Dr. Helen Cooper

A.K.A Mrs Helen Skinner, interested in Software, Electronics, SciComm, Cycling (without the need for lycra) + Life. UK politics may take prominence at times.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

Lovely day for a lunchtime trip to the farm shop, that's the 🐔 food & bedding sorted for a while.
Cargo bikes are great, they make so many more trips doable by bike, the hardest bit was pushing it up the slope to the chickens, but then I'd have had to carry it up from a car 😂

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@BobHRoss @BobArmour14 @RiderEddie81 @anon_opin Thanks, but I'd rather we didn't tarmac over any more of my favourite places to make room for car parking 👍

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@LoyaltyTravelz @graeme_cobb Reading a bit more on charge cycles etc of NMC batteries this night not be a good idea 🤦‍♀️

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@LoyaltyTravelz @graeme_cobb Interesting, we were just doing what the MG team told us to do when we bought it. Our electricity provider is currently paying us to plug in so it's getting charged back up to 80% nightly. Previously we used to run it down to ~40% before we plugged in.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@DuncanJon @graeme_cobb You're a sparky but you don't seem to understand the difference in load of moving a large mass and running AC/heaters.... An EV might not suit everyone's usecase but unless you're doing more than 200miles daily you'll probably find it better. Also, roll on solid state batteries.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@BobHRoss @BobArmour14 @RiderEddie81 @anon_opin Not true of active travel though. Many times I've wished I could have taken a bike instead of a car. It's easier to park, it gets me outside, I see more on my route. We're gearing up to buy another e-cargo bike so we can leave the car at home when the kids have to be in 2 places.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@FarmingUK This is due to the free trade agreement we made with NZ following Brexit. No tariffs on most stuff. I suspect it's now cheaper to import than to store onions in temp controlled environments.
https://t.co/VnP7iaagco

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@WollstoneC1797 @reformexposed Is it just about the breakfast or is it that school opens the gates at 8:30 and some parents have to be at work at 8. Why is breakfast club any different to after school club in that respect.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@MartinSLewis Prior to marriage he moved into mine so I did house bills and he paid rent, separate accounts + a joint one just for house bills where we transferred what was required. Post marriage/kids, our salaries go into joint account + spending monies transferred into separate accounts.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists So why do you think cycling is dangerous? If you're going faster downhill than your brakes allow then you are dangerous but walking pace and 12-15mph are not dangerous speeds.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists You and I cycle very differently, I don't cycle fast, on most shared infrastructure I barely go over 10mph, on roads 15mph, incidents there are only dangerous when they involve other vehicles, usually going much faster and weighing significantly more than I and my cargo bike do.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists Again, it is not the cycles which are dangerous. Women aren't dangerous, the men who attack them are. The first rule of managing health and safety is to remove the thing which causes harm, in this case that's the cars being able to interact with people on bikes or on foot.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists No, cycling, in and of itself is not dangerous. The danger comes from other vehicles. We don't suggest people should walk round in padding in case they get hit by a car.
No amount of road planning will make the roads less full of traffic unless we give people other safe options.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists But you seem to be missing the fundamentals here, cycling and walking in and of themselves are not dangerous, they are only dangerous because we allow drivers to drive into them. Cars might be the safest mode of transport but they have stolen our freedom to use anything else.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists Yup, safe, fast and effective, that's why we need cycling and walking infrastructure so people can choose, not be forced to take the car. When I needed to collect from school by car (bike in for a service) I spent longer waiting for a parking space than it would take me to cycle.

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists Because in order to have room on this island for everyone to own a car and drive it everywhere we would need to give over so much land to roads + parking. We waste so much time sitting in traffic queues and are polluting the world, disconnected from our communities in metal boxes

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists The greater good? Forcing people to own & drive cars by not having safe active travel infrastructure is not "the greater good", why is being a pedestrian or cyclist dangerous? How many of those deaths are due to drivers? The greater good isn't enough for those who lose loved ones

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists 5 people a day are killed on our roads. If that were happening by e.g people eating cheese most people would stop eating cheese. For some reason though, we consider it acceptable. If it were happening with e.g escalators we'd be up in arms so why do we accept it from car drivers?

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@TJAWindsor @BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists No, that's how many drivers/passengers die, they are involved in many more.
https://t.co/catiVXPSG6

[Dr. Helen Cooper @Egmel]

@BOWZ6CV @but_cyclists While I agree you should not be jumping on and off kerbs at speed, any driver who has 'issues with' pedestrians should hand in their licence for the safety of all. The sooner we treat driving with the severity that is commensurate to the damage cars can do the safer we'll all be.