benwheels.bsky.social
Campaigns and Policy Lead at Wheels for Wellbeing, but views my own.
Published and promoted on behalf of Ben Foley and Luton & Bedfordshire Green Party, both at 48 Olivier Ct, Bedford, MK40 2UU
245 posts
289 followers
177 following
Getting Started
Active Commenter
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iirc legally permitted for very low speed, but too rarely fitted or supplied on legally compliant #eCycles. Could be very useful for #Disabled #cyclists.
Meanwhile, huge numbers are on the roads illegally modified with throttles that enable going >15mph, so are unregistered motorbikes, not eCycles.
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Too often people who live in houses (often with garages and/or spare rooms) have no idea what it's like for those of us living in flats where our storage space for everything is the 1sq metre legal min (and yes, also facing the stairs, heavy fire doors, non-working lifts, insecurity of tenure...).
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So pleased to see you posted this. When I saw the article, I wanted to share it on socials, but was just too busy a the time!
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Where there is a chance of a different party controlling the council after the next election, it might be worth amplifying any calls by opposition politicians for improvements, welcoming any tiny improvements they are able to make even while in opposition (eg using ward funds where they exist).
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… In others it will be by working behind the scenes (eg a meeting showing how active travel infra could solve problems) for members of the council executive and key party members. …
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The tactic will depend on the political balance on the council. If one party has an overwhelming majority, then you need to work out how to influence that party. In some cases that will be by embarrassing them in the press…
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They WANT us to be talking about WFA to distract from their continuing plans for massive cuts in #Disability benefits. What they are planning _there_ is a massive raid on the pockets of many of the poorest and most vulnerable. By contrast WFA is a tiny issue of a single payment of £200/£300 a year.
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I want to share, but am reluctant because it doesn't have #altText for visually impaired people. Could you add alt text please? www.bskyinfo.com/guides/getti...
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I think I have about a half day in Berlin in a couple of weeks' time (as part of my train trip to Gdansk). I think I will probably follow you to both Bebelplatz and the Hirschfeld memorial.
I'm not sure how I will react to hearing the tour guides' erasure of trans* history, though!
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They will deal with it they way they normally do with evidence that doesn't fit their views. Ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist.
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The Corbyn interval was a very rare moment when some in Labour listened to their left. Labour’s right were horrified and called on the RW press for assistance. Normal service has been resumed.
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#Philosophers will tell you defining what a " #fact" might be isn't easy. Requiring news to be demonstrable 'facts' is probably too high a hurdle. By contrast 'fairly representing available #evidence' might be a useful requirement.
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If they banned #PavementParking, people wouldn't have been tempted to park on both sides of that street. It only ever had enough space to park on one side.
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They do in this country. Where there are car-free shopping streets, people appreciate them, but forget they once had cars on them.
Similarly with #LTNs: people living there forget the junction closures done before they moved in ever happened (even though it might be part of why they moved there).
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"disgruntled labour lefties" have principles that are a much better fit for the Green Party and where it has been over the last 30 years than "the traditional ex-Tory NIMBY faction" do.
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It's the people who have joined to oppose Party policy (notably on trans* rights) who have been attempting a takeover, not those who join because they support Party policy.
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My hunch is that Molly thinks that anyone is too extreme whose position on trans* rights is more positive than "we've got to make sure people who call themselves 'gender critical' feel perfectly comfortable and at home in the Green Party".
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Just because someone is a "disgruntled Labour leftie" doesn't mean they aren't a good fit in the Green Party. Local Party after Local Party would fall apart without the people who could be called "disgruntled Labour lefties", but who are now just typical Green activists. It's not a "take over".
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I can remember going to matches at Borehamwood back 20 years ago where the crowd was a couple of hundred. To win the biggest trophy now that the audience is so large is something else!
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There is nothing about the post that constitutes a disciplinary offence, so far as I can see, so there's nothing the party _can_ do to get it removed except ask nicely.
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The "traditional ex-Tory NIMBY faction" has _never_ been a serious part of the GP at any time since I joined in 1988.
The Green Party has _always_ had many, many more former LibDem and Labour members joining it than former Tories.
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What do you mean by "Green first" and "Red first"? So far as I'm concerned anyone who genuinely agrees with the aims of the GP, sticks within its rules and isn't going to harm it is welcome.
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The two odd things about the Philip Proudfoot posts that MSC screenshots are 1) that he advocates a left split between two parties and 2) that somehow MSC thinks it is worth drawing attention to his views.
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Oh, yes, Corbynistas were very different from the post-Blair Labour Party: they were always closer to the Green Party (indeed a significant tranche of GP members left to join the Corbynistas in Labour). The ex-Labour members who don't fit so well with GP are more often those who opposed Corbyn.
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But I haven't seen her previously advocating for measures to restrict entryism (like the proposed amendment to the constitution so that nobody has voting rights until they have been a member for three months).
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I'm not convinced she is serious in not wanting such members. Molly is trying to game an internal election by scaring members into voting for her preferred candidate.
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It seems Molly is trying to make the leadership election into a left vs right thing.
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Molly is trying to game an internal election by scaring members into voting for her preferred candidate.
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Molly just wants her preferred candidate to win in the leadership election.
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Molly is trying to game an internal election by scaring members into voting for her preferred candidate.
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Molly is trying to game an internal election by scaring members into voting for her preferred candidate.
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That was the entire purpose of the post. As for why, Molly will have to answer for herself.
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Molly is trying to game an internal election by scaring members into voting for her preferred candidate.
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I'm not convinced she is serious in not wanting such members. Molly is trying to game an internal election by scaring members into voting for her preferred candidate.
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Yes, Molly is trying to game an internal election by scaring members into voting for her preferred candidate.
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I joined in the same year as MSC. I don't think an influx of Corbynistas would significantly change the Green Party, beyond making it larger.
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I'm not convinced she is serious in not wanting such members. Molly is trying to game an internal election by scaring members into voting for her preferred candidate.
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I expect you'd be welcomed by most members of the Green Party. Molly is trying to game an internal election by scaring members into voting for her preferred candidate.
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The vast majority of Greens do want people disillusioned by Labour (_very_ many Green activists came from Labour). What Molly's problem is, is another question.
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Opportunities to introduce private members bills are _extremely_ limited, so I'm not sure that is a fair way of judging. Perhaps look to see what Early Day Motions have been introduced and signed by the four Green MPs? edm.parliament.uk
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Thanks for highlighting this case law. I worry that EHRC will overstep when they issue guidance, as they did when they issued interim advice.
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At @wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk we have a distict feeling that the #TfL ban on #eCycles illegally discriminates against #Disabled people. TfL accepted the ban was a "blunt mechanism". Far too blunt. Oddly their evidence didn't mention Tube drivers' union threat to strike if a ban wasn't introduced.
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I'd tend to say puffins are, by contrast, less accessible but significantly safer. Less accessible because they are dependent on pushing a beg button, which is difficult for many and impossible for some #Disabled people. Safer because it opens the possibility of effective (camera) enforcement.