It was fascinating exploring Barcelona's Eixample, but it is of course radically different to Oxford: it has a regular grid layout instead of an irregular radial one, and the narrowest of the grid roads is probably as wide or wider than the widest of Oxford's arterials. bsky.app/profile/dann...

Danny Yee@dannyyee.bsky.social · 5d ago

We only spent five days in Barcelona, but I did quite a lot of walking around despite the heat. This thread is mostly about the Eixample blocks, as those are distinctive. This first thread is about the pedestrian experience before recent changes, the next thread will look at those.

But what about the superblocks? My second thread on walking in Barcelona's Eixample, looking at recent pedestrianisation schemes.

Danny Yee@dannyyee.bsky.social · 5d ago

We only spent five days in Barcelona, but I did quite a lot of walking around despite the heat. This thread is mostly about the Eixample blocks, as those are distinctive. This first thread is about the pedestrian experience before recent changes, the next thread will look at those.

We only spent five days in Barcelona, but I did quite a lot of walking around despite the heat. This thread is mostly about the Eixample blocks, as those are distinctive. This first thread is about the pedestrian experience before recent changes, the next thread will look at those.

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods don't just reduce the amount of traffic using residential streets as shortcuts – they can also help slow traffic down, making roads feel safer and more welcoming for local people. Find out more www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/transport-an...

More people need to read this. There is no such thing as a "historically accurate Odyssey," because the 'Odyssey' is not set in a real historical time. It is set in the mythic Age of Heroes, not the real-life Bronze Age. #Odyssey #Homer #classics kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2026/07/odys...

History and the <i>Odyssey</i>

The Odyssey is not set in the Bronze Age. It is totally flooded with classical-era motifs, with a smattering of archaic touches.

kiwihellenist.blogspot.com

At the Hemisfèric in Valencia. Everything in the small gift shop is the kind of stuff you’d expect. And then there are three copies of Mandelbrot’s _The Fractal Geometry of Nature_! (At €26, also the only thing not overpriced.) dannyreviews.com/h/Fractal_Ge...

🧵 A county-wide proposal on EV Charger locations is out for consultation. We support EV charging as part of the move to sustainable transport but we object to where these are going. Almost every scheme takes space from the pavement instead of the road with the most vulnerable people most impacted.👇🏽

Sure you've got your Count Binface, but when it comes to eccentric British candidates, retired Royal Navy officer Bill Boaks was a force to contend with. By all accounts Boaks was a terrible campaigner, but his single-minded dedication to the cause of road safety was a force to be reckoned with. 🧵

Pakistan's solar boom coincided with a 21% rise in electricity in 2 years. All of the 21% rise in electricity demand was met with distributed solar - actually grid electricity fell 3% in the last 2 years...

I’ve been wanting to write this piece for years. I guess this week I took the risk Rosy Retrospection Won’t Improve Our Towns “Remembering what was good is important. Pretending everything was better is holding us back” open.substack.com/pub/cllrdrna... Thank you to anyone who reads it

Rosy Retrospection Won’t Improve Our Towns

Remembering what was good is important. Pretending everything was better is holding us back

open.substack.com

“A significant body of research by legal and rights experts has concluded that Israel is intent on destroying Palestinians…”

Israel deliberately targeting Gaza children to commit genocide, UN inquiry finds

Report says by aiming at children Israel is undermining capacity of Palestinian people to exist

theguardian.com

It seems to have become commonplace to blame net zero for Britain’s high energy bills and/or weak job market… … and I guess I’ll have to explain again why there is very little evidence of this. Britain has plenty of economic problems; net zero is not high on that list (though climate change is) 🧵

Ed Miliband would be ‘noose around neck’ of job creation as chancellor, union boss warns

Comments by Sharon Graham come as Burnham team explores key government appointments

giftarticle.ft.com

Parasites: The Inside Story dannyreviews.com/h/Parasites.... - worms you don't want to meet

Capitalists Must Starve (Park Seolyeon) dannyreviews.com/h/Capitalist... - a straightforward biographical novel set in Korea in the 1920s, telling the story of labour organiser and activist Kang Juryong.

When first announced, the reaction was immediate and fierce. Taxi drivers warned of gridlock. Motorists staged protests. Politicians denounced it as a war on cars. Critics predicted longer journeys, economic disruption, and widespread backlash. Two years later, the data tells a very different story.

cllrdrnathanley.substack.com/p/quiet-lane...

Quiet Lanes, Loud Nonsense

You deserve better than the half truths being served up

cllrdrnathanley.substack.com

I don't post much on here but today, I thought some dots needed joining. So, have a read of this, about the most powerful health, cost of living, growth and health intervention you've never heard of www.linkedin.com/pulse/most-p...

The Most Powerful Health, Cost-of-Living and Growth Policy You've Never Heard Of

Imagine I told you there was a single intervention that could reduce annual sick days by 4.4 million, free up 1.

linkedin.com

"Tradeoffs exist when you are at the efficient frontier, when it’s really not possible to get more of one desired thing without giving up another. We are nowhere near that frontier in most of our decision making; we can usually have more of everything we want" backofmind.substack.com/p/the-sydney...

the sydney opera house exam question

extracts from a forthcoming

backofmind.substack.com

*Health care WORKERS. Prof Nick Maynard is an Oxford consultant surgeon who has volunteered in Gaza. The stats are that in Gaza c. 75 healthcare workers have been killed per 100,000 of the population, compared to just 0.8 in Ukraine, 0.3 in Myanmar, and 0.3 in Sudan. cherwell.org/2026/05/27/g...

'Genocide – I want you to use that word': Nick Maynard on working in Gaza's healthcare system - Cherwell

Professor Nick Maynard, a consultant at Oxford University Hospitals, has been to Gaza three times since 7th October 2023.

cherwell.org

This is a great example of "art-washing". Cow Lane needs to be closed to motor traffic to allow proper provision for walking and cycling - no amount of paintwork is going to change the basic space allocation problem.

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Work to install new artwork in the narrow Cow Lane underpass under the railway in Didcot has been postponed due to “unforeseen circumstances”. The maintenance closure to update lighting, cut back vegetation and improve guttering will still take place next week.

Okay so I read the whole of the Pope's latest encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas", the one the internet is calling the AI Encyclical, but it's about a LOT more than that (of course it is, it's over 40,000 words). Here's a thread of quotes...

Starbucks done EFFED up in Korea. Bad. May 18th just passed, Democratic Movement Day, when rose up after the military dictatorship sent tanks to mass-murder citizens. Some inappropriately call it "Tank Day." Starbucks commemorated Tank Day with a sale on tank tumblers. It gets much worse...

The Five Million Year Odyssey: The Human Journey From Ape to Agriculture dannyreviews.com/h/Five_Milli... (my review)

Can it really be true that: a) the Women's Institute has had trans members since the 1970s, b) the UK passed a law in 2010 requiring them to be expelled, c) nobody noticed this until 2026? it seems that we may have to consider the appalling vista that some lawyers are very bad at their job

This analysis of Oxford's cycling by Soteria is completely misguided, picking up superficial problems while completely oblivious to fundamental ones. soteriaproject.eu/what-does-cy...

- Subsidising consumption in the face of a supply shock - reducing incentives to drive less/switch to EVs - using up limited fiscal space to help better-off drivers rather than the most vulnerable. Hard to think of a worse policy right now.

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 3mo ago

Keir Starmer postpones fuel duty increase ft.trib.al/uGm03GB

Helsinki has opened a remarkable new bridge for trams, cycling and walking! The new Kruunuvuorensilta cuts the cycling distance to the city centre in half, while cars still need to take the long route. I cycled across the bridge just 3 weeks after the opening. My latest blog post and video:

Helsinki’s new ‘Crown Mountain Bridge’ changes the city

Cities around the world would love to do what Helsinki has just done. The city has effectively halved the distance to a major new urban development, making it far more accessible by active and sustainable transport. Because Helsinki is built on a series of islands and peninsulas stretching into the Baltic Sea, the city was able to create this new connection with three bridges.

bicycledutch.wordpress.com

We’re giving Mark what must be one of the country’s biggest design challenges - the Plain roundabout and Magdalen Bridge. The UK’s second busiest cycle route and busiest bus route, with some tight space constraints.

The Ranty Highwayman@rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Business trip as you didn't ask. A couple of hours for a mini #InfrastructureSafari in the morning before heading to Oxford to catch up with some of the @cycloxoxford.bsky.social and @oxlivstreets.bsky.social folks. Always fun to get out and about!

In 1994 I led a protest march against Internet censorship proposals by the New South Wales government that would have treated the Internet as if it were broadcast television…

SE Gyges@segyges.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"there were no moral panics about the internet in the 90s" are we sure about that. are we absolutely positive

The coverage of "hate marches" in the UK has been almost entirely about those in solidarity with Palestine This is compared to euphemisms used to describe increasingly emboldened fascist and their billionaire enablers Excellent from @desfreedman.bsky.social www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma...

Des Freedman | ‘Hate Marches’

Two marches will assemble in central London tomorrow. One is championing the rights of Palestinians and commemorating 78...

lrb.co.uk