Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 11h

Don't park on my drive, but I'll park on the footpath. Birmingham Car Culture is optimised on Willows Road

2 1 3

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 15h

This decision makes public health even better value for money. But I doubt we'll see any difference in allocation!

1

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 20h

@livingstreets.bsky.social Birmingham is a cultural city. Unfortunately, car culture is promoted more than others.
Don't bring pushchairs to Brum.

1 4

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 1d

Imagine if politicians tried to reduce high level of poverty and pollution in communities instead?

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

High immigration levels damage communities, Kemi Badenoch warns

The Conservative leader says society is in danger of fragmenting unless concerns are acted on.

www.bbc.co.uk

3

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 2d

Presumably putting flags up twice is a "repeated protest", the type Shabana Mahmood suggests giving Police more powers to prevent?

Kings Heath United Against Racism @khuar.bsky.social · 5d

Flags went up in Stirchley a few days ago & were taken down by local residents the same evening.

The men returned with a cherry picker and coned off parts of the road with police accompanying them as they put up new flags along the High Street.

Residents who object have been met with verbal abuse.

1 5

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 2d

Combined Authorities don't have enough political accountability. I think they need councillors as well as a mayor.

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks for sharing. There wasn't space for me to make comments about how I think Kings Heath park could be more pedestrian friendly and improve access to hard surfaces for sport. Where can I raise these discussion points?

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 2d

@betterstreetsforbirmingham.org @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social great dashboard from @healthfoundation.bsky.social local authority dashboard. Birmingham doesn't come out well but we have to start somewhere. Active travel under Transport tab www.health.org.uk/evidence-hub...

www.health.org.uk

1

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 9d

London is a rich city in a poor country
This is why Reform have gained traction

Resolution Foundation @resfoundation.bsky.social · 9d

No major English city other than London has productivity levels above the national average, says @dantomlinson.bsky.social . We cannot continue to leave our economy flying on one cylinder - it leads to excessive housing costs in London and not enough good quality jobs everywhere else in the country.

1

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 9d

Applying Foots trolley problem to traffic, the single occupied cars should not impede the bus carrying >50 people. Cars impeding buses fails both utilitarian and ethical test

1

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 9d

Yeah, heard that before about Brum having a comparatively small effective population caused by difficult traveling

1

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 9d

I'm in love with Berlin after my week's holiday there. Fabulous city.

Anyone know how they manage to support SO many independent restaurants? They're of a high standard too. Birmingham really struggles keep restaurants open.

1 1

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 9d

Indeed. Renationalised / franchised public transport is a great step forward. Hope to see it displace cars and return some £££ to public purse

1

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 9d

West Midlands transport policy over last century or so....

1. Pay for trams
2. Pay to remove trams
3. Pay for roads
4. Pay to close roads
5. Pay for trams

Imagine where we would be had we avoided the cost and terrible outcomes of steps 2,3 and 4

1 2

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 11d

@eddavey.libdems.org.uk bares his soul on fesshole

fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · 11d

I'm a professional comedian but I've got absolutely no idea why people find me funny. Every day I'm terrified it'll suddenly stop working for them and for reasons I don't understand.

Reposted by Gareth Hooper

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 11d

Former leader of Reform UK in Wales pleads guilty to bribery charges relating to statements in favour of Russia in the European parliament.

But Reform UK want to get rid of regulators and cut govt spending ... leading to less investigation and enforcement ... more bribery and security threats.

Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges

Gill admits eight counts of bribery relating to pro-Russia statements made in European parliament and articles

www.theguardian.com

15 200 400

Reposted by Gareth Hooper

Alan Fresco @alanf.bsky.social · 12d

I just checked the BBC news website. Eventually, at the bottom of the politics section after the negative Labour stories...

6 58 180

Reposted by Gareth Hooper

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 12d

ARE

YOU

PAYING

ATTENTION

YET?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

120 1.3K 3.2K

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 12d

Agree Joe. I hope cross party support can bring this about.

1

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 12d

And this part of Brum is comparatively better than other parts for terrible parking.

The ambivalence of Council/TfWM when you contact them about it is off the scale. Off. The. Scale. 👌🏼

2

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 12d

🤮

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 12d

A person living in Birmingham is 5 times more likely to be killed on the roads than a person living in Berlin.

The likelihood of getting anywhere near achieving zero deaths on WM roads lacks any kind of face validity.

Car use in Berlin is about 50% of what it is in Birmingham

1

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 12d

Litter is an indicator problem for me. No litter on the streets relies on people not dropping it, or people picking it up, or more likely both.

The presence of litter demonstrates for much more important issues, people and public institutions are at odds with each other, which isn't good news

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 16d

Visiting European cities, many of which have much greater numbers of immigrants than the UK, demonstrates how fabulous cities can be. And UK cities are the result of poor social policy and zero to do with immigration.

We've been terribly let down in the UK for decades

Gareth Hooper @garethhooper.bsky.social · 16d

After a few days in Berlin, Birmingham might be sell itself short if it only seeks to be as good as Manchester.
Berlin has large parks, quiet streets, lots of public transport, lots of independent restaurants.

We should be aiming for Berlin levels of public luxury

1