Hoxton Dad

Zack Polanski wrongly claimed on @BBCr4today that the Golders Green suspect was "handcuffed" when he was kicked by officers. That's simply not right... his hands were free and he was holding a knife! Polanski to Nick Robinson: "I was traumatised by seeing someone handcuffed and repeatedly kicked in the head”.

@BobFromAccounts Both Hackney & Islington @UKLabour have failed politically on the issue of LTN’s. They failed to listen and allowed their own vehicles to ignore the infrastructure - what? Because they know the economic harm it creates. No doubt post election in Hackney things will be different.

People should absolutely be penalised for driving in London. Speeding kills, pollution kills, and LTNs make everything safer. Driving a private vehicle is selfish and has consequences for everyone around you.

@ianmiles Ha ha you should see our brave lads in the UK, they don’t have guns either but took down a knife wielding nutter this week. Maybe your president should get a few tips on effective policing from our PM?!?

They’re TSA agents. They don’t have guns. They’re not trained to deal with armed terrorists. What the hell do you expect them to do?

@owenjonesjourno @ZoeJardiniere When those two idiots attacked you a few a years back - be honest was your first thought, I wonder if they need help? I wonder if their homophobic thoughts were best tackled with praise and love. No! You would’ve head butted the fuckers if necessary.

I'd like an expert to explain this to me. This is a dangerous would-be murderer with a knife who needed to be apprehended. He's been tasered, but still has the knife. He's repeatedly kicked in the head. I'd just like that explained.

The Metropolitan Police denouncing a party leader a week before elections - over a retweet. This is outrageous. Forget what you think about the retweet. If you accept this sort of police interference in our democracy, you legitimise a deeply disturbing precedent.

@BenGoldsmith I can’t understand why we’re here. Surely people making these decisions in the local councils are competent? Oh …….

The pollen from the London plane trees during these two weeks of the year is like fibreglass, gets in the eyes, throat, lungs. Nobody is immune. It’s not a native tree, it’s a man-made hybrid, even though many of them are pretty old. There ought to be a ban on planting it, and they should be gradually replaced with native trees.

@likesretirement @KevinASchofield Love man, it’s all about love!

@KevinASchofield I'm assuming that ZP thinks that the police should try hypnotising criminals into giving themselves up?

Ooft

@KevinASchofield Great to see someone in a public office say it as it is! Not sure how I’d react with a nutter wilding a knife but I consider they showed genuine restraint.

We can't abolish leasehold outright, minister says - BBC News this guys knows his shit. Unusual for a modern day politician. Hey you Tory buys what’s your daft response now? Fleecehold Fleecehold … you’re so dull. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

Healthy life expectancy gap between rich and poor has widened - BBC News# but active travel, active travel! Oh …… seems #LTN’s ain’t cutting it. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@BobFromAccounts @RobinHawkes1 @hackneycouncil Let’s be honest post election you ain’t gonna see any inclusion in any new #LTN - the experiment is finally dead. Those councillors who supported will be gone. The new players in Hackney will know the dangers the #LTN’s pose.

Whitmore Street has finally been resurfaced(CS1). Unfortunately, it won't be included in the Hoxton LTN and continue to see an increase in cars competing with thousands of cyclists. A missed opportunity to reduce rat running and eliminate on-street parking @hackneycouncil

No 10 say Falkland sovereignty rests with UK after report of US 'review' - BBC News now there’s a surprise. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@RoughTrade Well done - better organised than last year and felt like you had a copy of everything, you had to get there early for the William Boroughs but I got mine! Great to see such a young crowd at East. Lads behind came straight from a pub lock-in at 4am - respect. #londonishealing

And so ends Record Store Day for another year. Thank you to all who partied with us. 50 years young and still pinching ourselves we get to call this work 🙏

@Jordan_W_Taylor @visitcamberwell I love in Hoxton with huge areas of publicly owned land obviously ready for infil house building - it’s shocking not even a @UKLabour govt can kick off a house building initiative.

There's been a lot of discussion this week about comically low salaries in Britain, and much cope and sour grapes as Brits try to save face in front of the yanks. The UK is poorer than all fifty US states on paper, so it’s a valid discussion. Let's have it! Firstly it's true, so let's not pretend it isn't. By averages, medians or the great state of Mississippi, the Americans get paid more. I work in US multinationals in Ireland so I get to see first hand the difference in cost rates and it's real, there's no point stressing about it: Either get a work visa or don't. I'm British, so I've seen both sides of the divide and know that comparing ourselves to America is silly, because it's on a completely different planet. But Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, among many others, also do more with what they have than us, so what gives? Firstly, let's shoot down the obvious nonsense: British people aren't lacking in spirit or vigour, or animal instincts or innovation. It's not a nation of losers or a giant crab bucket of bitter malcontents… no more than anywhere else, anyway. There's probably an extra frisson of class-based snobbishness, but people are people everywhere and Brits are more of the same, so the country's underperformance isn't some kind of divine judgement on our character. Secondly let's stop thinking about Britain as a monolith, because in reality it's two economies, not one. This island has other islands inside it, which outperform much of the world: London, Cambridge, Oxford and half a dozen others casually take in globally-leading research, finance, engineering and practically all of Formula 1. Then there's oil, jet engines, pharmaceuticals, fusion and AI. There's stuff going on in the UK that flies vanguard for the entire world. But then there's the other Britain, which I was born into. This is the vast hinterland that spreads outside the islands of wealth and sees echoes of itself in the dingy flats and drawn faces of Britain's very successful, and deeply depressing, soap operas. Thirdly, it's not all bad and it's not all about the money. Manchester is a lot poorer than similarly-sized Dublin or Minneapolis but it's also a lot more vibrant and fun. There are a hundred reasons a Brit might want to stay put instead of shipping out to Boston: Culture, community, football or just not wanting your kids to get weird accents. All good reasons, but we're still not doing as well as we should be. What gives? We need to face reality, fellow Brits. We're not the richest kids on the block or anywhere close to it: Our woodwork is decaying, our lawn is ragged, our car is old and we're keeping up appearances with fresh coats of paint. Nevermind comparing ourselves to the USA, because Poland will probably overtake us soon. There's no point coping about it online, pretending that 'Our NHS' makes up for it or lambasting immigrants, because that won't help either. What will? Britain's already good at flashy stuff. It grows more unicorns than anywhere else in Europe, it has cutting edge science and technology, a gigantic financial centre and is getting more proficient at linking University R&D into the commercial sphere. It's got the stable rule of law and all the tricky bits sorted, but struggles with the basic stuff… Britain doesn't build. Decades of not building infrastructure or housing doesn't kill you immediately, but over the decades it paralyses a country, and that's what we're seeing. A discretionary over-centralised planning system whose prime commandment is “Thou Shalt Not!” paralyses private building just as much as endless legal challenges hamstring new national infrastructure. So the moral of this story? We've got the hard bits right, but the basics wrong. That's not the worst position to be in, because it means it's fixable. On the one hand, the only thing standing in our way is ourselves. But on the other hand, we've only got ourselves to blame.

@michaelblackcab @TonyBrooksZoo1 It's the mum using the pedestrian crossing on Aldersgate to make a U turn to get her kids on the cargo bike to Charter House Square School each day that gets. I appreciate time is money for her, she's gotta pay those annual £50k school fees - but come on!

I’m going to buy a cargo bike and save the planet for my children ✊🏼 Turning left onto this bridge, red light ! I haven’t got time for that shit 🤷🏼‍♂️

@BobFromAccounts @Telegraph The objective question to ask: Is this a priority for limited resources? Does it deliver meaningful return for a economy struggling to maintain its position in the world in the face of significant challenge from developing nations? The answers by any measure has to be - NO.

Looking forward to the follow-up tweet and outrage by @Telegraph when hard-working motorist Sean gets caught for driving 2mph over the limit, and it's the biggest miscarriage of justice since the UK Post Office Horizon scandal

@JamesMelville Where he'd get the sofa from Ikea?!? Seems a great deal for a country. Boris bought wall paper that cost £100’s a roll.

‘Free gear’ Keir Starmer has splashed out £30,000 of taxpayers' money kitting out his Downing Street flat: 💰£1,400 bed 💰£1,395 TV unit 💰£1,630 shower screen 💰£4,440 x3 sofas 💰£990 on 6 kitchen chairs 💰£1,207.50 on 2 dining tables No cost of living crisis for him.

@CharlotteCGill Does he too like oranges?

Paul Merton is launching a new show called “Paul Merton: Driving Amazing Trains”. Seems to be modelling himself on Portillo. How many celebrities have travel shows now? How many do we need?

Islington Council got shamed into finally fixing this 😂⚠️ Where should he go next? ♻️ @MOtobora

Wow had a problem with a missing @Barclaycard payment tried to talk to someone - no go, just not an option on the call centre. Tried to send a chat message - not available. This is not a service I’ll use going forward. @mbna is all together better!

Legal advisers help migrants pose as gay to get asylum, undercover BBC investigation finds - BBC News 🤣🤣 200 people turn up claiming to be gay - is this really news!?!? bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…