Monthly Archives: August 2011

The IAAF, FIFA, and traffic policy

The IAAF’s one-false-start-and-you’re-disqualified rule is the latest example of joy-killing by regulation-obsessed bureaucrats. The starting gun in athletics should fire at zero in a 5-second countdown. The current system is unpredictable, which prompts false starts. To solve the problem they … Continue reading

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What goes around …

Is it far-fetched to suggest that social discontent is prompted by public policy which treats us like morons (most traffic control) or cash cows (fuel duty, parking controls, speed cameras, 0844 phone numbers, etc)? Such public policy failures widen the gap … Continue reading

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Naughtie but too nice?

In the news today: cuts in government subsidies to local bus services, i.e. a kick in the teeth for the people, against a backdrop of abysmal existing provision, punitive parking controls in towns, and government obsession with a £60bn hi-speed … Continue reading

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Is street design enough?

Ben Hamilton-Baillie, street designer and proponent of shared space (he penned the phrase), thinks streetscape redesign is enough on its own, and that streets are designed to express a social context, road-users will instinctively start behaving sociably. I accept that to a degree, … Continue reading

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