You can add comments to books you're not funding, this is a screenshot from the updates page of a book I'm not funding (I contributed to "One in Five" and sent the publisher some feedback just before Christmas suggesting the book was handed over to the professionals for editing so it iactually gets published and the contributors get paid).
The money is paid to Unbound. I think the author gets a small advance, but the majority of the costs go on the costs of making the book happen (editing, typesetting, printing, marketing, etc). I would imagine any advance is paid contingent on hitting certain targets, such as reaching the crowdfunding target, submitting the manuscript, etc.
But simultaneously, people must apply for a refund within a specific pretty short time after an announcement of "no book will be published". After that, it's a credit to the giver. So long delays on book production mean givers may take their eye off the timeline, and lose their cash. Unbound and Louisa win. All the good faith is on the givers
Those scooters are not designed to carry two people, and the small wheels mean that if they hit a pothole there's more likely to be an accident. Dropping your toddler in the road is not going to end well for anyone. The extra weight also means they're slower and less manoeuvrable, and the toddler isn't secured properly like they would be in a child seat on a bike.
There’s no joy in this country….Louisa that’s coz you sucked it all out with your awful personality.
It also looks to be a privately owned one, which are illegal on the public highway. The only ones which are currently legal for use on the roads (and it's the roads, not the pavements) are the ones you can hire as part of a public hire scheme.
They are also illegal, and you can be banned from driving for riding one illegally.
Yes, there's a conversation to be had about whether this is an appropriate use of police time, and how we encourage active travel, and how we can improve road safety for people, and the place of e-scooters as part of active travel, but at the moment the scooters are illegal, she was using it outside of the manufacturer's recommendations, and the police had received a report of a crime being committed. Imagine if they'd done nothing and the next thing is "toddler dies after fall from e-scooter," and whoever reported the mother went to the press and said "I reported that to the police and they did nothing and now a child has died."
