Edinburgh Trams: Only Three Years Late

The Edinburgh Trams Project was meant to deliver three new public transport routes across the city. Instead, after a massive overspend (total cost said to be £776 Million) and years overrun, Edinburgh Council only managed to build one line that didn’t even go as far as planned: Edinburgh Airport to York Place, a route which is already very well served by multiple LRT buses and which runs in parallel to the railway line from Waverley through Haymarket almost all the way.

Prolifers in the UK become more American every day

Yesterday, two members of Abort67 won the right to continue to harass and intimdate women entering in a clinic in Wales. In the US this is called “sidewalk picketing” – harass enough women going into the clinic, the thinking of the prolifers is, and maybe one of the women will be scared or shocked or horrified out of deciding to have an abortion. Most women will of course just find these prolifers making a bad day even worse, but if you’re virulently prolife, that’s a win too.

If this catches on in Edinburgh, we may need clinic escorts.

Today, a group of people have written a letter to the Telegraph demanding that the legacy of the Paralympics should be – guess?

More funding for organisations that help disabled children to enjoy sport?

Pedal on Parliament: Holyrood

On Saturday 28th April, hundreds of cyclists and supporters of cycling will converge on Parliament.

We’re asking everyone who cycles in Scotland – or who would like to cycle, or would like their families to cycle, but who doesn’t feel safe – to join us for a big ride of our own – and a big picnic. Young and old, keen commuter or weekend pedaller, fit or not – you don’t even need to be on a bike. You just need to show up and add your voice to help make Scotland safe for cycling.

Given the weather in Scotland, it would be unwise to plan on doing the cycle ride naked, though in Peru a massed protest against dangerous conditions for cyclists did just that:

“This is our body. With this, we go out in the streets. We don’t have a car to protect us.” –Octavio Zegarra

I don’t cycle for historical reasons – bus drivers and roundabouts scare me – even though there is a considerable network of cycle paths that make use of the disused space where the light rail network used to be.

When a cyclist was killed by a taxi in Corstorphine last Monday