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We're all Lycra Louts according to the Daily Mail

Sometimes I think that the press can't make up their minds about cyclists, on their home page they give us a page celebrating the Olympic success of Wiggo, Vicky P etc and then they have a story saying that we are "thuggish"

See it here folks:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2200280/Cyclists-How-thuggish-mi...

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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16 comments

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foxyloxy | 11 years ago
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We have the Dialy Mail,Express,and other tory press,cut into squares,and hung on the nail on the back of out netty door,down the back garden from our hovel!!Us country penny farthing riders are certainly not lycra thugs,what is lycra?never heard of it.Must be the london penny farthing riders the tory press are after!  3

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tourist | 11 years ago
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id better add to my daily hell check list of reasons never to set out of the front door ;

illegal immigrants - check

hoodies - check

benefit spongers - check

dangerous dogs - check

flu epidemic - check

cyclists - check  7

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Tour Le Tour | 11 years ago
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It gets better... I was so outraged by this ridiculous article that I did some more research. It seems the writer had an affair with Boris Johnson, the well known cycling advocate. Suddenly a motive becomes clear. I also saw that there was actually a correction published to say that there was only one mugging. But the three hit and runs are still claimed as true. And that correction doesn't appear with the article online.

Oh, and I also saw that this was covered back when it happened, in this thread: http://road.cc/content/news/68530-daily-mail-issues-correction-over-petr...

So sorry for bringing up old news. But it still makes me furious  14

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Leviathan | 11 years ago
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Bizarrely the DM columnist has managed to conflate 'mugger on a bike' and 'cyclist' and show a picture to illustrate of a guy in road kit looking like he is off up the nearest alp, or at least the Surrey back lanes, the so called male cyclophile. I doubt (disbelieve) that her mugger looked like this, no grey trackie bottoms in sight.

The whole piece reeks of prejudice and is entirely indiscriminate. What a sad little rag.

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Tour Le Tour | 11 years ago
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Well, I drove up their ad revenue. I was stunned by the article. It is pretty clear just from that article that she hates cyclists. Oh, and men. I quote "Aside from the dangers, male cyclophiles are becoming a blot on our highways."

It seems the only point that I agree with her on is that the female cyclophiles are quite a pleasant feature of the landscape (I assume this is how she feels, or else she surely wouldn't have singled out males).

For anyone else who read the story though, I hope you also read the comments. Particularly the one where it was pointed out that she has written the same story before, in 2010. Although that time her poor mother was only hit once. Still got a broken arm though, the poor dear must be really suffering.

And I can understand the writer herself resenting cyclists. After all, in 2010 she wrote "When I was mugged two years ago in Kensington, West London, it was by a youth on a bike who rode on to the pavement, snatched my bag and disappeared at high speed. No one could stop him, even after I yelled that the bag was a fake."

This is pretty bad, but remember, that was not the only time that she was mugged in 2008. From the more recent article: "In 2008, I had my handbag stolen by a gang of youths on bikes."

Shocking, two muggings in a single year, and both times by cyclists! Lucky the bag was fake, I wonder if anything else mentioned in the articles was? I do hope that it was a fake arm on her mother, so she can just send it to the shop for repair while she has another cup of tea (held, of course, with her other hand).

I am actually quite incensed by this. For those who are interested, I have put a copy of both articles on my blog at https://sites.google.com/site/tourletour/one-article-two-versions. I think I will write to the DM and demand a retraction, because I don't believe the story can possibly be true. I urge everyone else to do the same.

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phax71 | 11 years ago
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Its a vile hate rag for those who like to live their lives permanently scared, rather than actually living with a little light in their lives .. very "Middle England" ..

Leave em to it..

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notfastenough | 11 years ago
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It all suddenly becomes clear...

As Sarah Barth (I think) mentioned last time something like this came up though, the DM is basically a professional troll. Their web hits (which we are now contributing to) drive their ad revenue.

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pauldmorgan replied to notfastenough | 11 years ago
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notfastenough wrote:

It all suddenly becomes clear...

As Sarah Barth (I think) mentioned last time something like this came up though, the DM is basically a professional troll. Their web hits (which we are now contributing to) drive their ad revenue.

Agreed - We should all agree not to visit their site or to post links to it here. It only encourages them. The more people click on a particular type of article (whether agreeing or disagreeing with the content) the more they will write that type of article.

We're just feeding the hate machine.

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drfabulous0 replied to pauldmorgan | 11 years ago
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Pauldmorgan wrote:

Agreed - We should all agree not to visit their site or to post links to it here. It only encourages them. The more people click on a particular type of article (whether agreeing or disagreeing with the content) the more they will write that type of article.

We're just feeding the hate machine.

Yes but it is consistently hilarious, and a British institution. We few shouldn't ruin them just because of their abhorrent views.

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OldRidgeback | 11 years ago
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That the full extent of the Holocaust was unknown in 1939 is true. But there was plenty of evidence that people of Jewish origin were being persecuted by the Nazis and put into concentration camps from even before this time. This would indeed have been known to Lord Rothermere at that time and he did express strong anti-semitic views in the 1930s.

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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Ah the letter to Hitler.

Yes he was congratulating him on the annexation. These days our governments just do that on our behalf's........

Same difference if you look at it on face value. BUT, then you find out what the Nazi's did.....etc. Not good being a pro Nazi in those days.

Rockall was "annexed" in 1955  3

The West Bank was annexed by Jordan in 1950 I believe. The UK was one of very few countries to class it as part of Jordan?

So yes in hindsight it looks bad for the letter congratulating Hitler. But back in 1939 the Holocaust that was beginning was unknown to many  39

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Simon_MacMichael | 11 years ago
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Here you go:

"The proprietor of the Daily Mail congratulated Adolf Hitler on his annexation of Czechoslovakia and urged him to capitalise on the "triumph'' with a march into Romania, newly released documents have revealed."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1484647/When-Rothermere-urged-Hit...

Little surprise given that cheerleading that the Daily Mail's editorial policy throughout the 1930s was to encourage a policy of appeasement towards Hitler.

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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Supported the Nazis?? Thats a new one on me

Supported Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists yes....Nazis? Since when  39

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russyparkin | 11 years ago
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well the daily mail are the only paper that supported the nazis.

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Jaltham | 11 years ago
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Argh! I'm too slow!
And I didn't post this quick enough either!

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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