“… the only good cyclist is a dead one …” – editor of the richmond magazine – september issue

ekynoxe · 2012-09-06T08:48:00+01:00

I read something quite alarming yesterday in the editor's column of the September edition of the Richmond and Barnes magazine. Richard Nye (@TheRichmondMag on twitter, The Richmond Magazine / Sheen Gate on facebook) seems to think cyclists are a nuisance, and they should be dead. Quoted straight from the editorial section of te September issue of the Richmond Magazine: [...] as a daily driver on busy roads, I tend towards the temperate view that the only good cyclist is a dead one [...] The rest of the editorial is also worth a read. Appalling views. The full editorial is available on page 11 of the swanky animated online edition, but if it gets magically removed for whatever reason, here's a copy of page 11, and of the full September edition. If you're a business who's advertised in this magazine, and especially if you're a sports related one (Virgin Active, or Moore's Cycles are in there), I urge you to consider removing your ads from a magazine who's editor clearly thinks your clients should be dead... Nothing more to add. Thanks @freespeedlondon for the initial tip off.

This topic has 47 replies, 32 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 9 months ago by No More alas Permanently-Fixed.

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September 6, 2012 at 8:48 am #16747

ekynoxe

I read something quite alarming yesterday in the editor’s column of the September edition of the Richmond and Barnes magazine. Richard Nye (@TheRichmondMag on twitter, The Richmond Magazine / Sheen Gate on facebook) seems to think cyclists are a nuisance, and they should be dead.

Quoted straight from the editorial section of te September issue of the Richmond Magazine:

[…] as a daily driver on busy roads, I tend towards the temperate view that the only good cyclist is a dead one […]

The rest of the editorial is also worth a read. Appalling views.

The full editorial is available on page 11 of the swanky animated online edition, but if it gets magically removed for whatever reason, here’s a copy of page 11, and of the full September edition.

If you’re a business who’s advertised in this magazine, and especially if you’re a sports related one (Virgin Active, or Moore’s Cycles are in there), I urge you to consider removing your ads from a magazine who’s editor clearly thinks your clients should be dead…

Nothing more to add.

Thanks @freespeedlondon for the initial tip off.
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September 10, 2012 at 8:28 am #698843
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No More alas Permanently-Fixed

Perhaps he should move? H***
Perhaps he should move? H*** would seem like a good location for someone who promotes hostility at this level.

September 10, 2012 at 8:21 am #698841
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OldRidgeback

Jasonnz1 wrote:I wonder if it
Jasonnz1 wrote:
I wonder if it was the same guy who deliberately pulled over to block me cycling on the left hand side of the traffic today (where there was a good space made by all other car drivers to allow cyclists through) while he was stuck in traffic today, so he could yell at me for riding my bike on the road … Poor little angry people make me laugh..

Could be, bet he has teeny wiener as well.

September 9, 2012 at 10:30 pm #698839
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Jasonnz1

I wonder if it was the same
I wonder if it was the same guy who deliberately pulled over to block me cycling on the left hand side of the traffic today (where there was a good space made by all other car drivers to allow cyclists through) while he was stuck in traffic today, so he could yell at me for riding my bike on the road … Poor little angry people make me laugh..

September 9, 2012 at 12:01 pm #698837
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The Rumpo Kid

Yes giff, but cycling is not
Yes giff, but cycling is not an ethnicity, sexual orientation etc. If he were to substitute “White van driver” for “cyclist” would you still feel the same? (N.B By that I mean people who drive white vans and not)… I am not defending this man. He is an offensive, unimportant dick. Let’s not make him an important one.

September 9, 2012 at 10:32 am #698835
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giff77

The Rumpo Kid wrote:Good
The Rumpo Kid wrote:
Good grief. Some idiot makes a bad taste joke in the sort of freesheet nobody reads and the internet catches fire. Can’t you think of another journalist we should be discussing, or does omerta go further than I thought?

Problem is, you substitute cyclist for a religion/nationality/gender the same comment will ensure you a wee trip to visit the beak more than likely with the charge of ‘incitement to hatred’. The editor could have taken a pot shot at cyclists without this phrase and nobody would have reacted. Beyond that it was a totally insensitive comment in regards to the high number of fatalities of cyclists in London over the last 8 months

September 9, 2012 at 12:09 am #698833
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allez rikki

What a stuck up idiot!
Car
What a stuck up idiot!

Car drivers are better off dead, least then cyclists would’nt get run down and killed.

Works Both ways 😉

September 8, 2012 at 9:00 pm #698831
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OldRidgeback

The editor is a moron, too
The editor is a moron, too stupid to appreciate that more cyclists on the roads means less road congestion for car drivers like him.

I emailed him to complain and suggest that others do the same. It might be an idea to get the publisher’s email and complain. I suppose a complaint to the PCC would also be a good idea. I’m not sure of the procedure involved though.

September 7, 2012 at 4:58 pm #698829
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The Rumpo Kid

Good grief. Some idiot makes
Good grief. Some idiot makes a bad taste joke in the sort of freesheet nobody reads and the internet catches fire. Can’t you think of another journalist we should be discussing, or does omerta go further than I thought?

September 7, 2012 at 8:48 am #698827
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Mostyn

Nye Nye Nye, I cannot believe
Nye Nye Nye, I cannot believe the stupidity of those comments. Certainly in bad taste; and it’s a racist comment. He needs to be taught a lesson! I’m shocked that it was published in a Magazine at all; even though it’s borough mag.

Anyone driving a motor vehicle should be grateful for every cyclist he/she sees on the road, it’s one less person clogging the over congested highways in a unhealthy polluting motorised vehicle.

Sit in a traffic queue for an hour or so; and you’ll soon wish you were riding a bicycle! Oh, and while your on the road in your motor vehicle, remember that it’s a human life form riding the bicycle; and life is precious to all.

Take care.

September 7, 2012 at 8:47 am #698825
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Bez

On the subject of Stuff That
On the subject of Stuff That Is Actually Worth Doing Something About, how about the serial offender’s get-out-of-jail-free card, the “exceptional hardship” plea?

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/darlington/9915984.Darlington_car_boss_in_pile_up_while_on_the_phone/

The sole purpose of this gambit is to allow people who are serial driving offenders and/or extremely dangerous drivers (ie earning an instant ban) to drive. If their family’s welfare is genuinely dependent on their driving licence, then it’s up to them to keep and earn their licence, not up to the court to dismiss everyone else’s safety on their behalf.

It’s a piece of sheer legislative lunacy, akin to being let off for stabbing someone on the basis that you’re a butcher.

So: anyone sparing some bile on Twitter or Facebook for Mr Nye, please divert it to the “exceptional hardship” plea or something.

September 7, 2012 at 8:42 am #698823
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Milky88

Thanks Nellybuck, I hadn’t
Thanks Nellybuck, I hadn’t realised this wasn’t a road.cc article (doh). I thought the tone was a bit unusual! My faith in road.cc’s thoughtful contributions to the meatier issues around cycle safety and driving standards remains intact.

September 7, 2012 at 8:29 am #698821
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Simon E

Tony, I wasn’t intending to
Tony, I wasn’t intending to comparing the lot of the UK’s cyclists with persecuted social groups, merely trying to show that by substituting one for the other it more obvious that what is being said is not acceptable.

September 7, 2012 at 8:02 am #698819
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Bez

Heh. I was mulling it over
Heh. I was mulling it over whilst driving home yesterday and my conclusion was pretty much point-for-point the same as your last post, Tony 🙂

Do you think road.cc has a potential role to play in dealing with the meatier issues, such as inappropriate ministerial positions, or the issues of poor driving standards, or unfathomable inequalities of sentencing? I appreciate there are bodies such as the CTC already doing this, but road.cc has a different if not wider audience and is a bit more dynamic in terms of communication.

September 6, 2012 at 11:07 pm #698817
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Tony Farrelly

Hmm… yes it would be
Hmm… yes it would be offensive (and against the law)if Mr Nye had substituted ‘gay’, ‘black’, or ‘muslim’ for the word ‘cyclist’.

However I’m not sure that the analogy of comparing cyclists with those sections of society that have suffered generations of discrimination works, for the simple reason that most cyclists unless they are also black, moslem, female, or gay will the moment they get of their bikes instantly revert to being part of the least discriminated against, least disadvantaged group in British society – middle class white blokes.

Also I’d have to say that historically our problem as cycists has not been that we are discriminated against – somebody actually has to notice you’re there to do that. Our big problem is that for the most part we’ve been invisible to or ignored by our fellow road users, and by planners and traffic engineers, and politicians although maybe that’s not the same if you live and ride in London?

When Clarkson started sounding off about cyclists all those years back I was pleased because it put us on the media map and our responses to him helped make cyclists more visible as a group while also demonstrating our collective power. Over the years the Clarkson schtick has all got a bit boring, and attitudes have started to change – if you notice Clarkson hardly ever mouths off about cyclists these days that’s left to less media savvy wannabes like blokey from Richmond.

It seems to me that we need to find a way to respond to stuff like this that is less knee jerk, more considered, and more humourous so we can save our anger for those things that really deserve it – see above.

Personally I find it slightly ironic that while people rightly rail against the ‘language of hate’ used by anti-cycling commentators they often respond with what looks suspiciously like language of hate of their own – not that anybody here has.

September 6, 2012 at 10:40 pm #698815
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daddyELVIS

All it is is a local free
All it is is a local free glossy that sells advertising space, and is largely put straight in the recycling (or bin) in most households. The few who do open the pages probably flick straight to the back to dream about the property being advertised, before putting it in the recycling also.

I wouldn’t worry about him. If he’d have made the comment over a pint with his mates down the pub, he’d have had a wider audience that his editorial column has.
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