HERE we go again. The Covid numbers are going up so it’s back to restrictions. Let’s not think about Christmas yet, but we should be thinking of how we can live with this damn virus.
So good luck to the Derry architect who proposed a major rethink of how urban spaces are used in the current climate. Peter Tracey, who’s also chair of Northern Ireland's Historic Buildings Council, suggested some areas could become pedestrian-only zones after 6.30pm to facilitate the evening economy. This would allow restaurants and bars to move their businesses on to public thoroughfares; historic buildings could also be brought back into use to facilitate social interaction.
“For too long vehicles have been given priority over pedestrians,” he said.
Too true, Peter. But I fear your plea will fall on deaf ears. A modest proposal for the Ormeau Road to be partially closed to traffic over a few weekend days during the summer got drowned at birth in a sea of opposition from a vocal minority and was finally consigned to the black hole of “further consultation” with city council committees. So it won’t happen this year.
There’s little prospect of a vaccine for Covid for at least another year, so before we just agree to another shut-down, with less likelihood of it being as well observed as the first one, why don’t we try to think of better ways of coping with this new normality?
Make space so that people can go out and enjoy themselves and be able to keep a social distance.
If working from home is going to mean fewer people travelling to big shiny public buildings then a different use is going to need to be found if our city centres aren’t going to become deserted wastelands. How about encouraging more residential use of those buildings, with people living above smaller shops and cafés to add to a sense of life?
When you visit many European cities, and then look at Belfast, you wonder why planners seem to get it so very wrong. Pavements aren’t wide enough to accommodate tables outside, cycle lanes pop up randomly along some roadways but then just stop dead.
And we create wastelands along the river by giving the space over to motorways instead of encouraging people to live along the waterside.
And there are plenty of examples to follow. Look at the London suburb of Waltham Forest. In recent years an imaginative £30 million scheme to discourage traffic and get people to walk, cycle and use their local shops and restaurants was created.
It was initially greeted with outrage and even street scuffles by angry residents. Now the area is reaping the benefits, with independent shops, cafés and green spaces along what had previously been a rat run for traffic.
The philosophy is to create a 20-minute neighbourhood where all the facilities for work, shopping, healthcare, education and recreation should be found within a 20-minute public transport trip, bike ride or walk from home.
Car ownership has now dropped by a fifth in the borough to 49 per cent compared to the UK average of 77 per cent. Clyde Loakes, deputy leader of the local council who pioneered the scheme, says many more will follow.
“People start to realise civilisation hasn’t collapsed. You have got to tame the car.”
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HE’S been called “50 shades of beige” and is cruelly but hilariously portrayed as Johnson’s peevish butler 'Keeves' by cartoonist Steve Bell, but Keir Starmer is still what the Labour Party needs right now. With a clown occupying Number 10, he does provide a reassuring presence of being the only grown-up around in Westminster politics. I just wish he would get angrier.
He should be castigating the government of mediocrities for mishandling the Covid crisis – lack of PPE equipment, neglect of care homes and inability to run proper testing.
In his first Labour party conference speech as leader, he didn’t mention his predecessor, like some sort of leftie Voldemort, whose name can’t be uttered. But the message was clear. We’re under new management.
He doesn’t need to drop the radical manifesto either since even the Tories are saying rail privatisation has gone badly wrong and Boris is telling Europe he’s now a champion of state intervention.
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I CAN’T be the only one who laughed out loud at Paula Bradshaw’s apology for dressing up as Mr T. Having seen the photo, she didn’t try that hard to match her face to the black skull cap wig. At least Justin Trudeau made an effort… several times.
My younger son wanted to be Bob Marley for a fancy dress day at a summer scheme some years ago. I helped him with brown eyeshadow on his face and a dreadlocks wig from Elliotts. We didn’t think for one moment that it was racist.
And unless he runs for political office, he should be safe from the woke mob’s pitchforks.
