Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2024 July 14

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July 14

Looking for the name of a British party

There used to be a British "right-wing populist" party that (1) was active around 2015 (2) was led by an Irish-born woman who happened to be gay (3) had a trident as a symbol. Does anyone remember what that party was called (and what the name of that woman was)? I don't know if they're still active. 178.51.74.75 (talk) 19:12, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

Anne Marie Waters, For Britain Movement. Pickersgill-Cunliffe (talk) 19:15, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

Left- and right-hand traffic in British Columbia

Per Left- and right-hand traffic, BC changed from LHT to RHT in stages. Why? The last page of [1], a provincial government publication, notes that the temporary disparity occurred in regions with no road connections to each other (so you wouldn't have awkward border crossings), and [2], from the Vancouver Sun, notes that the switch was delayed in Vancouver etc. due to the need to modify tram tracks. But why did the provincial government choose to switch regional BC before it switched the southwest, instead of waiting until the southwest was ready before switching everything at once? Nyttend (talk) 21:58, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

Looking at the facts with his mind set up on priorities, Superman in the forties started his career throwing automobiles around fighting vilains. Back in the twenties, saving the world was still considered urgent matter. So in the mountains backwards most of the traffic would mostly be going on using horses or mules and such - for an unpredictable period of time, and you do not change those sentients manners too easily without having they themselves realize by necessity they do have to. There may even have been requests explicitly expressed to that regard. --Askedonty (talk) 00:03, 15 July 2024 (UTC)

Uhh...what? Nyttend (talk) 07:28, 15 July 2024 (UTC)

The two sources that are cited give different explanations. The "Did You Know" item in The British Columbia Road Runner of March 1966 states:

"The change of the Rule of the Road for British Columbia from left to right hand driving became effective July 15, 1920, with the exception of the area west of Hope to Vancouver and Vancouver Island as there were no road connections. It was not until December 31, 1921, that the Rule of the Road became uniform throughout the Province."

The "Week In History" item in the Vancouver Sun of January 1, 2016, has this:

"The province’s Automobile Club had been lobbying for eight years to bring B.C. and Vancouver in line with Washington state and the rest of North America.
The interior of the province had changed to the new system in 1921. But because of the retrofitting that had to be made to streetcars and tracks, the change in Vancouver was delayed a year."

The latter makes more sense. Vancouver was connected by road to the US State of Washington, where RHT had been the rule for decades. Presumably the pressure of BC's Automobile Club made the province decide not to wait until also tardy Vancouver was ready, a decision made more easy by the lack of East–West road connections.  --Lambiam 09:15, 15 July 2024 (UTC)