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John Paddington

@padders123.bsky.social

230 followers 410 following 1.1K posts

Transport technology, Birmingham and some other stuff. Occasional photos of Travel Basil to promote St Basils homeless charity that works with young people in Birmingham.

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John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · Nov 16

Also: if you're wondering about my banner photo, it was taken in Kharkiv, Ukraine about ten years ago. It's a reminder of happier times and also the sadness that there is war there.

John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 32m

Commercial law seems to have a different chair and sitting further away from the other two. Seems appropriate.

John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 3h

Remember cutting stamp duty will simply increase house prices as buyers have more money to spend and sellers will use the fact that there is more demand than supply to put up prices.

The only sensible way of doing is is also to reform council tax and / or introduce land value taxation.

Reposted by John Paddington

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 21h

I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them

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General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 1d

Everyone who advocates for turning the UK into the UAE assumes they'll be the one with a marina penthouse rather than the guy working on a building site in 50c heat

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John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 23h

Plus the high public transport subsidy, congestion charging and huge costs to register a car.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/busines...

Cost of car ownership soars in Singapore

The city-state introduced a 10-year certificate of entitlement system in 1990 as an anti-congestion measure.

www.bbc.co.uk

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John C @badsocialism.bsky.social · 1d

So much of British policing boils down to the idea that there's no point dealing with Low Intensity Crime even though Low Intensity Crime is the crime 90% of people have to deal with

Will Yeates @wyeates.bsky.social · 1d

The British Transport Police (BTP) says it will not investigate bike thefts outside stations where the bicycle has been left for more than two hours.

Bike thefts at stations 'decriminalised'

Bike thefts at stations 'decriminalised'

The British Transport Police will not investigate many categories of bicycle theft, the BBC learns.

buff.ly

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John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 1d

And of course, it looks like the play area has a road in-between it and the houses.

Screen shot from google maps which shows the former play area to the left. There are houses to the right of this road.

John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 1d

This is also the problem - too often the rich and powerful opt out of public services so not interested in making things better.

Reposted by John Paddington

John Munro @johnmunro.bsky.social · 1d

Imagine what your city might be like if you had a mayor who behaved like this.

Nicholas Riehle, MUPP @nicholasriehle.bsky.social · Aug 7

Zohran’s citibike numbers make me feel like we need to start demanding bike share stats from our politicians in the same way we demand tax returns

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John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 1d

Never listen to those who seek to divide or disparage Birmingham. On the bus here today: new student had to ask the bus driver how to get to Aston Uni. They helped her get by telling where to get off and which connecting bus they needed. Someone else offered to walk them to the next bus stop.

John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe security is an issue but shouldn't data centres be mixed use if in an urban environment as the heat generated could be used in housing?

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John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 1d

83% of the growth in energy usage has been met by renewables... Not perfect but that's very much good going.

John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 1d

Glad it was ok but yes that sounds far more stressful than it should be. The disruption ticketing acceptance rules should be you can use any train to get you where you need to be.

John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 2d

Remember any cuts to civil service without any reduction in workload means that work ends up getting done by consultants at a much higher cost...

John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 2d

This is the problem with train ticketing nowadays. We're trying to bury the complexity on the websites instead of fundamental reform of ticketing.

Carla Francome @carlafrancome.bsky.social · 3d

I can confirm once again that it would probably be easier to have a conversation with a sheep in Latin than buy the correct train ticket for a journey in the UK. 🐑

Today I’m travelling to Leeds for work, and given my past troubles in this area, my boss, the ticket guru, … 1/10

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John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 2d

This is good but we had information provided up front before but was got rid of due to the costs on sellers who might not even sell.

Anyway the real problems is the whole process is archaic for the legal work.

www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...

UK ministers aim to speed up homebuying by four weeks

Proposed government overhaul of house purchase process looks at shifting some costs from buyers to sellers

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by John Paddington

Ben Recht @beenwrekt.bsky.social · 3d

In non-LLM AI news, Waymo has quietly been involved in two fatal car crashes in 2025. Phil Koopman details that this fatality rate is now comparable to humans.

People: 7/billion miles in all conditions
Waymo: 5/billion miles in geofenced conditions

Blame-Free Robotaxi Crashes Are Still Crashes

The tricky logic behind robotaxi crash metrics

philkoopman.substack.com

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Board of Deputies of British Jews @boardofdeputies.bsky.social · 3d

We utterly condemn what appears to have been an arson attack on a mosque in Peacehaven.

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John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 3d

I do get the impression that there are a lot less in the centre of Birmingham. However, I do wonder if it's harder to find about these events as social media less focused on it. Plus meetup seems less used

Reposted by John Paddington

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 3d

A lot of parties are acting as if the election is tomorrow as opposed to likely 2029 after which either Trump is out of office, or more concerningly, still in office.

Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 3d

This is to me the most baffling aspect. Who would place a bet that the next three years won't feature some terrible horror in the US from the outfit that Badenoch and Jenrick specifically say they want to copy? bsky.app/profile/smka...

smkali.bsky.social @smkali.bsky.social · 3d

The ICE raids aren’t popular even in America. Why do they think people want it here?

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Matthew Somerville @dracos.co.uk · 3d

There are weekly, if not daily, criminal offences occurring at every pelican and zebra crossing I use around me, more dangerous (and indeed, occasionally terrifying) than holding a placard, and yet I never see a police presence at any of them

"Mahmood rejects suggestion police should just ignore people holding placards saying they support Palestine Action
Mahmood says she has “no truck” with the argument that people should not be arrested for holding up signs saying they support Palestine Action (a proscribed group – which means just holding a sign in public saying you support them is an offence). She says:
"I have no truck with this argument that suggests that merely holding up a placard somewhere in central London somehow shouldn’t have a police response.

If you’re supporting a proscribed organisation, you are breaking the law of our land.

That organisation has been prescribed. It is an offence to show support for that organisation.

People might not like that decision. They might have questions about the way that the anti-terror laws work in this country. But there is no excuse for holding up placards supporting a banned organisation. That will always be met with a police response.""

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Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 4d

I think the current, trans-inclusive arrangements are lawful. But there is also a freedom of association issue here. If associations can't decide to share their services on a trans-inclusive basis the law urgently needs changing.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 4d

Hampstead Heath swimming ponds considering limiting transgender users’ access

Trans swimmers currently able to use a mixed pond or either of the segregated ponds for the gender they identify as A consultation has been launched on transgender swimmers’ access to Hampstead Heath ponds, which could result in them being banned from using the pools for the gender they identify as. The Kenwood Ladies’ and Highgate Men’s ponds are gender-segregated, with trans people currently able to swim in whichever they feel most appropriate, or use the Heath’s mixed-gender pond instead. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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The Man in Seat 61 @seatsixtyone.bsky.social · 4d

Provisional timings for the 2026 Warsaw-Vilnius service now at www.seat61.com/trains-and-r...
Doubled to 2 per day, accelerated by an hour.
Krakow departure 06:14 instead of 03:58.
Berlin-Vilnius will be possible in a day, 6 days a week - if you don't mind an 05:51 start!

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Commander Sterling @commandersterling.bsky.social · 4d

The Online Safety Act sure has made being online more dangerous.

The Verge @theverge.com · 4d

Discord customer service data breach leaks user info and scanned photo IDs

An “unauthorized party” may have accessed the names of users, the last four digits of credit card numbers, and more.

buff.ly

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John Paddington @padders123.bsky.social · 5d

Looks like anyone north of the Watford Gap doesn't get their own county?