It's been 25 years since bus deregulation came into foce in Great Britain. Well most of the country anyway. Indeed it's been 25 years since bus deregulation didn't happen in London.
Published on 24 October 2011 in Politics and Government, Transport, bus deregulation, buses, politics
Twenty one years ago, on 26 October 1986 a major change happened to Britain's public transport network. Its buses were de-regulated.
Published on 20 December 2010 in Planet Bods, beer festival, buses, Edinburgh, politics, railways, trains, walking, work
Well it's coming to that time of year when pointless lists are made. Normally on this blog I contend myself with useless ones about "how popular some of my blog posts have been" or equally tedious tripe (incidentally, join me tomorrow for my Top 10 posts of the year!) however in the spur of the moment, I decided to compile an even more pointless list.
Published on 10 June 2010 in Daily Links, BBC, BBC red button, cycling, London, politics, shopping, supermarkets, Television Centre, Tesco, web development, White City
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
Published on 17 May 2010 in Daily Links, BBC, BBC Radio, BBC Radio 6music, Boris Johnson, buses, estage agents, London, Merton, politics, radio, shopping, supermarkets, Transport for London
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
Published on 6 May 2010 in Politics and Government, politics, pubs
Politics can causes heated arguments and divisions. When the pub trade is in a bad state and needs to attract as many people through the doors as possible, maybe pub landlords everywhere might be a bit better off being a bit more BBC?
Published on 4 May 2010 in Daily Links, BBC, BBC Radio, BBC Radio 6music, newspapers, politics, radio
Which is the oldest political party still standing? – BBC News Ever wanted to know? Well BBC News reveals. Not surprisingly it neatly sidesteps the fun of the original Tory and Whig parties which, ultimately, are the ultimate are the root of the modern Conservative party and indeed the Liberal Democrats. The Joy of 6 " The Joy of 6 is a platform for the entire UK music community to come together to publicly demonstrate its support for BBC Radio 6 Music. The website showcases strong messages and pleas from a range of artists, songwriters, managers and performers. Our aim is to persuade the BBC Trust not to approve the BBC’s proposal to close a wonderfully unique and eclectic station that contributes so much to British music culture and the diversity of the UK music industry. Supporters are invited to post links to the videos and messages contained on this website to personal pages on social networking and other websites. " Election 2010: What influence do newspapers have over voters? – The Guardian Interesting piece from Roy Greenslade which contains a table of the way which newpaper encouraged its readers to vote, and who, of course, won it. Who on... View Article
Published on 30 April 2010 in Daily Links, adverts, BBC, cartoons, Merton, newspapers, politics, television, television programmes, video on demand
BBC debate was a cross between Songs of Praise and Over the Rainbow – The Guardian Charlie Brooker's hysterical take on the final leadership debate. Controversial plan to move officers out of Mitcham police station – Wimbledon Guardian I love the fact that there may be a real police station (well I guess more of an office really) opening up not far from the fictional Sun Hill station. In fact they could just buy the Bill studios and save themselves some money! Absolute Radio settles trademark fight with Absolut vodka – guardian.co.uk Yes, cos I'm always getting vodka and a radio station confused. Just last night I popped into my local and was amazed to be given a small radio set with my cola… Hulu ‘abandons UK plans’ after broadcaster talks collapse – Telegraph After the demise of Project Kangaroo, the worry was that we'd simply written away the hope that the UK would offer any major catch up TV service, and had basically handed everything other to the Americans. It seems that day is slightly further away than it was before. Although we shouldn't count our chickens before they've hatched… BBC’s 530 days of repeats in a year –... View Article