It's lovely here today... if you don't HAVE to go to work: over 15 cm of snow fell overnight (the heviest for 18 years), more to come today.
I've bought in Greenpeace's airplot, genius idea, and still thanks to them, I've sent the following letter to the 57 MP's who have opposed Heathrow Expansion and will vote on this issue on Wednesday.
Current airport
• Fewer than 26% of users of Heathrow are travelling on Business(1).
•
35% of people travelling to Heathrow are interchange passengers – they
never leave the airport. Therefore they contribute little to the UK
economy outside of the aviation industry.
• 100,000 flights
a year, nearly a fifth of all flights, are to destinations in the UK or
near-Europe where there is already a viable rail alternative. There are
60 flights per day to Paris – more than any other destination. 36
flights a day go to Manchester, more than to Hong Kong or Chicago.
•
London’s airports handle 128 million passengers a year – that is more
than use the airports serving Paris and Frankfurt combined.
•
Ferrovial, the Spanish owners of Heathrow, make a substantial profit
from passengers using the airport. In the year since Ferrovial bought BAA (the operators of Heathrow) – capital investment fell by 15% but revenue grew from £1.077 billion to £1.232 billion.
Heathrow Expansion
• Only 1% of members of the Institute of Directors think airport expansion is a priority(2).
• 78% of London firms are against expansion at Heathrow(3).
• Fewer than a sixth of London firms would even consider leaving London if the airport did not expand(4).
Aviation generally
• £9 billion a year in tax subsidies is given to the aviation industry (It is zero-rated for VAT. It does not pay on fuel).
• Aviation fuel costs 26p a litre whereas petrol for cars is about £1 a litre.
•
£9 billion would pay for 22 new hospitals(5) – it cost £400 million to
build London’s University College Hospital – or 450,000 nurses (current
nursing positions advertised at £20,000(6).
• 89% of the general public think that businesses that create pollution should be more heavily taxed(7).
• 63% of the general public would be prepared to sacrifice one foreign holiday a year to save the planet(8).
• Only 17% of the general public are opposed to constraining growth in air-travel(9).
•
Tourists visiting the UK spend at least £15 billion pounds less per
year than UK tourists going on holiday overseas. Expanding aviation
simply means increasing the trade deficit for UK tourism.
This is an easy argument to peddle, calls into National Pride and prevents the media from focussing on the fact the business case for the airport is tenuous at best.Otherwise, it's good to see the Climate Sufragettes in action -watch this space.the DfT, BAA and BA are in collusion to preserve their own interests and not that of Londoners or the country when they talk about Heathrow not being competitive compared to other European capitals, they conveniently forget that only London has FIVE international airports and that many other capitals have successfully relocated their airport"
It seems the bright sparks in our council are doing all they can to extract more money from motorists and kill local business: 
Found this great book after an ITB problem prevented me from running properly the Richmond half-marathon a few years back:
Grim news this morning as the impact of the proposed Heathrow Expansion is worse than planned:
The Marlborough sits chiefly on top of Richmond hill and boasts one of the largest gardens -complete with children playground- of the area, making it one of the favourites around, along with the Victoria in East Sheen (great food but overpriced), the Tapestry in Mortlake, The Crown in St Margarets, Stein's on the river and the Hare and Hounds in Sheen.
Le Le Bouchon Breton is nicely located on the new mezzanie floor of Spitafields market -perfect for a city lunch and Xmas shopping in one trip. The seafood is excellent, the menu goes around all the French classics, even to the risk of being cliche'd (like the frog legs)."Anti-Heathrow expansion campaigners claim the government is stalling"
"A decision on whether a third runway
should be built at Heathrow Airport has been put back to January 2009,
the Department for Transport has said."
And also, the impact of the Airtrack on local level crossing is making into national news:
Read this morning Pre-Budget Report and Alistair Darling's £1 trillion debt gamble (Times Online)
Richmond park has come up with a way to limit the increasing Traffic in Richmond Park: The way forward for Case 17165.Comptoir Gascon
63 Charterhouse Street
London
EC1M 6HJ
Tel. 020 7608 0851
Another parking post, after the one on Kingston hospital parking: I need not to add much to the picture apart that I was taking my child to the Doctor's surgery and ended up putting a pound for 15 mn.
I picked up last week a flyer from the LibDems at North Sheen station, to read that at my great pleasure Susan Kramer has obtained that the footbridge to the South side of the track will be rebuilt. Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon discussed safety concerns to pedestrians brought about by the delays.She said: “People get so frustrated waiting for the barriers thatsome have been tempted to go round them and run across the tracks.“Children have been seen doing this and it’s just an accident waiting to happen.”
It's also unfair for local residents: we get all the congestion but only four trains per hour at peak time. At least, we should get four trains per hour off-peak as well.
(plus, let's fine stationary cars too: Stuck at a level crossing? Turn off the engine or pay £20 fine - The Times)
What's the link with this and Airtrack, the plan to improve Heathrow's access by rail? At first sight, it looks like a good idea, and I am always supportive for better public transport.
However, it's hard to read without being suspicious of BAA's intentions, here's my take:
Read my other posts on the North Sheen footbridge and those on Heathrow Expansion.
And also: MPs attack Airtrack (RTT)
I was surprised to see how many people did not know about Borough Market.
cheeses.
BAA changed their whining pitch and now says that Heathrow 'needs rail links as well as third runway' (Evening Standard).
You'd better not be in a rush to go to Kingston Hospital.
Some scientists, maybe with too much... time ... on their hands, decided to swab 409 people and this led to the following headline:
I've been baking bread, from scratch and by hand for for now well over 2 years (see here for my inital receipe in French) and have had wonderful experiences, all very tasty.
In the news yesterday:
The latest news in private life intrusion:Panopticon (n) A prison so contructed that the inspector can see each of the prisoners at all times, without being seen.....
a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example.
Sometimes, stating the obvious helps:
Interesting post on raw milk and cheese:
Why does it seem all the world's problems (GM food, Irak+Terrorism, financial unregulation, etc...) come from USA but no solution does?"Since the 1960s, 13 major cities including Paris, Milan and New York have
moved their airports further out. In Hong Kong, the government spent six
years and $20 billion building an airport on an artificial island and
linking it by bullet train to the city.In Britain, however, similar proposals have repeatedly been blocked. In the
1970s a scheme to build an airport on Maplin Sands near Southend-on-Sea in
Essex was abandoned because of a shortage of public funds."
