Author name: Steven Edwards

James Harris11 hr ago

The concept of expertise has become a tricky one; how do you identify it across a sea of competing voices? How do you identify experts when everyone has the capacity to set themselves up with an online megaphone? It’s worth saying though that, although many people want to establish their own personal internet publishing brand, the majority of don’t, and remain instead happy to trust to expertise. The daily SAGE briefings in the pandemic demonstrate this. Who amongst us does not feel reassured and oriented by those dull men and their PowerPoints? But that’s in a crisis. Outside of one, such expertise is rarely given such a public platform, and in areas where there is less public interest, consensus can easily form around more ill-considered positions. For less sensational debates, the difficulty is that the only people who feel strongly enough to try and convince others are those with extreme views, which means that quite easily a marginal opinion becomes the default one for a person who takes just enough interest in a thing to make conversation.

The case for building a road tunnel near Stonehenge is to be re-examined despite a judge overturning planning permission for it last year. 
Campaigners fighting the £1.7billion plans celebrated when the decision to approve the scheme was quashed.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has now published a “statement of matters” inviting the case for the two-mile tunnel to be made again.
National Highways said it was “pleased” the scheme could be re-examined.
It wants to build the tunnel, which has the backing of Wiltshire Council, to reduce traffic and cut journey times on the A303, the most direct route for motorists travelling between the South East and South West.

Mark Sweney and Sarah Butler
TfL has halted an ad campaign promoting road safety that featured a driver and cyclist making up after the latter was almost hit, following a backlash accusing the ad of “victim blaming”.

The TfL campaign, called See Their Side, was launched during Road Safety Week last month as part of the London mayor Sadiq Khan’s long-term goal of having no deaths and serious injuries on the capital’s roads by 2041.
TfL had planned that the campaign, which includes a 60-second television ad that has already been showing on channels including ITV, would run for “a number of years”, but a backlash has prompted the mayor’s cycling and walking commissioner to pause it.

The U.K. Department for Transport (DfT) has wheeled out the winning design for an England-wide electric vehicle charging point. The designer said the charge point would not “negatively impact pedestrians and other road users.

However, one of the publicity photographs issued by the DfT shows the charger on a sidewalk. (In the U.K, sidewalks are known as pavements.)
Two charities have called on the government to make sure the new public electric vehicle (EV) charging points won’t impede pedestrians. Living Streets—which advocates for a better walking environment—and Guide Dogs—which provides mobility solutions for blind and partially sighted people—have urged the national government and local authorities to site infrastructure designed to be used by motorists away from pedestrian areas. 

Almost £50,000 is to be invested in e-bikes for a police force.

West Mercia’s Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion said the bikes would help officers cover longer distances. 
A mix of off-road and hybrid bikes would also help the force reach the most rural of communities across the counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, he added. 
Mr Campion said it was in response to residents’ calls for visible officers.
John Campion says the bikes will help meet community calls for police officers to be ‘visible and accessible’

Police seized more than 3,600 e-scooters in London this year as they warned retailers against “exploiting” customers to boost Christmas sales.
The Met has said it will continue to respond to the large scale illegal use in order to keep road users and the public safe.
At least three riders were killed and 291 Londoners hurt in crashes in the past year, according to Department for Transport figures which are likely to be an underestimate.