The government needs to recognise the difference between "mild" and "clinical" depression.... Mental Health Research

 

The Conservative party’s claim that many people with mental health issues are well enough to work is “stigmatising and inaccurate”,  said  Mental Health Research this week.

They hope that their statement, reproduced in full here,  will help Prime Minister Sunak better understand that serious mental health issues afflicting thousands are anything but “mild conditions” and that if untreated can only get worse.

 

Mental Health Research say:

 

Last week, the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to review the fit note system for people who aren’t well enough to work, with a focus on mental health. His speech given on 19 April 2024 continued a rhetoric from the Conservative party regarding mental health that is concerningly stigmatising and inaccurate.

In a speech given in central London on Friday, Mr Sunak said he would target Personal Independence Payments (PIP) if he won the next election, claiming the rising number of people signed off from work due to “mild conditions” such as anxiety and depression was “not sustainable”.

FACT: While some people experience milder cases of anxiety and depression, these conditions can also be severe, rapidly escalating to become debilitating. Anxiety and depression can also be combined with other physical conditions causing a person to not be able to work. There is a difference between feeling sad and clinical depression and a difference between feeling anxious and anxiety disorder. However anxiety and depression left untreated can be a cause of further physical illness and worsening mental illness. It is also very common for someone who has a mental health condition to also have at least one other coexisting physical health condition, if not more. Examples include, a link between hypermobility and anxiety discovered by MQ researchers or a link between Cardio-vascular disease and depression.

 

The five-point plan Mr Sunak announced included removing responsibility for issuing sick notes from GPs, instead handing the duty to so-called specialist work and health professionals in a bid to end the “sick note culture”.

FACT: Mr Sunak’s statements come at a time when 1.9 million people are on waiting lists for mental health support in the UK. And while the overall budget for the NHS has increased, spending on mental health care has remained comparatively unchanged. 

 

Mr Sunak said his stance was part of a “moral mission” to get people back to work as his government would “significantly reform and control welfare”.

FACT: From 2021 to 2022 the rate of adults being signed off work due to sickness or injury increased by 2.6% according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The rate of sickness absence from work is now at the highest level since 2004. Universal Credit claimants (or those classified as unable to work) are more likely to list a mental or behavioural disorder as one of the reasons. However, when a person is assessed as being unfit for work, mental health is usually only one of many reasons recorded. In fact, comorbidities along with suicide are reasons why people with severe mental illness die 10-20 years earlier than other people.

 

Among the Conservatives’ planned changes was a consultation on a “more objective and rigorous approach” in the benefits system. This includes benefits stopping if someone does not comply with conditions set by a work coach. Another was a promise to “tighten” the work capability assessment (WCA).

FACT: While being in work can be good for mental health, and there is more the workplace can do to improve the mental health of employees, in some cases being signed off work can be beneficial and can prevent worsening mental health and subsequent physical health conditions developing, which in turn leads to further costs to the economy.

 

Mr Sunak also pledged for new legislation to prevent “fraudsters” from exploiting “the natural compassion and generosity of the British people”.

FACT: mental illness and mental health distress is neither made up nor a fraud. Research continues to show evidence of genetic and biological differences. Using the word “fraud” when discussing mental health further demonises at risk and vulnerable groups already marginalised and lacking support when suicide rates are increasing.  Isolation and shame is known to contribute to the risk of suicide. The suicide rate in England is currently the highest in a quarter of a century. Last year there were 5,579 recorded suicides in England (ONS), the most since 1999 and a 5.5 per cent increase on the 5,284 in 2022.

 

Mr Sunak highlighted the growing number of people struggling with anxiety and depression, saying new cases have doubled since 2019 and “We need to be more ambitious about helping people back to work and more honest about the risk of over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life.”

FACT: Something that Mr Sunak’s comments omit are the clear link between COVID-19, procedures taken during the pandemic and mental health statistics. For example, people who were hospitalised with COVID-19 are more likely to have a diagnosis of depression or an anxiety disorder than others. Anxiety and depression levels continued to rise in 2022 and cases amongst young people rose during the pandemic. It’s only through research and funding for research that we can reach better understanding of causes, preventions and treatments (such as this groundbreaking MQ study) for anxiety and depression.

 

“Rishi Sunak is saying that mental illness is not serious and debilitating. Parity of esteem is dead.” James Downs, MQ ambassador

 

Mr Sunak’s statement follows comments from members of his party including the Secretary for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, who last month said in an interview with The Telegraph Newspaper, that “mental health culture has gone too far” and “we are labelling the normal ups and downs of human life as medical conditions which then actually serve to hold people back and, ultimately, drive up the benefit bill.”

FACT: Last year the UK Government scrapped the 10-year mental health plan. Following this, MQ and other mental health experts called on the Government to reinstate the cancelled 10-year Mental Health Strategy after a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG): The Major Conditions Strategy: A 10-year failure for Mental Health. In a letter hand-delivered to 10 Downing Street on Thursday 20th July last year,

 

Mr Stride’s comments, like Mr Sunak’s focused on fit notes and the NHS. Mr Stride also said “If {people} go to the doctor and say ‘I’m feeling rather down and bluesy’, the doctor will give them on average about seven minutes and then, on 94 per cent of occasions, they will be signed off as not fit to carry out any work whatsoever.” 

FACT: Demand for services has rapidly escalated with mental health care providers overwhelmed. Referrals to Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) has risen by 353% since 2016 and regardless of age, many people in need of support are waiting too long for desperately needed treatment from NHS staff who are overworked and reduced. 

 

Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting responded to Mr Sunak’s comments saying the Conservatives are “attempting to make mental ill health another front for their culture wars”. Mr Streeting called this “not just tone deaf, it’s shameless and irresponsible.”

The opposition’s plans for mental health, Mr Streeting says, differ: “Instead of attempting to cover up the scale of the problem, the next Labour government will give people the support they desperately need.”

FACT: Over 30 mental health organisations, including MQ Mental Health Research joined together last year to call on all political parties to make a commitment to mental health in their election manifestos. This was outlined in a Mentally Healthier Nation report. We, along with the other signatories in this report, believe that a long-term comprehensive cross-government plan is essential to protect and promote the whole of the UK's mental health.

 

HOW TO RUN THE COUNTRY

 

 

Time to bring you up to date on the Conservative’s latest tactics to secure votes at the next General Election.

 

You will recall their attack on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) and other “anti-motorist” schemes? Well, they won’t let this matter rest, insisting that Local Authorities examine the criteria for proving need for LTNs. 

 

For despite acknowledging that LTNs have been successful in improving safety by reducing traffic and making roads safer for cycling and walking in small areas, the government is insisting that the needs of what many call the “noisy minority” have been overlooked. i.e. the loss of what they consider is the right to drive anywhere.

 

 

The Cons do not deny that LTNs have reduced pollution. But nevertheless they are championing the right to drive into these areas, drive up pollution.

 

The opposing view is that the Cons are simply out to attract votes by stirring up imaginary problems to lay at the door of Labour – many low traffic neighbourhoods are Labour controlled.

 

Now, to another matter. The UK's "sick note" culture. The Cons want to reduce benefits for the 2.8-million people who remain out of work, many with mental health issues. Stopping their benefits is seen as incentive to motivate them to get cured and get out there.

How should they get cured?

Apparently they need to engage with the overburdened mental health services.

Not that simple, given there are 1.9 million people on the waiting list.

And secondly, many medical conditions are not treated by the NHS because doctors do not accept they are real. The Cons think the patient just needs to get a grip when very often the reason for their mental health problems in the first place stem from years of neglect by the NHS, poor living conditions and the cost of living crisis.

 

Scientific research into many serious conditions is  routinely ignored by doctors.   These conditions include EDS (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) which leads to weak connective tissue and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia), when movement causes a surge in adrenalin as if in a 100-metre sprint, and at the same time a drop in blood pressure causing dizziness and feinting. This is something written about before in this column.

 

Denying these ill people a “sick note” and denying them benefits will be cruel and devastating act leading to greater anxiety. 

Many  already have so little money and lead such a poor quality of life they must either  rely on charity food banks or their aging parent/carers to provide for them.

 

Next. This is a story of the Conservatives own making,  the call to re-nationalise Thames Water which will land the State with £15bn debt.  This will fall to next government to sort out.

 

Thames Water £15bn in debt

You will have read how water companies, privatised under the Iron Lady – Margaret Thatcher - in 1989, have been pouring tons of sewage into streams and rivers. It is being claimed the water company’s priorities have placed the need to pay their shareholders dividends over that of the cost of improving sewage treatment works.  When the water companies were privatised by Thatcher 34 years ago, they had zero debt!

 

 FOOTNOTE: Has the government considered that instead of pouring sewage into our rivers human waste could be used as fertiliser on the land, which has been the practice in some countries for thousands of years. 

 

Human excrement is full of natural richness and far better for the land than artificial fertilisers which are harmful to the environment. But with vested interests at stake in the wealthy artificial fertiliser business what chance is there of this happening? Once again we are reminded how greed stands in the way of progress. Nothing new.

 

Brings to mind Nikola Tesla’s idea to provide free electricity in the early 1900s. Tesla was appalled at the pollution caused by coal-fired power stations. 

 

Tesla was the inventor of the alternating current motor and electric car pioneer in the late 19th century. He had a vision of pulling electricity out of the air and transmitting it free from huge towers (Only one was built, the Wharncliffe Tower near New York) across the landscape generating immense low-frequency electrical waves. 

 

His idea never got past the experimental stage before his backer, the businessman JP Morgan got wind of it and pulled funding. Morgan was a big investor in copper essential to electric power stations and thought, well; Tesla's gone too far this time.

 

ON THE BENCH

 

The chronically ill and their carers fondly recall the days when they could relax. They get to hear so much about how the lucky ones go out: a café stop on a long drive; relaxing with friends in a pub; being waited on in a restaurant; riding a train through magnificent landscape; on the beach, and oh, what a beautiful sunset; or a to show, to a museum, to an art gallery, whiling away the hours, uninterrupted!…and so on.

Well...Bollocks!

They don't seem to understand how miserable hearing of others having such good times makes us feel.  We just wish they could dial back a bit on the lurid detail.

Bitter, eh?

Yeah….I know I’ve run similar stories before, but far fewer that the countless reminders from OTHERS all over Facebook, for instance, who live the good life, all that shite.

They're not to know, of course. 

As it is, all we can talk about - reluctantly - is our miserable life. So we don't, generally.

Lovely corner of our patio - opposite the bench.

But now and again, like now, it bubbles over. Got to let it out.

The daily routine of the room bound patient confined to home… forever?

Well, we don’t know…certainly half a life so far.

For our very intelligent, clever girl. University degree with the World at her feet.

Instead, she has lain still in bed for years. Sensory issues rule out contact with anyone, even friends.

 No radio, no TV, no longer reads. Occasionally listens to quiet, meditative music. Will smile sometimes, if I can get away with daft antics.

 Why so ill? Well, there’s a faulty gene at work, yet to be identified. There are many terrible conditions and they are not all life-threatening. But nevertheless, you may as well be serving life. 

Take this lot, for instance.

Medical condition: EDS (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) results in bendy limbs, weak connective tissue – movement causes pain.

POTS: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia – (movement results in adrenalin rush, and corresponding drop in blood pressure – light headed, dizziness, risk of feinting.

Autistic –meaning you are neuro diverse which sets you at odds with the ways of the world, in particular the accepted norms of social behaviour which are absolute foreign to an autistic person.

To cope they will mask their feelings, they will act, copy others to fit in. But there are no Oscars for this performance which comes with a heavy price and leads to intense fatigue.

And there are the sensory issues effecting hearing - everything is too loud; sight- everything is too bright); and extreme anxiety is way beyond the norm and which effectively cannot be countenanced by “feeling the fear and doing it anyway,” as one doctor who knew nothing opined. Not surprising that this leads to mental health issues the so-called mental health professionals dispute.

What else?  PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) means avoiding doing anything at all;    

OCD (Obsessive Compulsion Disorder) compelled to have tasks done in a very particular way).

Hypo-glycaemia ..When body sugar levels drop alarmingly, resulting in hallucinations – corrected by immediate intake of food.

To the few doctors who have helped, thank you.

To the many more, some we have had the misfortune to engage with and the many more we have heard about, who deny EDS and POTS exist. I would risk a custodial sentence if you ever cross my path.

And so, instead of going out, of living, sufferers can expect to spend their life “on the bench” – with little chance of getting to play - while their carers remain confined to living in an open prison.

Try this sequence, running 24 hours a day 365 days a year, including public holidays. It should provide a taste.

Our cared for daughter spends her waking hours in bed, as do many thousands of others in similar horrible circumstances, unseen, in rooms in homes around the world.

Ignored by your local surgery despite everything being on record. Unless you have cause to request a consultation for a run of the mill infection in need of anti-biotics, for instance.

The day begins with text message requests for service of one essential thing or another,   which will run at intervals of between 10 minutes up to an hour, transmitted to carers on standby below.

Start can begin any time from between 9.30am through to 1pm thro to and run to 1 or 2am next morning.

Here we go……..

Carrot juice, vitamins; curtains drawn on larger of two windows.

Upstairs and downstairs…. (For the carers).

Buttered Toast

Upstairs and down

Complan, and tray.

*Bucket (empty commode), turn the radiator down.

Up and down the stairs

Boxes (small boxes wrapped in cling film), used to wrap around wrists – response to allergies when using the toile.

Up and down stairs

Top-up two humidifiers

Up and down stairs

More Evian bottled water

Curtains drawn on larger of two windows

Blind half-way up one window

Upstairs, downstairs.

Baked potato in (means put in oven)

Up and down stairs

Blind all the way up

Curtains drawn on other window

Up and down stairs

Baked potato and homemade chicken and vegetable soup served

Up and down stairs

Wedge – to raise legs to aid circulation while lying on bed

Up and down stairs

Wraps (wraps for neck, heated in microwave)

Up and down stairs

Tea with sugar

Blind up, all the way up on the other window

Up stairs and down stairs

Complan

Upstairs and downstairs

Next, it’s Berries

Ice, bag full of ice for face massage

Upstairs and down again

Chicken juice

Empty the Bucket – the commode.

Upstairs and down

Boxes

Upstairs and down

Porridge

Up and down

Bottled water

Muffins

Up and down stairs

Top up humidifiers

Up and down stairs

Blinds down

Curtains drawn

Up and down stairs

Final wraps.

1am. Goodnight.

I had hoped to finish this beast of a piece in 666 words, but have overrun that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunak and Johnson and their world of make believe

 

NUMBER 10 tried to hide a government report confirming that Low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) are popular and work well, encouraging walking and cycling, according to Peter Walker in The Guardian.

So, egg on the face of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s who is claiming that LTNs are unpopular because they are unfair to motorists.

Here we have further evidence of shenanigans from on high, twisting facts to suit political agendas with, in this instance, the aim of winning motor voter support ahead of the General Election later this year.

10 Downing Street clearly  hoped  the report would support their case against LTNs.

When it didn’t Number 10 asked for the report to be put on a shelf.

Here are the nuts and bolts of it.

The report found that from the four LTNs which took part in the study twice as many councils supported them than didn’t.

It found that LTNs are effective in reducing traffic volumes without causing any noticeable increase of traffic in surrounding areas.

Sunak is claiming the report should have included more areas so more voices could be heard, but you can bet he wouldn’t be saying this if the report had found in favour of his claims.

And besides, he knows how these reports work – you take a sample and extrapolate from there.

Common practice and accepted as fair.

Nearly 2000 people in four sample schemes took part in the survey, finding 45 per cent in support and 21 per cent against.

The irony is that Sunak by making out  motorists are being treated unfairly  is opposing his own government’s support for Active Travel, so making a mockery of his already flawed climate control agenda which anyway is basically full of shit.

It would seem that the campaign to discredit low traffic neighbourhood schemes has probably been generated by politicians and the right wing media.

Breath-taking, isn’t it?

Yet this example falls well below that of the greatest political con artist of recent years.

The Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson

This of course is former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, the subject of a television

documentary series “The Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson.”

Riveting stuff  but keep the sick bag handy,

We knew the guy was a con man.  His endearing personality, the scruffy schoolboy through-a-hedge- backwards haircut, the buffoon, the steady stream of quips. He missed his true vocation, Stand-up.  But this program reveals the depth of his deception in all its depressing detail, from people who worked with him and knew him well.

I recall first seeing Johnson in action, as the new London Mayor when he opened the Redbridge Cycle Centre, the temporary  home to Eastway demolished to make way for the 2012 Olympic Games Park.

He was clearly very popular. He duly climbed onto a bike and joined a mass of school children riding one lap of Indy Circuit finishing a towering fourth among the little ones.

“I can feel the form coming on,” he quipped to reporters. It was typical of the easy going affable Johnson.  On another occasion at a river event he was required to put on waders and step into the stream,   lost his footing and fell in.

Far from being flustered, he regained his footing and called out: “Come on in, the water is fine.”

These occasions were funny.  But then there are the misleading promises.

Remember this one?

As Prime Minister he declared he would build 40 new hospitals when the budget would stretch only to one and five major repairs at existing hospitals.

Told that to make the roads safer for cycling would take as much as £7bn, he proudly announced a few £mIllion instead – enough only for a few cycle lanes in half a dozen towns instead of the £billions needed to lay down full networks in towns across the nation.  He quipped about “cycling down cycle lanes in dappled sunlight”.

The danger was he left you with the impression it would all be done.

But beneath the fumbling exterior there was a purpose to all this – always to be the centre of attraction.

His main purpose in life, the program reveals, was to be liked, to get the top jobs; London Mayor, then PM, but with no clear idea on what the jobs entailed. It was all a game.

The investigation for this TV feature brought into sharp focus the damage he has done. As a journalist he is an entertaining writer. He spent 30 years rubbishing the European Union exaggerating issues without so much as checking his facts. Not his style.

It eventually cost him his job on one national newspaper, whereupon another signed him up.

His style is to bend with the wind, do whatever it takes to further his own personal crusade.

This was never more evident that in the build up to the Referendum in 2016.

The feature tells how despite rubbishing the EU he supported the UK‘s EU membership and was all set to back Remain before changing horses to back the Leave campaign. But it was a lie; he really hoped Britain would vote Remain.

Clearly he was banking on gaining some political advantage in this tactic!

Then we saw his undisguised shock when leave triumphed, followed by the political turmoil which would propel him into Number 10 when PM David Cameron resigned.

Cameron “Dodgy Dave” had permitted the Referendum believing that Britain would vote Remain.

Now he quit – to leave the mess to someone else to clear up.

Step forward Johnson who now had the job he’d always wanted, but not the baggage that came with it.  But he felt this was his lifetime ambition and the priority became to decorate his flat up in the roof.

He was faced with the task of, as he put it, “Getting Brexit done” when, as revealed from those closest to him he had no clear idea of what to do. His ensuing bluster and lies had driven a stake through the UK economy.

All we need now to complete  the farce is for the scruffy sod to stage a comeback, win over the doubters with his engaging wit and smile (he is earning £m as an after dinner speaker which says a lot about how many deluded types still support him).

In the back of his mind is sure to be the germ of an idea to become an MP again, and rescue the Conservatives in the General Election everyone is certain they should lose.

Don’t bet against it!

MANCHESTER EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CYCLING

 

Manchester is cock-a-hoop at being chosen as the first European Capital of Cycling in 2024 by ACES Europe. It is in recognition of  Manchester’s promotion of sport and physical activity as a means of improving quality of life in the community.

ACES is based on Brussels and works in partnership with UNESCO, the United Nations Education and Scientific and cultural organisation.

In a nutshell, the organisation is championing transport initiatives, such as Manchester’s, which tackle today’s most pressing community needs.

It is something other towns and cities need to copy, for it demonstrates how to create safer traffic conditions which will enable people to cycle and walk instead of driving local journeys.

The award celebrates the growing Bee Network of cycling and walking routes across Greater Manchester, which has 1,800 route miles planned in a bid to reduce car dependency.

It is a few years since I featured Greater Manchester’s plans for cycling lanes and routes, with photographs of the first of the new Cyclops junctions, featuring traffic signalled controls for cyclists, pedestrians and motor traffic.

Cycle lane into Manchester featuring digital cycle counter display
 on Oxford road, Rusholme. 

The whole brilliant idea is the brainchild of former Olympic champion Chris Boardman during his tenure as Cycling Tsar, working with Mayor Andy Burnham. Many of the designs are based on Dutch methods, which are among the best.

Their plans won favour with councils and local residents across the Greater Manchester area, especially for those without access to a car and those who would prefer to get about under their own steam.

Greater Manchester has paid tribute to the many partners in their quest including

British Cycling, Marketing Manchester, Cycling UK, Manchester Active and TfGM, as well as volunteers.

They plan mile after mile of new cycleway to be built from the Velodrome and across the city.

The aim is to help build local cycling clubs in a move to provide access to all branches of the sport, from utility cycling to sport and leisure.

 

This will certainly boost the confidence of the cycling movement in the face of depressing news of a 5 per cent drop in cycling in England last year, as reported by the European Federation of Cyclists.

Further concern was caused by the government slashing funding for its Active Travel Policy, plus what is now believed to have been shit-stirring for political gain, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling for an end to 20mph speed limits and vowing to allow drivers into low-traffic neighbourhoods. He cannot do this for legal reasons, I read recently.

 

The Manchester award is a much needed boost, recognising their commitment to cycling in the face of government indifference. The development plans involve all 10 towns comprising Greater Manchester.  They include Trafford, Bolton, Bury, and City of Salford - which I understand is doing a particularly good job laying down cycle lanes.

Although I have no details of exactly how many miles of cycle lanes and routes have so far been built across the Greater Manchester towns,  Salford provides a good example of the progress being made

with  a number of routes/cycle lanes in place and others planned, as indeed do other councils across Greater Manchester.

Duncan Dollimore, Head of Campaigns at Cycling UK, is impressed. He told me: "What I can say from my own experience of Greater Manchester, is that you’re now seeing good infrastructure – in some places. I think it would be fair to say that not all of the infra (sic) is fully connected yet – so you ride along a superb protected cycle lane, but at some point it comes to an end without connecting to where you want to go. That said, it’s easy to criticise that, but a start has definitely been made.

 "There are more bike hire schemes, more cycle parking – and as a visitor to the city who knew it well years ago, I’d say it’s definitely going in the right direction."

1.      Roe Green Loopline: This route, built on a former railway line, connects various neighbourhoods including Roe Green, Little Hulton, and Walkden.

2.      Linnyshaw Loopline: Another former railway line transformed into a cycle path, linking Linnyshaw to other parts of Salford.

3.      Tyldesley Loopline: A pleasant route for cyclists and pedestrians, running through Tyldesley and beyond.

4.      Ellenbrook Loopline: Enjoy the wildlife and scenic views along this loopline, which passes through Ellenbrook and beyond.

5.      Port Salford Greenway: Connecting Salford Quays to Irlam, this greenway provides a traffic-free path for cyclists.

The busiest cycle route, says Manchester, is  the 8-mile Fallowfield Loop along a former railway line. This connects Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Fallowfield, Levenshulme, and Gorton and ideal for commuters and leisure cyclists.

 

Why Ljubljana's cycling policy shames UK cities

 

Guess what? I have read something which cheers me up! Makes a change from all the bad news which has me tearing my hair out.

I have read about grand cycling facilities abroad where many countries are taking steps to restrict car use.  No, not Holland nor Denmark this time, the leaders in sustainable transport planning often written about in this column.

Instead, this time we go  to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, who have shown what can be achieved. It gives you heart, proves that where there is a will transport congestion can be solved.

For this story I  am indebted to Jim Densham’s feature in the recent issue of Cycle, the excellent bi-monthly magazine of national cycling organisation Cycling UK.

The article, entitled: Less Traffic, More Cycling, describes the author’s experience when he visited cycling friendly towns while on holiday abroad, places which have successfully cut traffic congestion by creating safe roads in towns for cycling and walking.

He writes that last summer he visited Ljubljana (pictured above) where he found a huge area of the old city is pedestrianised…”enjoyed by thousands of people taking in the sights, buying from market stalls and food vendors, and relaxing in on-street café seating.”

But by contrast, 60 miles away in Trieste in Italy, he found the town was throttled by traffic, with noisy, crowded streets, narrow pavements, the stench of traffic fumes, cars and mopeds rushing about. Just like in the UK. It was a world away from the capital of Slovenia.

Densham tells that Slovenia made changes following a “52 per cent increase in car use between 2002 and 2012".

So they came up with radical plan to limit motors and give priority to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Over 10 hectares – just under 25 acres - of the city centre was pedestrianised.  Doesn’t sound much when converted to miles, 0.386 square miles.

But that fact in itself reveals how little road space is needed to  improve conditions.

It can make a big difference.

Densham says it shows that huge challenges can be met in the urgent need to restrict car use, and he also mentions the initiatives in Paris which hosts this year’s Olympic Games. Barcelona, too, aims to put people before cars.

He mentions Ghent in Belgium which seven years ago introduced a city “circulation” plan to dramatically cut car travel in the centre. The changes boosted cycle use from 22 per cent of journeys to 37 per cent.

All of these fine initiatives show just how far the UK lags behind.

                              Torquay's bonkers answer to overcoming a gradient on a cycle route

                                                   was to provide steps (see Blog June 2, 2022). 

                                             Do note, the above pic is not the Torquay masterpiece.

The author  compares his experiences abroad to the reality of his home city of Glasgow, streets full of traffic. A visit there, he says, may leave a bad taste in the mouth, literally.

Which can only get worse. Densham writes that government predictions for England and Wales say traffic is to increase by up to 54 percent by 2060.

A grim picture.

Elsewhere in Cycle, the various stories reflect on the huge enthusiasm in Cycling UK to get Britain cycling despite the setbacks. Setbacks such as government slashing funding for cycling; of plans

to allow traffic to enter previously  restricted areas because Sunak thinks this  unfairly punishes motorists.

If Britain is good at anything it is dancing the Quick Step.   They agree to funding cycling one moment, then slash the budget the next; one step forward, one step back. The Cycle Planning Quickstep.

The front cover of Cycle depicts a London city night scene and a huge Cycling UK slogan on the side of a building declaring “Rishi, fight climate change…don’t fuel it.”

 

 

Sunak's pro driving policy prompted by conspiracy theory

 

Recently I discovered the twisted logic behind Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to do away with low traffic neighbourhoods in  order to allow drivers free access them. Low traffic neighbourhoods were created to make them safer for residents and to encourage walking and cycling.

You may have thought that creating traffic-free areas was more relevant than ever with the need to reduce traffic pollution in a bid to tackle climate change.

But to hell with all that, says Sunak. We cannot punish the motorist!  

                                                 

Clearly, he is shit scared of losing votes in this year’s general election and is turning current transport thinking on its head.   He is not considering for a moment that taking a stand to help reduce car dependency might instead work in his favour.

I have since learned that Sunak’s decision, which flies the in face of the government’s own Active Travel Policy, was based in part on a conspiracy theory whipped up by ministers concerned about “15-minute cities”!

“15-minute cities”, explained Peter Walker in The Guardian recently, is an urban planning concept devised by France-based urbanist, Carlos Moreno.

It is described as a broad planning concept devised for people living within easy reach of schools and work places, for whom cycling and walking would likely offer an attractive alternative to driving.

It is all part of the world wide move to reduce car dependency and reduce pollution which is killing people and one of the causes of climate change which could  ultimately wipe us out. But who cares, says Sunak and cohorts, we can’t allow that, its anti-motorist!

According to Cycling UK’s research large numbers of people would willingly switch to cycling for short journeys instead of always using the car, if road safety was improved. It was not about forcing people to stop driving, they have insisted!

Restricting vehicular access to certain neighbourhoods was seen as vital to improving road safety, and this has largely been acceptable in government circles for years.  It was never the intention to force people to stop driving, but to restrict access and bring calm to residential areas where children may play as they always used to be able to do, and cyclists and walking becomes safer.

The current problem has its roots in the 1960s, when car ownership took off. The government of the day seized on this, with a policy to encourage drivers to be able to go where they liked and when they liked. And most drivers believe it.

Trying to row back on that “promise” is proving a problem.

So now we have a government which has dropped all pretence at supporting Active Travel and has become gripped by the fear drivers are unfairly being targeted.  Supporting this belief are conspiracy theorists that see it as part “climate lockdown”, in which, as Walker describes it “people are forcibly kept within their local neighbourhood and not allowed to travel.”

Walker reports a speech by Mark Harper, the transport secretary,

 made to Conservative conference in October.  In this bonkers speech he describes 15-minute cities as schemes in which “local councils can decide how often you go to the shops” – which was incorrect and never been proposed in Britain.

But we are where we are. Sunak – bidding to become our fourth useless Prime Minster after Johnson,

May and Truss – is set to scrap government guidelines to local councils to install more 20mph speed restrictions, spreading the lie that Active Travel policies intended to improve the quality of life are in fact “anti-car measures”.