Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

18 months in and test and trace is still taking 4 days to ping by which point it's meaningless

£37bn IIRC. Meanwhile Vietnam somehow instituted an effective system right from the start. We need to understand why we could not do the same.

I think the £37bn figure is for the entire testing infrastructure - most of which works really well with 800k+ tests being processed a day.

The test and trace bit is a far lower figure, but it's still ridiculous as you say.

[Sheilbh]

Semi-related. I see Dido Harding is considering applying to be head of the NS

[HVC]

Dido Harding? She must have had a rough childhood.

[Sheilbh]

V posh. Dido's her nickname. Her actual name is Diana.

[garbon]

Just watched a bit about the trial of e-scooters in London. It all sounds so tedious, I'm not sure who would even want to take part.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/electric-scooter-launch-london-b939080.html

Electric scooters launch in London - but hit an early bump in the road

The launch of the e-scooter rental trials in London hit an early bump in the road on Monday when one of the main areas postponed its involvement.

The City of London was last month announced by Transport for London as one of five boroughs where the electric-powered scooters could be hired from Monday under a 12-month Government-backed trial.

On Sunday The Standard learned the City Corporation, the local authority for the Square Mile, said it would not be joining the scheme until July 5, apparently due to a delay in resolving administrative rather than safety concerns.

This will restrict the initial use of the e-scooters to Canary Wharf and to four west London boroughs – Richmond, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea. The original plan had been to allow e-scooters to be ridden between the twin financial hubs of Canary Wharf and the Square Mile.

A City of London Corporation spokesperson said: "The City Corporation will join the London rental e-Scooter trial from July 5.

"We are committed to investigating how e-scooters can play a role in supporting a shift to sustainable travel to compliment walking, cycling and public transport options in the Square Mile."

The scooters will be restricted by "geo-fencing" on-board computer systems from working in boroughs that have not signed up – slowly grinding to a halt when ridden beyond the agreed boundaries.

Three operators – Dott, Lime and Tier – will each provide between 60 and 150 e-scooters in each of the boroughs. Tower Hamlets will be a "ride-through" borough but, except for the Canary Wharf estate, scooters cannot be hired or parked.

TfL hopes that other boroughs will shortly join the trial. Westminster, Lambeth and Southwark are believed to be interested.

However the Royal Parks has refused to take part in the trial, meaning they cannot be ridden in Richmond Park or Kensington Gardens.

TfL says it will cost between £3.25 and £3.40 for a typical 15-minute ride. Each operator will charge £1 to "unlock" a scooter, followed by a per minute fee of 15p for Dott and Tier and 16p for Lime.

Tier said it would not charge riders while they were stationary at traffic lights, in a bid to discourage "reckless riding". It fears some riders may race against the clock because of the per-minute charging structure. It will also give riders a free minute at the start of each trip to put on a helmet.

The rules of the road for e-scooters are similar to those for cyclists – helmets are recommended but not mandatory, and riding on the pavement is illegal.

TfL has vowed to put safety at the "core of the trial". Speeds will be limited to 12.5mph – slower than the 15.5mph allowed in trials elsewhere in the country – and the scooters will have their lights on permanently.

Each rider's journey data will be anonymised and shared with the Department for Transport to help shape Government policy on e-scooters, including privately owned e-scooters, which remain illegal on public roads.

TfL and London Councils hope that e-scooters will become a safe and "green" alternative to car use for shorter journeys. Riders have to take an online safety course before their first journey.

About a third of the 33 boroughs are thought likely to participate in the trial at some stage in the coming 12 months.

Will Norman, London's walking and cycling commissioner, said: "We know that a huge portion of car journeys in London are for very short distances, and we want to explore how e-scooters can act as an innovative alternative.

"E-scooters have been on our streets for some time now but with very little regulation. This trial will have safety at its heart, bringing in rigorous precautions and parking measures while taking the needs of all road users into account and seeing what role e-scooters can play in London's future."

Riders of private e-scooters are at risk of a £300 fixed penalty notice and six points on their driving licence if stopped by police.

Chief Superintendent Simon Ovens, of the Metropolitan Police, said it backed the trial but added: "We'd like to remind everybody that private e-scooters used outside this trial remain illegal and will be dealt with by way of seizure."

They also noted that you need to have a license (at least a provisional) to be able to ride them during this trial.

[The Brain]

Seizure? Seems cruel and unusual.

[Josquius]

Boundary review stuff is out.

https://www.bcereviews.org.uk/



Independent commission and all that but some of this does look very weird and gerrymanderry. Jarrow and Sunderland west....

[Richard Hakluyt]

Consultations with the locals for the next few months.

Unfortunately my constituency will remain uncompetitive; we will lose a well-off area to the rural constituency to the west and a poor area to the urban constituency to the south (which is already competitive and will become more so).

[Sheilbh]

For England - I think the other nations follow in the next week or two. Defence Secretary will apparently lose his seat so no doubt some nearby Tory MP will be offered a knighthood/peerage and a thank you to make space.

From what little I've seen this would have been pretty bad for Labour - if Labour still had the map it did in 2015. But now the Tories have won seats in those areas it's a little more balanced. Tories and Labour likely to lose some seats in the North-East and West Midlands. Tories will gain some in the South-East and East of England; Labour will gain something in London.

[Sheilbh]

Just looked at mine

Still a very safe Labour seat plus the most Remain constituency in the country. But we're going to be in a cross Lambeth-Southwark constituency which I do not like

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yes, there is some concern that the 5% limit on electorate size variation is too restrictive and leads to some "natural" communities getting divided up. That poor area of Preston I mentioned earlier is full of Asian and other immigrants for example; they will be tacked on to the largely white British constituency south of the river (which is also a different local authority).....their interests might be neglected compared to their current position even if their representation is theoretically improving.


Edit:  I just checked and the area I'm talking about is being added to the Ribble valley constituency, not South Ribble. Apologies for that. The area fits even less into that constituency though so the point still stands.

[Josquius]

As mentioned the main one that stood out to me was Jarrow and Sunderland West.
Which is basically Jarrow and some other bits of South Tyneisde nearby, fair enough, then a big long thin strip down to take in Pennywell, one of the more infamous parts of Sunderland,.
Really does look like they're just clumping the poors together artificially there.

[Sheilbh]

Aren't Sunderland and Blyth Valley area losing a few seats?

[Richard Hakluyt]

As mentioned the main one that stood out to me was Jarrow and Sunderland West.
Which is basically Jarrow and some other bits of South Tyneisde nearby, fair enough, then a big long thin strip down to take in Pennywell, one of the more infamous parts of Sunderland,.
Really does look like they're just clumping the poors together artificially there.

Yeah, that is a bad one; they would be better having Hebburn and Jarrow with South Shields and having a "Sunderland North" constituency including Whitburn, East Boldon and Pennywell. I suspect that the South Tyneside constituency would then have too big an electorate under the rules though....even though it makes good geographical sense.

[The Brain]

they would be better having Hebburn and Jarrow with South Shields and having a "Sunderland North" constituency including Whitburn, East Boldon and Pennywell.

These are places in The Shire. Someone's been pulling your leg.