Criticism from drivers over the dazzle from oncoming headlights has prompted the government to take a closer look at the design of cars and headlamps on UK roads.

Drivers say LED headlamps, which are increasingly common in new vehicles, are causing them problems and making it harder to drive at night.

Research into the issue on behalf of the Department for Transport (DfT) has still not been published, but the BBC has learned that the government now plans to launch a new assessment of the causes and remedies.

New measures will be included in the government's upcoming Road Safety Strategy, reflecting what is becoming an increasingly fraught issue for road users.

Both Ruth Goldsworthy and Sally Burt say bright headlights make it harder for them to get to their weekly SO Sound choir meetings in Totton, in Hampshire.

"Some of the lights are so bright you are blinded by them, for seconds," says Ruth.

The beam from LED headlights is whiter, more focused and brighter than the more diffuse light from halogen lamps fitted in older cars.

"I'm not sure where to look, I look into the gutter," says Sally. They are both relieved if someone else offers to drive.

Night driving becomes a bigger problem as the winter evenings draw in, and especially after the clocks change, which means more people are driving in the dark.

(BBC article continues)

Nearly half a million under-16s in England use taxis, buses and other transport funded by their local authorities to get to school, according to government estimates.

The new data comes amid warnings from councils about the growing cost of providing transport for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).

A head teachers' union said the transport played a "crucial" role in getting many children to school, but councils were having to make cutbacks.

The data suggests that 6% of all pupils in England receive funded transport, and that 40% of those pupils aged under 16 (180,000) have Send.

Local authorities spent £1.5bn on transport for under-16s with Send in the 2023-24 financial year, about two-and-a-half times what it was in 2015-16.

The new data from the Department for Education (DfE) - which is the first of its kind - is based on voluntary submissions from three quarters of local authorities in February and March.

It suggests that, across England:

* 470,000 pupils under the age of 16 (6% of the total) use home to school transport

* 50,000 pupils over 16 also use funded transport

* 9% of under-16s who receive funded transport because of Send travel alone in single-occupancy vehicles

Local authorities in England are required by law to arrange funded transport for children who live a certain distance from school, who cannot walk because of Send or mobility problems, or who cannot walk due to safety reasons.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England, said the pressure had ramped up over the past three years. "Continuing to fulfil the current statutory responsibilities for home to school transport is becoming increasingly financially unsustainable, posing a real threat of bankruptcy for some, and necessitating cuts to other vital aspects of children's services provision in many more," it said in a report this summer.

Rob Williams, senior policy advisor at school leaders' union the NAHT, said funded transport "plays a crucial role" in helping many children "attend school regularly and develop their independence".

"However, a growing number of councils are reducing transport provision due to increasing budgetary pressures, and when children simply cannot get to school this threatens to deepen existing attainment gaps and place even more pressure on already stretched parents," he added.

Ministers have faced calls not to cut education, health and care plans (EHCPs) for children and young people with Send. Last month, the education committee recommended that the government keep them. The National Audit Office has previously said the Send system in England is "broken", not financially sustainable and failing to deliver better outcomes for children and young people.

Cllr Bill Revans, Send spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said the current system "does not work for young people, families and councils alike".

The DfE announced last week that it was delaying reforms to the Send system and other policy proposals for schools in England until next year.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said there would be a "further period of co-creation, testing our proposals with the people who matter most in this reform".

Cllr Revans said that delay was "massively disappointing", but that it was vital the government used the time to "set out genuine root and branch reform to the system".

School Standards Minister Georgia Gould said the schools white paper would "ensure more children can have their needs met in their local school". She said work had already begun to improve the system, and added: "My message to families is that it won't stop here. We're absolutely determined to deliver a better system that supports your children at every stage. Over the next few months, I'll be meeting with more parents across the country to make sure your experiences are at the very heart of our reforms."

Careful - lest you set broadgage off again. 

Fawlty Towers actress Prunella Scales has died aged 93, her family have confirmed.

Scales was best known for playing hotel manager Sybil Fawlty, the long-suffering and domineering wife of Basil - played by John Cleese - in the classic British sitcom.

The actress died "peacefully at home in London yesterday", her sons Samuel and Joseph said.

They added that she was watching Fawlty Towers the day before she died. Cleese paid tribute, describing Scales as "a really wonderful comic actress". He said: "Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect."

The actress had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.

"Our darling mother Prunella Scales died peacefully at home in London yesterday. She was 93," her sons told the PA News agency. "Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home."

Her husband, fellow actor Timothy West, died in November last year.

She is survived by two sons and one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The statement added: "We would like to thank all those who gave Pru such wonderful care at the end of her life: her last days were comfortable, contented and surrounded by love."

Cleese said in a statement: "How very sad. Pru was a really wonderful comic actress. I've recently been watching a number of clips of Fawlty Towers whilst researching a book. Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect." He added: "She was a very sweet lady, who spent a lot of her life apologising. I used to tease her about it. I was very, very fond of her."

Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth remembered her as "a funny, intelligent, interesting, gifted human being".

Jon Petrie, director of comedy at the BBC, offered: "She was a national treasure whose brilliance as Sybil Fawlty lit up screens and still makes us laugh today."

Scales also went on to receive a Bafta nomination for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett's 1991 televised play, A Question of Attribution. But she will forever be most closely identified with the domineering and long-suffering comedy creation Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, best defined by one bark of "Basil".

...


Timothy West and Prunella Scales proved a hit in Great Canal Journeys on Channel 4

Later in life, she enjoyed an unlikely hit with Channel 4's Great Canal Journeys, travelling waterways in the UK and elsewhere with her husband. "We didn't start out thinking it was going to be an especially exciting performance for people to watch," admitted West in an interview with the BBC's Colin Paterson in 2023.

But for 10 series, they made canals captivating. "We were good at it," he smiled. West noted how his wife's dementia would not break their 60-year love story.

The amount of civils,equipment and personnel adjacent to the first railway bridge at Portbury this morning makes me think they want the first trains running before the end of half term !!

So how many council workmen DOES it take to fix a pothole?

I'd be interested in a tour of his church's facilities. Probably as old as the station....

Is that the case though?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2023/08/06/the-productivity-problem-with-remote-work/

Most online articles seem to suggest the same.

A vicar has urged railway bosses to refurbish the "dark, dismal and filthy" toilets at a city centre railway station, after a visit to the facilities left him "physically nauseated".

The Reverend Mark Edwards MBE has called for major improvements at Newcastle Central Station after being left appalled by the condition of the men's toilets sited at platform 12.

The bathrooms, which were originally constructed in the 1890s, were reopened in 2021 following restoration, but Rev Edwards has called for them to be closed again deeming the facilities "wholly inappropriate for public use".

LNER, which manages the station, have confirmed "refurbishment is planned for the listed toilets".

In a letter to LNER managing director David Horne and Network Rail chief executive Sir Andrew Haines, Rev Edwards described the state of the Victorian toilets as "shocking and unhygienic" following a visit to the Newcastle station last week.

In his letter, the local parish priest wrote: "The toilets are dark, dismal, and filthy, with cracked, stained, and discoloured tiles that appear to have been there since the mid-20th Century." He added toilet seats were "worn, unsanitary, and wholly inappropriate for public use".



Rev Edwards has called for the station toilets to be closed down immediately. The vicar said the bathrooms offered an "appalling" first impression of Newcastle to any visitors arriving at the Grade I-listed station. "The experience was so unpleasant that I felt physically nauseated using them," he said, describing his experience.

An LNER spokesperson said: "A historically sensitive refurbishment is planned for the listed toilets at Newcastle, which will improve the facility for customers for years to come. In the meantime, we continue to work closely with our cleaning partners to make sure the toilets are clean and available for use."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said it is understood that refurbishment of the toilets is expected to commence in early 2026.

Despite improved productivity from many of those WFH........