Plus: The buyer of London's most expensive house, Austin Powers stands for election, a phone box for sale, and more on the canny council house purchase involving a Labour mayoral candidate.
Thanks for sticking with the Newham housing story. It's particularly upsetting how normalised this seems to be. And where are the internal controls in the council?
I've done tail walking at parkrun a lot and half the time you're spending a lot of the time reassuring people that they're *not* too slow and that they *are* welcome there, so Nike's choice of slogans to use is just really unhelpful. If you're going to take advantage of an event you're making no financial contribution to, the very least you can do is not completely contradict the message they're trying to give.
I also really dislike the 'runners only' signs, because parkrun makes a real effort to remind people that they don't have exclusive use of the park. A decent chunk of people in the park for non parkrun reasons aren't going to differentiate between the Nike signs and the actual parkrun ones (which usually say 'Caution, runners') and are going to either feel like they're being banned from parts of the park or just even more annoyed with the whole thing than they already were. It's just making running the event harder for the volunteers
Yes i agree. I volunteer at both my local parkrun and Junior Parkrun (if I'm not running it with my 4 year old) and we spend a lot of time trying to balance the needs of parkrunners with the other park users.
The adverts at times also make no sense. I saw one this morning which said 'if you can run in London you can run anywhere'. What does that even mean?
I agree! I'm a huge Parkrun supporter. Thanks to them, I'm no longer sedentary, and I'm even on my way to run a full marathon later this year. I started mixing running + walking. Sports can be daunting for some people, especially if they've never tried them before. Parkrun helps to show that it can actually be for EVERYONE, regardless of how fit you are or what gear you can afford. Please, walk at Parkrun, if that's what you can do.
I'm afraid to say I do find the ads obnoxious and I don't think it's appropriate to post up huge messages discouraging walkers. Some people do find it difficult to summon the courage to go for a walk for what is ostensibly but not really 'a run' and this doesn't help.
The (very) amusing thought (to me) that comes to mind is what sponsors Worthing ParkRun might attract after this?¹ In previous years some of our local funeral directors have been known to sponsor that seafront stretch. Just imagine the copywriting fun of them trying to pull a Nike in a similar way.
(I want to say something like Just Cremated but it doesn’t feel appropriate somehow).
¹ let all haters be aware that it’s huge with 700+ on a regular basis.²
² yes footnotes. I like to jazz these occasions up.
The Nike furore has worked for everyone really. They get some attention for their deliberately elitist brand positioning, Park Run gets a nice bit of PR for how inclusive their runs are.
I'm sure the people behind the campaign are very pleased with how it all turned out.
Paris Marx in his 'Road to nowhere' book and 'Tech won't save us' podcast has written about Waymo, and the extent to which their cars are genuinely self driving as claimed. Unless the tech has improved since then, the remote human operator takes over entirely when it is raining.
The suggestion that Nike might not have paid to instal these ads seems misleading. As for offending walkers, come on, really? I'm not a runner, I'm not remotely offended, and if Lambeth can make some money to underfund the work they do, good for them.
If Lambeth were receiving money for these ads then surely they're doing it off the back of unpaid volunteers who have made the event a success. Would be nice to give them a heads up imo. Or, maybe they'll take their business elsewhere.
I was volunteering at Brockwell last weekend and got questions from runners on why Parkrun was taking money from Nike. No one had told us anything about anything - I assumed there must be a sponsored event taking place later in the day. Would have been nice to have a heads up at least.
Interesting to see the phone box for sale! I guess it is being sold by the owner of the land it is on?
Not so widely know - but you can actually 'adopt' these boxes, for a £1, so a very tidy profit for the seller! As I understand if your adoption is successful, you can also move it to another public space where your proposed use is. This is how you often find them hosting defibrillators in small villages.
I was at a wedding in Cornwall last year and a hot topic among the villagers was a local guy who had successfully adopted a scenic located box, and then had it moved to his own (private) garden. The villagers were challenging him to put it back (at some expense I imagine too).
I've seen one opposite the Horniman that's ripe for adopting and moving somewhere fun like a school!
Just opened my Scottish parliament postal vote ballot paper to find 22 candidates on the 2nd ballot paper, at least 17 of whom are certifiable loonies(20 if you include the Green, SNP & Conservative options & there are reasons for some of us to do so). This does illustrate a shortcoming of the AMV system used in Scotland(there are others, too)- that it makes the system liable to overload by daft options that will never gain traction...
But looks like lunacy is alive and thriving in London as well:)
My run via Victoria Park on Saturday morning had not just Nike branding but also an equally garish Lululemon staged run that involved blaring the Black Eyes Peas at 1 million decibels
It was interesting to see a big Nike banner at Hoxton Docks, next to the famous sharks.
Unlike some borough councils / park trusts, I would have thought that the property owner there would be a bit less mercenary about leasing space for an advert.
Thanks for sticking with the Newham housing story. It's particularly upsetting how normalised this seems to be. And where are the internal controls in the council?
Another update worth the price of the subscription.
It can't help having one political party control a council for decades.
I've done tail walking at parkrun a lot and half the time you're spending a lot of the time reassuring people that they're *not* too slow and that they *are* welcome there, so Nike's choice of slogans to use is just really unhelpful. If you're going to take advantage of an event you're making no financial contribution to, the very least you can do is not completely contradict the message they're trying to give.
I also really dislike the 'runners only' signs, because parkrun makes a real effort to remind people that they don't have exclusive use of the park. A decent chunk of people in the park for non parkrun reasons aren't going to differentiate between the Nike signs and the actual parkrun ones (which usually say 'Caution, runners') and are going to either feel like they're being banned from parts of the park or just even more annoyed with the whole thing than they already were. It's just making running the event harder for the volunteers
Yes i agree. I volunteer at both my local parkrun and Junior Parkrun (if I'm not running it with my 4 year old) and we spend a lot of time trying to balance the needs of parkrunners with the other park users.
The adverts at times also make no sense. I saw one this morning which said 'if you can run in London you can run anywhere'. What does that even mean?
I agree! I'm a huge Parkrun supporter. Thanks to them, I'm no longer sedentary, and I'm even on my way to run a full marathon later this year. I started mixing running + walking. Sports can be daunting for some people, especially if they've never tried them before. Parkrun helps to show that it can actually be for EVERYONE, regardless of how fit you are or what gear you can afford. Please, walk at Parkrun, if that's what you can do.
I'm afraid to say I do find the ads obnoxious and I don't think it's appropriate to post up huge messages discouraging walkers. Some people do find it difficult to summon the courage to go for a walk for what is ostensibly but not really 'a run' and this doesn't help.
The (very) amusing thought (to me) that comes to mind is what sponsors Worthing ParkRun might attract after this?¹ In previous years some of our local funeral directors have been known to sponsor that seafront stretch. Just imagine the copywriting fun of them trying to pull a Nike in a similar way.
(I want to say something like Just Cremated but it doesn’t feel appropriate somehow).
¹ let all haters be aware that it’s huge with 700+ on a regular basis.²
² yes footnotes. I like to jazz these occasions up.
The Nike furore has worked for everyone really. They get some attention for their deliberately elitist brand positioning, Park Run gets a nice bit of PR for how inclusive their runs are.
I'm sure the people behind the campaign are very pleased with how it all turned out.
Paris Marx in his 'Road to nowhere' book and 'Tech won't save us' podcast has written about Waymo, and the extent to which their cars are genuinely self driving as claimed. Unless the tech has improved since then, the remote human operator takes over entirely when it is raining.
The suggestion that Nike might not have paid to instal these ads seems misleading. As for offending walkers, come on, really? I'm not a runner, I'm not remotely offended, and if Lambeth can make some money to underfund the work they do, good for them.
I hate ads popping up everywhere. Should be able to enjoy some peaceful ad-free greenery in a park in my opinion.
They'll pop up in our dreams eventually, if y2k cartoon Futurama is anything to go by.
If Lambeth were receiving money for these ads then surely they're doing it off the back of unpaid volunteers who have made the event a success. Would be nice to give them a heads up imo. Or, maybe they'll take their business elsewhere.
I was volunteering at Brockwell last weekend and got questions from runners on why Parkrun was taking money from Nike. No one had told us anything about anything - I assumed there must be a sponsored event taking place later in the day. Would have been nice to have a heads up at least.
This person standing for Reform in Maida Vale, worked for US anti abortion, anti same sex marriage group ADF https://x.com/reformexposed/status/2043999456677204390
Interesting to see the phone box for sale! I guess it is being sold by the owner of the land it is on?
Not so widely know - but you can actually 'adopt' these boxes, for a £1, so a very tidy profit for the seller! As I understand if your adoption is successful, you can also move it to another public space where your proposed use is. This is how you often find them hosting defibrillators in small villages.
I was at a wedding in Cornwall last year and a hot topic among the villagers was a local guy who had successfully adopted a scenic located box, and then had it moved to his own (private) garden. The villagers were challenging him to put it back (at some expense I imagine too).
I've seen one opposite the Horniman that's ripe for adopting and moving somewhere fun like a school!
https://business.bt.com/public-sector/street-hubs/adopt-a-kiosk-scheme/
I saw the Nike signs in my local Brockwell Park, and did a double take.I would have torn it up if I had known it was squatting.
At least one of Nike’s rickshaws was also cycling around Battersea Park Run last Saturday too!
Ooh, everyone loves it when there's a vehicle on the course in amongst all the runners (sarcasm)
I’m so excited for Waymo coming to London! Would love to see an early review of Waymo by London centric
Just opened my Scottish parliament postal vote ballot paper to find 22 candidates on the 2nd ballot paper, at least 17 of whom are certifiable loonies(20 if you include the Green, SNP & Conservative options & there are reasons for some of us to do so). This does illustrate a shortcoming of the AMV system used in Scotland(there are others, too)- that it makes the system liable to overload by daft options that will never gain traction...
But looks like lunacy is alive and thriving in London as well:)
My run via Victoria Park on Saturday morning had not just Nike branding but also an equally garish Lululemon staged run that involved blaring the Black Eyes Peas at 1 million decibels
It was interesting to see a big Nike banner at Hoxton Docks, next to the famous sharks.
Unlike some borough councils / park trusts, I would have thought that the property owner there would be a bit less mercenary about leasing space for an advert.
It's a pity Lord Buckethead isn't running... I see His Lordship's costume is up for sale... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/318143574274?_skw=lord+buckethead&itmmeta=01KPARXEGMTPC22P562B3XDBAR&hash=item4a12d5b102:g:xjIAAeSwILlpgItR&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xBtpwKE7IiCyVACaDitV7cRVcV%2BZ1VEKsNnXUbd%2FwPRYd7QhZ18UYdRyOeEBrb%2FwEjf8nrFE7nPK5%2B8XLsHeaYyG3l3ZsdO63zsGvZfLMPWiBRAQmkYWymgoXIri6OmaB3GaWDghKM%2FJC0RFHhMNwhthD%2BZwDhyXPuai8Vy21VcBzh6RsqcEKBnYOoBMuLIKMhEdNLiuK%2BabRS1y1%2FtZpT6M7N%2B76RvOQeY1LKrAiQSebufpDud77D5gW5s6A3r44I%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-zo9diyZw
He goes by Count Binface now. I seem to remember a copyright issue with the previous name, but I could be wrong. He's on Substack!
Indeed! https://www.timeout.com/film/lord-buckethead-my-part-in-his-downfall