#tfl you should get on to making that a reality

[smidge-j]

Love how there's a London tube station named after thrusting your cock

[myupostsheadcanons]

Books “Read” in 2019

I am going to rank these by how much i enjoyed them vs. any actual literary quality. often well written books aren’t always the most entertaining books.

Note: i listen to many of these books at work, which is why i am able to go through so many of them in a year.

List from 2017 List from 2018

------- My Favs of the Year ----

Novels from The First Law:

Best Served Cold (#1), The Heroes(#3), Red Country(#4), Sharp Ends(#5).

A Little Hatred (#2) (Age of Madness, sequel to The First Law)

I read “The First Law Trilogy” about a year or two ago and finally got around to reading the rest of the books, just in time for a new series taking place in the same world to start up (Age of Madness) and now i am waiting like everybody else for the next two books to come out in 2020 and 2021. A Little Hatred shouldn’t be read as a stand alone, a lot of what goes on is dependent mainly on knowledge from the first trilogy and in The Heroes, then bits and pieces from Best Served Cold and Red Country. So much of your enjoyment of each book is based on what you’ve learned in other ones (character development or seemingly useless information being not so useless later).

Age of Legend (Book 4,  Legend of the First Empire)

This is more-or-less an “aftermath” book where the main characters are still reeling about what happened in the previous book and are trying to make plans for what they are going to do next. I still like the characters and the world/setting it takes place in.

House of Assassins (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, Book 2)

I’ve been waiting for the next book in this series to come out the second i finished the first book in the series. It is one of those Science fiction in the disguise of Fantasy settings and I am on the edge of my seat waiting to see how that plot/revelation comes out (I am certain that the location the story takes place is Earth, more specifically around Asia/India, but in a post-invasion apocalypse setting where nobody remembers anything prior to the invasion). I also really like how much of a badass Ashok is... i have a thing for emotionally stunted badass characters, especially when their flaws are held up to a mirror and have real consequences.

R. R. Haywood’s Worldship Humility & Extinct (Extracted, Book 3)

I love the way Haywood writes characters and dialog. I was at-first iffy about WSH, but was won over after i warmed up to the new characters.

Shades of Magic Trilogy (A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows, A Conjuring of Shadows)

Solid multi-verse and magic system world. Well-written characters, some minor nitpicks on plot points, but can be easily ignored. LGBTQ rep, the gays don’t stay buried.

“Don’t you have enough [knives]?” “You can never have too many.” [me, every time: LOL]

One of the few times when a character deserves a redemption arc, doesn’t really get one, dies, and i am perfectly fine with it because it is done well.

Assassin’s Fate (Fitz and the Fool, Book 3)

I read this one in book-book form, but i already knew most of the emotionally painful parts of the book by spoiling it to myself when it first came out a couple years ago. The main appeal is the inner monologues of the two main characters, even if like 50% of this trilogy is basically spending weeks/months trying to go from Point A to Point B, when many other books would have glossed over the details of travel.. but you can really feel the stress as they dwell in their thoughts and struggles.

Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles & Circe

Re-Imagining of the Iliad and The Odyssey. Focusing not on the characters of Achilles or Odysseus, but on Petroclus (Achilles’ lover) and Circe the sea nymph witch that Odysseus had an affair and child with.

The Spear of the Stars (Cycle of Galand, Book 5)

Still love Dante and Bleys... This is where they really get into the meat of world building and solving the mysteries of the Arawn Cycle (the book/bible) and peel back the layers of their reality.

Dust (Silo Book 3)

A great ending to a good series, it answers whether or not humanity can or has survived what had caused them to be locked away in the silos.

Blackthorn and Grim (Dreamer’s Pool, Tower of Thorns, Den of Wolves)

I like the premise of the books, the two main characters first seeking out revenge, but end up wanting to become better people due to magic shenanigans.... One part Fantasy, One Part Mystery, One Part Lovestory.

The Dispatcher (Audible Free Book) 

I want a whole series based off this novella. It is John Scalzi so he can write a good story. I had previously read Android’s Dream by him, which it didn’t make it into my top-10 that year, but was still decent, even if the subject matter was a bit gross... The Dispatcher world is a Sci-Fi Noir, not quite Cyberpunk, where people don’t die by anything other than natural causes. The Dispatcher’s job is to kill people before something goes does wrong and the person “resets” to when they where safe and sound.

---- this is the “Above Average” Zone ----

All the Pretty Horses & Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

The master of bleak and depressing fiction. if regular Dark Fiction isn’t enough for you.... there is Cormac McCarthy books. Get use to the “purple prose” that fills up pages with no dialog.

The Golem and the Jinni

Supernatural world of the far past dealing with Edwardian New York and Immigration. It not only is a “fish out of water” story of the two main characters trying to fit in with society but they are among communities that are also new to America and trying to find their own place in the world. There are love subplots but most of those kind of fizzle out.

The Axe and the Throne: Bounds of Redemption Vol. 1.

“Discount First Law” book... it is lacking the dark humor that made TFL series far more entertaining.  This was also the book that was prefaced by warning people about how grim and dark the setting was... Hahahaha. I still found it entertaining none the less, and hope the rest would show up on audible soon.

Black Snow, White Crow (Audible Free Book) 

Another one of those short stories that should have a larger saga to its name. Fantasy Industrial Punk. It has the whole equality role reversal thing going on, it isn’t done quite as well as Left Hand of Darkness (but that book leaned onto the boring side of things).

Stephen King’s IT, Pet Semetary, and Carrie

It’s Stephen King. Classic King. Not much else to say.

Watership Down

Depressing Rabbit Book. Though I did like all the stories and mythology the rabbits had.

Bloody Acquisitions (Fred the Vampire Accountant, Book 3)

A series that is always fun to listen to. I wish the audio books were cheaper because they are rather short.

Lethal White (Cormoran Strike, Book 4)

shuddup, i don’t care if it is Rowling... i have a low-key crush on Cormoran.... he just hits that big-burly tragic-backstory man-shaped soft-spot of mine. These stories are also her “for adults” writings so...  expect more racism and garbage values.

The Eye of the World (Book 1, Wheel of Time)

Classic set up to a long running series, though i am reluctant to go further as the middling books in this series are said to drag out the story too much.... It’s not as self-centered as Wizard’s First Rule and the characters are more relatable and stick to their fantasy tropes. This is the “mold” that other modern fantasy try to subvert by going “darker and edgier.”

The Exorcist

If you like the movie, read the book. There is a lot of back story that the movie wasn’t able to adapt.

---- This is the “AVERAGE, but Still Good”  Zone ---

The Iliad and The Odyssey

Classics. I am still on the hunt for an unabridged version of Jason and the Argonauts story. I also have Virgil’s Aeneid in my wishlist to get too soon.

Phillipa Gregory’s Plantagonate Novels (The Lady of the Rivers, The Red Queen, White Queen, The Kingmaker’s Daughter)

Sometimes it is like reading the same book 5x in a row. other times you end up not liking the previous protagonist in a book you just finished reading because of how the current protagonist sees them from their POV.

Return of the King (Lord of the Rings, Book 3)

Read the other books last year and didn’t get around to this one for a few months.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Fuck... I’m a janitor... why can’t i afford a house?   If you liked Stephen King’s “IT” go back and read this book.

Alien Franchise Dramatizations: Alien: Sea of Sorrows, Alien: The Cold Forge (Audible Free Book) Alien III (Audible Free Book)

I don’t mind that they all are done with a full cast. Though often I end up wanting to find the actual book and listen to them with just one narrator and descriptions.

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Narnia, Book 1)

I would like to get the rest of the books in this series, but for books that are only 5-7 hours long they want 20$ a book for them. It needs to go into an omnibus.

Stephen Fry’s Victorian Secrets (Audible Free Book)

It’s Stephen Fry... he’s funny and a good narrator.

Wizard’s First Rule (Book 1, Sword of Truth)

I don’t like Richard. He started off alright, but even before he got tortured 2/3rds into the book, i was starting to dislike his personality.  Other than that, the side characters and world are solid, but it was like taking an R-rated movie and cutting it down for TV. There is somethings that are vaguely described when i am use to harder fiction like ASoIaF, The First Law, Dresden, and McCarthy books actually describing those things.

Halloween (2018, movie novel)

Like I said when i first read the book, it would’ve benefited by a second re-write before being published. But, i like the movie and so I liked the book.

Don Quixote

Another classic read. I did find it hilarious that the Author spent a good chunk of the second book complaining about Fanfiction of his own book... in the 1600′s.

The Princess Diarist

I listened this book instead of going to see TROS. worth it.

Smoke Gets in Your eyes: And other Lessons from the Crematorium

Non-Fiction, If you want to know the ins and outs of the funeral business and get told in an informative yet non-clinical way with lots of tidbits and history facts tossed in as well as a semi-autobiographical account of the Author’s life.

--- These Books are “Alright” ---

Frank L. Baum’s Wizard of Oz books

I ligit got into an argument with a 70yo man in a comic book shop about how Canon the other Oz books were post Baum’s death. He was looking for Oz comic books and I brought up reading the first 14 books, and he’s like “There’s over 100 of them” and i was all “but all those are written by somebody else.” and he got all “they are still canon...” 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

If you want to know about the In//cel ideology in a classic literary form, this fits the bill. So much man pain.

A Christmas Carol (Tim Curry) (Audible Free Book)

Tim Curry, guys.....

The Poetic Edda (Norse God Mythology)

I listened this book twice. I bought two Edda books thinking I’d get some extra content, but no... same book just different production teams and readers. Returned the one with the worst translation.

Treasure Island (Audible Free Book, dramatization)

I need to read the actual book sometime, but i did like the cast and thought they did a good job.

Wally Roux, Quantum Mechanic (Audible Free Book)

A YA coming of age story about diversity and acceptance... with wacky science fiction. 

Carmilla (Audible Free Book, dramatization)

The vampire before Dracula. Victorian Lesbian love story.

Even Tree Nymphs get the Blues (Audible Free Book)

A novella from one of those “love on the Bayou” romance series with supernatural creatures. Could practically take place in the same world of either True Blood, Dresden, or Fred the Vampire Accountant.

Mystwick School of Musicraft (Audible Free Book)

Harry Potter lite. For 10yo girls.

A Grown-up’s Guide to Dinosaurs (Audible Free Book)

I like dinosaurs.

Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World (Audible Free Book, Dramatization)

Interesting way on telling us about the Fossil Wars and Puma vs. Adidas.

True-Crime from Audible: Body of Proof (Audible Free Book),   Midnight Son (Audible Free Book), The Demon Next Door (Audible Free Book), Killer By Nature (Audible Free Book)

Why is True-Crime or YA fiction the only halfway-decent things Audible is giving us? But yeah, these are basically the type of reporting that the two journalists from Halloween were trying to do. Where they go around and gather up information about semi-famous cases and present it in a Podcast-like format.

---- Meh... ---

Camp Red Moon (Audible Free Book)

Would’ve been better if they were actually written by R. L. Stein.

More Bedtime Stories for Cynics (Audible Free Book)

No... half of these aren’t written very well.

The Darkwater Bride (Audible Free Book, Dramatization)

The setting is nice, but it is far too .... Soap Opera Dramatic.

Junk (Audible Free Book)

A cross between Alien Invasion and Zombie outbreak, read by John Waters and written as if it was a bad version of a Philip K. Dick Novel.

Rip Off!! (Audible Free Book)

Most of them are duds and boring. I don’t even remember half of them without having to look them up. The two that stood out the most for me where the “Other Darren/Bewitched” and the “Dark and Stormy Night” stories, the rest were rather garbled.

--- Garbage... ---

Dodge and Twist (Audible Free Book, Dramatization)

No, you are not being edgy or kool.

Unread:

Siege Tactics (Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Book 4)

Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, Book 3)

Earthsea (Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea, i am going to re-listen to the first three before i get to these)

Into the Wilds (Warriors, Book 1)

Pout Neuf (Audible Free Book)

House of Teeth (Audible Free Book)

Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons (Audible Free Book)

The Other Boleyn Girl (Phillipa Gregory)

[auburnfamilynews]

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Tigers played very well at certain spots, others need some improvement.

Auburn’s 1-0 after a 29-13 victor against Kentucky, and while we wish we had a team with Cam Newton handing off to Bo Jackson and Cadillac Williams with Terry Beasley running the deep post and protection from Willie Anderson, Greg Robinson, Reese Dismukes, and Steve Wallace, that’s not the reality. Both sides of the ball looked much better than many thought, especially after the lack of practice and a comparison to other SEC squads that looked awful at times.

If the offense and defense both came alive in the second half, and Auburn pulled out a victory doubling the line over a ranked opponent, how did each piece look? Let’s grade it out!

QUARTERBACK - A-

I thought Bo played a fantastic game Saturday. He didn’t have a single WTF throw where he air mails the ball 10 yards over Seth’s head. Instead, outside of throw aways, he gave his wide receivers a shot on every pass. He also threw some perfect darts and I think he’s greatly improved in the short game. Last season, he had a tendency to be erratic throwing those quick screens resulting in wideouts having to use half a second to adjust to the pass and then attempt to get to full speed. Saturday he did a great job giving them a chance to get going immediately.

But...

The standard is extremely high for Bo and if Auburn is going to be a contender in the SEC this fall they need the best from Bo each week. While I understand that it’s probably hard to trust this offensive line, he has to do better staying in the pocket and waiting for the full passing concept to develop. He missed some opportunities because he didn’t like his first read and started drifting out of the pocket. It might mean taking a sack or two but if he can more consistently navigate the pocket to buy a little more time to give these talented wide receivers the time to get open, he could have a special season.

Chad’s also giving him checkdowns with backs out of the backfield. Take em Bo. A 3 yard dump off is better than a throw away. I saw a much better version of Bo Nix this Saturday. Now it’s about building on that success and continuing to improve. He has a chance this weekend to shut up a lot of haters. Let’s get it done

RUNNING BACKS - C (pending larger sample size)

I don’t quite know if we saw enough of the tailbacks to make sense of the race for who’s actually number one. Shaun Shivers was named the starter, and he was the leading rusher out of the backs with 29 yards on just 6 carries. He had one particularly solid run, shedding tacklers, showing the speed, and getting out of trouble, but there’s not enough of a sample size. It feels like much of Chad Morris’ impact on the offense came in the passing game, and the backs were a little left out. Some of that had to do with Kentucky holding a large time of possession advantage, but the tailbacks had just 20 total carries for 65 yards. Not great. The line is responsible for a lot of that misery, but Auburn needs to establish a rotation and let the most talented guys play. D.J. Williams didn’t seem to hit the hole he needed a couple times, and he wasn’t aware that he needed to plow ahead on 4th and 1 instead of dancing. It’s unfortunate, but that slip near the goal line will also cost him in this assessment.

WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS - A

Sure, the passing game didn’t rack up over six bills like Mississippi State did. But these receivers looked as polished as I’ve ever seen them at Auburn. Seth Williams obviously had the huge day with six catches for 112 yards and two scores, but even his non-touchdown catches were big plays. Not only that, but on multiple occasions he looked like the meanest guy on the field blocking for Anthony Schwartz or Shaun Shivers. Eli Stove looked like his pre-injury self, with five touches for 62 yards and a score. While his touchdown was certainly an All-SEC throw from Bo, that over the shoulder catch was no joke. Schwartz showed again he’s the fastest man in football, blowing by any “angles” defensive backs tried to take on him.

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

As for the tight ends, after all the offseason talk, they weren’t really featured in the passing game this week. That doesn’t mean they weren’t used in the offense, though. Most notably, Pegues was the motion man on the Schwartz screen that nearly went for a touchdown, allowing the big man to get a head of steam to block downfield. A few plays later Pegues and Luke Deal combined to set the edge for DJ Williams on the touchdown. John Samuel Shenker tacked on a catch for the two point conversion seconds later, although that was the only action the tight ends got in the receiving game.

While the volume wasn’t there to get everyone touches, the receivers had a dynamite game when called upon. Keep playing like this and we might just have ourselves a passing game.

OFFENSIVE LINE - B-

This offensive performance up front needs to be viewed through a different lens than how we should be grading this group for the next 9 games. I cannot imagine being in a huddle in a live SEC game with 4 other linemen around me who weren’t the same 4 linemen all or most of fall camp. COVID-19 forced this coaching staff to get creative with rotations during fall camp, and we saw a lot of it Saturday as a result. Which frankly I like, because you’re trying to use the Kentucky game to find your guys and not have to do this the next week in Athens. That being said, Left Tackle is a spot for concern at the moment as Alec Jackson looked like Saturday was his first start with multiple false starts and being a half step slow in his pass protection at times. Austin Troxell didn’t fare much better to my naked eye, but perhaps the coaches will see something on film that tells a different story. Bottom line is that whatever 5 guys are our starters, which I think Council, Brahms, and Hamm are all but guaranteed to be just that, they desperately need reps together.

The reason for the B-, which would be a C on any other week, is due to only 1 sack surrendered out of this group. Also there were times on the ground, especially late, where the hole was there and the back just missed it, or fell down in the case of DJ Williams. They did their job of protecting Bo Nix, which is what we needed to win this game. The challenge is going to be when their job is to help move the line of scrimmage on the ground...like this weekend.

DEFENSIVE LINE - B-

Overall I thought Auburn’s defensive line did a fine job down the stretch of wearing out Kentucky’s OL. But the standard along the defensive line is excellence and it won’t change just because of NFL departures. Rodney Garner wouldn’t adjust it for them so we’re not going to adjust it here.

DeQuan Newkirk was a revelation on Saturday. He said he is finally healthy and it has showed. Look for him to be serviceable in filling the literal giant void left by Derrick Brown. Colby Wooden early on looked lost, and in the second half you could see the game started slowing down a bit for him. He’s going to be special. You don’t often have a guy who could’ve been an end out of HS be able to put on his level of weight and still be so athletic. We’re going to need him to grow up fast, but he’s got a huge level of potential for this group. Truesdell is never going to get the stats, but his work in plugging gaps on the inside is critical and overall I thought we did a good enough job to win the game in plugging the A/B gaps.

What it still appears this line is missing is a legitimate Carl Lawson/Jeff Holland pass rush out of the Buck position. Maybe that’s because of a bogus targeting call on Derrick Hall. But the fact is we didn’t see it on Saturday and that has been the achilles heel of this defense since 2018. We need to find a body that can rush the passer and find him right now. On the other side, having Big Kat go down with an injury earlier in the week was disappointing, and I think affected the group a bit early on, as it put a different cast into positions they may have not expected to be in on Monday or Tuesday of last week.

One thing I love about Rodney Garner (and there are many, many things I love about Rodney Garner) is that on the second series for Kentucky you saw an entirely new defensive line. Rodney is going to baptize every one of these boys into fire so they can grow up and become men before our eyes. It’s the reason why Kentucky couldn’t get near the push in the 2nd half. Us having fresh legs up front through 4 quarters of football is key to winning close games, and we’re going to have our share of those this year. There’s an abundance of room for improvement, but life after Derrick and Marlon must go on, and we have the right mix of talent and coaching to have this group exceed expectations moving forward.

LINEBACKERS - B

It’s a little more difficult to make plays when you don’t have Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson occupying 3-4 blockers on every play. That said, K.J. Britt and Owen Pappoe both made their impacts felt early and often yesterday. After Kentucky’s script ran out, and Auburn could adjust, Britt, Pappoe, and Zakoby McClain ended up totaling 27 tackles, 2.5 TFLS, a sack, and a fumble recovery. Pappoe’s sack and fumble recovery were both huge plays that iced the game late when Auburn had built a comfortable lead.

Early on, Britt read Kentucky’s plan perfectly multiple times, and made form tackles, but the Cats still gained the necessary half yard to convert on a couple of third and short situations. It seems like the linebackers had to learn that they’re the stars of the defense now and they need to play a little differently than roaming around and waiting for something to filter to them like they could last year with the defensive line helping in front. After a bit of a slow start and allowing Kentucky’s run game to flourish in the first half, they locked down and were one of the main reasons that the Cats couldn’t do much at all after halftime. Slow start, great finish, excited for more.

DEFENSIVE BACKS - A-

If I could break this down into corners and safeties, I’d definitely be giving the corners an A+. They were the most outstanding unit in the game this week for me, holding Terry Wilson to just 6.5 yards per attempt. Roger McCreary specifically had himself a game, with an interception that should have gone the distance for a score, and a forced fumble in the second half. He wasn’t alone, though, with Christian Tutt and Jaylin Simpson looking outstanding in pass defense. Nehemiah Pritchett, the next man up, got burned a few times, but I’m willing to let that slide as the fourth corner.

In the back, the trio of Jamien Sherwood, Smoke Monday, and Jordyn Peters had a solid but not perfect game. One of the only big pass plays came when Smoke got beat by his receiver, and Peters (who was playing over the top) just whiffed on a tackle to limit the gain. They did play well in the run game, however, with 15 total tackles between the three of them (10 of them belonging to Smoke).

Overall, it was a really strong showing for the junior class of defensive backs, especially with most of them earning their first starts. We’ll see how they look against more polished passing games, but luckily they will have time to gear up for that. The next three games are against Georgia, Arkansas, and South Carolina, which should give them plenty of time before facing some more polished air attacks later in the year.

SPECIAL TEAMS - B

If Saturday was a tribute to Coach Dye, then Auburn had to be sound in the kicking game. Let’s see... Field Goals: N/A Extra Points: 3/3 and a swinging gate 2 point conversion! Punting: 5 punts. 3 downed inside the 20 with only 1 return for 6 yards. What? Yeah I counted Bo’s punts even though the entire offense was on the field. Coach Dye would have loved it. Kickoffs: 5 kickoffs. 2 touchbacks and a 24 yard average on the other three (which beats a touchback) Kickoff Returns: 2 returns for a 32 yard average. Both came from the goal line or inside the endzone, which means they improved on a potential touchback. Punt Returns: N/A, but Christian Tutt let one get past him, which ended up going 75 yards. On the plus side, Kentucky attempted a fake punt that lost yardage, so that’s certainly a plus.

If we’re doing +/- on grades, this is certainly into B+/A- territory. As it is I have to ding Tutt for misplaying that punt, which came out of UK’s own end zone. That said, give Max Duffy some credit. He did win the Ray Guy last year. All totaled, a very good day from the special teams unit.

COACHING - A-

If you’ve ever been on twitter during an Auburn game, you’ve seen the moaning and groaning that occurs whenever the PAT team lines up in the swinging gate. But folks, Auburn got a good look, pulled the trigger, and reaped the rewards. Ultimately the extra point didn’t matter in Auburn’s 16 point victory, but extra pressure was applied to Kentucky when they managed to score another touchdown and attempted their own two-point conversion. Additionally, Auburn’s 9 other SEC opponents will now spend an extra 20 minutes a week practicing this formation Auburn won’t use again until 2024. So yeah, excellent coaching decision.

Even outside that decision, though, the coaching was solid. Auburn made defensive adjustments after the first drive and offensive adjustments throughout the game. We should give Gus credit for letting Chad Morris run the show, as promised.

I was disappointed on the first drive when Auburn faced 3rd and 2, rushed, then punted on 4th and 1. I also would have liked Gus to have been a bit more upset after the faux-targeting call just before halftime. Take a 15 yard penalty there if you’re going to kneel it anyway.

A win is a win is a win. Coaches are remembered for their win/loss record over all else, so great job on the W, coach.

FANS - A

Attendance is going to be a problem, but those who made it in the stadium made their presence known. Or maybe it was just piped in noise? I don’t really care. I was worried it was going to sound like A-Day and it didn’t, so that was enough for me. It also seemed like people were wearing masks which makes this an easy grade to give.

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/9/29/21459172/position-grades-8-auburn-29-23-kentucky-13

[tomtidnam-blog]

Here is an article I wrote about Time Out magazine that, perhaps understandably, nobody I pitched it to wanted to publish:

    Alongside the perpetual flicker of smartphone screens and the tattered Metros and Evening Standards, it is one of the more ubiquitous physical presences on the London commute. Time Out magazine, became a free publication in 2012 and since then has graced many a spare seat on the tube, announcing itself as such with its September 25 - October 1st 2012 issue, whose front cover bore the legend: “Take Me, I’m Yours”. An ironic heading in many ways, because there are few cultural experiences more alienating today to the young, financially precarious Londoner than flicking through the latest free copy of Time Out, an activity usually undertaken while travelling to work on public transport. Despite this, whenever a new copy appears beside me, as it invariably will, I feel compelled to pick it up and leaf listlessly through its pages. What delights does the city claim to hold in its most popular free cultural guide, ubiquitous in its pubs and tube carriages and cafes? In the October 24 - 30th 2017 issue, the reader can learn of “a development opening this week (that) gives some of the city’s best restaurants a stake in its financial centre”. This is swiftly followed by a caveat: “ignore the fact that Bloomberg Arcade is straddled by a massive new HQ for an international corporation; much more importantly, it’s a new home for Homeslice, Koya, Caravan, Bleecker Burger, Ahi Poke and Vinoteca”.

   With this disclaimer they seem to implore that they are  ultimately on your side - you being the average, everyday Londoner they ostensibly cater to. In so doing, they ask that you both agree together to ignore that gnawing unease, that lack of control, and instead revel in the proliferation of yet more delicious dining options provided to you by various food chain start-ups in a city in which you, the average, everyday Londoner reading Time Out on the tube, will not be worrying about such messiness as precarious housing in a city of soaring housing prices and the gradual degradation of public space by private corporations in ventures such as the very one we are promoting to you? Instead of providing a sympathetic and democratic reflection of the city as its most prominent free cultural guide, it is complicit in a culture of hyper-individualism, dictated and controlled by broader free-market forces but filtered down into the everyday commuter’s mindset through the poisonous channel it opens up between the two.

       The impact and overarching ethos of Time Out is insidious in this sense. A cursory reading makes it is easy to picture the typical reader a Time Out writer has in mind: youngish, financially well-endowed, relatively new to the city, socially liberal in the most vague, milquetoast sense possible, superficially uneasy about gentrification but eager to defend it if it improves the area they live in terms that are immediately identifiable to them, particularly enthusiastic about the proliferation of one-stop-shop, all-in-one pop up venues where one can enjoy a cultural cornucopia of “street food” at a comfortable remove from the street itself. Ultimately, they should be unconcerned about some of the unavoidably problematic aspects of living in a big city and feasting on its cultural fruits, those which Time Out pays disingenuous lip service to when it tells you to “ignore the international corporation”. What they’re really hoping, and most likely presuming, is that you were already ignoring it - if you were, then they're doing their job right.

  This is why reading the city’s most prominent free cultural guide is such an alienating experience - it doesn’t speak to the material realities of the majority of Londoner’s lives. Those for whom it does are a relatively select few, the lucky ones who have high-paid jobs in marketing or finance and can afford to live in the inner city areas that many, more long-term Londoners can no longer afford to. Time Out often revels in postulating about what they see as the classic traits of a “Londoner” - take the October - November 2017 issue, which contains the absurdly sweeping statement “if there’s one thing Londoners love, it’s getting wrecked in a warehouse”.

   A handy identifier of the kind of reader Time Out is really hoping to speak to is a small section that features in every edition, called ‘Word On the Street’ (subheading: “The most ridiculous things we’ve overheard in London this week”). It takes the form of a strip along the side of a page early on in the issue featuring a selection of ostensibly overheard snippets of conversations between Londoners. These are generally, it seems, of dubious provenance, and, whether made up or genuine, they run the gamut from mildly unfunny to offensively unfunny and, occasionally, genuinely unpleasant:“if you slit my wrist, what would come out is humous and Bob Marley”; “What he said was uncool. i nearly pushed him out of his wheelchair”; “Battersea: the right balance between stabbed and wanting a brioche”. Perhaps worst of all was this quote from an October 2017 issue, referring to the then fairly recent news of TfL’s stripping of Uber’s license to operate in London - “I think I was more upset about Uber than I was about Brexit”. A quote this egregious seems to me to encapsulate the magazine’s insidious ethos, as well as the disturbing mindset of the platonic ideal of a “Time Out reader”(all of these quotes seem to have come from the mouth of a single individual, the same aforementioned affluent youngish professional possessed of endless shallows). One would never expect Time Out, a magazine that should ostensibly speak for and to all Londoners, to take any kind of impassioned stance on this issue, but their inclusion of this comment, presented as nothing more than a wryly amusing, perhaps even somewhat relatable aside from an ordinary Londoner, alongside a lack of clear editorialising about the issue beyond that, is telling indeed.

   Another telltale sign of the Time Out ethos, such as there is one, is its frequent championing of particular areas as up-and-coming, hip, “next big thing” spots, usually ideal for the sort of person who is expected to be reading the magazine, which is likely not going to be the sort of people who has lived in these areas for a long time and whose position there is increasingly precarious because of rising house prices, a result of the sort of cultural promotion of their areas that Time Out trades in. Of course, it is precisely the sort of cultural cache that these indigenous residents provide to areas like, say Brixton or Peckham, which in turn appeals them to the writers of Time Out in search of something “edgy” and “real”, terms deployed with a vague sense of ironic detachment, though not vague enough to prevent them from ultimately having detrimental material effects on residents priced out by the promotion of these areas to potential high-income investors. The surface layer of irony reveals itself as ultimately insincere, at least when it comes to the topic of social cleansing.

    This approach is often in evidence in the section called ‘London’s Best Bits’. Having presumably exhausted actual areas of the city, they’ve narrowed their remit down to individual streets - an October 2017 issue ventures south of the river to big up Kennington Lane, having presumably exhausted the wider Kennington area in an earlier edition. They turn their attention to what is described as “a corner of Kennington that feels more like Kensington”. They do this sort of thing quite a lot when talking about previously down-at-heel areas, or areas that retain a reputation for roughness but are very much on the up (i.e. in the process of displacing lower income residents) - they pre-empt what they assume will be the snobbish and reactionary response of its readers to an area that has historically been low-income, ethnically diverse and holding a high crime rate by telling them not to worry because it isn’t like that anymore. Or if it was, it won’t be for long, because the area is in the process of sweeping away all that unpleasantness that London’s newer residents, those the magazine is speaking to here, find so off-putting and unnerving.

 Initially, they promote and celebrate the diversity, with a Time Out blog entry from April 2016, entitled “12 reasons to go to Peckham and Rye Lane”, calling the area “the beating heart of little Lagos” before choosing to focus, strangely, on its scent: “few roads in London smell quite like Rye Lane”, apparently, and this is down to a “sensory overload” of “raw meat and fish from the markets; fruit from the street traders; chemicals from the nail salons that never seem to close”. But if exoticisation and cultural tourism is enough to make you take a gawping visit, but not quite enough to make you stay and raise a family, not to worry. “In recent years, new scents have joined the aromatic miasma: craft beer, pulled pork and whatever brogues smell like” while “gentrification has brought Rye Lane a huge pub run by the Antic group, while the Peckham Rye end is home to a cluster of cafés and modish restaurants, the only part of the area where avocados outnumber yams.” One would assume it is more the latter set of scents that most please the nostrils of Southwark council, who in their 2014 Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan said they aim to make the area “a place where developers and landowners will continue to invest over the long term”.

       Meanwhile, also in Southwark, the residents of the Aylesbury Estate in Walworth are fighting eviction as the estate faces demolition, as a result of the council’s decision to replace the flats with more modern, higher-density dwellings to be controlled by a housing association, less than half of which would remain as social housing. In 2006, a year after Southwark council’s initial decision regarding the Aylesbury, Time Out took notice of Walworth, saying that although “the area conjures up visions of a giant Tetris game of grim high-rise tower blocks” it is also “the focus of a huge regeneration project which includes the flattening of the shopping centre” making it “a good buy for long-term investors”. Ten years later, in July 2016, and despite the magazine’s giddy predictions, the shopping centre is still just about hanging on and the stage is set for Time Out to make a return to provide its readers with “14 reasons to visit Walworth Road”. They marvel at how “despite being so close to the centre of London it has somehow - so far - managed to avoid full-blown gentrification and Starbucksification”, celebrate its ability to “preserve its rough-round-the-edges charm…thanks to…strong working-class roots” and asserting that “it might be on the cusp of gentrification, but right now Walworth Road is real London - in all its diverse, grubby glory”. The Aylesbury Estate goes unmentioned in the ensuing list of Walworth’s highlights, though “legendary publicans” Antic London (those responsible for the aforementioned “huge pub” on Rye Lane) get a shout-out, as does The Artworks Elephant (included under the heading “if you only do one thing”), a “charming, fresh and modern hub of creativity and world street foods” according to their own description, posted under “The Artworks Elephant Says” on the Time Out website (presumably it would be too much to ask for “a Walworth resident says”). Artworks Elephant is built on the conveniently empty site where another large council estate, the Heygate, whose residents have been summarily scattered across the outer limits of London and beyond, once stood.

     Did this cultural listings magazine always hold such explicitly anti-community values? Time Out was founded in 1968, named after the titular Dave Brubeck track, by Tony Elliot, who had apparently been all set to head to France to take part in that year’s summer of protests, before presumably being waylaid by what he has claimed was a birthday gift of no more than £75 from his aunt. With this modest endowment he decided to set up an equally modest London listings magazine. 42 years later, in 2010, the magazine having long since transcended its humble origins and expanded into its role as worldwide phenomenon, Elliot shook off £10m in debt for the company by selling 50% of its shares to a venture capitalist firm and private equity group, Oakley Capital. Oakley Capital was founded by multi-millionaire Peter Dubens, an apparently publicity-shy entrepreneur and investor who began his career with the launch of a “thermochronic t-shirt company” in 1985 at age 18, after having worked his way up in the business world as a driver for the billionaire Joe Lewis, the sixth wealthiest man in the UK and a tax exile in the Bahamas whose fortune rests on currency trading and property development and who is also the owner of some highly sought-after works by Picasso, Matisse and Francis Bacon. It seems a far cry from the early days of the magazine, when it staked a place for itself as a radical publication and a part of the UK underground press, with a commitment to equal-pay for all the magazine’s contributors. Early issues had an initial print-run of around 5,000 and contained features such as the first issue’s “Marches” section, letting readers know about a march with the British Council for Peace from Canterbury to St Paul’s in protest of the Vietnam War, and a 1976 issue which published the names of 60 purported CIA agents stationed in the UK. After weekly circulation expanded to around 11,000, the decision to abandon their initial co-operative pay principal led to their journalists striking and the setting-up of rival magazine City Limits, which ceased publication in 1993.

      All this background may be immaterial and tangential to the content and agenda of Time Out today, and it is certainly not unusual for a major publication to have its financial interests lie in such places. What bristles somewhat is the maintained illusion of Time Out as a magazine with some stake in the continued health of culture and community, and the supposed everyday Londoner that they write for, a sense perhaps increased by its becoming free in 2014, the same year that the Time Out company opened its first branded food hall in Lisbon. If the content still seemed to reflect this in some way then perhaps it would be easier to make the argument that these financial interests were a necessary evil - though I’m sure many, less concerned by the very existence of extreme wealth, would perhaps not consider it an evil at all - but this is simply not the case. As it is, the content of the magazine which, even more so since it became a free publication, is insidious in its ubiquity, amounts to little more than an insult to a large chunk of the former and current population of London. It is not an insult to the affluent young professionals who come to inhabit London’s most desirable areas and whose interests come to control almost every corner of the city.

   In 2016, Time Out’s London editor Gail Tolley penned an editorial for Time Out which would seem to contradict my analysis of the overarching ethos of the magazine. In it, she bemoans an apparent preponderance of new private member’s clubs, saying “the idea that you have to pay to feel like you belong in London is repulsive”. On this point, in a vacuum, I would certainly agree with her. But the truth is you already have to pay, member’s clubs notwithstanding, and the price is hefty, as even some of some of the wealthiest residents of affluent Kensington are priced out by “ultra-high-net-worth-individuals”, the domino effect being felt all the way down to former Heygate Estate residents forced out as far as Kent. With this in mind, these proclamations from the magazine’s London editor feel more than a little platitudinous. The two comments below the article are telling also: one Anthony C claims he “could not disagree more” with Tolley’s aversion to member’s clubs, citing in particular the fact that they “play a key role for start up business' who can't afford office space in central to host guests, offering a presentable environment at an affordable cost”. Sound familiar? “Ignore the fact that Bloomberg Arcade is straddled by a massive new HQ for an international corporation; much more importantly, it’s a new home for Homeslice, Koya, Caravan, Bleecker Burger, Ahi Poke and Vinoteca”.

    In a move that may seem somewhat contradictory to the values espoused in said editorial, Tolley also edited the Rightmove sponsored “Property” section of the August 2017 issue, which advertises areas of the city whose prices are as up-and-coming as their cultural cache. This section appears at first to be an ordinary Time Out feature, similar in some ways to ‘London’s Best Bits’ with a bit more of a focus on property, until you realise it’s another one of those ubiquitous pieces of paid-for-content, an ambiguous blend of editorial and sponsored advertisement (this could also be a neat microcosm for the publication as a whole). The issue in question’s Property section focuses on the Bakerloo Line, with Tolley picking out stations from north to south along the route accompanied with a brief endorsement/description of the surrounding area. The southern end of the line is Elephant and Castle, the former site of the aforementioned Heygate Estate, now housing the Artworks Elephant pop up mall on what is to become the larger site of Elephant Park. This particular regeneration project will contain 3,000 homes of which only 71 will remain as council-owned. The residents of Heygate’s now demolished council homes, all 1,200 of them, have been sent by local authorities as far out as Kent, Essex and Hertfordshire. About changes to the area, Tolley, who you’ll remember, passionately editorialised that “the idea that you have to pay to live in London is repulsive” had this to say: “Megabucks are currently being spent on…the development frontline, with many claiming that the soul of the neighbourhood is being destroyed. You can see the appeal, though: London Bridge is just 20 minutes walk away”. This glib dismissal of the material concerns of residents of the area whose livelihoods will potentially be put at risk by these developments is characteristic of the magazine’s tone, and reveals the hypocrisy at the heart of its socially conscious facade - the same issue’s cover feature is about the then-forthcoming Notting Hill Carnival, and revolved around interviews with members of the local community talking about “the area’s strong sense of identity and how people came together in the aftermath of Grenfell”. This talk of community and identity can’t help but ring a little hollow when you have paid-for-content promoting “up-and-coming” London areas with soaring house prices. Another stop on the Bakerloo Line that Tolley picks to zoom in on is Harlesden, a part of North-West London historically deemed quite rough. “Yes, it’s a cliche”, she says, “but Harlesden’s long-established Irish and Caribbean communities really do make for genuinely good pubs and music scene”. She goes on to say, without a hint of critique or concern, that “the arrival of HS2 and Crossrail means this part of town is heading down the tracks of gentrification”. The fact that the latter may have an adverse effect on the former, or that on a wider scale, is a detriment to the kind of “strong sense of identity” and community that the magazine spoke of being in evidence in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, does not seem to be a major concern.

      Perhaps I have read too much into and projected too much onto what is still fundamentally a cultural listings magazine. It is ultimately the London that it reflects on its pages that has changed. The money that has flooded into the city, a rentier economy and housing market that caters only for the very richest, treating property as an asset to be traded rather than a material necessity of people’s lives - this is what has had the greatest effect on the London that Time Out still tries to present to its readers as a place of freedom, a cultural wonderland. The ideology that has come with these changes is one of hyper-individualism, and this has filtered down into the minds of many of the city's inhabitants, in part through the poisonous channel opened up by publications such as Time Out. Many of the residents of London are, in their own way, complicit in this; they go to pop-up street food markets that have taken the place of housing estates, they petition to prevent Uber’s license being stripped, they uncritically read Time Out, as well as the other free papers, the more overtly right-wing Metro and Evening Standard. And it is to the most uncritical among us that Time Out caters. But London is still so much more than that. And it can be so much more still. The economic system we live under dictate how the city functions from the top down, where we can live and how we can live our lives in a contemporary urban environment, but it is culture, something to which we should all have access, that can change how we think about all this. And changing how we think about things is as important a first step as there is.

   Ultimately, it is perhaps the disparity of promised experience that exists within these pages and the difficulties - the alienation, exploitation and overall lack of opportunities - of lived reality that exist outside of them, in the real London, that stings the most. Time Out is not unaware of these difficulties, but its cursory references to them, its inability to stare them in their face and acknowledge its complicity, demonstrate a failure to take them seriously, brushed off as they generally are as unserious yet knowing asides. This is probably more offensive than it would be if the magazine were to exist entirely within its own consumer-driven, technocratic fantasy utopia, but the dialogue it tokenistically maintains with the actualities of city life render the former unforgivable. The lifestyle manifesto it provides as a kind of toolkit for living in London is ultimately unachievable, and, deep down, it seems to know it. Londoners deserve better, even if we’re just talking about a free magazine they read on the tube.

[fmservers]

Huawei, Google, and the tiring politics of tech

The defining question of the 21st century is pretty simple: who owns what? Who owns the telecommunications infrastructure that powers our mobile devices? Who owns the OS that powers those devices? Who owns our data?

Today, we see these intersecting arcs with two prominent tech leaders mired in legal and political processes.

TechCrunch is experimenting with new content forms. This is a rough draft of something new – provide your feedback directly to the author (Danny at danny@techcrunch.com) if you like or hate something here.

In Canada, we have day three(!) of the bail hearing for Huawei head of finance Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟), who was arrested at the request of the U.S. last week. And on Capitol Hill today, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, is testifying in front of the House Judiciary Committee, starting a few minutes ago at 10am.

These may be pedestrian proceedings, but they are riven with deep debates over the meaning of ownership. Meng was arrested for supposedly selling equipment to Iran through intermediaries in violation of U.S. sanctions. Huawei is a Chinese company, but uses American intellectual property in its products. Thus, America claims worldwide jurisdiction over the company, since it owns the patents beneath Huawei’s products.

Meanwhile, Pichai is testifying over a number of concerns, including data privacy (i.e. data ownership) and Project Dragonfly, the company’s attempt to re-enter China. He also has to contend with another data breach bug discovered yesterday in Google+. Is Google an American “owned” company (as Pichai will attempt to paint it today), or is it a global company owned by shareholders with obligations to enter China?

These aren’t simple questions, which is why the broader question of ownership will be so important for this century. Despite the win-win attitude of free traders, the reality is that much of technology ownership is monopolistic owing to barriers to entry – there are only a handful of telco equipment manufacturers, public clouds, mobile OSes and search engines out there. Whoever owns that property is going to get rich at the expense of others.

That’s why the US/China trade conflict is an irreconcilable tug-of-war.

For China, a developing country by most metrics even if it has glittering cities like Shanghai, owning that technological wealth is crucial for it to reach the zenith of its growth. It cannot become rich without becoming a technology power, a manufacturing power, and a consumer market capital all at once. And it views with deep suspicion American blocks on wealth transfers. Isn’t this just a way to keep the country down, to replay the century of humiliation all over again?

For the U.S., China’s constant conniving to pilfer American intellectual property undermines U.S. economic hegemony. China does want to steal plans for airplanes, and semiconductors, and other high-tech goods. Of course, it eventually wants to have the human capital and know-how to build these themselves, but first it has to catch up. America, fundamentally, doesn’t want it to catch-up.

As more and more wealth derives from technology, technology = politics becomes the bedrock law.

That’s frankly tiring for someone who just loves great products and wants to see massive technological progress for everyone regardless of nationality. But political symbolism is increasingly a language that Silicon Valley and the tech industry writ large have to understand.

Why Oath keeps Tumblring (now with a price tag)

Last week, I wrote a bit of a screed on why TechCrunch’s parent company, Oath, is struggling so badly:

Oath has a problem:* it needs to grow for Wall Street to be happy and for Verizon not to neuter it, but it has an incredible penchant for making product decisions that basically tell users to fuck off. Oath’s year over year revenues last quarter were down 6.9%, driven by extreme competition from digital ad leaders Google and Facebook.

Now, we know the costs of those product decisions, as well as the greater challenges in the digital advertising market. Verizon announced today that it will write down the value of Oath by $4.6 billion. That will change Oath’s goodwill value from $4.8 billion to $0.2 billion in the fourth quarter. Yikes.

This was a necessary accounting valuation change, and one that recognizes the challenges that Oath faces. As the filing said:

Verizon’s Media business, branded Oath, has experienced increased competitive and market pressures throughout 2018 that have resulted in lower than expected revenues and earnings. These pressures are expected to continue and have resulted in a loss of market positioning to our competitors in the digital advertising business. Oath has also achieved lower than expected benefits from the integration of the Yahoo Inc. and AOL Inc. businesses.

The upside is that Oath still has many, many millions of users every month. It just needs to figure out what to do with all of those eyeballs to build a sustainable business.

Can the West build anything?

Photo by VictorHuang via Getty Images

Seriously, from the Financial Times:

The capital should have been celebrating the opening of the east-west London railway, the biggest construction project in Europe, this week. But Crossrail announced in August that it would not begin operation until autumn 2019 at the earliest.

Even that now seemed “wildly optimistic”, one person close to the project said, given the problems with signals, trains and stations leading to “growing panic” among TfL executives. A number of people close to the project now say it may not be ready until late next year.

Crossrail is one of the most important subway projects in the world, designed to dramatically increase capacity in London’s Underground on the east-west axis. But it is just one of a series of major setbacks in infrastructure costs in the West. Meanwhile in California from Connor Harris at City Journal:

Ten years later, supporters have ample cause to reconsider. CAHSR’s costs have severely escalated: the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) now estimates that the train’s core segment alone, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, will cost from $77 billion to $98 billion. Promises that private investors would cover most of the costs have fallen through. Forecasts for the project’s completion date and travel times have also slipped. The fastest trains in the CHSRA’s current business plan have a running time of over three hours, and the first segment of the line—San Jose to Bakersfield, almost 200 miles short of completion—won’t open until 2029.

I want high-speed rail, and I want new subways. I just don’t want new subways that cost billions of dollars per mile, and I don’t want high-speed rail at $100 billion.

The inability of Western countries to build infrastructure within any period of time and within any sort of budget is just mesmerizing. What we are left with is raising the speed limits on subways in New York City from 15 MPH to something a bit more reasonable.

I have talked previously about the need for more startups in this space:

California is home to two very different innovation worlds. For the readers of TechCrunch, there is the familiar excitement of the startup world, with startups working on longevity and age extension, rockets to Mars, and cars that drive themselves. Hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs, engineers, and product managers are building these futures every day, often on shoestring budgets all in the hope of seeing their solution come to fruition.

Then, there is the “innovation” world of California’s infrastructure. Let’s take the most prominent example, which is the bullet train connecting southern to northern California. The train, first approved in a bond authorized by voters in 2008, is expected to have its first passengers in 2025 — three years after the original target of 2022.

That’s roughly 17 years start to finish, or older than the ages of Facebook (14 years) and the iPhone (10 years) are right now. Given that environmental reviews aren’t even slated to come in until 2020, it seems hard to believe that the route will maintain its current schedule.

Startups, we need your innovation in this space desperately. It’s a trillion dollar market ready for anything that might make these projects move faster, and cost less.

Quick Bites

My quick bites turned into full bites above.

What’s next

I am still obsessing about next-gen semiconductors. If you have thoughts there, give me a ring: danny@techcrunch.com.

Thoughts on Articles

The Increasingly United States – I read this book this weekend. Probably best to just read the reviews for most readers, although if you like modern political science research, this has about all the techniques you can do in American studies these days.

The core thesis is that the notion that “all politics is local” is completely bunk on two dimensions. Voters increasingly vote for candidates at every level of government using the same litmus tests, and they also get their information about politics exclusively from national sources. That basically means city councilors are debating immigration policy (which they have zero control over) rather than trash policy. It also explains the rising polarization in Congress — with less local issues to debate, there are just no opportunities afforded to build coalitions.

The book charts the pathways through which this nationalization takes place, and they will be intimately familiar to most readers (campaign finance changes, national media markets, nationalized policy planning, etc).

The thesis though raises a number of questions. First, how will local issues (zoning, trash pickup, etc.) get the attention they need to make our cities livable and thriving? Second, how can we fund local media so that voters have differentiated visibility into what is happening in their own backyard? These questions aren’t easy to answer, but we must if we want our federal-style system to function the way the founders intended.

The Death of Democracy in Hong Kong by Jeffrey Wasserstrom. A short and emotional look back at the failure of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement in 2014 and its ramifications.

Lean In’s Sheryl Sandberg Problem by Nellie Bowles. What does an organization do when the reputation of its founder and major icon turns sour? Lean In is trying to find out. Good if a bit lengthy, but I’m starting to get tired of the constant anti-Sandberg coverage.

Reading docket

What I’m reading (or at least, trying to read)

Huge long list of articles on next-gen semiconductors. More to come shortly.

Inside China’s audacious global propaganda campaign | News | The Guardian

Outgrowing Advertising: Multimodal Business Models as a Product Strategy – Andreessen Horowitz

Via Danny Crichton https://techcrunch.com

[healthfitness04]

Everything You Need To Know To Start Cycling To Work

Nick Harris-Fry

28 Mar 2018

All the advice and gear required to get on your bike and start the day off on a natural high

According the National Travel Survey two-thirds of people in Great Britain aged over five never cycle or cycle less than once a year on average, and a European Commission survey found that only 4% of people in the UK cycle daily. These aren’t impressive numbers – in the EU, only Cyprus (2%) and Malta (1%) have a lower percentage of daily cyclists.

If the numbers increased to nearer the 43% of people in the Netherlands who cycle daily, the benefits would be incredible, both individually and for society as a whole – think reduced air pollution and a healthier population reducing the pressure on health services. And as more people start to cycle, the infrastructure will continue to improve, which in turn leads to more cyclists cycling in safer environments.

So ask yourself, why aren’t you cycling to work? And hopefully whatever reasons you come up with will be covered below. Unless the reason is you work at home. You’re off the hook.

Why should you cycle to work?

“Cycling to work is a great way to include exercise in your weekly routine, without the need for expensive gym memberships or personal trainers,” says Luke Harper, head of British Cycling partnership at HSBC UK. “You get to work feeling invigorated, endorphins are flowing around your body and you start the day off on a natural high.

“A bike is also cheap to buy compared with a car, particularly with sos many employers taking part in the Cycle to Work scheme, and it is much cheaper to run. In many UK cities there are also bike sharing schemes which make using a bike easy and affordable.

“There are numerous benefits to cycling but, perhaps most of all, cycling is fun. Most of us learned to cycle as a child when it was an activity which provided a sense of freedom.”

So you’ll get fitter, save money and have a blast. We’d also suggest that for most people in cities cycling to work will be at least as fast as taking public transport, even if you’re pootling along at an easy pace, because you can pick a more direct route and the only unexpected delay you might experience is a flat tyre.

Is cycling to work dangerous?

A common fear, especially in London, but the dangers of cycling are overplayed. Take it slow and your confidence will quickly build.

“Our perceptions of the dangers to cycling far outstrip reality. For many of us, these are mental barriers which prevent us from getting on two wheels,” says Harper.

“You don’t have to be a cyclist to ride a bike. If you’re nervous about riding to work, there are ways to build your confidence including doing practice runs during the weekends when there’s usually less traffic, which will help you to familiarise yourself with the route. We often think about cycling as a means of commuting but, in fact, riding a bike recreationally around your local park or on national cycling routes can help you re-learn the skills or techniques that may be rusty after not being on a bike for a while, and help to boost your confidence before using the roads.”

A few stats from Cycling UK drive home the point that cycling is safe. Only one cyclist is killed for every 29 million miles covered by bike on British roads, and mile for mile the risk of death is about the same as walking. Furthermore, cycling is so good for your health that statistically, the years of life gained outweigh the years lost through injuries by around 20:1.

Do cyclists need to worry about air pollution?

Only on extremely rare occasions. In London TfL will issue alerts when the air pollution is very high and it’s worth considering not cycling outdoors (you can sign up for text alerts or download an app via airText). However, in general the health benefits of cycling far, far outweigh the possible risks of air pollution. And the more people ride, the less risk there will be.

“Cycling can be a solution to many of the issues facing cities and towns across the UK, whether that is obesity, depression or pollution,” says Harper. “Ultimately, more people cycling can reduce the number of cars on the road, reducing pollution and helping towards a greener, fitter, healthier Britain.”

How fit do I need to be?

This depends on how far you live from your work and whether there are any massive hills en route, but we’ll let you into a little secret – not that fit at all. City cycling tends to involve short bursts of mild effort that are curtailed by traffic lights frequently enough that you don’t get all that out of breath. You can of course put the hammer down and up the intensity of your exercise while cycling, but if you’re looking to tick off your 30 minutes of daily moderate activity, cycling is ideal.

You also don’t have to cycle to work every day – if you get tired at first, do alternate days until your fitness and confidence increase and you feel like doing more. And if you live too far from your work to cycle the whole way a folding bike could be a nifty solution for part of the journey, and they’re easier to stash at home or at work than regular bikes.

Am I going to get sweaty?

Take it easy on your ride and you won’t need a shower when you arrive at work. And if you are getting sweaty, buying yourself a cycling top will help because lightweight, sweat-wicking materials really make a difference. You don’t have to go for Lycra all over – a top and a jacket for winter will see you right, and they’re usually odour-resistant so you can wear them all week without having to wash them. There is also plenty of stylish cycling gear available that has the technical details you need to stay cool and sweat-free while being fashionable enough to wear off the bike.

If you really don’t want to get sweaty on your commute, there’s always the option of an e-bike. Riding with a little assistance is still good exercise, but it’s only at the intensity of walking, so you won’t sweat. If e-bikes are entirely new to you, check out our e-bike buyer’s guide for all the info you need.

Do you need to wear a helmet?

There is no law saying you have to wear a helmet in the UK, and cycling campaign groups are very active in opposing any attempt to introduce such a law. The argument is simple – enforced helmet wearing leads to fewer people cycling and the best way to make cycling safer is to have more people doing it.

Regardless of the legal requirements you might well choose to wear a helmet – they can save your life in a certain type of accident, although you shouldn��t expect them to do a great deal if you’re hit by a motor vehicle. If you’re keen on lugging a helmet with you at the end of your ride, then a folding helmet you can slip into a bag might be what you need.

What lights do I need?

The minimum requirement under UK law is that you have one front light, one rear light, one rear reflector and reflectors on your pedals. The lights can be flashing, but have to flash between 60 and 240 times per minute. There are some more detailed regulations about the amount of light emitted, but in practice you don’t really need to worry about that. Just buy some lights, and put them on your bike from sunset to sunrise.

If you want to go above and beyond with your bike lights there are many great options. Lights that project laser images onto the ground several metres in front of your bike, wheel lights, reflective clothing and ankle bands are all things to try if you want to make absolutely certain that you’re visible on the road.

Do you need any special gear?

In short, no. Aside from bike lights and a bike, there is nothing essential you need to buy, though you probably will want a helmet and a cycling top too. Beyond that the next purchase you might consider is mudguards if your bike doesn’t come with them – if you cycle in your work clothes, you don’t want them splashed on the way in to the office. Also, the people cycling around you don’t want to be splashed either.

Once you get into the swing of commuting you might also want to buy a cycling rucksack. This will be lightweight and have some kind of airflow system to help avoid your back getting too sweaty while you ride. Or, if you want to have no such concerns, you can invest in panniers and stash all your gear by your wheels.

Other gear you might want to get is some kind of route planner. This could be a cycling app that plots the best routes – whether you want the fastest or quietest roads – or a full-on bike computer that attaches to your handlebars and tracks your ride as well as guiding you.

How much will I have to spend on a commuter bike?

The good news is that there’s something out there for every budget. Ollie Glover, adult bikes expert at Halfords, says, “generally, £300-£700 will get you something reliable, sturdy and hopefully less of a target for thieves if you’re locking it outside.”

When working out how much you want to spend, give some thought to how much you want to spend on repairs. “Simply put, the more you spend, the better the ride will be but the more expensive the repair work,” says Glover. “A £100-£200 bike will be fine for commuting one or two days a week, and repair work over a year won’t add up to any more than the cost of the bike. Bikes that cost upwards of £1,000 will be fast, light and designed perfectly for the terrain, but repair work will be costly and you may find them more of a target for thieves.”

How much maintenance does a bike need? What’s the absolute minimum someone can get away with?

“Keep the bike clean and lubricated and you will find that parts last longer,” says Glover. “As an absolute minimum, repair things when they break, but repairs are more costly when you are replacing parts rather than servicing them. If you commute approximately 30 miles a week, every six months (or when something doesn’t feel or sound right), get your bike checked out. Regular assessment of the bike can help spot a problem before it happens. The wheels and drivetrain can take a beating during the daily grind, and servicing or replacing parts before they break prevents further damage.

Won’t my bike get stolen?

A fair question. Ultimately there is no surefire way to ensure your bike never gets nicked, but you can massively reduce the chances. The most effective strategy is to make stealing your bike more hassle than it’s worth, or at least more hassle than the bike parked next to it. With almost 400,000 bikes stolen in the UK every year, it’s every cyclist for themselves out there.

Before you head out the door register your ride at bikeregister.com, record your frame number and any other key details like your bike make, colour and any unique identifiers. You can also attach a coded label to your bike to help identify it and deter thieves – the police often have events where they’ll do this for you for free. Try searching your local force’s website.

When it comes to your lock, don’t skimp. Locking a £1,000 bike with a £10 lock is not a savvy move. In an ideal world you’ll always have a secure indoor location to park your bike, at least at work and at home, but you also need at least one lock when you do have to store it outside.

Sold Secure, a not-for-profit company run by the Master Locksmiths Association, rates locks as gold, silver or bronze, with the standards relating to how long they will stop a thief for – gold is five minutes, silver three, and bronze one. It might sound depressing that even the best locks only buy you five minutes, but if you park in a well-lit, public spot five minutes of work will hopefully deter would-be thieves. Getting two gold-rated locks of different types – a chain and a D-lock – will give you the best level of security, because a thief will need different tools to tackle each.

Always make sure you’re locking your bike to something solid and fixed – and make sure it’s not a short pole that a thief can lift your bike, lock and all, over, and carry it away! Lock your frame as the first priority (it’s the most expensive part of your bike), then the back wheel (ideally the frame and back wheel can be locked in one go), then the front wheel. If you have quick-release wheels, a lock for each is needed, as thieves can pop off the wheel in a matter of seconds. The less space between the lock and your bike the better, because that means there is less room for thieves to manoeuvre against the lock.

I’m not sure I can still cycle

If you’ve ever ridden a bike, it will probably only take you a short ride to get back in the swing of it. If you are worried about it, don’t make your commute the first time you ride – head out on the trails of Sustrans’ National Cycle Network, such as the short rides recommended for people living in London, Manchester and Newcastle.

If you want some formal coaching, you may well be able to get it for free. Cycle Confident puts on sessions in most London boroughs – check its website or your local council’s for more information. Cycle Confident occasionally ventures outside London for sessions, so it’s worth checking your your local council’s website for opportunities to learn to cycle again with Cycle Confident, or indeed any other organisation.

from http://www.coachmag.co.uk/cycling/7427/cycling-to-work-guide

[ukresinboundsurfacing]

Planning and funding to help communities transform neighbourhoods

Communities can come together to set out a shared vision for their neighbourhoods

Communities up and down the country are daring to dream and thinking big about how their neighbourhoods can and should be improved - and politicians are starting to realise this.

New funding

In London, funding is to be allocated for major community backed schemes to transform neighbourhoods. The Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) have recently announced a new multi-million pound funding programme to transform town centres and neighbourhoods into more attractive, accessible and people-friendly public spaces.

The new £85.9 million Liveable Neighbourhoods programme gives borough councils the opportunity to bid for funding for schemes that encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport, in line with the Mayor’s Healthy Streets approach.

This is a long-term funding programme and boroughs can submit bids at any time. Submissions for each financial year will close in October (20 October for 2017) with announcements of the successful bids made each December.

The recently elected Metro Mayors in England and other politicians may follow suit, or announce similar initiatives themselves (see my blog on the powers of new Metro Mayors); Mayor Andy Burnham has recently followed London’s Sadiq Khan in appointing a Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester - Chris Boardman - coupled with a recent pledge to spend £17 a head on cycling in the city region, matching the figure proposed in London.

Following discussions with local authority leaders, the National Infrastructure Commission has tasked Andrew Gilligan, the former Cycling Commissioner for London, to work with local councils and local organisations to create a vision for cycling to become a ‘super attractive’ mode of transport in Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge.  The Scottish Government has also recently announced the doubling of Scotland’s funding for active travel to £80 million.

Significantly, with the new Liveable Neighbourhoods programme, the London Mayor and TfL are looking for a wide range of community-supported projects, potentially including the creation of green spaces, new cycling infrastructure, redesigned junctions and the widening of walking routes to improve access to local shops, businesses and public transport. Projects demonstrating a large amount of popular support are most likely to receive a grant.

This is because getting community backing is the best way of capitalising on the wealth of local knowledge and expertise that exists in local groups; it encourages dialogue and collaboration and – crucially - community buy-in for schemes early on, often with much better outcomes. The London Mayor and TfL know this.

So community schemes can help London boroughs attract this Liveable Neighbourhoods funding year on year.  They would support the Metro Mayors and other politicians and councils seeking to emulate London and improve our neighbourhoods in this way.

Community devised schemes

Communities are also promoting transformational neighbourhood schemes.

Funding is available to help translate ideas into properly designed and costed interventions, through the neighbourhood planning process. Neighbourhood planning was introduced in 2012 under the Localism Act 2011 and updated by the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.

Communities can set out a shared vision for their neighbourhoods, devising their own policies and proposals rather than commenting on those of others. Well over 200 neighbourhood plans are in force and many more in preparation - with more than 1,800 designated neighbourhood plan areas - making them an already well-established part of the English planning system.

Supported by an evidence base, a neighbourhood plan describes how a community wants to shape its local area, whether it’s placing the public realm at the heart of communities, proposing better streets and public spaces, or improving local green space and connectivity.  It gives power to local people to come together and really influence how local areas develop.

Other proposals can include:

prioritising walking and cycling over motorised vehicles in residential neighbourhoods;

creating better walking and cycling networks to key destinations such as schools, train stations and the high street;

reducing the need to travel, by resisting the loss of sites which are currently used for important local facilities and services.

There are many other advantages to getting involved in neighbourhood planning:

local authorities are obliged by law to help communities and support the process from the very beginning, sharing baseline information for example;

the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has made funding available: as of today all groups writing a neighbourhood plan will be eligible to apply for up to £9,000 in grant, with packages of additional technical support and money where needed;

this money can be used to translate ideas into reality, to plug gaps in technical expertise within communities;

25% of local authority Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding raised from development in an area with a neighbourhood plan in place can be spent on local infrastructure such as walking and cycling measures and improved green space;

following a successful referendum, a neighbourhood plan which will be made carries real legal weight as part of the statutory development plan, enabling communities to have a much stronger role in shaping local areas.

By way of example, the Holbeck community in Leeds has dared to be bold.

A number of major schemes are identified in the recently submitted Holbeck Neighbourhood Plan (2017-2028), including a new pedestrian/cycle bridge over a railway and the creation of a greenway, using a disused viaduct to connect to the city centre.  These are ambitious proposals, intended to bring about transformational change.

Holbeck is a densely populated, inner-city area, encircled by motorways and railways. With industrial estates next to tightly-packed terraced streets connections to the city centre and neighbouring areas are difficult.

Amenities are limited and the local centre is not well used by pedestrians due to heavy traffic flows and narrow footways.  Yet the Holbeck neighbourhood plan is focused on overcoming these barriers and making the area a more attractive and healthier place, with policies to link and improve local green space, reduce through traffic and improve the attractiveness, accessibility and safety of pedestrian links and cycle ways.

Sustrans can help

Sustrans specialises in community led design. We work with communities to create people-friendly places, helping to transform them into attractive, lively neighbourhoods that are safer and easier to travel through on foot and by bike, improving health, wellbeing and air quality - see our Liveable Neighbourhoods webpage.

Our Community Street Design with Lewisham Borough Council for Rolt Street, Deptford, has been nominated for the Healthy Street Proposal of the Year Award 2017. The scheme addresses fast-moving traffic, poor visibility and sight lines, park guard railings and a lack of safe crossing points. The community inspired design has reimagined Rolt Street as an extension of Folkestone Gardens – a local urban park – with a one-way traffic calmed boulevard to create a better place for people to walk, cycle, play and stay.

Local communities can have the power to push for change

The planning system helps decide what gets built, where and when – decisions that can make a big difference to our quality of life. Neighbourhood planning gives local communities the power to push for schemes that will deliver major improvements. Proactive action can be taken at grass roots level. In London, community supported schemes have the potential to attract millions of pounds of funding through the Mayor’s Liveable Neighbourhoods programme.  

If you'd like to find our more about how we can help you access funding or implement a community led design project please get in touch with one of our local teams or email businessdevelopment@sustrans.org.uk.

Communities

Cycling in cities

Liveable cities

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8239590 https://www.sustrans.org.uk/blog/planning-and-funding-help-communities-transform-neighbourhoods via IFTTT

[runningtrackcontractors]

Planning and funding to help communities transform neighbourhoods

Communities can come together to set out a shared vision for their neighbourhoods

Communities up and down the country are daring to dream and thinking big about how their neighbourhoods can and should be improved - and politicians are starting to realise this.

New funding

In London, funding is to be allocated for major community backed schemes to transform neighbourhoods. The Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) have recently announced a new multi-million pound funding programme to transform town centres and neighbourhoods into more attractive, accessible and people-friendly public spaces.

The new £85.9 million Liveable Neighbourhoods programme gives borough councils the opportunity to bid for funding for schemes that encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport, in line with the Mayor’s Healthy Streets approach.

This is a long-term funding programme and boroughs can submit bids at any time. Submissions for each financial year will close in October (20 October for 2017) with announcements of the successful bids made each December.

The recently elected Metro Mayors in England and other politicians may follow suit, or announce similar initiatives themselves (see my blog on the powers of new Metro Mayors); Mayor Andy Burnham has recently followed London’s Sadiq Khan in appointing a Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester - Chris Boardman - coupled with a recent pledge to spend £17 a head on cycling in the city region, matching the figure proposed in London.

Following discussions with local authority leaders, the National Infrastructure Commission has tasked Andrew Gilligan, the former Cycling Commissioner for London, to work with local councils and local organisations to create a vision for cycling to become a ‘super attractive’ mode of transport in Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge.  The Scottish Government has also recently announced the doubling of Scotland’s funding for active travel to £80 million.

Significantly, with the new Liveable Neighbourhoods programme, the London Mayor and TfL are looking for a wide range of community-supported projects, potentially including the creation of green spaces, new cycling infrastructure, redesigned junctions and the widening of walking routes to improve access to local shops, businesses and public transport. Projects demonstrating a large amount of popular support are most likely to receive a grant.

This is because getting community backing is the best way of capitalising on the wealth of local knowledge and expertise that exists in local groups; it encourages dialogue and collaboration and – crucially - community buy-in for schemes early on, often with much better outcomes. The London Mayor and TfL know this.

So community schemes can help London boroughs attract this Liveable Neighbourhoods funding year on year.  They would support the Metro Mayors and other politicians and councils seeking to emulate London and improve our neighbourhoods in this way.

Community devised schemes

Communities are also promoting transformational neighbourhood schemes.

Funding is available to help translate ideas into properly designed and costed interventions, through the neighbourhood planning process. Neighbourhood planning was introduced in 2012 under the Localism Act 2011 and updated by the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.

Communities can set out a shared vision for their neighbourhoods, devising their own policies and proposals rather than commenting on those of others. Well over 200 neighbourhood plans are in force and many more in preparation - with more than 1,800 designated neighbourhood plan areas - making them an already well-established part of the English planning system.

Supported by an evidence base, a neighbourhood plan describes how a community wants to shape its local area, whether it’s placing the public realm at the heart of communities, proposing better streets and public spaces, or improving local green space and connectivity.  It gives power to local people to come together and really influence how local areas develop.

Other proposals can include:

prioritising walking and cycling over motorised vehicles in residential neighbourhoods;

creating better walking and cycling networks to key destinations such as schools, train stations and the high street;

reducing the need to travel, by resisting the loss of sites which are currently used for important local facilities and services.

There are many other advantages to getting involved in neighbourhood planning:

local authorities are obliged by law to help communities and support the process from the very beginning, sharing baseline information for example;

the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has made funding available: as of today all groups writing a neighbourhood plan will be eligible to apply for up to £9,000 in grant, with packages of additional technical support and money where needed;

this money can be used to translate ideas into reality, to plug gaps in technical expertise within communities;

25% of local authority Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding raised from development in an area with a neighbourhood plan in place can be spent on local infrastructure such as walking and cycling measures and improved green space;

following a successful referendum, a neighbourhood plan which will be made carries real legal weight as part of the statutory development plan, enabling communities to have a much stronger role in shaping local areas.

By way of example, the Holbeck community in Leeds has dared to be bold.

A number of major schemes are identified in the recently submitted Holbeck Neighbourhood Plan (2017-2028), including a new pedestrian/cycle bridge over a railway and the creation of a greenway, using a disused viaduct to connect to the city centre.  These are ambitious proposals, intended to bring about transformational change.

Holbeck is a densely populated, inner-city area, encircled by motorways and railways. With industrial estates next to tightly-packed terraced streets connections to the city centre and neighbouring areas are difficult.

Amenities are limited and the local centre is not well used by pedestrians due to heavy traffic flows and narrow footways.  Yet the Holbeck neighbourhood plan is focused on overcoming these barriers and making the area a more attractive and healthier place, with policies to link and improve local green space, reduce through traffic and improve the attractiveness, accessibility and safety of pedestrian links and cycle ways.

Sustrans can help

Sustrans specialises in community led design. We work with communities to create people-friendly places, helping to transform them into attractive, lively neighbourhoods that are safer and easier to travel through on foot and by bike, improving health, wellbeing and air quality - see our Liveable Neighbourhoods webpage.

Our Community Street Design with Lewisham Borough Council for Rolt Street, Deptford, has been nominated for the Healthy Street Proposal of the Year Award 2017. The scheme addresses fast-moving traffic, poor visibility and sight lines, park guard railings and a lack of safe crossing points. The community inspired design has reimagined Rolt Street as an extension of Folkestone Gardens – a local urban park – with a one-way traffic calmed boulevard to create a better place for people to walk, cycle, play and stay.

Local communities can have the power to push for change

The planning system helps decide what gets built, where and when – decisions that can make a big difference to our quality of life. Neighbourhood planning gives local communities the power to push for schemes that will deliver major improvements. Proactive action can be taken at grass roots level. In London, community supported schemes have the potential to attract millions of pounds of funding through the Mayor’s Liveable Neighbourhoods programme.  

If you'd like to find our more about how we can help you access funding or implement a community led design project please get in touch with one of our local teams or email businessdevelopment@sustrans.org.uk.

Communities

Cycling in cities

Liveable cities

from Blog https://www.sustrans.org.uk/blog/planning-and-funding-help-communities-transform-neighbourhoods via IFTTT

[bluecredit]

Five million get free holiday perks with card rewards, but for how much longer?

Our research has found that almost half of people (43%) who got a credit card did so to earn rewards. An estimated five million used their points to get free flights and other holiday perks, 1.6 million enjoyed an entirely free holiday. But many used points to get free supermarket groceries, Christmas gifts and many other retail perks. But this comes as credit card providers reduce their reward schemes – apparently due to new rules pushing up their costs. Capital One was the first casualty, pulling its rewards scheme today, and RBS plans to cut their rewards scheme later in the year. Something for nothing? David Mann, Head of Money at uSwitch, says: “Getting something for nothing seems like a dream, but enjoying free flights or holidays just for putting the weekly shop on your credit card is a reality for many savvy spenders. “Reward cards are hugely popular, and it’s clear to see why. As long as you pay off your balance in full every month, using your credit card for everyday expenses – as well as big one-off purchases – can give you a real boost. “But with so many different schemes to choose from – from supermarket loyalty points, to airmiles or cold hard cash – it’s important to think about how much you’ll spend, and where. “However, with Capital One pulling their scheme in June, and RBS planning a similar move, these deals may not be around for ever.” There are still many credit cards offering reward perks left, we explain some of your options below, but it’s well worth comparing the entire reward card market. Supermarket cards Our research found 58% of people thought supermarket loyalty rewards offer the best value for money. This matches the results of our credit card customer service awards that firmly placed retailers ahead of the banks. Supermarket reward points can give substantial discounts on your spending or can be redeemed for day trips, holidays perks, free meals and other perks. There are many supermarket cards to choose from and you should consider where you shop regularly, but we take a look at two of the best below. Tesco Bank Purchase card with 1000 points Tesco clubcard points can be redeemed instore for groceries, or be used for travel, dining out, and many other perks and freebies. 1000 Clubcard points if you make a purchase or transfer a balance within 2 months of account opening 1 Clubcard point for every £4 spent in each purchase transaction 17 months 0% on purchases and 3 months 0% on balance transfers (2.9% fee) Fees and charges: No annual fee, rep. APR 18.9% Barclaycard Freedom Rewards Credit Card Freedom Points from Barclarycard can be used to get freebies and discounts at hundreds of highstreet and online stores, attractions and restaurants – you get double points for spending on petrol and rail transport. Double Freedom points on UK supermarket, petrol station and all Transport for London 0% interest on balance transfers for the first 18 months (2% fee applies) 0% interest on purchases for 6 months from account opening Fees and charges: No annual fee, rep. APR 21.9% Cashback cards 56% feel cashback cards give the best value for money – a sign that boosting bank balances is still a priority for many. So what are the best cards to get cash back for your spend? American Express Platinum Cashback everyday Card The famous American Express cards are less exclusive than many would believe and offer some of the most competitive consistent cashback of any card on the market. 5% cashback in your first 3 months (up to £100) Up to 1.25% cashback thereafter Fees and charges: No annual fee, rep. APR 19.9% Santander 123 Credit Card MasterCard The Santander 123 card offers an impressive 3% cashback on your transport purchases – whether you spend on national rail, petrol or TFL First year fee-free if you have or open a 123 Current Account. Otherwise £24 annual fee 23 months 1% cashback on supermarket purchases; 2% from department stores; 3% on petrol, national rail and TFL purchases* 0% on purchases and balance transfers; 23 months 0% transfer fee (3% thereafter) Fees and charges: £24 annual fee, rep. APR 21.9% Airline cards 38% of those we spoke to feel airline reward cards offer value for money. Avios points and Virgin Miles can put you on the other side of the world with free flights and upgrades. But airline reward deals still need to have their taxes paid, so these cards aren’t for everyone. But if you do travel regularly what’s a good airline reward card to get? British Airways American Express® Credit Card This fee-free card from British Airways and Amex lets you Avios points on your everyday spending. 9000 Avios when spending £1000 within the first 3 months Companion Voucher when you spend £10000 in one year 1 Avios for every £1 spent Fees and charges: No annual fee, rep. APR 15.9% The post Five million get free holiday perks with card rewards, but for how much longer? appeared first on uSwitch News.

https://www.uswitch.com/blog/2015/06/01/five-million-get-free-holiday-perks-with-card-rewards-but-for-how-much-longer/

[auburnfamilynews]

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Gave it some time, here are some thoughts.

Isn’t it funny? Two weeks ago, we were all gloom and doom, sky is falling, chicken littles.

Gus Malzahn wasn’t going to be the guy, but there was nobody prepared to fork over the cash for the buyout. Everyone that figured Yella Fella would pony up a solid $25M to send Gus off to Arkansas or somewhere found out that rich businessmen get rich by not paying that kind of money on a gamble.

Then, there we were. Gus is still on the sideline, coaching against Alabama in a game that he absolutely could win, especially without Tua under center for the Tide.

So what happened?

Gus not only tricked the greatest coach of all time into blowing a gasket, but he tricked all of the Auburn fans that wanted him gone as well.

Auburn beat Alabama 48-45 in the 84th Iron Bowl, which turned out to be the most insane edition of the storied rivalry. At a high level, here are some of the things that stood out:

The win puts Auburn at 9-3 for the regular season, which turned out to be one of the toughest in school history. The Tigers’ only losses came by 11 at Florida, 3 at LSU, and 7 vs Georgia. Before the year began, if we’d said that Auburn would go 2-1 against Oregon, A&M, and Florida, and 1-2 against LSU, Georgia, and Alabama, you’d probably take that. We did it. Successful year. Auburn now has a chance to reach ten wins in a bowl game, which will likely take place on New Year’s Day in a sunny Florida location.

Alabama’s season is ruined. Imagine being so spoiled as to think that your season is ruined at 10-2, with both losses coming by fewer than ten total points. There will be no Playoff appearance for the Tide in 2019, which means they miss the Playoff for the first time since its inception. MUST BE TOUGH. Cry me a river. While they’ve had incredible longevity over the last decade, this is a bit of a different feel. The last three good teams that Alabama played put up 44, 46, and 48 points on Nick Saban’s vaunted defense. In 2020, they stand to lose the vast majority of their skill players, offensive line, and a ton of their defensive stalwarts as well...

You know, these kinds of defensive stalwarts...

...who knows what kind of coaching turnover happens in the meantime for them as well. The point is, the #decline seems a little more founded in reality than hope.

Gus Malzahn once again showed that he’s THE guy that can get Saban’s gourd. Nobody else has that ability. Sure, Dabo’s beaten him a couple times, but those were straight up one-on-one slugfests where Clemson was just better. Auburn was better in 2013 with the Kick Six, and they were better last night too, but when you roll out something new (pop pass/punter substitution trick) and it causes Saban to bitch about the rules, you know you’re doing something right. You’re putting mileage on that engine, and that’s a good thing.

As for the game itself, what a wild ride. We had 48 combined points in the second quarter, two pick sixes (including one that went for 100 yards), and so many elements that harkened back to the Kick Six and must’ve given Saban a feeling like he was Buckner walking back into Shea.

Let’s dive in.

Same energy. pic.twitter.com/937LkobgoJ

— SB Nation (@SBNation) December 1, 2019

I saw so many people (Auburn fans even) talking about how rushing the field was dumb. If it annoys Alabama then it can’t possibly be a bad idea.

Also, doing anything to entertain of the MVP of the 2017 Iron Bowl is fine by me.

Bama just put this this L in a little rice it’ll be okay in a couple days

— Kerryon Johnson (@AyeyoKEJO) December 1, 2019

Auburn University! Where LEGENDS are made!!! WAR EAGLE!!! pic.twitter.com/4fCEL3fvyi

— Coach T-Will (@T_WILL4REAL) December 1, 2019

One point of contention earlier in the year was the fan support at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn didn’t get to play any big games at home until Georgia, and while the crowd was unreal for that affair, we had to endure the “It was cold” excuses from the students after Ole Miss. Last night paid any sort of fan support debt in full.

Jordan Hare Stadium was ROCKIN tonight! BEST GAME EVER! #WarEagle #ironbowl pic.twitter.com/u7NvI8Qhn8

— Dana Spurlin (@dspurlin_tift) December 1, 2019

If you're wondering why Jordan-Hare Stadium was screaming "It's great to be an Auburn Tiger," it's because the Alabama section started a "Roll Tide" chant while Daniel Thomas was still down on the field injured.

— Nathan King (@byNathanKing) November 30, 2019

In the past, the Iron Bowl has always been a rivalry game that seems pretty clean on the field. Most of these guys grew up together, played against or with each other when they were younger, and so the bad blood on the field is kept to a minimum. It’s usually the idiots in the stands that can’t handle the tension and do things like “destroy historic landmarks”.

Yesterday, though, we got to see some real chippy play from both sides. Seth Williams got tagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (he is from Tuscaloosa, after all), and Boobee Whitlow was on the receiving end of a penalty after a helmet slap too.

All that an emotional ballgame means is that when it’s all said and done, you end up with a heck of a celebration... even if it is super goofy.

#WarEagle x #RidefortheBrand pic.twitter.com/JaVkHJEFnw

— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) December 1, 2019

Gus has reason to be excited. His offensive line — much-maligned throughout the season — did something incredible when you put it up against what we’d seen earlier this year —

Auburn's O-Line did not allow a single sack today and only allowed 4 tackles for a loss. AUsome job, young men.

— Auburn Elvis (@AuburnElvis) December 1, 2019

We got a superhuman effort from Derrick Brown with 3.5 TFLs, we got 114 yards from Boobee Whitlow, a turnover free game from Bo Nix, and we got the effort you’d expect from our opposing kicking game voodoo.

if you told me Auburn mic'd the uprights for this game and hooked them up to the stadium speakers I would 100% believe you https://t.co/gAigjBOdCW

— BUM CHILLUPS (@edsbs) December 1, 2019

Alabama’s missed field goal at the end of the Iron Bowl pic.twitter.com/YF6QE3UN6u

— Barrett Sallee (@BarrettSallee) December 1, 2019

I took a video of Alabama’s missed field goal WAR DAMN EAGLE EVERYBODY!!!!! pic.twitter.com/YUiS5igudU

— Graham Brooks (@The_GBrooks) December 1, 2019

For real, though... Auburn somehow escaped that game with injuries galore. Anthony Schwartz played exactly one snap before going out with an ankle injury, and we saw tons of dudes laid out on the carpet at various times throughout the game. Honestly, with the receivers that Alabama put on the field (Waddle was their FOURTH OPTION), there’s no reason that the Tide should ever lose with Tua, Namath, Mac Jones, you, or me at quarterback. Auburn somehow also forced Alabama to only use Najee Harris in a semi-meaningless way. He got 146 yards on 27 carries, and scored, but in the grand scheme of the game, did his performance really matter? It didn’t.

For the first time all year, against a good opponent, I had confidence that the offense was going to do something. Driving late to take the lead for good, I didn’t really feel nervous in thinking that we’d need some other miracle to take place for us to win. We went right down the field and got a Classic Gus Wildcat call for the game-winning touchdown. It just so happened to clown a Bama defender and make a meme out of Xavier McKinney.

And how about the final play? Being at the game, it was wild to watch. Jaylen Waddle was out there about 40 yards deep the whole time, and he had no idea he needed to run off until the final moment, but he didn’t get off the field before the flag was there to greet him at the sideline. Bama’s hero all game long was the guy that got flagged in the end. It’s poetic. What’s also poetic is Gus’ ability to needle at Saban by doing something completely legal. Saban’s literally just mad that he couldn’t use it first. The way he described the entire ordeal as “unfair” makes it seem as though Auburn put some sort of a cloak on Arryn Sipposs and smuggled him into the formation. Instead, they trotted him out with the rest of the offense, stuck him at receiver, and five-star corner Patrick Surtain decided to cover him.

Maybe Saban should’ve known that Auburn wasn’t going to go for it when a failure has the Tide already in field goal range. Maybe his years of football knowledge should’ve taken over. They didn’t. He panicked. His staff panicked. His players panicked. The process failed, and the best collection of talent in the country folded when it mattered most.

Gus Malzahn bamboozled Nick Saban. He ‘boozled him hard, and that’s going to be the most satisfying thing to come out of this Iron Bowl. Auburn scored 48 points, but the number of Nick’s gray hairs that’ll resist Just For Men’s latest formula are far more numerous.

War Eagle, everyone. #WeBeatBama.

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2019/12/1/20991010/about-last-night-15-auburn-48-5-alabama-45

[ukresinboundsurfacing]

Communities at heart of liveable neighbourhoods

A place to stop and talk to friends

Dumfries Street Design Programme saw the regeneration of Queen Street and surrounds improved with feedback from the local community

Local residents creating planters which will add greenery and slow down traffic through their street

Have you ever thought that your neighbourhood could be a better place to live, work, shop, go to school, socialise and play?  

And how often have you thought that schemes which do come forward could be designed with the people who will be using them and benefiting from them?

Sometimes it feels like we can’t do much as individuals to influence where we live and work. That we can’t change our public streets and spaces in the ways that we’d like. But we can.

Communities up and down the country are daring to dream and think big about how their neighbourhoods can and should be improved. When it comes to liveable neighbourhoods, communities are leading the way and politicians are starting to realise this.

New funding for liveable neighbourhoods

In London, funding is to be allocated for major community backed schemes to transform neighbourhoods. The Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) have recently announced a new multi-million pound funding programme to transform town centres and neighbourhoods into more attractive, accessible and people-friendly public spaces.

The new £85.9 million Liveable Neighbourhoods programme gives borough councils the opportunity to bid for funding for schemes that encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport, in line with the Mayor’s Healthy Streets approach. This is a long-term funding programme and boroughs can submit bids at any time. Submissions for each financial year will close in October (20 October for 2017) with announcements of the successful bids made each December.

The recently elected Metro Mayors and other politicians may follow suit, or announce similar initiatives themselves. Interestingly, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has recently followed London’s Sadiq Khan in appointing Chris Boardman to the role of Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester. The move has been coupled with a recent pledge to spend £17 a head on cycling in the city region, matching the figure proposed in London.

And following discussions with local authority leaders, the National Infrastructure Commission has tasked Andrew Gilligan,  former Cycling Commissioner for London, to work with local councils and local organisations to create a vision of what is required for cycling to become a ‘super attractive’ mode of transport in Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

Community supported projects

Significantly, with the new Liveable Neighbourhoods programme, the London Mayor and Transport for London are looking for a wide range of community-supported projects, potentially including the creation of green spaces, new cycling infrastructure, redesigned junctions and the widening of walking routes to improve access to local shops, businesses and public transport.

Projects demonstrating a large amount of popular support are most likely to receive a grant. This is because getting community backing is the best way of capitalising on the wealth of local knowledge and expertise that exists in local groups; it encourages dialogue and collaboration and – crucially - achieves community buy-in for schemes early on, often with much better outcomes. The London Mayor and TfL know this.

So community schemes can help London boroughs attract this Liveable Neighbourhoods funding year on year. And they would support the Metro Mayors and other politicians and councils seeking to emulate London and improve our neighbourhoods in this way.

Why not community devised schemes? 

Change doesn’t have to be instigated solely by local authorities. Communities are promoting their own transformational neighbourhood schemes, too. It’s not as challenging as it sounds, because funding is available to help communities translate their ideas into schemes that have been properly designed and costed.

Community devised schemes can be materialised through the neighbourhood planning process.

Neighbourhood planning was introduced in 2012 under the Localism Act 2011 and updated by the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.

Communities can set out a shared vision for their neighbourhoods, devising their own policies and proposals rather than commenting on those of others. With well over 200 neighbourhood plans in force and many more in preparation - with more than 1,800 designated neighbourhood plan areas - they are already a well-established part of the English planning system.

How do neighbourhood plans work?

Supported by an evidence base, a neighbourhood plan describes how a community wants to shape its local area, whether it’s placing the public realm at the heart of communities, proposing better streets and public spaces or improving local green space and connectivity.  

It gives power to local people to come together and really influence how local areas develop. Other proposals can include:

prioritising walking and cycling over motorised vehicles in residential neighbourhoods

creating better walking and cycling networks to key destinations such as schools, train stations and the high street

reducing the need to travel, by resisting the loss of sites which are currently used for important local facilities and services.

And there are many other advantages to getting involved in neighbourhood planning:

local authorities are obliged by law to help communities and support the process from the very beginning, sharing baseline information for example

the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has made funding available: as at today’s date, all groups writing a neighbourhood plan will be eligible to apply for up to £9,000 in grant, with packages of additional technical support and money where needed

this money can be used to translate ideas into reality, to plug gaps in technical expertise within communities

25% of local authority Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding raised from development in an area with a neighbourhood plan in place can be spent on local infrastructure such as walking and cycling measures and improved green space

following a successful referendum, a neighbourhood plan that is going to be made carries real legal weight as part of the statutory development plan, which enables communities to have a much stronger role in shaping local areas.

Better places to live and work in action

The Holbeck community in Leeds has dared to be bold. A number of major schemes are identified in the recently submitted Holbeck Neighbourhood Plan (2017-2028), including a new pedestrian/cycle bridge over a railway and the creation of a greenway, using a disused Viaduct, to connect to the city centre.  

These are ambitious proposals to bring about transformational change. Holbeck is a densely populated, inner-city area, encircled by motorways and railways, with industrial estates next to tightly-packed terraced streets. There are limited amenities and the local centre is not well used by pedestrians due to heavy traffic flows and narrow footways. Connections to the city centre and neighbouring areas are difficult.

Yet the Holbeck neighbourhood plan is focused on overcoming these barriers and making the area a more attractive and healthier place, with policies to link and improve local green space, reduce through traffic and improve the attractiveness, accessibility and safety of pedestrian links and cycle ways.

Where do you start?

If you’re interested in changing your neighbourhood, why not find out whether a neighbourhood planning process has started in your area? You may be surprised. Check out map of neighbourhood planning areas online. If not, why not think about beginning the process? 

There are lots of resources available to help and support communities including, for example, advice from the DCLG and the Forum for Neighbourhood Planning.

We can help

Sustrans specialises in community led design. We work with communities to create people-friendly places, helping to transform them into attractive, lively neighbourhoods that are safer and easier to travel through on foot and by bike, improving health, wellbeing and air quality.

Our Community Street Design with Lewisham borough council for Rolt Street, Deptford, has been nominated for the Healthy Street Proposal of the Year Award 2017. The scheme addresses fast-moving traffic, poor visibility and sight lines, park guard railings and a lack of safe crossing points. The community inspired design has reimagined Rolt Street as an extension of Folkestone Gardens – a local urban park – with a one-way traffic calmed boulevard to create a better place for people to walk, cycle, play and stay.

So if you want to start transforming your neighbourhood, get in touch with us!         

The planning system helps decide what gets built, where and when – decisions that can make a big difference to our quality of life. Neighbourhood planning gives local communities the power to push for schemes that will deliver major improvements.

Proactive action can be taken at grass roots level: if the schemes suggested by your local authority aren’t good enough and don’t take account of issues that are important to you and your community, you can access funding to do something about it. And in London, community supported schemes have the potential to attract millions of pounds of funding through the Mayor’s Liveable Neighbourhoods programme.

So why not grasp this opportunity now?

Find out more about community led design

Communities

Liveable cities

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8239590 https://www.sustrans.org.uk/blog/communities-heart-liveable-neighbourhoods via IFTTT

[runningtrackcontractors]

Communities at heart of liveable neighbourhoods

A place to stop and talk to friends

Dumfries Street Design Programme saw the regeneration of Queen Street and surrounds improved with feedback from the local community

Local residents creating planters which will add greenery and slow down traffic through their street

Have you ever thought that your neighbourhood could be a better place to live, work, shop, go to school, socialise and play?  

And how often have you thought that schemes which do come forward could be designed with the people who will be using them and benefiting from them?

Sometimes it feels like we can’t do much as individuals to influence where we live and work. That we can’t change our public streets and spaces in the ways that we’d like. But we can.

Communities up and down the country are daring to dream and think big about how their neighbourhoods can and should be improved. When it comes to liveable neighbourhoods, communities are leading the way and politicians are starting to realise this.

New funding for liveable neighbourhoods

In London, funding is to be allocated for major community backed schemes to transform neighbourhoods. The Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) have recently announced a new multi-million pound funding programme to transform town centres and neighbourhoods into more attractive, accessible and people-friendly public spaces.

The new £85.9 million Liveable Neighbourhoods programme gives borough councils the opportunity to bid for funding for schemes that encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport, in line with the Mayor’s Healthy Streets approach. This is a long-term funding programme and boroughs can submit bids at any time. Submissions for each financial year will close in October (20 October for 2017) with announcements of the successful bids made each December.

The recently elected Metro Mayors and other politicians may follow suit, or announce similar initiatives themselves. Interestingly, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has recently followed London’s Sadiq Khan in appointing Chris Boardman to the role of Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester. The move has been coupled with a recent pledge to spend £17 a head on cycling in the city region, matching the figure proposed in London.

And following discussions with local authority leaders, the National Infrastructure Commission has tasked Andrew Gilligan,  former Cycling Commissioner for London, to work with local councils and local organisations to create a vision of what is required for cycling to become a ‘super attractive’ mode of transport in Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

Community supported projects

Significantly, with the new Liveable Neighbourhoods programme, the London Mayor and Transport for London are looking for a wide range of community-supported projects, potentially including the creation of green spaces, new cycling infrastructure, redesigned junctions and the widening of walking routes to improve access to local shops, businesses and public transport.

Projects demonstrating a large amount of popular support are most likely to receive a grant. This is because getting community backing is the best way of capitalising on the wealth of local knowledge and expertise that exists in local groups; it encourages dialogue and collaboration and – crucially - achieves community buy-in for schemes early on, often with much better outcomes. The London Mayor and TfL know this.

So community schemes can help London boroughs attract this Liveable Neighbourhoods funding year on year. And they would support the Metro Mayors and other politicians and councils seeking to emulate London and improve our neighbourhoods in this way.

Why not community devised schemes? 

Change doesn’t have to be instigated solely by local authorities. Communities are promoting their own transformational neighbourhood schemes, too. It’s not as challenging as it sounds, because funding is available to help communities translate their ideas into schemes that have been properly designed and costed.

Community devised schemes can be materialised through the neighbourhood planning process.

Neighbourhood planning was introduced in 2012 under the Localism Act 2011 and updated by the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.

Communities can set out a shared vision for their neighbourhoods, devising their own policies and proposals rather than commenting on those of others. With well over 200 neighbourhood plans in force and many more in preparation - with more than 1,800 designated neighbourhood plan areas - they are already a well-established part of the English planning system.

How do neighbourhood plans work?

Supported by an evidence base, a neighbourhood plan describes how a community wants to shape its local area, whether it’s placing the public realm at the heart of communities, proposing better streets and public spaces or improving local green space and connectivity.  

It gives power to local people to come together and really influence how local areas develop. Other proposals can include:

prioritising walking and cycling over motorised vehicles in residential neighbourhoods

creating better walking and cycling networks to key destinations such as schools, train stations and the high street

reducing the need to travel, by resisting the loss of sites which are currently used for important local facilities and services.

And there are many other advantages to getting involved in neighbourhood planning:

local authorities are obliged by law to help communities and support the process from the very beginning, sharing baseline information for example

the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has made funding available: as at today’s date, all groups writing a neighbourhood plan will be eligible to apply for up to £9,000 in grant, with packages of additional technical support and money where needed

this money can be used to translate ideas into reality, to plug gaps in technical expertise within communities

25% of local authority Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding raised from development in an area with a neighbourhood plan in place can be spent on local infrastructure such as walking and cycling measures and improved green space

following a successful referendum, a neighbourhood plan that is going to be made carries real legal weight as part of the statutory development plan, which enables communities to have a much stronger role in shaping local areas.

Better places to live and work in action

The Holbeck community in Leeds has dared to be bold. A number of major schemes are identified in the recently submitted Holbeck Neighbourhood Plan (2017-2028), including a new pedestrian/cycle bridge over a railway and the creation of a greenway, using a disused Viaduct, to connect to the city centre.  

These are ambitious proposals to bring about transformational change. Holbeck is a densely populated, inner-city area, encircled by motorways and railways, with industrial estates next to tightly-packed terraced streets. There are limited amenities and the local centre is not well used by pedestrians due to heavy traffic flows and narrow footways. Connections to the city centre and neighbouring areas are difficult.

Yet the Holbeck neighbourhood plan is focused on overcoming these barriers and making the area a more attractive and healthier place, with policies to link and improve local green space, reduce through traffic and improve the attractiveness, accessibility and safety of pedestrian links and cycle ways.

Where do you start?

If you’re interested in changing your neighbourhood, why not find out whether a neighbourhood planning process has started in your area? You may be surprised. Check out map of neighbourhood planning areas online. If not, why not think about beginning the process? 

There are lots of resources available to help and support communities including, for example, advice from the DCLG and the Forum for Neighbourhood Planning.

We can help

Sustrans specialises in community led design. We work with communities to create people-friendly places, helping to transform them into attractive, lively neighbourhoods that are safer and easier to travel through on foot and by bike, improving health, wellbeing and air quality.

Our Community Street Design with Lewisham borough council for Rolt Street, Deptford, has been nominated for the Healthy Street Proposal of the Year Award 2017. The scheme addresses fast-moving traffic, poor visibility and sight lines, park guard railings and a lack of safe crossing points. The community inspired design has reimagined Rolt Street as an extension of Folkestone Gardens – a local urban park – with a one-way traffic calmed boulevard to create a better place for people to walk, cycle, play and stay.

So if you want to start transforming your neighbourhood, get in touch with us!         

The planning system helps decide what gets built, where and when – decisions that can make a big difference to our quality of life. Neighbourhood planning gives local communities the power to push for schemes that will deliver major improvements.

Proactive action can be taken at grass roots level: if the schemes suggested by your local authority aren’t good enough and don’t take account of issues that are important to you and your community, you can access funding to do something about it. And in London, community supported schemes have the potential to attract millions of pounds of funding through the Mayor’s Liveable Neighbourhoods programme.

So why not grasp this opportunity now?

Find out more about community led design

Communities

Liveable cities

from Blog https://www.sustrans.org.uk/blog/communities-heart-liveable-neighbourhoods via IFTTT