ALiteralCabbage

This regeneration will revitalise the area, provide much-needed accommodation relieving pressure on family homes, and create a dedicated community space.

Ah yes, nothing like a bland apart-hotel which will be used primarily by visiting academics and business people to revitalise the area!

Better to make sure you have to drive to the Kassam to watch a movie than risk popcorn and kids existing in a public space!

The people whose needs it serves are presumably the people who take profit from Rappi.

I get that the news source here is aiming for positivity but it reeks of advertorial.

Money talks.

One must presume that they're for your mother, no?

Autopsy reports are vague and contradictory. They describe women with evidence of trauma, including burns and electric shocks, all labeled natural deaths.

The thinking is, presumably, that it's natural for slaves to die.

Anyone I've ever met who has worked in Saudi Arabia and the UAE has acknowledged that there's an unbelievable amount of racism. Everybody knows about it, but you can't criticise them, because otherwise the oil money and tax breaks stop. It's sickening.

Ironically the people that will post the former online will all live in the latter.

Fair enough! I know some people who have plenty of space but prefer small furniture because of the increase in floor space it gives them - but beds are something I mever factored into my practice of minimalism!

Why did you downsize the bed - is it just a matter of space for you at that point?

I used to be pretty big on minimalism as a younger man, around the time the Minimalists were blogging (and before they became a business in their own right). I was single, rented, and it made my life much easier. But I found after a while that the "purging" was sort of a way to avoid living with myself (or to obsess over the wrong stuff).

I still like it but the collection of stuff and things around me are a way to connect with who I was, and the life I've lived, and am living. And it's a nice way to share a space with my partner. Even if her coffee table is too big.

Some great points about ebikes in there, as well as some awful takes on the gig economy.

I think good ebikes are great and I used to make a living selling them. The best use cases are where delivery companies own and operate them and handle last-mile stuff using cargo ebikes. The purchase scheme type stuff is pretty good too if they're serious about the bikes they offer and can assist with maintenance because that adds up quite quickly.

Good ebikes are utterly brilliant and if I lived in a city I'd be all over a long tail cargo bike as my daily driver. They're amazing machines really.

The cynic in me always comes out though; the issue I have (which hampers their uptake more generally I think) is that for most gig economy riders the good ebikes are prohibitively expensive so most of them are on some shonky cobbled together DIY pedelecs (as opposed to EPAC's) which are made of very cheap bikes fitted with dodgy motors and batteries which are dangerous and illegal mostly as they're generally not speed restricted and on a throttle. It paints a bad picture of ebikes for the general public (being ridden dangerously, too fast, fire hazards, and means that lots of their obvious advantages get eclipsed by the public outrage invited by the use of these dubious BSOs.

Side note:

“The gig economy is really important for immigrants, it helps them integrate,” Rosales says. “It is a quick option to make money.”

Made me sick in my mouth. Proper jobs and support help immigrants integrate. The gig economy traps people in a low wage work-til-you-burn-out cycle. The only people it benefits are the companies engaged in a race to the bottom, ripping off their drivers and the people who use the service (businesses and customers).

/Rant.

I go from "God is a kid with a magnifying glass" to "everything is as it is, and when I die that's it, nothing happens afterwards", with varying shades of agnosticism in between.

I still find churches (well, big ones made by people hundreds of years ago, not meeting halls) super chill. I visited a catholic shrine on my holidays last year and I found it really peaceful. I enjoy the "practice" of that aspect of religion in that respect. But I can't square my experience of the world with anything other than an awful god who wouldn't warrant any attention anyway.

It does indeed - the overseas thing is nuts! I guess they assume you've become an oil baron or something and must therefore be a secret moneybags?

You're doing better than me on the frugality front, I suppose I have the benefit of a UK based, mid level salary! I'm looking forward to my loan being written off in the not too distant future!

I know it makes no difference really, but is that legal? Could doctors not intervene? Could ICE be liable for death or injury incurred from deporting a citizen?