Live blog – S Wales Police boss to meet Cardiff cyclists, Track World Cup for London, and more
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Mon, Feb 12, 2018 15:00
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Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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Latest Comments
Bungle_52 1 hour ago
@Freddy56 wrote "No ideal but it is real and now. Adapt and survive" It's a very similar situation to climate change. As a species we had a choice to reduce carbon emissions or do nothing and learn to live with consequences. We chose the latter and now we wait to see which one will kill us off first.
chrisonabike 1 hour ago
@Rendel Harris yes. Though apparent motivations of protestors have been ... mixed. And it's certainly *caused* fear and alarm to Jewish groups here. Hopefully the small numbers of Jewish folks attending some protests didn't feel threatened. I'm not sure I'd appreciate a few folks on such protests apparently randomly celebrating the sport of paragliding etc. any more than if a few of the "fair fuel" protestors had been making knowing references to "piano wire" or joking about mounting spikes on bumpers.
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@Nigel Garage Of course you were purporting to be speaking (admittedly totally stupidly and without any justification) for disabled people, claiming that they want to "stand on their own two feet" and that they don't want to be given assistance. It's extremely telling that you claim to be speaking for "decent law-abiding citizens", so anyone who wants the disabled to get the help they need is neither decent nor law-abiding? And these people apparently "want an inclusive society without favouring one group of people over another". You can't have an inclusive society unless you make provision for those who need more assistance than others. There was a group in Europe, just under a century ago, who were very keen to emphasise that the disabled were a financial burden on the state, indeed their first steps towards "cleansing" society were to attempt to eradicate this burden. Ever heard of them? Didn't end well.
Smiley775 2 hours ago
@tomlew A good point. This opinion piece seems to be complaining about how AI is being used to sell us stuff, rather than using humans to sell us stuff. AI has no impact on me enjoying cycling, how I ride, the people I ride with etc that the article says.
jaymack 2 hours ago
People are hard wired to be lazy. From an evolutionary perspective non-essential activity just gets in the way of our core function: reproduction. This is why people drive half a mile to a supermarket to get a few groceries rather than walk, they're not being lazy in the pejorative sense, they're being 'lazy' because that's our biological programming. This goes some way to explain why there's an obesity problem in a world where day-to-day activity levels have dropped off of a cliff edge as work has become a sedentary activity. What's this got to do with AI? If 'automation' has driven westerners into a sedentary existence - we don't dig, hunt, build or walk miles everyday just to be able to eat - with all the attendant health issues that have resulted, what's AI going to do to people's ability to think when it 'relieves' us of the need to exert some brain power to solve a problem or make a decision?
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@Rome73 Actually this particular type of crime isn't localised (though possibly may be in this instance as there are comparatively high-crime areas not far away); of the two main areas for bikejacking, Regent's Park is surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the world, and the Richmond Park area is also extremely affluent, the people committing these crimes aren't locals. On a moped with the passenger hefting the bike and willing to ignore speed limits they can be the other side of London in twenty minutes, and if they are spotted by the police they can just drop the bike and escape up alleyways, across parks etc.
Cugel 2 hours ago
@tomlew Absolut! This response hits the nail on the head. The gradual encroachment then hegemony of the mass media has been a creeping sickness for millennia albeit only lately revealed as the omnipresent toxoplasmic mind-plague that it is. Few humans are left who are not utterly possessed by one variety of mad-memeplex infection or another. Consider the historical effects of mind infections such as religions and ideologies. Consider, then, the very similar effects on humans and all about them within an ecology from the various smaller mind diseases such as consumerism, motornormativity and now 1001 utterly ludicrous, but widely believed & acted upon, conspiracy theories, racist prejudies and similar flowing down the mass media rivers like turds in The Thames. No doubt websites like this and others supposedly "serving special interests" will see themselves as a boon to their readers. In fact, they're just another symptom of the general malaise of consumer-rabies. They also enjoy their own Daily Hate Mail variety of heroes and villains, just with a different slant from that gutter press rag's groupings of us vs them. And yet here we are still reading ........ and forming another klutch of daft opinions about things we actually know nothing about, of any truth or cogency.
mdavidford 3 hours ago
Or they take it round the corner and bung it in the back of a mate's van, or ditch it somewhere it can be picked up later.
mdavidford 3 hours ago
I'm not sure the tens are going to make a great deal of difference, to be honest.
Rome73 3 hours ago
@Defblade yes, but they have to ride the stolen bike back remember. To their manor. And they don’t want to be exposed to arrest for too long by being out and about. You nick it - and it disappears pronto. Plus, they might actually see a 10 mile cycle as a real challenge. Most crime, like this, is localised.
19 thoughts on “Live blog – S Wales Police boss to meet Cardiff cyclists, Track World Cup for London, and more”
The BBC is organisationally
The BBC is organisationally biased against cycling, with negative stories outweighing positive ones probably 50:1.
It isn’t as if there aren’t any positive stories, with the recent NICE report, and many dozens of others over the years, all extolling the virtues of cycling and how it is the answer to modern diseases, pollution and congestion. Mentions on the BBC? 0. If this had been walking or some unproven medical procedure, they are all over it.
I mostly listen to R4 and cycling is only mentioned to criticise it, tell us how dangerous it is, and how lawless cyclists are. There is no programme about cycling, but walking seems to feature every day.
Then there’s helmets. The BBC has been unashamedly running a propaganda campaign for the past thirty years promoting them, in the process breaking every rule in their own Editorial Guidelines, but despite overwhelming evidence, complaints are dismissed with a condescending wave of the hand.
burtthebike wrote:
Actually there is…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pcb42/episodes/downloads
kevvjj wrote:
That’s R5, not R4.
burtthebike wrote:
Surely we are not judging the BBC on radio 4 alone? If we are accusing them of institutional bias then surely we need to look at the ‘institution’.
kevvjj wrote:
I can only judge them on what I see and hear, nobody could watch and listen to their entire output, and my experience is that there is incredible bias.
burtthebike wrote:
I think it’s pretty clear where the bias lies.
burtthebike wrote:
I recently complained about a ‘cycle helmet saved my life’ video report on the BBC and (eventually after 3 week delays) received just such condescending dismissals from management. I am afraid I gave up in the face of stonewalling, and their unwillingness to engage in a rational discussion.
This is it – I can understand the sentiment from the close family, but the lack of research of such an implausible claim by the so-called ‘journalist’, and the complete lack of balance appalled me.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/42345928/girl-says-cycle-helmets-should-be-compulsory
No Sweat wrote:
Don’t give up! I and others complained about this very story and are taking it further. It doesn’t take much, just drop an email to ecu@bbc.co.uk, the editorial complaints unit, explaining that they have yet again broken every rule in their own Editorial Guidelines. When enough people complain, they might just change; they won’t if we don’t.
burtthebike wrote:
..probably not.
Quite a few – go have a search on their site, it’s quite easy to do.
I mostly listen to R4 and cycling is only mentioned to criticise it, tell us how dangerous it is, and how lawless cyclists are. There is no programme about cycling, but walking seems to feature every day.— burtthebike
Program dealt with further up, there’s also a dedicated cycling section – which is primarily sporting to be fair, but is prominant and active. Stories of walking and health every day ? No, not really – again, seem a few on the health benefits of walking, cycling and exercise in general but really can’t see some massive discrepency. Also think about the amount of people who walk and the amount that cycle as well, even in the heydays of cycling as transport.
For me, must be a fairly shite “propoganda campaign” if i’ve not noticed it – the occassional usual rubbish remark about helmets and general cycling safety, but hardly pushing it let alone a campaign… You having a bad Monday by any chance ?
fukawitribe wrote:
Not my fault if you aren’t very observant.
When I complained about the institutional bias in the BBC, I provided a list of over 40 programmes and articles which a brief search found, only one of which was even vaguely balanced, all the rest overtly promoted helmets.
This complaint was, of course, dismissed, with the observation that I hadn’t provided enough evidence. So I did a slightly deeper search and found over 80 articles, and again, I could only find a single one which was balanced. This complaint was dismissed on the grounds that they had dismissed my previous complaint.
Biased? Not much.
burtthebike wrote:
Maybe I don’t watch much television or spend that much time on their website digging through articles – I did, however, have a quick search before I posted and of the 20-30 articles I scanned I didn’t see the ‘institutional bias’ you claimed, or any really apart the odd ‘helmet saved my life’ click-bait. No systemic promotion of helmets, or guideline breaking propoganda; perhaps you could send me a copy (or post here) of the list of articles you sent – that might be useful. Also, perhaps you could reply to the point about there being zero mentions that link cycling to health on the BBC. Cheers
fukawitribe wrote:
I’ll just give you a couple of examples.
R4 has a programme “More or Less” which claims to debunk the modern myths by using actual data, and to be fair, they usually do. After I suggested that they look at cycle helmets, they did an article on them, and for the first and only time in the prog’s history, they didn’t look at any data, they just presented opinions. They did interview three people, two were helmet zealots and one was neutral, no opposing opinion. The programme’s presenter made his views absolutely clear, something prohibited by their Editorial Guidelines. Complaints of bias dismissed.
Then there was the coverage of the James Cracknell affair. The BBC’s Editorial Guidelines have strict rules about featuring someone who is being sponsored by a manufacturer. Cracknell was sponsored by the helmet manufacturer, but this was never mentioned in any interview that I saw. Complaints dismissed.
Just google for “BBC cycle helmet” and you’ll find dozens of helmet saved my life stories, none of which point out that it is all assumption and has no basis in fact, and with no contrary opinions. The Editorial Guidelines specify that there must be balance, contrary opinions and facts.
There are constant calls for helmet laws, and in such cases of proposed legislation, the Editorial Guidelines become even stricter, except not in the case of cycle helmets, and they just keep refusing to feature data or contrary opinions.
It’s been going on for thirty years, with the R4 prog You and Yours featuring BHIT, with no contrary opinions or facts, that long ago.
As I’ve explained, I can’t watch/listen to all BBC output, but what I do see/hear doesn’t feature the overwhelming benefits of cycling to the individual and society or the facts about helmets.
BeSpoke is a Radio 5 podcast.
BeSpoke is a Radio 5 podcast. It’s great, but it’s not on Radio 4, and it’s about racing not everyday cycling.
I’m not usually into ‘Beeb
I’m not usually into ‘Beeb bashing’, but it seems to be the case that if they have the rights to show something, it’s the best thing going, if they don’t then it hardly gets a mention. Unless of course it’s a doping/abuse story then Dan Roan is all over it.
Recent example of this – NFL. Endless tweets and space on the BBC Sport website for Superbowl. I was glad when it was over, so we could go back to not giving a flying shite about it.
Rubbish, the Beeb has had
Rubbish, the Beeb has had some great coverage of events I’d have never got to watch otherwise.
Also – Jeremy Vine.
DrJDog wrote:
The BBC may well cover individual events, but everyday cycling is ignored, despite the overwhelming evidence of its incredible benefits for society in health, congestion, pollution and sustainability terms. As I’ve previously said, R4 seems to have a prog about walking every day, but never mentions cycling except to criticise it.
burtthebike wrote:
I’ve listened to “Ramblings with Claire Balding”. What other programmes are there about walking on R4? not trying to be awkward – i’m genuinely interested!
Deeferdonk wrote:
I’ve listened to “Ramblings with Claire Balding”. What other programmes are there about walking on R4? not trying to be awkward – i’m genuinely interested!
[/quote]
To be honest, I can’t remember, I just register that they are talking about walking again, contrasted with the fact that they never mention cycling.
Gardening is apparently worth £5bn to the economy, while cycling was worth £2.9bn in 2010, but gardening gets its own much repeated R4 prog, while cycling gets nothing except criticism. Cycling is increasingly popular, but the BBC just ignores it at best, and at worst, seems to want to destroy it.
On that Australian article,
On that Australian article, presumably that’s why there were signs on every bike stand within a couple of hundred metres of Bristol’s main war memorial on the Centre a day each side of last year’s Remembrance ceremony thing, saying you couldn’t park here?