The problem at the Trevor is that it needs major expenditure to deal with the structural issues that are making the building dangerous. The owner (the Glynde Estate) wants the tenant to pay for these. But since the long-term benefit of the investment accrues to the owner, it's not an...
A professor of social anthropology, who had spent many years working in India, once told me that the standard way to deal with beggars was to reach carefully into one's pocket and give the beggar the smallest coin that was available.
You've acknowledged the situation of inequality, but not...
No. Bus lanes make buses more reliable and therefore more attractive to passengers.
In the case of Brighton, the Lewes Road bus lanes are working particularly well, and take advantage of the fact that a very high proportion of the car and truck traffic that used Lewes Road when it was widened...
Most of the funding for bus lanes came from a central government grant that Brighton & Hove City Council were successful in bidding for.
If the grant hadn't come to Brighton, it would have been spent on bus schemes somewhere else.
The fact that the bus company benefits from the operational...
It's a matter for local discretion if a council wishes to subsidise a bus service that no bus company will provide without subsidy. If the council does choose to fund such a service, there is an obligation to invite tenders from a range of operators. In the current climate of strict central...
The travel concession for senior citizens in Amsterdam isn't free travel. It's a 34 per cent discount on standard adult fares. I don't think British citizenship is a barrier to qualification for this concession.
When it comes to bus passes, though, it's not the responsibility of councils to do the thinking. It's a matter for the devolved governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and (in England) Westminster.
The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme was introduced after the London scheme. It didn't replace the London scheme, and therefore the London scheme's age limits didn't change in London. What the English National Scheme did for London was extend the validity of the London bus pass to...
I guess there will be Albion fans who are anticipating spending the whole of next season in the bottom three places in the Premier League who will be happy to take the view that "I'm not taking this competition seriously, but I'm pleased we're in it, because at least it will attract youngsters...
I agree. The search for ways to "reduce the burden of regulation" was always nothing but a politically motivated fantasy. We are now beginning to realise that it is a dangerous fantasy as well.