PRAISE FOR THALASSITES AND A SENSIBLE READER'S LETTER

This intelligent reader talks about 'in vogue' campaigning groups. 

These groups who pretend to 'spiritually enlightenment' are carrying a vicious vendetta against Georges Assi for doing no more than sounding out public opinion.

Assi represented a huge number of residents and businesses who understood that the experiment in Kensington High Street was an utter disaster.

It now seems the staff of Fox Primary School are getting in on the act despite never needing to use the Ken High St cycle lane.

The staff should be getting on with teaching instead of joining demos.

Dear Dame,

Thank Heavens the sordid cycle lane is being torn down from High Street Kensington. Cars were backing up to the Albert Hall, like the queues of a Soviet breadline. Credit to RBKC council for listening to the residents and reversing the decision. 

Call me ungrateful, but I am still not content. According to an article in the Evening Standard, the cost of construction was £300,000. How can painting a white line on the road and installing some plastic bollards cost so much? 

If RBKC council had properly consulted residents before building the cycle lane, taxpayers money could have been saved.

I am not opposed to measures improving conditions for cyclists on the road. However, some creativity is needed from our leaders. We all saw how popular cycling was around Hyde Park in the summer. Perhaps the council could introduce a temporary cycle lane, operational during the summer months but reverting back to a normal road for most of the year. This common-sense policy should be seriously considered - it would be good for both drivers and cyclists.

Drivers are currently being treated as some sort of embarrassing remnants of an antiquated age. Most London politicians would prefer to leave us in the lurch while they go ahead building their lovely, cycling, car-free utopia. 

Thus, I applaud Councillor Thassalties for standing up to the in-vogue campaigning groups and urge other councillors to represent the interests of almost 50% of constituents who own and operate cars in our great borough.

Anonymous

MICHAEL STEPHEN SPEAKS THE TRUTH TO POWER!

                                  Ex Conservative MP, Michael Stephen

A letter to Greg Hands from Michael Stephen.

It should also be read by Felicity Buchan.

This is a government descending into crypto fascism and Mr Stephen is right to give this warning.

Bizarre...a government making enemies of its voter base...

Greg,

I do not think the facts justify the government's lockdown policy.  

At the beginning of November, the UK was “locked-down” again, but why?  

Whitty and Vallance should be ashamed of the graphs they produced and should resign.

 

95.6% of those who have died “from COVID” had a serious pre-existing medical condition – and sometimes more than one, which would probably have killed them soon anyway.

 

53.7% of deaths “from COVID” were people aged over 80! I doubt that anyone in this age group would think it right to inflict massive damage on their children and grandchildren just to keep themselves alive for another year or two. 

 

In any event, the average death-rate for people aged over 75 was significantly lower this October than last October.

 

A person killed in a road accident is recorded as a COVID death if he had tested positive for COVID within the past 28 days - this is ridiculous.

It is obvious that if you test more people you will find more "cases" but that does not mean that the number of infected people is increasing.  In any event how many of these "cases" result in death or even a hospital admission? 

 

So what is going on? What is the real reason for the “lock-down”? 

The UK government urges us all to “work together” as if that were an end in itself.  

Work together for what?  – to destroy the economy and to drive people into despair and bankruptcy?

 

If you challenge governments today on COVID and on the vast financial sacrifices they are demanding, the zealot’s answer is to invoke the “precautionary principle” – the perils are so great they will always say, that we must err on the side of caution.  So, you don’t need a solid case – all you need to do is to scare people, and if you have a compliant stooge like the BBC the task is easy.

 

The people of the UK are not the fools the government imagines them to be, and they will soon stop obeying a government which makes hugely damaging decisions on a completely inadequate basis.  

It seems to be the same in many countries around the world.  

We have all become characters in a novel by Kafka, who face situations that are disorienting and illogically complex in a surreal and nightmarish way.

Regards,

Michael Stephen

A CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT MORPHING INTO A POLICE STATE?

                                                         The Genesis Of A Police State

Dear Dame,

Priti Patel is so inept that she cannot even organise resistance to boatloads of illegal entrants crossing the Channel. Yet she has the resources to deploy thousands of police in Central London to violently crackdown on peaceful demonstrators horrified by the totalitarian regime this government is morphing into. What has our two MP's Hands and Buchan to say about this blatant police brutality? 

Zilch!

On Saturday, thousands of protesters gathered near Marble Arch protesting loudly against totalitarian CV19 restrictions and lockdowns.

Police were present in large and aggressive numbers.

 Dozens of police vans were driving around the city centre, hunting for protesters. Police on foot were splitting up groups, harassing and arresting people. Like in a cat and mouse chase, the protesters were scattered all over the city centre whilst trying to gather in a new location. The protest was meant to begin at Kings Cross, but police made it impossible for anyone to gather there. Later the venue changed to Angel then Marble Arch and Hyde Park Speakers Corner.

Police have been stopping people on the streets and telling them to go home. 

Many peaceful protesters were arrested simply for standing up for freedom. One member of The White Rose was also arrested, along with several others, while she happened to be strolling behind a group of marching protesters. They were taken in custody and kept there until evening. The police confiscated protest material from her. Police also issued fines.

In several cases police were brutally bringing protesters down to the ground, hurting them, harassing and violating their basic rights. This is pure fascist: the UK has become a police state.

Regards,

A Free Man

REMOVAL OF TEMPORARY CYCLE LANES: A VICTORY FOR SENSE

 

                                           Leader Material?

What a change Thalassites makes from 'we hear but we don't listen' Cllr Weale. 

He does something quite extraordinary for this council: he actually HEARS AND LISTENS!

Cllr Thalassites is honest enough to admit the lanes were an idea that didn't work and that they were to be removed at the behest of residents and local business. 

Imagine if Cllr Weale was running Planning, Place and Environment. We would have been stuck with them for decades.

REMOVAL OF TEMPORARY BICYCLE LANES ON KENSINGTON HIGH STREET
I am writing to let you know that I have asked Council Officers to begin removing the temporary bicycle lanes on Kensington High Street from 2 December 2020.
In the spring, different layers of Government instructed the Council to build a ‘pop up’ route “within weeks”. We had hoped that a scheme might help local businesses attract shoppers to the high street; and that residents would regard as useful an east-west path.
Alas - more than two months after installing temporary ‘wands’ on the road - it is clear that large majorities of local businesses and residents do not think the experiment has worked.
Kensington Business Forum and Kensington and Chelsea Chamber of Trade and Commerce have asked the Council to take out the lanes, so that they can make the most of a busy holiday season; as have our resident associations across the high street, due to increased congestion.
We understand this ask is supported by disability groups, such as Action Disability K&C, who are anxious about impacts on their members (including visually impaired people); as well as by Felicity Buchan MP and Tony Devenish AM, who ran a local survey on the subject.
We want to listen to local businesses and local people. That is why we have acted to get the high street moving again.
Nonetheless, we know there are some residents who liked the project. We will continue to promote cycling and walking in the borough. To that end, we want to build on popular actions - from upgrading quiet bike routes on side streets, to a trial closure of Portobello Road on 'market days'.
We expect work to take the lanes out will last five days. Some of the work will depend on weather, but I have asked our engineers to progress as quickly as it is safe to do so.
have also asked for non-emergency highways and utilities works along the road to be suspended in December.
I wish you all the best - and a happy Christmas - in these uncertain times.

Yours faithfully,

Councillor Johnny Thalassites Lead Member for Planning, Place and Environment Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

"WE HEAR BUT WE DON'T LISTEN" SAYS CLLR WEALE

The next leader of our council needs to be very special to do battle with Doctor Quirk. 

The good doctor has populated the senior team with sidekicks from his old stamping ground in Lewisham and is hell-bent on keeping his hands on the levers of power.

"Dame, what sort of leader can best prise Quirk's pudgy fingers from those levers of power"

A good question....

The new crop of Conservative councillors is actually rather good. 

From the north of the Borough, some of the Lefties tell the Dame they have time for Cllr Cyron and that is echoed by others who know. 

Cllr Thalassites is also proving the Dame wrong by understanding the absolute need to heed residents.

What worries the Dame are rumours that Cllr Weale is jockeying to succeed Cllr Campbell. 

                                                         

                                                                                         Weale 

                                                                   Saddling up for an £80,000 allowance

It's not because Cllr Weale is one of the tainted Grenfell 'old guard' that makes the Dame toss and turn in her massive Empire style Louis Quinze bed.

In all the years that Cllr Weale has been a ward councillor she has been invisible to residents. 

The heavy lifting working has always been done by her fellow ward councillors.

Every resident should do their best to ensure Cllr Weale is never made leader.

She is lazy and lacks the motivation to promote the interests of residents. 

At one meeting she was heard to say, "we hear but we don't listen"....that about sums her up.

There is only one potential leader in the wings and that is Cllr Cyron.

WAITROSE TELLS ITS KNIGHTSBRIDGE CUSTOMERS TO TAKE A HIKE AND KEEPS ITS BUSINESS RATES RELIEF

                                           The end of a great brand?

Corporate hypocrisy reaches new heights when the ghastly, syrupy John Lewis ad extols us 'to be kind this Christmas'.

That kindness doesn't seem to extend to its staff whose disinterest in customers knows no bounds nor residents of this Borough. 

Waitrose has made tens of millions during the pandemic. Despite this the chairman, Sharon White who used to work at the Treasury refuses to hand back the business rates relief....

Quite shocking! The Dame will cease shopping there and recommends her readers follow her example.

There was a day when Waitrose was the epitome of grocery excellence..happy partners...great food....good value and a welcoming ambience.

Those salad days are long since gone. 

Waitrose like other John Lewis brands is a mere shadow of itself...surly partners...haphazard service and shelves bursting with imported stuff easily obtainable in the UK.

Little Waitrose in Brompton Rd sums up all that is wrong with this once great brand. You are greeted by a lounging 'security person' and then a wall of indifference from staff.

A long time customer of the Partnership( a bit of a misnomer!) returned a water bottle with a razor-sharp piece of metal protruding.

The bored manageress's languid reaction was, "no receipt; no refund" despite seeing it was a manufacturing issue.

Another neighbour returned a packet of frozen food which stank to high heaven. 

This manager again refused to refund and only replaced it when the customer threatened to take the toxic product to the Council. 

This manager, when told by the customer he had been coming to the shop for years, was told, "well, I have never seen you before". 

The fact the customer was wearing a mask rather escaped him!

There was a time when John Lewis customers were fiercely loyal: no longer...they are deserting in their droves to Tesco, Lidl and Aldi.

What do you expect when a Mr Bailey, a buyer from Sainsbury is appointed MD!

Come on, Mr Bailey, your staff don't even know who you are!

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE CONGESTED ROAD?

 To All Who Signed The Petition: We Have Traction!

This morning, following weeks of discussions and surveys, we were delighted to read the public support given to our campaign by Felicity Buchan (MP For Kensington) and Tony Devenish (Assembly Member for West Central on the London Assembly). (See below full statement).

Their announcement is an important step towards the termination of this failed Scheme and we now look forward to RBKC taking the final and courageous decision to put an end to the Cycle Lane Scheme on Kensington High Street, as soon as possible.

But this is not the end of the journey:

We also look forward to working with Cyclist groups (to whom we spoke in order to gain a better understanding of their long-term objectives), the council, as well as local resident and business groups, so that together we find better solutions to encourage active travel in a way that is safe for cyclists and pedestrians, balanced - distributing road network resources in a sensible manner between all users (cars, taxis, delivery vans, lorries, buses, emergency services AND cyclists), and green - reducing pollution from motor vehicles in our borough for the benefit of all.

The full text of the statement is as follows (we highlighted parts in bold) :

"25th November 2020 

JOINT STATEMENT ON THE KENSINGTON HIGH STREET CYCLE LANE 

As the Member of Parliament for Kensington, and as the Member of the London Assembly for West Central respectively, we want to start by making clear that cycling is an excellent way to travel, and we have both always been strongly in favour of encouraging active travel, especially now in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Cycling is a great way for people to get around, with physical and mental health benefits, the potential to reduce vehicle congestion in Kensington, and provides a valuable socially-distanced alternative to public transport.

This is why we did not oppose the process of installing the temporary lane and approached it with a positive mindset, hoping that this scheme would be a success, and actively encouraging Residents’ Associations and those with misgivings to have an open mind. We made clear that the cycle lane needed a fair period of operation to prove itself, and it was only if it was clear that the temporary cycle lane had failed in its objectives, that we would advocate for its removal.

Now that Phase 1 of the cycle lane is in place and has had a fair chance to operate, it is apparent to most people who use the High Street to travel, whether on a bike or other form of transport, that Kensington High Street is not an appropriate location for a cycle lane, either for cyclists or all other road users.

We have both had a vast amount of correspondence from concerned constituents, with the Parliamentary inbox receiving 96% of comments against and only 4% in favour. The resident's associations: VRARA; KSRA; ESSA; ECSRA; KCRA; Melbury Court; and Kensington Residents Group, also now oppose the cycle lane. The Kensington Society has urged the Council to remove the cycle lane; and the Kensington & Chelsea Chamber of Commerce opposes the cycle lane, stating that it does not benefit Kensington and Chelsea businesses in its current form. A petition against the scheme has now attracted over 3000 signatures, and a recent Survey by the Kensington Business Forum showed that a vast majority of the local businesses are against the Scheme. Finally, a survey conducted by Tony Devenish, found 80% of RBKC residents opposed the cycle lane.

TfL has always placed RBKC under immense pressure to implement a cycleway scheme, and have threatened to take over Borough roads. It is now clear that TfL severely miscalculated the impact of such schemes, which require careful analysis.

We would fully encourage RBKC to explore expanding their highly successful Quietways programme, and we note the success of other measures such as on Portobello Road. Anything that is done to promote active travel must be safe, fair, and balanced for all road users, including the elderly, children, and disabled. 

We would like to see the cycle lane remain until the end of the current lockdown on 2nd December. However, we believe that this scheme needs to be removed swiftly as soon as we exit lockdown, to allow businesses along the High Street a period of unimpeded business, in the run-up to Christmas, and following the very real difficulties they have faced during the coronavirus restrictions. Kensington High Street is simply not the correct location, and we must act in the interests of our constituents. 

Felicity Buchan, MP - Member of Parliament for Kensington
Tony Devenish, Member of the London Assembly for West Central 

WHITHER IVY?

 

It seems as if Mr Martin of Martins' Properties has taken over the licence of the Ivy in Kings Road. 

Could we see Mr Martin as 'mine host'?

Are rumours true that a CVA has been organised by the owner, Sir Phil Green's friend, Mr Caring?

Mr Martin's family started off with a Kings Road electrical shop selling Dansette record players in the 40's before buying local property at rock bottom prices. 

In fact, many of the Dame's friends remembered Tom Martin's father, Peter flogging them their first black & white telly. 

OK, not quite the stuff of the Cadogan Estate but even the Cadogan family had to start somewhere!

GUYS AND THOMAS' ? HEAL THYSELF!

Dear Dame,

I spent Sunday walking around the St.Thomas’ Hospital's site.

I’m going to be posting soon on my social media accounts just some of the photos I took.

I want to point out and I am not questioning St.Thomas’ medical excellence, but the shiny glass-fronted buildings referred by the Brompton as on Westminster Bridge are consultation rooms for private healthcare and are extremely disappointing and in a sorry state.

When you walk around the hospital (which has it’s own walkway alongside the Thames River walkway) you would see a ramshackle of a hospital with its series of buildings.
The Brompton is 10 times better, Guy’s & St.Thomas’ should be focusing on improving their own buildings as it is a sorry sight. They should not even be thinking of engaging in acquisitions when they have their own problems.

Go see it for yourself with some of your councillors.
There is not one inch to build on, and none in the vicinity either.
Hope you can spare the time to go see it. 

If you have no one to take you around I can show you around as I am familiar with the site.

Regards

Interested Party

IT TAKES ALL SORTS OF NUTTERS! EXTREME RIGHT & LEFT COME TOGETHER!

STOP PRESS

Meeting cancelled even though it was not common sense that prevailed. OFF

Dear Dame,

I have always found it a useful maxim to judge people by the company they keep & Kensington Labour Party is increasingly keeping very rum company indeed. 

                        Israel like Nazi Germany thinks Dimwit

Tonight the Constituency Executive is providing a Zoom Platform for Kerry-Anne Mendoza, a highly controversial speaker with few connections with the cuddly social-democratic Labour Party we all used to love (or at least respect).

 

A quick Google enquiry on her name comes up with this from August 20^th

 

“Kerry-Anne Mendoza, the editor of The Canary, a controversial hard-left blog, has appeared to double down on her antisemitic comparison of Israel to Germany during Nazi rule.

Ms Mendoza’s latest incident began when she equated Brexit with Nazism, referencing the infamous slogan astride the gates to the Auschwitz death camp in a tweet: “Get Brexit done; Build, build, build; Jobs, jobs, jobs; Arbeit macht frei.”

In response to a backlash on social media, she explicitly referenced Israel and Jews, appearing to double down on her racist analogy, tweeting: “Being called an antisemite by people who think “Never again” doesn’t apply to Palestinians, Muslims, trans people, GRT communities, or Ethiopian/Mizrahi/anti-Zionist Jews…”

This is not the first time that, Ms Mendoza, whose website is under investigation by the Government’s Independent Advisor on Antisemitism, has compared Israel to the Nazis, in a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Ms Mendoza also recently attacked Campaign Against Antisemitism using violent language, saying “The antisemitism witch hunt is seriously about to face off with #BlackLivesMatter I’m telling you now, those anti-Black, anti-Palestinian racists are gonna get their asses dragged all over town. And they have no clue. Because…entitlement.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

 

Until now, whilst frequently ‘walking on the wild side', the Constituency Party has avoided any involvement with the Anti Semitism row that has engulfed other parts of the party but this latest invitation is perhaps going too far & is certainly a further step away from the Starmer leadership of the National Party .   In recent years the Constituency party has been quick to trumpet its huge increase in membership since the Corbyn revolution – rising to more than 800.   

However, the constituency leadership & its media communications now seem to be totally dominated by the extreme left and Labour ‘mainstream members’ report that anyone to the right of Rosa Luxemburg is treated with hostility and made to feel unwelcome. 

More Moderate recent applicants to join also report a reluctance to accept or communicate with them. 

So the turnover of membership is large and increasingly unrepresentative of the Labour vote in The Royal Borough.    

One wonders if The National Labour Party will be prepared to tolerate the eccentricities of the Local Association & its Councillor  Members in the long term or does It have more important priorities elsewhere in the Forest of British Politics?   

Given that Kensington had a Labour Member of Parliament less than a year ago perhaps national intervention and a local ‘reset’ is called for?

Regards, dear Dame,

 

One of the mystified mainstream

REFORMER REFORM THYSELF

The Dame once met Richard Tice, founder of  'new kid on the political block', Reform UK

Tice is an intelligent, thoughtful but highly opinionated man so it's unsurprising within Reform UK's policy document there are two of his ideas which will NOT find favour with potential voters.

Tice plans to subsidise the fees of students unable to have face to face tuition due to Covid 19. 

The vast majority of his potential support base would like to scrap many of the media studies/psychology/ sociology courses students are engaged on so if Tice thinks his initiative will fire up students to turn to Reform UK he is naive.

His other non-vote winner is even more bizarre...

He wants Reform UK to field candidates for the 44 Police and Crime Commissioner positions.

Does he not realise that most voters of every political hue would like to scrap this useless quasi quango?

The PCC network costs £55 million a year to operate and was foisted upon Cameron by the Lib Dems in 2012.

Mr Tice? 

Start listening to people or Reform UK will go the way of all flesh Oh....and work with Taxpayers Alliance who really understand lobbying for change.

A PREENING DAME

 

                                                   click to enlarge

The Dame is pleased to report that unique daily views now exceed one thousand daily-and all done without all this modern social media.

Thank you, cherished readers

NAILING NAYLOR: THE RICH NHS MANAGER BEHIND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ROYAL BROMPTON

The man behind the drive to demolish the Royal Brompton Hospital is a 'just retired', long time NHS manager and the 5th highest paid in that firmament of management mediocrity.  

Meet Sir Robert Naylor who greedily claims the Royal Brompton site is worth a billion to housebuilders....

In a recent report on NHS fat cats, Naylor was on, with perks, close to £300,000 a year plus a £1 million-plus pension.

He is now has a substantial stake in a company called Justcontractmanagement LINK where his son James is also employed.

What the Dame wants to know is how Naylor-on an albeit chunky NHS salary, managed to accumulate so many riches that he can boast, 'property investments that have given him an alternative income stream'.

             Chez Naylor?

                                                 

                                               Smug looking Knight of the Realm

In a 2016 interview, Naylor boasted about his property investments. 

This made the nosy old Dame check him out at Companies House. 

His company, Robert Naylor Consulting is based at 4 Chester Terrace where homes like the one above seem well above the paygrade for an NHS manager....more like a City banker!

"Naylor has a reputation for speaking truth to power – something which doesn’t always guarantee a long career as a chief executive. He admits he has been lucky not to be as dependent on his NHS job as many others: property investments have given him an alternative income stream.

“Some people have commented that my job was easier because I had other sources of income. I agree that I could be more outspoken in my views because my children’s education and mortgage payments were not always on the line. It does help if you have a degree of financial security,” he says."

The Dame will be passing this one over to one of the nationals.

THINKERS ARE NOT FEELING FESTIVE

RBKC Housing Residents Summit this evening and tomorrow – but THINKers are in no mood for fun...

THIS IS NORTH KENSINGTON

COUNCIL PUBLISHES SPECIAL PURPOSE DOCUMENT

 

As part of its efforts to save Brompton Hospital, the Council has published this important document.

You can access it HERE

ACOUSTIC CAMERAS CAPTURE 500 CULPRITS

 In the war against noisy super and not so super cars the Council deserves a plaudit.

Many doubted whether acoustic cameras would do much good but according to the Council over 500 triggerings have been reported.

Well done, Cllr Thallasites and McVeigh...you worked hard to get these erected and they seem to be working.

"We mentioned the installation of these in our last newsletter, and they have already been triggered by noisy vehicles over 500 times in the space of just a month. And now we are getting requests from other councils asking us how we achieved this – so it is great to be leading the way and to be spearheading something that is proving to be in great demand elsewhere too. The story was picked up by the BBC news – with residents interviewed and Sof was particularly pleased to hear the reporter refer to the cars as ‘so-called’ supercars!"

THE DAME TO BE FORCIBLY VACCINATED?

When unctuous Hancock was asked whether people might be forced to have an anti-virus vaccine his weird reply was it was something he could not rule out. 

In other words, refusniks might be pinned down and injected.

An extraordinary answer to give and one that should make us all quake with fear

The infantilisation and bullying of the population continue apace.  

We need to be very wary of where it could lead us....

This is a government that has tasted the blood of population control....

By the way, ask yourself a question...if you run a business would you ever employ someone like Hancock?

Come to think of it would you want any of them screwing up your business?...

The sooner Sunak takes over the better.

Dear Dame,

I have been following your blog for many years and am a big fan!

Just wondering if you could do a post about an event being held in Battersea Park this Saturday to protest the Lockdown:

Unite for Freedom Event in Battersea Park on Saturday, 28th Nov at 12 noon organised on behalf of event 2020:

https://event202.org/events/

Best,

Mr. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

SAVING OUR HOSPITAL

 

MAYHEM IN KENSINGTON : POLLUTION SURGES

                                            

Dear Dame,

The traffic and pollution levels in Kensington have reached new highs since the council installed cycle lanes on Kensington High Street. 

All motorised traffic....cars, buses, taxis, motorbikes and vans have been squeezed into one lane whilst keeping the remaining lane for cyclists. 

This Scheme was introduced hastily with minimal resident consultation. 

It followed pressure from the government to use emergency Covid-related funding before the end of October ("Use it or lose it !"). 

What sounded like a good idea has turned into a nightmare: traffic levels have increased horrendously with corresponding pollution levels toxifying the atmosphere.

Residents report:

• endless traffic 
• gridlocked side streets 
• journey times quadrupled 
• hospital appointments missed

No one is immune from the consequence of this ill-conceived mess.... 

• bus passengers 
• parents on school runs 
• vulnerable people affected by the pandemic and in need of safe transits 
• emergency services 
• taxi drivers, delivery vans trying to deliver goods to local businesses 

THIS PART OF THE CITY IS BASICALLY HAVING A HEART ATTACK

The “Put an End to the Kensington High Street Cycle Scheme” petition has already gathered more than 3,100 signatures, from local residents and businesses, as well as people who transit through the area for work or necessity. 

It can be found on: https://www.change.org/p/put-an-end-to-the-kensington-high-street-cycle-scheme. 

In an effort to make our objections heard we have met with RBKC to discuss the Scheme and request more objective data so as to evaluate its impact.

We’ve also contacted all the residents’ associations (who oppose it almost unanimously), spoken to our MP (for Kensington) and reached out to various groups via social media and the press. 

If you agree that the chaos created by these lanes must be ended urgently, please do sign the petition and write to your councillors as well as our MP Felicity Buchan.

Importantly, many of the signatories (including the sponsor of the petition) are cyclists and support greener cities as well as more active forms of travel. 

However, what has been done is a badly conceived short-term measure that sets us all back. 

We are all proponents of encouraging everyone to exercise more, pollute less, and finding safer ways for people to bike. 

This goal- however valid, cannot come at the expense of all the users who share the city’s roads and those exposed to the dangerous levels of pollution this scheme generates.

Kind Regards,

Georges Assi

NICE LITTLE EARNER!

The Dame's reader reports that the Council have cancelled the PCN quietly and without apology.

One wonders why? The key is the police car parked dangerously on a corner and on double lines whilst the occupant popped off for a Latte!

When the reader called the Parking Office asking why the PCN had been cancelled he was told that the camera automatically sent out PCN's without any officer checking to see if they were deserved or not. 

Not good enough....many residents would have not had the fight to challenge this idiocy and paid up.

MISSING COUNCILLOR ALERT! HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

                                          Missing Person Alert!

It's all very well Doc Quirk saying that his Council 'cares about us all" but according to 'One who would like to know' The Doc has no interest in finding a missing councillor. 

Come on, Doc Quirk, maybe Cllr Ali is being held hostage somewhere and is in need of rescue?

Dear Dame,

Speculation bubbles about the whereabouts of Cllr. Kasim Ali who has not appeared in public for several weeks and who again, missed important Cabinet & Committee meetings this week. Is he ill? Is he out of the country? Or has he simply discovered that participation in Kensington Local Government and the increasingly bizarre world of Emmarite  Kensington Labour  Party whilst lucrative, is not the fast path to National & International fame that he was promised?  

No more fast track appointments with Labour’s National leader ( who presumably has other priorities ? )

In other circumstances, it could be claimed that this is not the business of anyone but Cllr Ali, his family & his conscience (after all there is a score of Councillors who have not been in evidence for months). But Cllr Ali is in receipt of substantial, taxpayer-funded,  ‘Special Responsibility Allowances’ ( £17,000 as Chair of the Housing  Select Committee ).  

Admittedly he did get through chairing his second Housing Meeting somewhat less ham-fistedly than his first appearance. But there has been little ( if any? ) input from Cllr Ali towards the borough’s emerging Housing policy or anything else in these difficult and ever-worsening times? 

 

Obviously, the Labour Whip knows what is going on but does his nominal Leader; his co-Councillors or his electors?

 

Can you enlighten us, dear Dame?

 

One who would like to know

 

INFANTILISING RESIDENTS.... ONE UNREAD MAIL OUT AT A TIME

 Dear Dame,

I was amused to read and agree with you over this ghastly, patronising, infantilising stuff pouring out of the Council. 

It is to be expected from a Communist Party of China council but surely not our Royal Borough.

Is this all to show that post-Grenfell the Council has gone all touchy-feely? 

This has just arrived at our block of flats and I managed to grab a copy before our porter shovelled them into his RBKC recycling bag(is this vertical integration of services?)

My first thought was that maybe your friend, Doctor Quirk, could heed this advice about staying active and my second, more important is wondering how much is all this unread junk costing us? I thought councils were short of money....

It's quite clear that our sainted Leader is putty in the hands of the plump doctor!

Yours sincerely

One of your devoted readers

"WE CARE SO MUCH FOR YOU"....PASS THE SICK BAG

The new crop of Conservative councillors is a vast improvement on the old time servers. 

Despite the angry buzzing of Wasp the 20 MPH speed limit is eminently sensible. 

                                    It's my show....councillors

But we do have a problem with some of the good Doc Quirk's officers hired in from his East End haunts.

The Doc has told all officers to preface their missives to overburdened taxpayers with cloying messages using the times of Covid as a pretext.

Every message from the Council seems to kick off with, " Your council really cares for you" or "we want to support you".

All this nonsense has been thought up by the £100 million a year 'Communications Dept" and £300k a year Doc: it needs to stop.

RBKC residents don't like being patronised. 

Residents here are sophisticated creatures and dislike being talked down to by Doc Quirk. Especially, as we know that the Doc Quirk has taken very good care of himself!

So....stop all this and just get on with the jobs taxpayers fork out large sums of money for you to do.......

PAVED WITH BAD INTENTIONS: NO CONCRETE ANSWERS

My Dear Dame,

I am unsure how much interest your Dameship takes in the wilder reaches of far-flung North Kensington, but coming up St Mark's Road today I discovered by Kensington Memorial Park (as an aside-what is it a memorial to?) that the pavement is being re-laid. 

Nothing unusual in that you might say....but I remember when the York Stone paving was replaced in Kensington Square in 1975(?) by bog-standard concrete paving, only for it to magically re-appear around the new Town Hall. 

So, knowing the council has form of switching York Stone paving flags for concrete and then re-using them in posh areas, I always check when I see pavement re-laying works.

Sure enough, the pavement being ripped up appears to be stone flags (whether York or not I am unsure), and the replacements are bog standard concrete. 

I didn't get any sensible answers from the two highly skilled
operatives (whose native language was not apparently English) as to what happened to the old flag stones, but I have my suspicions.

Regards, dear Dame,

The Pavement Warrior