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Paul Bower

@paulbower.bsky.social
100 followers 83 following 25 posts
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Reposted by Paul Bower
Richard V. Hirst @richardvhirst.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
A choose-your-own-adventure style novel! Written by me and @jennashworth.bsky.social! Set in Preston Bus Station! Grief! Woe! The dead returning! Black Magic chocolates! richardvhirst.co.uk/blog/bus-sta...
Bus Station Unbound by Jenn Ashworth and Richard V. Hirst
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Andy Bruce (Reuters) @bruceandy.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Pro tip: engage with local press. Takes 2 mins and it: • shows you care about a local issue • signifies that whatever town you're visiting isn't just the next input into the rolling PR machine (even if it is) • prevents being called out like this 👇 www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-n...
derbytelegraph.co.uk
Derbyshire Live denied chance to ask new PM Andy Burnham questions during visit
Mr Burnham visited rail manufacturer Alstom to launch a new education policy
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Owler Nook @owlernook.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Unsurprised to learn that the Reform candidate for the GM mayoral election is against 20mph, cycle lanes and Clean Air Zones. www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...
manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Reform UK's Sian Astley vows to 'go to war' in new mayoral manifesto
The Baguley councillor says she will stop Greater Manchester 'becoming a dumping ground for illegal migrants' and has vowed to 'go to war' with vape shops and 'dodgy' barber shops
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Did BBC radio 4 #Today programme really just do a whole package about drilling in the N Sea without once even mentioning #climate change? And not having anyone challenging the one-sided claims of former BP boss? So irresponsible #bbcr4today
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
A huge betrayal. Won't lower bills. Won't give us more energy security. Won't insulate from price shocks. And sends a clear message to the world that we are backing new oil and gas drilling. www.lbc.co.uk/article/ed-m...
lbc.co.uk
Ed Miliband to give green light to first major North Sea gasfield project in decade | LBC
The energy secretary is expected to approve Jackdaw drilling as the Iran war puts pressure on the government over energy security fears
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Ben Horrigan @ben.s91.media · 26/03/2026
Remember guys, every bike is a cargo bike
Two red bell peppers, one strapped to each footrest on a child seat on the back of my bike. They arrived intact at nursery, where I transferred them to my kid's bag.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
If you're not following Frans Saraste, it's time to take a hard look at your priorities and values. Or you could just follow him, I suppose.
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Owler Nook @owlernook.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Judging from the amount of idling I've witnessed today, petrol prices aren't high enough.
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Ben Horrigan @ben.s91.media · 18/03/2026
Just a normal day commuting in #Manchester. Five instances here of seriously dangerous driving, and that's fairly standard. Special mention to the driver who was watching TikToks at the wheel, not included because she wasn't visible on my bike camera.
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Walk Ride Salford @walkridesalford.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
For the 2nd time this week Salford council have indefinitely postponed a scheme to make cycling safer at the expense of cutting a few seconds off motor journeys. This time it’s the cyclops junction at Trinity Way / Chapel St, meaning the status quo of danger will continue
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Prof. Ian Walker @ianwalker.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
More than half our car's speedometer is dedicated to speeds that it is never legal to reach on UK roads
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Jon Burke🌍 @jonburkeuk.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Fuel Duty has been frozen, and therefore cut, for 15 years in the U.K, turbocharging transport emissions and starving local councils of grant funding to repair our crumbling roads. It’s been a disaster and it’s beyond embarrassing that any mainstream party would campaign to maintain the freeze.
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Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
"City hands out goggles, flippers and shark repellent yet still Swim To School Day not getting the numbers they hoped."
sharks in water 
City hands out goggles, flippers and shark repellent yet still Swim To School Day not getting the numbers they hoped.
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Two options for voters in Gorton & Denton. Greens or Reform?
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Gareth Dennis @garethdennis.uk · 26/02/2026
wanting the Greens to win in Gorton and Denton is up there with things I've wanted more than anything else in life, closely followed by how much I want Labour to lose
it's Perks from the original Railway Children looking wistfully past camera in black and white
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Here's me prompted by Matt Rendell to risk the opinion that perhaps the #winterolympics could be less #climatecrisis and ecosystem destructive: m.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhW...
m.youtube.com
Winter Olympics Report 3 - Off Track
YouTube video by New Weather Institute
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Paul Bower @paulbower.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
@ianwalker.bsky.social would be interesting to run this same question but replace the white car with a person riding a bicycle as well as a pedestrian wanting to cross the mouth of the junction. Has anything like this been done in UK? Does the Theory Test involve anything like this? (driving on RHS)
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Iain Roberts @slowbikeiain.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Under the road bridge #AlphabetChallenge #WeekUForUnloved
A lone figure walks underneath a long section of elevated roadway with graffiti-covered supports, along a sun-dappled path.
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Jon Owen @anotherjon.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
"Councillors estimate the cost of providing free car parks to be around £10 - £15 [per household per year]: equivalent to a ten per cent increase in council tax." - I find this story interesting mostly because it's rare that the true cost of free parking sees the light of day.
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Simon Pegg @simonpegg.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
"Parking is such sweet sorrow"
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
This is a brilliant demolition of Kemi Badenoch's nonsense about the Climate Change Act by @fionaharvey.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
As Tories vow to scrap ‘failed targets’, how do their climate claims stack up?
We fact check Kemi Badenoch and her party after she promised to repeal Climate Change Act if they win power
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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
I would be interested in seeing a decent engineering drawing, details of how the motoring network has been unravelled and a forecast of expected cycle and motor flows. Based on the image? Not a cycle street with parking bays sticking out like that. 1/5 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
England's 'first official Cycle Street' being built in Cambridge
It aims to make one of the city's busiest routes safer by giving cyclists priority over motorists.
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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
And sorry to dunk on people trying stuff, we absolutely need all of the tools in the box, but we also need to be doing it *really* well for the approach to gain credibility.
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Dom Cycling @domcycling.com · 10/09/2025
Also, it looks very similar to GM's previous Velocity 2025 scheme, which largely focused on traffic-free routes, like the Bridgewater Canal path, because it meant not having difficult conversations about taking space away from cars.
GM's Velocity 2025 proposed map
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Dom Cycling @domcycling.com · 10/09/2025
So GM's latest initiative for walking, wheeling and cycling is #CyanLines, which is a series of routes to connect the city's blue/green spaces cyanlines.com I'm a regular user of blue/green spaces, largely on bike, but also on foot. So I'm definitely supportive of the scheme. But... 🧵 #BikeSky
Visualisation of the Irwell, with walking and cycle paths
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Andy @andydrummond.eurosky.social · 07/08/2025
The #CyanLines initiative sounds really good, but there’s concern it’s going to be the usual conflation of #ActiveTravel with leisure cycling & that GM councils will use it as a substitute for a proper AT network, especially given the slow progress of the original #BeeNetwork vision.
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katycycles.bsky.social @katycycles.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Please please see @londoncycling.bsky.social ’s Women’s freedom after dark report. this looks and smells to me like a council that just doesn’t want to reallocate road space and thereby shows they actually don’t care about safety after all, ie fob off alert
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Andy @andydrummond.eurosky.social · 09/09/2025
Meanwhile, in Greater Manchester, we continue to do things differently.
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Dr Harrie Larrington-Spencer @tricyclemayor.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Needed to go to big Asda. Baby too small for the trike still so we got the bus. Awful driver. Then we get off the bus and are greeted by this massive junction without signalled pedestrian crossings. No wonder people drive ten minute journeys.
Four lane road junction without pedestrian crossing signals
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Adam Tranter @adamtranter.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Media coverage is fuelling a backlash against e-bikes. But often, the stories aren't even about e-bikes at all. Last week, the BBC reported that an "e-bike" was involved in a serious incident. But it was actually a high-powered electric motorbike. Here's how it got changed...🧵
Former Wigan Athletic youth player jailed for mowing down pensioner
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Giulio Mattioli @giuliomattioli.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Interesting-looking new study from the UK finding that being hit by an SUV (as compared to a regular car) "considerably" increases the risk of death for children, and even more so for young children doi.org/10.32866/001...
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 24/07/2025
Air pollution raises risk of dementia, say Cambridge scientists
theguardian.com
Air pollution raises risk of dementia, say Cambridge scientists
Most comprehensive study of its kind highlights dangers of vehicle emissions and woodburning stoves Exposure to certain forms of air pollution is linked to an increased risk of developing dementia, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind. The illness is estimated to affect about 57 million people worldwide, with the number expected to increase to at least 150m cases by 2050. Continue reading...
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Patrick Harvie @patrickharvie.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
This is every bit as sinister and dangerous as the worst anti-immigrant propaganda from the last Tory government. Starmer's Labour is a disgrace.
Screenshot of a social media post from the Prime Minister's office, @10DowningStreet. The text reads "We're taking action to stop migrants working illegally as food delivery drivers". The black and white image shows a silhouette of a cyclist with a food delivery box on their back. The text in the image reads "DELIVERED BY WHO? Our new agreement means the government will share asylum accommodation locations with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats. So they'll know if riders are staying there and can take action."
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kevjs1982.uk @kevjs1982.uk · 23/07/2025
Can we agree that if you've got an emotional support vehicle so big that the wheels on one side are touching the kerb and the others aren't even in the bay it should be classed as a HGV & fitted with a speed limiter & tachometer?
An emotional support pickup truck, the wheels on the left right into the kerb, the wheels on the right hanging out the bay.

On the opposite side of the road is some suss and a cycleway
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bikebike @bikebikeyyc.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Wait till you hear about cars. "It’s time to stop pretending we’re protecting the public from some great e-bike emergency. The real emergency is that we’ve accepted cars killing people as a fair trade for getting to Costco five minutes faster." electrek.co/2025/07/20/i...
electrek.co
If you think electric bikes are bad, there’s a much bigger menace hitting our roads
Electric bikes are a menace. They go almost as fast as a car (if the car is parking), they’re whisper...
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Oh yeah, because this won't in any way shape or form lead to people attacking delivery persons, Uber drivers etc. FFS, the image alone is meant to instil fear. That is guaranteed to lead to attacks. Labour's new pledge "actively inciting violence to gain votes"
Screenshot of an official Prime Minister post deliberately stoking fear and hate against migrants with a shadowy figure, reminiscent of old far right campaigns, and saying:
@10DowningStreet

We're taking action to stop migrants working illegally as food delivery drivers.

DELIVERED BY WHO?

Our new agreement means the government will share asylum accommodation locations with Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats.

So they'll know if riders are staying there and can take action.

PLAN FOR CHANGE

ALT

Home Office
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Carla Francome @carlafrancome.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
This really was a thunderingly important day on Vision Zero at City Hall yesterday - about eliminating road deaths in London. I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Huge thanks to Caroline Russell. Also it took me 4 hours to write the below thread so go read it. Thanks bye.
Me at City Hall - outside. V sunny day! Lots of round tables inside
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Carla Francome @carlafrancome.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Today I was honoured to attend a hugely important event on Vision Zero at City Hall, ran by the indomitable Assembly member @carolinerussell.bsky.social, Green group leader and Transport Lead. She started with a powerful speech. “Vision Zero is the most important policy that TFL has. - 1/12
Me with Caroline and Zoe Garbett City Hall
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Kneecap @kneecapceol.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
After the media damage is inflicted and seen by millions of eyes,you receive a private email to say there's no evidence and no action,seen by two people only There's no public apology. They don't send this to media or post it on police accounts We will continue to fight. We will continue to win.
One element of the political policing intimidation attempt is over. 

We played a historic set at Glastonbury. Whole area closed an hour before due to crowds. A celebration of love and solidarity. A sea of good people at the world's most famous festival.

Shortly afterwards we learn of an active police investigation. An investigation that followed after the Prime Minister himself said it "was not appropriate" we played Glastonbury.

Walk off stage to the rapturous sounds of good people and into the creaking scheming sounds of the establishment.This "investigation" was reported across the world's media often with wildly misleading headlines. 

Every single person who saw our set knew no law was broken, not even close....yet the police saw fit to publicly announce they were opening an investigation. 

Why open and publicise an investigation into fuck all?

This is political. 

This is targetted. 

This is state intimidation.After the media damage is inflicted  and seen by millions of eyes - you receive a private email to say there's no evidence and no action - that is seen by two people only. 

There is no public apology, they don't send this to media or post it on police accounts. 

We will continue to fight.

We will continue to win.Email from Avon and Somerset Police to Kneecap legal team: "I am Senior Investigating Officer for Avon and Somerset Police's investigation into Kneecap's performance at the Glastonbury Festival on 28th June 2025. Following a review of the evidence, I have determined there will be no further action.

I would be grateful if you could communicate this to your clients, and/or advise me of an alternative way if contacting them.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Regards,

Detective Superintendent [Name redacted]"
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Real Gaz on a proper bike: gazza_d@toot.bike @gazza-d.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
Surely that's what the big round signs with red borders and numbers inside are for. Make sure the dial on your vehicle doesn't go above the numbers on the signs and you're good. Easy #lifehack right there. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
'Public should have been told about North Yorkshire speed camera' - BBC News
The fixed camera on the A64, near Malton, was vandalised hours before it was due to be switched on.
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The Ranty Highwayman @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
In the Netherlands, you tap in and out of the station at the gates and don't have to worry about paying through the nose. The UK is an expensive joke.
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Mounsey. @mounsey.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
EVs compared to petrol ICE are driven 32% more miles per year. There's no way to sugar coat it. This is a disaster on a dozen levels. All played out one traffic jam at a time... Cheap driving? Yes please!?! www.thenational.scot/news/nationa...
thenational.scot
Electric vehicles account for more than one in 20 car miles driven in UK – study
Last year, pure battery electric cars under three years old were driven an average of 10,054 miles.
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Rich @hoxtonrich.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
Since getting rid of our car a few years ago we’ve saved well north of £10,000. If the government really wants to help ‘working families’ then forget freezing fuel duty & subsidising electric cars: Give people real alternatives to car dependency.
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Soraya🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🌌📚 @soraya22.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Ironically, community gardens are a form of class warfare conducted by the poor against the rich.
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Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
People on patios on a city street.
Another car free street devastating local businesses.
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Transport Action Network @transportaction.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
It would cost around £16m and generate £3 in social, economic and tourism benefits for every £1 spent on it. But somehow it is too expensive?! Meanwhile £billions will be spent on low value road schemes. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Queensbury Tunnel cycleway plan too costly, say government
Transport minister Lilian Greenwood says Queensbury Tunnel will be made
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Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
True Freedom
one person pedalling a bicycle with another standing on the back on a city street.

Bicycles deliver the freedom that auto ads promise
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Cutting "red tape" (aka public protections), as Reeves is doing, does not save money. Instead, it transfers costs from the rich to the poor. Other people pay for financial recklessness, filthy rivers, air pollution, lax building standards and consumer rip-offs. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reeves says rules and red tape are ‘boot on the neck’ of business
At the Mansion House dinner she calls for regulators to allow more risk to clear the way for economic growth
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Stephen Frost @sfrost.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Alarming finding from case studies of urban play projects. “Because of a range of aggressive behaviour from adults, children’s use of streets and public spaces were consistently restricted. A common statement from dissenters was ‘children can go elsewhere.’ The reality is they can’t.”
theconversation.com
How to give children the freedom to play all across the city – not just in playgrounds
Play should be promoted in cities to bolster children’s right to play anywhere.
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