Cycling in London

Cycling in London

The third user of the streets apart from the pedestrians and cars are the cyclists. This is one of the most problematic groups as they are blamed for accidents on the roads and for not observing the highway code yet London is a death trap for cyclists. Many people are put off cycling in the city because in many ways it is a death trap,

It is a common sight to see bundles of flowers marking the spot where a cyclist was killed usually at a busy road junction. Lorry drivers claim not to see them and the death toll on the roads is very high.

At the moment the talk is of ensuring lorries are fitted with special safety equipment as well as a new network of cycle lanes in order to segregate cyclists and pedestrians.

It has been reported that cyclist themselves are becoming more worried about the roads. The number of accidents is fairly staggering. What should be an easy way to keep fit is increasingly being seen as a death trap.

London does not for instance have the history of a bicycle friendly culture that you have in many Dutch and Belgian cities and an unfortunate consequence of the way cyclists are treated on the roads is that they spill out onto paths in parks and on to pavements where they come into conflict with pedestrians.

One thing is certain. Changing the culture of the roads in London will be a lot more complicated that appears and any change will  necessitate a lot of foresight in order to bring motorists, cyclists and pedestrians into relative harmony

London Property Prices

London Property prices

One of the problems of London is its appearance as a world city

For so many years it has appeared as a safe haven against any crises in the word which has led to the phenomenon now occurring of the indigenous population moving out.

Cranes stand in many places with new housing developments holding sway. In fact there seems to be a rather frenetic pace of building. However this is not likely to benefit any ordinary people as the world comes to London’s doorsteps. Houses are seen as investments. Stories abound in the press of streets in parts of London where here are no light at night as the houses lie unoccupied.

Meanwhile the crisis for ordinary Londoners is fairly acute. The sight of people sleeping in doorways in this town is not unusual. The price of private housing is now so high that it is beyond the reach of most working people. Initially there has been a flow of people towards the so called commuter belt villages as they can no longer afford London prices.

The pressure on rented housing has also been substantial and for many people who have lived here all their lives the word is “how long can we stay?”Many people consider relocating to other parts of the country as they can no longer see themselves affording the prices that flats and houses in London command or raiding deposits of about £30 000 which is more than the average annual wage. In many ways the recession as exaggerated this tendency as banks play safe and demand higher deposits before they giver mortgages

Many of the regeneration policies followed by local authorities have tended to exacerbate this problem as flats are snapped up be rich overseas buyers leaving substantial housing shortage. The only local buyers able to afford the prices are those who already have properties or young people able to borrow from the bank of Mum and Dad. This is leading to big changes in the demographic of Central London. With the average price of a one bedroom flat in London approaching £400 000 owning  one’s own home in London is a pipe dream for most people.

Other ramifications exist! The poor seem to be in the process of being exiled to the outer suburbs as in many other European cities but increasingly what are known as key workers are as well. Key workers include such people as teachers, police, emergency services, cleaners. This of course leads to the spectre of Central London existing without key workers to service the place

One thing is certain. The crisis of housing in London is going to take more of a centre stage in local politics sooner rather than later

Clacton and UKIP

Clacton and UKIP

Now that the by-election has occurred the papers are full of analysis of what the result will mean. Will it be a new political force establishing itself or will it be a flash in the pan? Many columnists predicted UKIP was finished after the last European elections arguably their high water mark. However the fact that they have won a safe Tory seat and managed to push Labour to within 700 votes of losing in the other by-election speaks of a lot more than just that.

One of the problems for a third force in a country which historically has been the preserve of two main parties who alternate in government is that it is very hard for a third party to make an impression and to break the mould. Historically the British are divided into two major tribes Labour and Conservative and usually people will sport the trappings of which particular tribe they belong to. Of course politics is not a subject necessarily discussed.. These allegiances are however becoming more fluid

Normally the floating voters tend to determine which major arty winds power and the constituency first past the post does not tend to favour challengers. They usually have to concentrate their votes enough in a constituency to win a majority or plurality of the vote enabling their candidate to get elected. The systems in use for European elections, Scottish ad Welsh parliament elections and the London assembly elections are much kinder to smaller parties.

Several factors point however to a change in this view. One is percentage of the vote. If you look back at previous elections a different pattern emerges. In 1950 the two major parties gained 86 % of the vote between them. In 2010 they only managed 65%. This points to an increasing share of the vote being taken by third parties. In addition four way marginals are becoming increasingly common. A case in point is that in 1992 ,the constituency of Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber elected its Liberal Democrat winner with only 26% of the vote over his SNP,  Labour and Conservative challengers.. A third party can be successful in winning a constituency with 25% of the vote!

Another fact is that or the first time since the second world war the country has a coalition government as none of the major parties got enough to govern outright. The trend would seem to show that this is becoming the norm. Probably at the next election if the polls are anything to go by the major parties will struggle to win enough seats to govern on their own

What form the new challengers will take is difficult to assess. Historically the third party was the Liberal democrats who were mostly disaffected Tories who couldn’t bring themselves to vote labor and Disaffected Labour who couldn’t bring themselves to vote Tory. A lot of their supporters have left in disgust after their coalition with the Tories and their vote now struggles to reach double figures

Against ths can be se the rise of UKIP a party which capitalizes on fear of immigration, always a problem when people struggle to find jobs in a recession and also on the overbearing European Bureaucracy. However it also capitalizes on one thing which is the general disenchantment with the political class which runs very deep at this time. The Coalition government is very unpopular and Labour was in government recently.

this can be set the fact that another minority party the Green is rising in the polls and outpolling the Liberal Democrats’ in many constituencies which means the rise of another party. How this will translate into a general election is anybody’s guess. However the normal scare tactic used by the Prime minister of Vote UKIP and get Labour” does not seem to be working. Most UKIP voters are determined to have their say come what may and are no longer vulnerable to fears of getting the other.

One thing is certain : Four of five party politics is here to stay!