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Live blog: Evans Cycles owner Mike Ashley calls for 20 per cent tax on online sales to save the High Street, Deloitte RAB entries open, e Yorkshire fly thru + more

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So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
Obree had some actual talent in his legs though, in addition to his bike/aero engineering talent.
Малко като опит за доказване е излязло... Никой няма нужда от толкова голям въртящ момент и мощност на шосеен велосипед с тънки гуми, които дори трудно ще предават тази мощност върху пътя. А ако има и ограничение от 25 км/час е още по-безмислено.
Not sure how informative that is. I imagine for all most of us know it could be Europe's only 'volumetric modular building'. 🤷♂️
Yes, but they're copying the adults of today...
Indeed - but alas I think this is an effective argument for very few folks indeed. As for push-back, what else could we expect *? I think there are ways of selling this but we're far more likely to see headlines about the problems, while the successes are relegated to footnotes, because at that point it just works and there's nothing to see... * Given that this time there aren't politicians being persuaded to overlook thousands of deaths and the demolition of property by the billions from the motoring trades (and the excitement of being able to drive out with the bright things for a party at a roadhouse). Nor are we as tolerant of "accidents". (And noting that publicity about the cases of a handful of people killed by cyclists continues to reach the media; deaths related to motor vehicles not so much).
That rather ignores that the children of today are the adults of tomorrow.
@belugabob Arguably it's easier this way - we don't actually need to do anything to the streets except stop drivers driving down every scrap of tarmac. Where I live, a few well-placed bollards would make walking/cycling/scooting the quicker option and safer, while maintaining 100% vehicular access - just not allowing through routes in every direction.
8 thoughts on “Live blog: Evans Cycles owner Mike Ashley calls for 20 per cent tax on online sales to save the High Street, Deloitte RAB entries open, e Yorkshire fly thru + more”
20% tax on online sales, that
20% tax on online sales, that seems REALLY steep.
I’d happily buy all my cycling gear from a local bike shop, but that would require my LBS to actually stock the brands I want to buy (they don’t) and actually have the item I want, in the size I want, in stock (which is a rarity).
It’s particularly difficult when I have to drive for 30 minutes just to get to a bike shop…
I bet Ashley’s got some great
I bet Ashley’s got some great avoidance schemes for what comes into his own pocket.
Also, good luck with this 20% thing seeing as most of the ‘big’ companies seem to be avoiding paying their fair shair in the first place.
Failing business model in
Failing business model in desperate calls for government meddling.
I lived In seattle in 2010
I lived In seattle in 2010 and most of the bike shops had innertube recycling back then. A local company made bags and things out of them. I still have a messenger bag with a seatbelt for a strap. Great idea but it had stained quite a few cycling tops
20% on shopping, plus 2.5%
20% on shopping, plus 2.5% tax on income just for being alive and over 40. Because 40 year olds are ‘old’ and rich of course. When is the next referendum; they all need lining up against a wall….
So Evans want’s government
So Evans wants government help to stay competitive? Why should high street shops have special treatment. How about a 20% tax credit for online shops – they are better after all. As Canyon48 rightly says – you don’t get a sale if you havn’t got the product stocked in the store. The most basic logic of retailing. And if people prefer to shop on-line? Move your business to where the customers are. That is the second logic of retailing!
risoto wrote:
Don’t you need customers to have money too?
Not sure which logic that is, I hadn’t realised that logic was countable either. Full of learning this thread is.
Canyon might not be the best example either as they struggle to get another important factor whch is availablity. No good having a good price if people can’t get hold of the goods. Good job people are stupid, eh?
I haven’t bought a bike or
I haven’t bought a bike or bike accessory except emergency repair stuff for years. They all stock goods with a massive markup that I don’t need. Chain reaction and planet X have supplied what I want at a third of the cost of a brick and mortar operation, why would I want to shell out on a markup?