Bus Lane Madness

Me and local campaigner Kevin Staples at the White Tree Roundabout bus lane: Now you don't see it. Now you do. Now you do, er but only a bit of it... (they're busy taking up a small stretch of it in the background)

 Ok, so whose brilliant idea was the White Tree Roundabout bus lane?

It's one of those decisions that was obviously always going to be a disaster to anyone who knows the area, but it went ahead anyway as part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network.

The result? As anyone in the lines of snarling traffic queuing up to the roundabout and sometimes extending way down Falcondale Road, could have told you,  it has been an expensive way of making things worse. Buses couldn't even get to their bus-lane because, yes, they're snarled up in the traffic!

Our Councillor, Geoff Gollop set up a PETITION - and a campaign took place on  FACEBOOK as well.

I went on BBC Radio Bristol during the summer,  live from the White Tree Roundabout, in front of lines of traffic queuing and hooting, and heard a statement from the Council implying it was all working just fine, thank you. The ultimate example of the council-house inhabiting a different planet from the rest of us. Really frustrating.

Finally the Council couldn't hide from reality any more and conceeded - and took up just some of the bus lane. A triumph for people-power and common sense. If only they'd listened to common sense in the first place. What a waste of money.

Macmillan's Big Coffee Morning

deceptive number of sweets

 Once again, Macmillan's Biggest Coffee morning really did make a huge stir.

Events happened up and down the country and Bristol North West. I managed to visit Henbury's coffee morning at the scout hut, and Lockleaze's event at the Cameron Centre - who very generously provided their venue for free.

Every year I write about how important Macmillan are, and anyone who has had any experience through a loved one with cancer will know just how valuable the care they provide is, at such difficult, upsetting times.

Teddies' names were guessed ( unsuccessfully) numbers of sweets were estimated (unsuccessfully) , much coffee was drunk and many cakes were bought.

Yes, I know I look like my mum.

 Well done to all who organised, and particularly Christine Welsh, who organised the Lockleaze event and who made the beautiful cup-cakes shown below here. ( Ended up buying the entire plate... ahem.)

Christine's had first hand experience of the tragedy that cancer can bring, in her own family, and has come through to organise an amazing coffee morning, for others suffering in similar ways. Remarkable to see. Well done all.

Christine, who organised the Lockleaze Event...

..and makes irresistable cupcakes...

The Henbury Loop Line - it's real!

Much excitement as First GW puts on a special train along.. yes, the Henbury Loop Line! see, the route actually ALREADY exists...

Much excitement at the Community Rail Festival as a special train ran from Templemeads, to the Portbury Dock, along much of what would be a Henbury Loop Line, connecting a re-opened Henbury Station to the Severn Beach Line.
Disappointingly, current West of England Partnership Plans, whilst a real step forward in promoting plans for a Bristol Metro - with a Portishead Line, and enhanced local branch line services- stops short at the really vital point: Creating a circuit round the city by joining up the Henbury line with the Severn Beach Line. Current plans make Henbury a cul-de-sac turn-round station. Bonkers! It's like building a circuit board but not completing the last millimeter to get the current running through it.
Great campaign groups like Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance ( TfGB's Ian Crawford here with me in the pink shirt), and Friends of Suburban Bristol Rail  ( FOSBR -spot my yellow fosbr sticker!) and one-man-campaign-army Dave Wood have been superb in keeping the pressure up. I am going to be continuing to make the case for a Henbury Loop, not spur, until I'm blue in the face and everyone's completely bored of hearing about it... (I've already mystified a whole lot of non-Bristol-area MPs during Prime Minister's Questions by raising it...)
 But it's important because this will be the game-changer for Bristol Transport, this is the opportunity of a generation, and we cannot have a situation where we look back in 20 years and say, yet again "what on earth were they thinking?" 
For once, let's have long term vision, be ambitious about our city region, and get it right. 

Boxing clever for Britain

We'll all be crossing fingers and wishing Natasha Jonas, our brilliant lightweight Team GB boxing representative the very best of luck in London 2012...  it was an honour to meet such a superb ambassador for the sport

When I first started my (very amateur!) boxing attempts at Spanniorum Farm Gym, back in the mid-'90s, as an inexplicably angry teenager, women's boxing was still something of an 'unofficial' activity, struggling to make its mark and win respect as a recognised sport. I was luck enough to train alongside our very own Jane Couch, who has done so much to get womens' boxing on the map.

So I find it particularly moving that London 2012 should be hosting the first Olympic Womens' boxing, and that we should have such talented hopefuls.  Lightweight Natasha Jonas, ( I am feeling a bit over-awed to be standing next to someone who has achieved something I only ever dreamed about!) is not only a real hopeful for a medal, but is also a superb ambassador for the sport.

I realise, and appreciate that some people are a bit squeamish about the idea of women boxing. All I can say is, if you get the chance, meet and talk to female boxers like Natasha who are an inspiration. And in a world where girls are increasingly getting into the kinds of violent trouble as boys on our streets, the need for women to be able to strive to achieve excellence in competitive boxing as an alternative to a life of a cul-de-sac of gangs, depression and hopelessness, is more pressing than ever.

As Natasha says, she's a 'fighter' - we should all be incredibly proud and grateful that thanks to boxing, she's fighting for nothing less than Britain's place on the Olympic podium!

'Mummy, why did granny get arrested for sending me a Birthday Card..?".

Jane Jackson is running an invaluable support group for Grandparents who have lost access to their grandchildren

Jane Jackson is a local grandparent who has suffered the same heartache as so many grandparents in not being able to get access to her grandchildren following a marriage breakup of the parents.

This is heartache enough, but as was reported in some national papers,  Jane has been highlighting how some grandparents are feeling the full force of the law under the harassment act- just for sending their grandchild a birthday or Christmas Card, and I am helping her fight her campaign.

Jane's message is simple - it's not about grandparents' rights, it's about the welfare of the child and their 'rights' to have access to loving family members.

Of course, as anyone who has experienced or known of genuine harassment or stalking will tell you, genuine harassment is appalling for the victim and should be dealt with most robustly by the law -and tragically, there have been cases where the law has been too slow to act when the alarm has been raised. But in order to be able to be there for genuine harassment, or indeed routine crimes like break-ins, its vital our police feel able to take, and are encouraged to take a consistent common approach to innocent and well-meaning grandparents who just want their grandchild to know they love them, once a year at Birthdays or Christmas.

If you would like to get in touch with Janes' support group, go to http://bristolgrandparentssupport.blogspot.co.uk/