Cities Fit For Cycling: My MP's Response

Cycling has been higher up the political agenda than usual recently, thanks, in part, to The Times' "Cities Fit for Cycling" campaign, and also many others. It has promoted ideas and fostered debate on some key issues, for example: earmarking "£100 million a year towards world-class cycling infrastructure", and that "20mph should become the default speed limit in residential areas where there are no cycle lanes."

As with all all-encompassing campaigns there are some things which could be improved. For example, it calls for "world-class cycling infrastructure", but avoids the S-word, segregation, which even the Evening Standard managed to include back in 2007.

I was inspired to contact my MP (Sarah Teather, LibDem, Brent Central) and encourage her to attend a debate of Early Day Motion 2689 on 23rd February. The bill now has 111 signatures, although my MP's is not one of them, parliamentary protocol discourages / disallows signing of EDMs by Government ministers. She is, however, "delighted that the Motion has received so much support."

Lies, Damn Lies and Government Statistics: The Data

I promised to provide the sources and data for a previous post.

The Government Data

The Government Predictions

My Calculations and Graphs

The data is Billion vehicle miles per year.

At the time I used it the predictions were version 1.1 from May 2010.

The data and official projections have been mentioned in articles by The Indy,  The Campaign for Better Transport, Pedestrian Liberation and Carlton Reid among others.

Lies, Damn Lies and Government Statistics (Image Intensive)

Government Data Set 1949-2010

Above I have presented a UK Government Data Set which has been widely circulated. The graph plots annual figures, not cumulative data. But I am going to break a major rule of data presentation, and not label my axes (the x-axis is year). What the data set is does not matter, and I do not want to prejudice your opinion*.

AV Facts

Earlier this month I attended the UCL AV Debate. Blogs about the debate are available from the Grauniad and the organising UCL Constitution Unit; I will let you read these for yourself.

More importantly, 1 week from today you will be going out to vote (hopefully). If you are reading this you've probably decided whether to vote Yes, or No.

But if you want more info I will provide the executive summary of a brief by Dr. Alan Renwick and the Political Studies Association. Dr. Renwick was not the most eloquent speaker at the debate, but, like all good academics, he had brought his reference list, and proceeded to explain why both campaigns are lying to the electorate. The following summary contains most of his points:

That explains it...

My MP does not like the Alternative Vote. In fact she has made "the case for 'first past the post'". Emily Thornberry, the MP for Islington South and Finsbury has chosen to go against her party.

A study reported on recently by the Evening Standard states that under AV I would have to write my letters of complaint to a Ms. Bridget Fox, rather than Ms. Thornberry. This is why my MP dislikes AV: she would have lost her seat.

AV. Just because...

On May 5th 2011 the UK will go to the polls, some for local elections, some to elect their devolved administrations and all to decide the fate of the electoral system. The referendum, on whether to change the voting system from First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) to the Alternative-Vote (AV), finally passed through the legislative process after much stalling from Labour and Conservative peers.

Personally I have already decided how to vote, and am well within the "Yes" camp. (There is also a "No" camp in case you were unaware.) This is partly to do with the myths that are being bandied about by the Nos - for example the statement that the change will cost £250 million is blatantly false. However my underlying reason for saying "Yes" is not to do with any of the arguments presented.

Ask a stupid question... Census2011

and you get a stupid answer. Or so the phrase goes.

On the 27th March Office of National Statistics (ONS) will ask almost the entire population of England and Wales 61 questions. This is the 2011 Census. Censuses do invade privacy, however they create very useful and interesting data; but only when they ask the right questions, in the right way.

There has been a census every 10 years since 1801 (excluding 1941). Before that famous censuses include the Domesday Book, of 1085, and the Roman habit of carrying out censuses for tax purposes.

Phonyleaks

On BBC Radio4's Any Questions broadcast yesterday evening Katharine Birbalsingh compared the release of diplomatic cables by Wikileaks to phone-tapping by the News of the World. This met ridicule from some members of the audience but none of the other panel members picked up on the comment.*

Hair today, deported tomorrow

The Association of British Science Writers' story of the year brings together bad science, immigration and human rights into a horrifying mess. John Travis of "Science" has written one of the journal's best award winning articles this year.

The UK Border Agency, under instructions to cut down on immigration are planning to test the origins of applicants using untested methods which experts have described as "horrifying" and "scientifically flawed".

The article is available here. And if you would like more info on the issues involved try No Borders.

Drugs Policy without Science

I woke on Monday to the news that the views of scientists were going to be removed from decisions on drug policy.

This is a further undermining of the role of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), last year Prof. David Nutt, the then chair, was sacked by then Home Secretary Alan Johnson for criticising the Labour government's stance on cannabis. Following this a number of further council members resigned and their jobs were only recently up for grabs.

Bilingually Dyslexic

In an interesting follow up to an announcement I touched upon in my post yesterday my MP asked a pertinent question about dyslexia and compulsary foriegn languages.

There is research claiming that people can be dyslexic in one language but not in another, although the evidence has criticised.

I would argue that this is not an argument against the teaching of foreign languages, properly supported pupils with dyslexia will achieve, on average, just as well as any other pupil. The problem, as Mr Gove appears to have correct, is identifying the dyslexia early.

"Sir, Yes Sir!" or Old soldiers never die they just get a little teacher-training

So Michael Gove has announced his education reforms, which the BBC are calling "the most radical in a generation". The White Paper called "The Importance of Teaching" sets out a range of reforms some good, some bad, some ugly.

The best idea, in my personal view, is making foreign languages compulsory to 16. Languages are about more than just language, learning them helps students understand other cultures and creates "global citizens".

Among the bad ideas is the proposal to cut the funding for school sports collaborations, which the Grauniad reckons will require a U-turn and lead to much too-ing and fro-ing in Westminster.

And then there is an ugly duckling, nestling in section 2.15, the government will be developing a "Troops to Teachers" programme. This aims to encourage ex-members of the Armed Forces to retrain as teachers by sponsoring their PGCEs.

BANG for your Buck

 Some of my previous articles have argued why the Coalition Government should not cut science funding. Today I'm going to continue this theme, with a focus on value for money.

I am a postgraduate student, funded by a government grant through the EPSRC, and I am among the least expensive government employees in the country. A standard EPSRC stipend provides £13,590 per annum, though EngD students and London weightings can result in the actual amount being more.

£13k is nothing.

1 in 3 Quangos to go?

In my first post I commented on the difficulties of cutting Quangos, especially because many of them carry out vital roles. Now it seems that more are set to go.

Both The Telegraph and The BBC were given leaked lists of bodies to be cut or merged. Among others Cycling England, the HPA and the Audit Commission are to go.

Protecting our Vitals

As we know science cuts are imminent, but opposition is mounting.

Science Minister David Willetts has been informed, by the chair of the House of Lords Science and Technology Comittee no less, that cutting science funding will put the UK "at risk".

In an open letter, supported by Vice-Chancellors of six of the UK's leading universities, Lord Krebs cites arguments including loss of staff, reputation and future growth.

This comes at the time when  a synchoton in Switzerland has developed and demonstrated an important nanoscale x-ray technique. In this light does cutting money to the Diamond Light Source make any sense?

If you support continued science funding join Science is Vital. They are also on Facebook and have a demonstration planned in London.

Rage, rage against the Dying of the Light!

South of Oxford, in the Vale of White Horse lies a machine. It's a big machine, housed under 33,000 m² of roofing and with a circumference of 561m the Diamond Light Source is Britain's largest synchotron.

A sextupole magnet at the DLS, ref.

Synchotrons allow the inspection and analysis of chemical mechanisms and material structures (among other uses) with real world results. The DLS has been used for vast numbers of projects including research into cancer, jet engines and Alzheimer's.

Students Again

Mark Easton, the BBC's home editor, has written a wonderful blog post looking at the benefits or otherwise of student immigration into the UK. He shows yet more of this misreporting by government, in particular Mr Damian Green.

Net Neutrality and the FCC

As a follow up to the last post;

The FCC has asked members of the public to join the discussion about the future of the internet.

You can join in, and rate others views, at openinternet.gov

Five Days that Changed Britain

The Five Days that Changed Britain is a recent BBC documentary exploring the political wrangling that took place between the General Election (on May 5th) and the formation of the Coalition Government.

Being a report by those deeply involved the report can't be taken at face value, of course there's spin especially from Lord Mandelson, but one point that cannot be refuted is that we now have a coalition; why?

Last Quangos in Britain?

The Government recently announced massive cuts in the number of quangos The Independent and the BBC report. Possibly a good thing given that there are a lot of them (almost 1,200 as of mid 2008) and they cost a lot (£64 billion if you trust the Taxpayers Alliance).

I will leave it up to you to decide whether this is going to harm the services these quangos have been providing, the question I find interesting is;

How does this fit into "The Big Society"?