Responsible leaders in competent governments will have to fix this problem by heavily regulating auto manufacturers designs. There's no other way around it and people need to start becoming very loud and very aggressive about this issue.

kanchan@kayehm.bsky.social · 6h ago

A UK study found that telling potential SUV buyers that those vehicles directly result in higher fatalities for pedestrians, cyclists and children had zero effect on their decision to buy them. What does work? Financial penalties: Increased fees, taxes, parking. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

This should be compulsory viewing for all teenagers, and anyone who's just got their driving licence (at any age).

Karl-on-Sea@karlonsea.bsky.social · 7h ago

Seriously, viewer discretion is definitely advised on this latest one from Durham Police. The top comments are that it's the sort of thing that should be compulsory viewing in schools for 17 & 17 year olds, and I'm inclined to agree. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYut...

Another one of the reasons I binned Spotify.

Anon Opin@anonopin.bsky.social · 6h ago

Novelists don't rewrite their debut work a decade later. Artists don't repaint their first canvases a decade later. So why do rock bands and pop stars insist on remixing all their debut singles? Even worse, why do these crap tracks so effectively pollute streaming services?

A lot of excuses for very slow action - no explanation for why a boom or just other attempts to clear nurdles in the river or prevent them flowing out to sea couldn’t be put in place away from the collision site. Over 2 weeks after spill, they’re now finally focused on clearing the nurdles?

ChronicleLive - The Chronicle@chroniclelive.co.uk · 6h ago

The Port of Tyne says it is ready to move onto the second phase of a "complex operation" to pick nurdles from the River

Opinion that may or may not be controversial: We should stop allowing children to drive. And "children", in the context of driving, means people under about 25.

Seriously, viewer discretion is definitely advised on this latest one from Durham Police. The top comments are that it's the sort of thing that should be compulsory viewing in schools for 17 & 17 year olds, and I'm inclined to agree. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYut...

"It was always going to happen." | Charlie's driving killed Abbie. It was her 18th birthday.

YouTube video by Durham Constabulary

youtube.com

Why use a bollard when a massive gate will do for a cyclist hating authority. Don't tell em that you could just whip around it on the footpath. Feckwits.

road.cc@roadcc.bsky.social · 9h ago

It's been a full-on day on today's live blog... road.cc/news/cycling...

Gotta give it to Semi Goodenough. I've never seen any political so morbidly determined to find a hill to die on. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Badenoch gives former neo-Nazi advisory role after he withdraws as Tory candidate

Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who was convicted of harassing Jewish MP, says Badenoch has asked him to work with party’s culture and integration commission

theguardian.com

“3/4ths of disabled people don’t drive. Stop using us as an excuse for car dependency.” — @nondriver.bsky.social in collaboration with @urbantruth.bsky.social. #UrbanTruth Worth repeating. #UrbanTruth

Here it is. My manifesto for the 2026 Clacton By-Election. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join me, clean up Clacton and let's make 13th August Bin Day! #VoteBinface #VoteyMcVoteface #YesWeTinCan

Breaking News! Code: Bonkers! El Nino continues to spike towards an all-time record high anomaly, with the Nino 3.4 sea surface temperature more than 2.6°C above the 1991-2020 baseline as of August 4th, and more than 1.0C° above the previous August 4th record set in 1997.

I can’t believe we’re still having a debate about whether there’s a trade off between job creation and measures to green the economy. There isn’t. The evidence was clear years ago - a green economy creates far more jobs than the fossil fuel economy it replaces. Come on Labour, catch up …

Government contracts to require job creation instead of green targets under new rules

Louise Haigh says taxpayer money must benefit local communities amid backlash from environmental groups

theguardian.com

Time Traveler Causes of Death xkcd.com/2976/

Also, it’s about not about the numbers but orders of magnitude. Environmentally sound strategies create about A THOUSAND TIMES the no of jobs that fossils do…..

I'm delighted to hear that BP doubled their profits, making £4.2bn in just 3 months. Not that I have any vested interest in it, other than the £50,000 given to us by the wife of former senior BP executive James Hay.

Might be helpful to read today's column in conjunction with this one, from January, as they point to the same root cause: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

At the root of all our problems stands one travesty: politicians’ surrender to the super-rich | George Monbiot

There are many excuses for failing to tax the ultra-wealthy. The truth is that governments don’t tackle the problem because they don’t want to, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

theguardian.com

As an aside, if any other professionals were as incompetent as certain journalists, they'd be sacked and disbarred. But in the rightwing press, gross incompetence appears to be a qualification. After all, without its bullshitters for hire, how else would capital deny, deflect and distract?

Pretending that the Navy taking back migrants would be a humanitarian mission and therefore legal, is a bit like pretending that a £5 million bribe is nothing to do with politics and therefore doesn't need to be declared.

Direct, full-time jobs opening Rosebank oilfield would create: 450 D, f-t jobs opening Jackdaw gasfield would create: 27 D, f-t jobs in UK's net-zero economy: 300,000 + 400,000 more on the way D, f-t jobs in the rest of the green economy: 600,000 Is that really the hill Burnham wants to die on?

It's always the exceptional hardship defence that gets them off a driving ban. If the hardship would be exceptional for losing their license, then they wouldn't speed. share.google/4NeTQD0PTRtK...

More than 4,000 drivers with 12 or more speeding points still allowed on the road

RAC calls on Government for repeat and excessive speeders to have Intervening Intelligent Speed Assistance devices fitted to prevent them reoffending

share.google

My column on how capital becomes a death cult. Faced with a choice between profit and human life, the radical right chooses profit. Then it tries to persuade us that mass death is what we want. It's the new phase of climate denial: accept your fate, earthlings. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Murderous heat, an endangered food supply, decimated landscapes: embrace the Mediterranean life | George Monbiot

As climate disaster stares us in the face, the radical right says ‘Embrace the Mediterranean life’. Embrace death, more like it, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

theguardian.com

Can confirm.

fesshole 🧻@fesshole.bsky.social · 19h ago

The hottest guy I ever slept with could have been a model, but he was boring as hell. If you're average looking and funny, count yourself lucky

Indeed. We've driven several hundred miles this last few weeks and there is a handful of insects on the car. We are seeing the collapse of an entire ecosystem.

And pollinators are dying because the NFU pushed for the ban on pesticides containing neonicotinoids to be reinstated

I just heard the presenter in Radio 4’s Today programme interviewing farmers. Them: “Yields are waaay down & pollinators are dying due to heat stress reducing flowering. Net zero is the only option.” Presenter: “Yes, but Britain is less than 1% of emissions. Have you tried planting other crops?”

Six years of lost progress here in Newcastle. Let's hope the new Administration can reverse that.

Momentum Magazine@momentummag.bsky.social · yesterday

Study Finds Cities That Kept Building Bike Lanes Saw Cycling Continue to Grow After the Pandemic. momentummag.com/study-finds-...

Raise The Colours is a terrorist organisation - and should be treated as such.

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · yesterday

Leaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.

#DriverSparedJail www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Van driver who caused death of North Yorkshire cyclist sentenced

Robert Wade, 25, is given a suspended jail term following the death of 54-year-old Graham Nash.

bbc.co.uk

If you've got an opinion you want on here - submit it to the form: https://forms.gle/1gNMupaNHQf8xeRE6

In other news, the weather was so good on Sunday for my 200km DIY @audaxuk.bsky.social that I got a slight case of sunburn through my cycling jersey and down the centre of my back.