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Peter Brommer

@pbro.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.1K following 954 posts

Born, lives. Cares about active transport, including cycling, sustainability. Associate Professor in Materials Modelling at the University of Warwick. Pronouns: he/him.

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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 7h
I'm sorry that I have a pretty good idea. I wish I hadn't.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yeah, but people still buy ICE vehicles today!
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
And I write this as somebody who made a conscious effort to replace their diesel car with a BEV when the former was written off in March, before diesel hit £2 for the first time.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The writing's on the wall for ICE cars. And has been for a while. The amount of new ICE cars still sold shows that consumers are being let down by the government and car industry.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Maybe the drivers should be looking for alternative ways to power their cars. BEV drivers there must feel reasonably smug right now. Public charging seems to cost about the same as in the Midlands, if not less…
Map of Hebrides showing the ubiquity of public car chargers, including fast chargers.Map of Shetland showing the ubiquity of public car chargers, including fast chargers.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Of course! I meant "afford" in the widest sense.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
No. To vote at conference you either have to register and attend (in-person or remotely), or find somebody to vote in your stead as a proxy (each attendee can hold up to 5 proxy votes). IIRC, quoracy is determined from the number of registered attendees.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
My maths was before my first coffee, so it's kind of you to check. But my order of magnitude calculation was 2000 votes out of 200,000 members is 1%. 0.8% is probably more precise but 0.08% of 226,000 would only be around 180 votes.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I would agree, to a degree. One member, one vote is one of the fundamental principles of GPEW internal democracy. But if only 1% of the members participate in voting, it leaves conference open to these kinds of things.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
All members can attend and vote at GPEW conference. There are no delegates. Being able to attend remotely makes it more accessible to those who cannot afford a weekend away. I was away camping, so couldn’t even do that. A fellow member voted for me as my proxy.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The ellipsis at the end makes it look rather ominous...
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Proxy votes are available. My vote against was counted while I returned from a hiking trip in Wales (which all in all was better for my mental health than attending conference).
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Your own knee and/or your own nose?
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Kafka would be proud of this system.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The chipping away at citizenship, which started with Shamima Begum, is utterly poisonous. Anytime now, Restore will support the removal of citizenship on the basis of race or religion.
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Two-tier British citizenship latest.
 Conservatives to strip migrant criminals of British citizenship

Dual nationals serving sentences over five years could lose passports under the proposals
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Nathan Ley @nathanley.com · 26/09/2026
cllrdrnathanley.substack.com/p/the-roofs-...
cllrdrnathanley.substack.com
The roofs won’t be enough
“Just put them on roofs instead” is the most comfortable argument in British politics. It is also the one that quietly hands the bill to our children.
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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This discovery is why Einstein was history’s greatest physicist Einstein made a whole lot of discoveries in his life, with many others very close to many of his breakthroughs. But without Einstein, General Relativity may never have come about at all. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro
bigthink.com
This discovery is why Einstein was history's greatest physicist
Although many of Einstein's papers revolutionized physics, there's one Einsteinian advance, generally, that towers over all the rest.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
ICE car drivers.
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Cab Davidson @gnomeicide.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is UK road culture. The police don't care because they're part of it. George is bang on here. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Driving that’s too fast, too dangerous and utterly lawless: why do we tolerate this petro-masculinity? | George Monbiot
In towns and in the countryside, I see 4x4s and pick up trucks driven without care or consicence. It’s a Magafication of transport, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
How many bodies did they find in the wreckage.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
That is not OK. Sorry to hear that you have been subjected to that.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Obviously the "No vehicles" sign (just the red ring on a white circle) also forbids cycling. Other signs are largely advisory (e.g. "CYCLISTS DISMOUNT" as a text).
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The highway code has a sign that forbids cyclists from riding their bikes (black bicycle on white in a red circle, "No cycling" sign). This sign is enforceable and must be obeyed.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Ah. Not a rule in the highway code then. Cause I ride frequently ride across humped railway bridges and I was wondering if I missed something. Never seen such a sign though. Is that on a shared use path or are cars also allowed across?
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Also, in a car, typically only the front vehicle can jump the red. How many drivers are prohibited from jumping a red by the driver in front of them stopping? Whereas a red light jumping cyclist will will just glide past the stopped cars.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Which rule of the highway code requires wheeling your bike over a hump bridge where you can't see who's coming?
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Kate Watson @loreandordure.com · 15/09/2026
Your app should be a fucking website. I have a browser already. Thank you.
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The hospitality industry are back lobbying for a VAT cut They don't mention the cost: £12bn They don't mention who gets the £: ❌ The smallest most vulnerable businesses? Get nothing ❌ Consumers? Prices won't fall ✅ McDonald's gets £400m. Big chains are big winners 🧵:
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Kevin Anderson @kevinclimate.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I was asked by a colleague from my oil & gas days (who has remained in the industry) why UK producing its own gas is less acceptable to the Greens (& others) than importing it from America and West Africa.' The full question & my reply is now online at: climateuncensored.com/there-is-no-...
climateuncensored.com
There Is No Atmospheric Exemption for British Oil and Gas - Climate Uncensored
I was recently contacted by a colleague from my days in the 1980s and 90s when I worked as an engineer in the offshore oil and gas sector. He remains in the
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Let's hope his braking needs never exceed the rolling resistance of the shopping trolley.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
No, for 2 reasons. Firstly, I'm usually blissfully unaware of such taxes until I'm asked to pay at check-in (whenever I've consciously encountered it, it wasn't charged with the booking). Secondly, even if I was aware, it's small fry that usually doesn't impact my decision making.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I donate a *not* to this sentence.
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Anti. @antikalypse.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Es geht immer noch dreister und erbärmlicher.
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Prof Ben Britton @bmatb.expmicromech.com · 03/09/2026
So... this whole article is a pile of shit, and the argument is a rage-bait/dog whistle. I have some quite personal stakes in this, as a CRC… with a learning disability 😬. As Usher articulates - use of the h-index as the sole predicator of academic quality - is bullshit.
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Jasmin Mujanović @jasminmuj.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I was asked by @newlinesmag.bsky.social to write about the death of Bosnian Serb genocidaire Ratko Mladić. He was a war criminal but above all he was a coward. And it is on his cowardice, and the courage of those he sought to exterminate, that we should reflect. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/th...
newlinesmag.com
The House Ratko Mladić Could Not Destroy
Ratko Mladić, the commander in charge of the Srebrenica genocide and architect of the Sarajevo siege, died serving a life sentence. He died a coward, much as his political progeny today still live as ...
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I speak English as a second language, but shouldn't it be "well- paying jobs"?
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Back home now with only a minimal delay due to a window malfunctioning.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
But it was all worth it. bsky.app/profile/rach...
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
What could go wrong on the bus trip to Farnham Park? Bus arrived on time but now won't leave for lack of AdBlue! Carousel buses, please maintain your fleet better!
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Spent the last hour comfortably seated in a Chiltern train to High Wycombe, where I'll change for my final hop to Beaconsfield.
Author wearing a BBF umpire baseball cap aboard a moving Chiltern train. Green background is motion blurred.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I refused to board the first train: no space at all for my kit bag and myself.
Post author in BBF umpire baseball cap, branded blue hoodie, kneeling next to an 80 litre blue kit bag on platform 3 in Leamington Spa.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
On my way to the BBF Summer Cup on Farnham Park. First train from Coventry: cancelled by @crosscountryuk.bsky.social. An Uber got me to Leamington even earlier.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
They ran upriver! The flood came out of a side valley and just spilled in both directions.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The people are running upriver. The flash flood came out of a side valley and went both directions along the Trishuli River.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Same location, different direction. Both videos appear to be taken from about this location. The people are fleeing upstream the Trishuli River, the flash flood seems to have come from a side valley. maps.app.goo.gl/ncAsD9kwPLsM...
maps.app.goo.gl
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I appreciate your answers, Simon, and I also hope C UK do find a way to follow their stated principles, so my LCC membership may be only temporary. I wish we were not in a time where these discussions were forced upon us by people and organisations engaging in lawfare.
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Not quite our future. Some increases will be more than 4%. Martin Lewis said there's a ~10% increase on the line for January, given current wholesale price developments...
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
(Organised rides etc. is not my thing anyway - it's just the insurance and the advocacy that I'm looking for)
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Peter Brommer @pbro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I'd prefer to be member of a cycling organisation that also advocates cycling where I live, so my hope is that Cycling UK revises its position at some point. But I won't re-join them while they are not following up their trans-inclusive words with actions, so there we are...
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