“Angry and frightened”: Could Birmingham safer roads protests inspire Dutch-style cycling revolution in Britain?; Primož Roglič to skip Tour de France and target Vuelta; Are 15-minute cities a “working class nightmare”?;+ more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Teammates celebrations gone wrong, cycle-friendly cattle grids, and Tour de Suisse win dedicated to Gino Mäder... it's your weekly roundup
While the world spun and everyone went about their weekends, Ryan made sure that you have lots of great stuff to catch up on, if you haven’t already. And what better way than starting the blog with a weekend roundup.
> Oops! Teammates celebrate ‘victory’ arm in arm… only to be pipped by rival right at the finish
> New cycle paths “like putting a motorway down the high street”, say residents
Petition to save beloved bike facility being shut without notice gets 1,800 signatures
A much loved mountain bike facility is being closed without notice in Somerset county, and a petition launched by a resident has received over 1,800 signatures, with Somerset Council also calling on Forestry England to reverse the decision.
“Wych Lodge MTB Trails has been a popular, free to ride mountain bike (MTB) facility for 20 years, and the only MTB facility within reasonable distance, and on a safe cycle route of Taunton, the County Town of Somerset,” reads the petition, started by Andrew Hughes.
“Enjoyed by over a thousand riders from the local area, including adaptive MTB, and attracting visitors from far and wide, we have built an incredible facility and community that is welcoming and supportive, who care as much about the forest and its other users, as they do about their sport.
“The loss of Wych Lodge MTB Trails will not only remove the only access to the sport many people have (especially the young and financially strained), it will destroy a very diverse community that spans generations, genders, abilities, beliefs, nationalities and languages; a network of support groups, learning opportunities and unlikely friendships.”
Bike thieves target pro teams at Tour of Slovenia and Baloise Belgium Tour
Seriously this is getting out of hand, hitting both Tour of Slovenia and the Baloise Belgium on the same day? If UCI pro cycling teams can’t get their bikes thousands of pounds worth of gear and bikes recovered, good luck pestering the Met to get that Specialised Allez back. If anything, I hope someone is pitching a movie about the heist to Guy Ritchie…
> Bike thieves target pro teams at Tour of Slovenia and Baloise Belgium Tour
That's a special level of anti-cycling hate
To the person who went to all the trouble to put carpet grippers between the bollards on Goldsmith Row Hackney go f*ck yourself. Removed, despatched pic.twitter.com/pyxogjouY6
— Bob From Accounts 🚲 (@BobFromAccounts) June 19, 2023
“It’s this level of mean spirited borderline sociopathic vandalism that all cyclists have to deal with whether they’re guilty of some offence or not”
Movistar's Le Tour kit 🐬
🆕✨🌎 Con la colección Iceberg de GOBIK y @Telefonica, que vestiremos en @letour y @letourfemmes, estaremos apoyando programas de conservación de los oceános > https://t.co/TRaNOKT2vN#TDF2023 | #TDFF2023 pic.twitter.com/Hvk8h7aLu5
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) June 19, 2023
I can see a pattern with these new Tour de France kits… they are 🔷blue🔷.
No Cav and Wiggins this time, but Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich still going to Mallorca
Where’s yer mates, Jan and Lance?
The Move at Mallorca, Spain, a fancy-schmancy “luxurious” event by Wedu where rich people can pay a couple thousand pounds to get a front row seat with none other than the seven time Tour winner Lance Armstrong for four days of “professionally guided cycling, daily post-ride massages from professional soigneurs, food and beverages, professional bicycle mechanics, and laundry service”, is back this year in September.
Oh, and there will be a special cave diving excursion for a “fun bonding experience” too. Ah yes, Lance Armstrong, the guy known for doing fun bonding stuff and all.
Très bien et merci beaucoup, mais non.
The guests for this year’s event have been announced, and they feature non-professional cyclist Lance Armstrong, his partner-in-crime Jan Ullrich, George Hincapie, Johan Bruyneel, Mari Holden… and Lance’s mechanic from the 2000 Tour de France Dave Lettieri (who will “prep” your bike everyday and help with mechanicals).
We shall wait to see if any other mid-90s or early noughties members of the peloton care to show up, like last year, when Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins decided to drop by to say hello.
> Why was Mark Cavendish riding with Lance Armstrong this week?
And as you’d expect, the response wasn’t the most favourable online.
And I wouldn’t be disappointed if he was retired. But as a active pro cyclist I don’t think he should be with people who have lifetime UCI Bans. Whatever you think of the ban. I don’t want to be overly critical – just I am disappointed.
— Jess Notzing (@JessicaNotzing1) September 26, 2022
Jeez Kav.. lay down with dogs, get fleas..
— keydefender (@keydefender1) September 27, 2022
Can someone pick Jonathan Vaughters out of his EF van and drop him in the Spanish island for a couple days in Septmeber? Now that’s a Netflix documentary I would watch.
All this is, of course, subject to Armstrong getting back safely from his make-believe fake Mars habitat.
OH why wouldn't the pedestrians think about the motorists!
That’s some really hard reaching to victim blame!
"New Strawman": Op-ed labels 15-minute cities as a "working-class nightmare", questions "how will ambulances get to victims if cars are banned"
The 15-minute cities are back in the zeitgeist (did it ever leave?), and New Statesman has joined the debate. Or at least, New Statesman’s columnist Michael Lind has.
In an op-ed titled “The 15-minute city is a working-class nightmare”, with subheading as “A car-free lifestyle is only possible for those whose profession and income permit it”, the mostly left and progressive newsmagazine has published a piece which won’t have surprised me if I read it in the Telegraph or Daily Mail.
The piece begins with discussing all the conspiracy theories surrounding the subject, including the conspiracy theories of Great Reset and the socialist agenda, which were even invoked in the Parliament by our very own Tory MP Nick Fletcher. Great start.
Lind, a self-described American libertarian, then goes on to make a number of seemingly compelling points to the layman, mostly in the form of classic whatabouts and howwills: “What about employees having to go to central offices or warehouses?”, “How will public transport work in the suburbs?”, “What about cheap retail megastores in the suburbs?”, and perhaps, the most interesting: “How will ambulances get to victims if cars and trucks are banned?”
“Redesigning cities to make reliance on public transport more viable isn’t viable because the cities I know are designed for cars” 🤦
American cities have ridiculously low density by global standards https://t.co/mlWljVqQMu
— Peter Berry (@pwb) June 19, 2023
Wow if only emergency services vehicles could in some way be exempt, as necessary to their function, from the usual rules governing private motorists. Idk maybe they could have special lights or markings to clearly distinguish them idk.
— M O R G Y (@RJMrgn) June 19, 2023
Maybe they didn’t see this: Emergency response times fall for the first time in ten years in Paris due to cycle lanes
Or maybe, maybe, I have fallen into the trap. Ah, my bad.
this is just a fake question, nobody should engage seriously with something as unserious as this
— ravished by the rake’s runaway bride (@leokitty) June 19, 2023
"What if a cyclist hits this?": Councillor raises alarm over enormous pothole big enough to stand waist-deep in
“There are potholes, then there are potmonsters… my feet weren’t even touching the bottom!”…
Primož Roglič announces he'll miss Tour de France, "most likely" going to Vuelta a España next
At a Slovenian press conference today, 2023 Giro d’Italia winner Primož Roglič announced that he’s most likely to race at the Vuelta a España next, confirming weeks of rumours that he won’t be taking part in the Tour de France this year.
The Slovenian rider also said that he’ll be missing be the national championships too, after a brutal Giro which saw him win the race in a dramatic fashion in the penultimate stage time trial up the Monte Lussari with 15 per cent gradient climb.
Roglič has had a tough last few Tour de France showings. In 2020, he rode brilliantly for the most part, taking a 2 minute advantage over Pogačar into the second-last day TT, only to be bested by a mammoth performance from his compatriot and eventual winner.
Then the next year, he was once again one of the favourites to win, but his hopes were dashed after a crash on stage three where he lost over a minute. Despite regaining time in a brilliant time-trial in stage five, he struggled once again in the stage eight, the first one in the Alps, before eventually being forced to pull out of the race in stage nine.
And in 2022, he started the Tour slowly, falling behind GC protagonists Tadej Pogačar and teammate Jonas Vingegaard. Once again, he lost over two minutes to the leaders after an unfortunate crash in stage five saw him dislocate his shoulder, which he bravely and almost unfathomably put back on himself during the stage.
He assumed the role as a domestique within Jumbo Visma, riding to get Vingegaard to the yellow jersey, but his team decided it was best for him to withdraw before the final rest day of the race, amidst some rumours that it was to save his legs for the Vuelta.
> Tour de France: Primož Roglič leaves race, heatwave sees UCI Extreme Weather Protocol invoked
To not go for the yellow jersey this year then probably comes as a proactive decision by Roglič and the team, which might help him to focus solely on the Vuelta. The Slovenian has won the Spanish Grand Tour in 2020, and would be looking to repeat his feats once again, before having a crack at the final Monument Il Lombardia as well.
Will Jumbo Visma miss having Roglič in France? Or will this be a masterful ploy by the Belgian team to do a clean sweep of all three Grand Tours in a year? Only time will tell.
Five cool bikes from Specialized, Trek, Marin and Merida
These bikes, including Specialized’s Sirrusly different hybrid and Trek’s alloy Emonda, are currently being tested to the max at road.cc, with full reviews coming soon…
Some crazy stats...
📊 WorldTour stage races won by
Jonas Vingegaard
Primoz Roglic
Remco Evenepoel
& Tadej Pogacarsince 2022 season (races where at least 1 of them started):
1⃣3⃣ out of 1⃣6⃣ (81%)
❌ Daniel Felipe Martinez Itzulia ’22
❌ Geraint Thomas & Matthias Skjelmose #TdS ’22/’23 https://t.co/6giwMQSaZO— Jonas Creteur (@jonas_creteur) June 19, 2023
"Angry and frightened" Birmingham locals protest following spate of deaths and serious injuries to cyclists and pedestrians. The start of real change?
Yesterday was a big day in Birmingham.
Hundreds of protestors lined up at Kings Heath to protest the increasingly dangerous state of roads, with seven hit-and-runs in less than a month, killing four cyclists, including a 12-year-old boy.
The busy junction in Birmingham was the spot where a young girl and a child were struck by a driver last week. It was also the spot where 13-year-old Hope Fenell was riding her bike when she was struck by an HGV driver in 2011. While the driver got a prison sentence of six months, Hope lost her life.
“It was extremely poignant, we went there because of the hit-and-run on Thursday, but opposite the railings where we were, there’s a memorial to Hope,” Paul Manzotti from Better Streets for Birmingham, the campaign group behind the protest told road.cc
“It’s been 12 years, and very little has changed. People are angry and frightened about the state of our roads. There’s a real determination and a lot of people have reached the point of ‘enough is enough’. We have been at the words stage, now we want action,” he said.
The protest was marked by emotionally charged people chanting “Shame on you” at drivers overtaking dangerously, speeding, changing lanes — all behaviour that lead to deaths on streets, said Manzotti.
Today people in Birmingham came together to say “Enough is Enough”. Four people have been killed on our roads in the last month, two of whom have been children. Last week a child and their older sibling were run over on their way to school. @for_birmingham is demanding action pic.twitter.com/nJummIIFWZ
— Sarah Chaundler (@ChaundlerSarah) June 18, 2023
The community of KingHeath make clear #EnoughIsEnough – we need zero tolerance enforcement and an end to the culture of car is king. As a mum, Councillor and residents I will work with @for_birmingham to ensure that our right to be safe on our streets is heard👊🌹 pic.twitter.com/cpriPYowON
— Lisa Trickett (@LisaTrickett41) June 18, 2023
As a parent there isn’t a day goes by when I don’t fear for my children as they leave for school. Every day I witness aggressive dangerous driving…. It was only a matter of time before a spate of horrors would fall upon our community.
— Sarah Chaundler (@ChaundlerSarah) June 18, 2023
Just the last weekend, Better Streets for Birmingham had organised a similar protest, and Paul said that they weren’t hoping to have another one so soon, but things haven’t improved, they have only got worse.
And another week before that, Adam Tranter, the West Midlands’ walking and cycling commissioner called for urgent action to “turn the tide on aggressive driving in Birmingham” in an open letter.
“We cannot accept this as normal. Everyone should feel safe using our roads but through a combination of design, policy and enforcement priorities, this is not the case,” wrote Tranter.
For context, the white van driver had moved onto the other side of the road in order to bypass the protest. He was immediately confronted by those in attendance and forced to move back onto his side of the road pic.twitter.com/QnsBTckHr9
— Caoimhe (they/she) 🏳️⚧️🇮🇪💛🤍💜🖤 (@Caoimhe4now) June 18, 2023
Mothers and fathers attending the @for_birmingham demonstration in Birmingham call for safer streets across our city.
We shouldn’t have to fear for our children as they walk to school or make their way around this city… but we do#stopdekindermoord@ShivajiShivaLaw pic.twitter.com/SDdJv98EO6
— Sarah Chaundler (@ChaundlerSarah) June 19, 2023
Manzotti told road.cc: “We are calling for the mayor’s office and the council to have a press conference and call it what it is: an emergency. We want them to mobilise, we want a visible police reaction on antisocial driving, much greater traffic enforcement and a zero tolerance policy to antisocial driving.”
Better Streets for Birmingham’s Mat Macdonald spoke at the protest: “We demand a national legislation that will ensure that those who kill or maim with their thoughtless actions behind the wheel have their keys and vehicle immediately removed from them and never returned.
“Driving is not a right, driving is a privilege. And those who have no intention of respecting the responsibilities that accompany that privilege should never be let loose on our roads.”
But in the wake of a spate of serious crashes, killing children and adults alike, could this spark a nationwide movement, similar to the Dutch protests of “Stop de kindermoord”, translating as “Stop the Child Murder”, which led to the cycling revolution in the 1970s?
Back in 1976/77/78 there were similar “Stop de kindermoord” (Stop the child killings) protests in The Netherlands, demanding more protective measures for cyclists. And these protests worked. pic.twitter.com/m1MHKg88c1
— TheSysX 🇳🇱🇪🇺🚴🏾🏁 (@TheSysX) June 19, 2023
Manzotti said: “It’s unfortunate that it’s happening almost 50 years later here in a similarly tragic way, but we would love to see safer streets for everyone. We are only focused on Birmingham, but if other groups want to join and take up the mantra, then of course we’d say go for it. The Dutch just got together nationally and said we have to change, so yes, I would love to see that happen here and if a national movement comes out of this, that would be brilliant.”
It seems that other cities are joining in: Manchester is organising a Remembrance Ride on 20 June demanding safety for all on Greater Manchester’s roads, in memory of those who lost their lives, like the 19-year-old Nawaf Alghamdi, who was killed while cycling.
Do you think there’s a potential for this to break out and lead to national mobilisation? Is there a chance that Britain is set for its own cycling revolution in the wake of increasing road casualties of not just adults, but children as well?
In the meantime, enjoy this brilliant crowdfunded movie “Stop Killing Our Children” focusing on Hope Fenell’s death in Birmingham, produced by the ETA and narrated by BBC journalist John Simpson. The film also features contributions from Hope’s mum, Chris Boardman, Dr Rachel Aldred, Dr Ian Walker, George Monbiot and the founders of the Stop de Kindermoord movement, among others.
19 June 2023, 09:20
19 June 2023, 09:20
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Latest Comments
Is that convicted corrupt criminal Luftar Rahman?
Once people have got used to living with less motor vehicle traffic (and maybe even fewer parked vehicles) ... it's always found they don't want to go back. BUT how does the chicken/egg problem get solved? Interesting line here: "Change" is easiest when it's really spelling out what's already happening. This made me think of Amsterdam and their recent trial of putting a modal filter on a fairly major road. Of course that was probably only possible because this is Amsterdam - where public transport is great and cycling is mainstream AND the city voted in favour of removing on-street parking spaces! While the people on the road were really in favour, traffic went up on other streets (not by as much but still up). And those people were outraged, because they'd got used to low traffic, and didn't want it back. ... so at the end of the trial they *partially* rolled this back (there may be some road narrowing instead - but the idea was "not ready yet").
No doubt incoming - something like: Not *our* proposed local traffic neighbourhood, it doesn't! Works everywhere else but for some reason it would be utter idiocy to do it *here*, would never work because (unique local reasons) and besides not a single person wants it, they just want better roads... Continuing with all the favourite arguments, most addressed above, up to and including "deep state conspiracy".
I have the 300 and it’s a good light. Unfortunately I’m on my second one. I bought the genuine saddle mount bracket for Bontrager/Trek saddles (I hate rubber strap mounts) and the road vibration of the daily commute made it snap after about 3 months. A clean break with no warning and I lost the light to the gutter/passing cars. This time, I’ve made a safety tether from a short length of wire and ring terminals so that it at least stays attached to the bike when it happens again.
@mdavidford You'll need a strong arm to carry that lance...
Bus lanes are a good point. I doubt the signs do much initially. BUT since that sometimes leads to very salient stories about "bonkers greedy council makes x thousands from trapping honest drivers in bus gate scam" i think locals get educated quickly! As we know it's almost impossible to imagine such a story about cycle infra... (likely because it wouldn't lead to education, but mobs of baying taxi drivers, double -parkers etc. marching on the council offices)
300 looks the better buy: cheaper and longer lasting for real-world use, while the 400 seems to trade endurance for a load of ANT+ features most riders won't use - 300 on the right
@chrisonabike It's difficult to decide if the 'round blue traffic signs can be ignored' comment is plain stupid or just badly executed irony. Even the police in Lancashire, where the Highway Code and associated legislation has been abrogated and police regulation abandoned, would anticipate the chaos resulting from drivers ignoring bus lanes etc
We get thoroughly gaslit in this sport that £100+ is acceptable for shorts that aren't quite right. £100+ for some bits of foam stitched into some stretchy polyester. Wow. £117 is not cheap. Might be cheap compared to PNS, Assos etc but they're just taking the mick with their prices.
@the infamous grouse pedantry but this isn't a "cycle lane" (simply another lane on the road) it's a "cycle path" (well, shared-use path). While we know in practice that the legal prohibitions on driving in non-driving spaces (eg. "the pavement" - the footway) are effectively ignored *, with cycle *lanes* these are in many cases not even ther. "Advisory" cycle lanes are meaningless, and there's a legal dodge where driving and IIRC driving or even parking in some "mandatory" cycle lanes (solid line as you mention) is allowed, depending on the date of installation. Cycling UK have some articles on this. I belive that *nobody* wants cycle *lanes*, except possibly councils who can use them to get money and tick boxes without (too much...) outrage from motorists. * Except for a couple of places in the UK which have said that no, they are interested. But even there it's highly unlikely you'd face much if any consequence.
21 thoughts on ““Angry and frightened”: Could Birmingham safer roads protests inspire Dutch-style cycling revolution in Britain?; Primož Roglič to skip Tour de France and target Vuelta; Are 15-minute cities a “working class nightmare”?;+ more on the live blog”
Is it time we needed armed
Is it time we needed armed guards at team bases during bike races?
Ridiculous times.
Good going Birmingham! Keep
Good going Birmingham! Keep at it!
Bad/agressive driving shouldn’t be accepted as normal.
Absolutely brilliant to see.
Absolutely brilliant to see. Well done to all involved! We need more of this UK wide. The message is clear and the law makers were conspicuous by their absence.
The bicycle shop in kings
The bicycle shop in kings heath was my lbs when I lived in Mosely.
Good luck the people of Brum.
Thing was, I always found cycling in Birmingham to be less stressful than Reading and definitely Farnborough.
Not sure how long ago you
Not sure how long ago you cycled here, but we had the spate of “pushings” back in 2018/2019, then the backlash because of the A34/A38 lanes. But definitely been bad since Covid. I’m not sure if that is because the massive rise in delivery drivers, less traffic around so people drove more and faster, then more traffic as people drove in instead of using public transport as season tickets don;t work out cheaper for the T,W@ T’s office workers.
I felt it started getting a
I felt it started getting a lot worse 5 or 6 years ago but I put it down to getting older and being a lot more aware of my own mortality and how much more it will hurt if I get hit.
Since lockdown ended though, Birmingham roads seem to have become a racetrack for selfish morons in mostly fast German cars. We’ve just had 5 hit and runs in less than a month by 2 AUDIs, a Mercedes, a VW and a Skoda (rebadged VW/AUDI). In that same time a 12 year old cyclist and a four year old were killed by drivers who didn’t flee and apparently a pedestrian who went to help the 12 year old was hit by yet another car!
The “Angry and frightened” headline pretty much sums up my daily commute.
And the massive spate of
And the massive spate of dodgy numberplates on the road, including now multiple cars with missing front plates “offisher, I have it tucked down in the window behind the ant-glare edging. I’m sure it is perfectly legal there but I don’t like it spoiling the look of the front of my car”.
With some, the car doesn’t seem to have any space to put a front reg plate, so I’m surprised the car is legal to sell on our roads.
I think in that case it’s
I think in that case it’s legal to put the plate actually on the bonnet as a decal, isn’t it? I’ve certainly seen plenty of Ferraris etc with that, although it’s never occurred to me that it could be illegal. Certainly used to see them a lot on E-type Jags, though maybe they’ve now been outlawed in the ANPR era? My current bugbear is the number of gleaming 4x4s and SUVs that seem somehow to have acquired a thick coating of mud only over the rear plate; it is an offence not to keep the numberplate clean but I’ve never seen nor heard of anybody being pulled for it. Coincidentally I frequently see cars with these plates driving with impunity into camera-controlled LTNs…
I note the difference in the
I note the difference in the translation in the writing from the Dutch used above – murder v’s killing:
Why is the difference important for any campaign? From my AI’s go at it below, it looks like it’s around if it’s “premeditated” or not.
Is to design roads without care for all users a form of ‘premeditation’?
Is this why they used the murder word back in Holland in the 1960/70’s?
‘Murder’ as a word to cover these child deaths may seem extreme to us here in the UK, but, I wonder if the success of the campaign then came from the understanding and clarity this word gave? And, why not designing good cycle infrastructure for our cities needs us to also use the word?
“The difference between killing and murder is the **intention** of the person committing the act. Killing is the intentional act of causing the death of another person, whereas murder is the premeditated and intentional taking of another’s life¹. Killing can be used for the death of any living being, while murder is the death of humans only⁴. All murders are killings, but not all killings are murders. For example, killing in self-defence, war, or accident is not considered murder²³.
Source: Conversation with Bing, 19/06/2023(1) Difference Between Killing and Murder – Differences Finder. https://differencesfinder.com/difference-between-killing-and-murder/ Accessed 19/06/2023.
(2) Difference Between Killing and Murdering Explained. https://anydifferencebetween.com/difference-between-killing-and-murdering-explained/ Accessed 19/06/2023.
(3) Homicide: Murder and Manslaughter – The Crown Prosecution Service. https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/homicide-murder-and-manslaughter Accessed 19/06/2023.
(4) What’s the difference between murder and killing? – LBC. https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/special-shows/the-mystery-hour/law/whats-the-difference-between-murder-and-killing-39/ Accessed 19/06/2023.”
Good reading – Stop de Kindermoord Protests Led to NL Road Safety (& ‘Reach’?) – Dutch Reach Project
The problem is, exact
The problem is, exact translations can be difficult. I do not know the Dutch language, but there may not be a distinguished seperate word for a negligent or accidental “killing” and for a premeditated murder.
There was a similar discussion over the French translation of the organiser’s statements following the cancellation of the Tour Des Pyrenees when they used a phrase that, translated to English, called the riders a bunch of “girls”.
Whilst the translation of that word alone should be taken with a pinch of salt, the overall tone, and further context in other sentences (using the phrase spoiled children) builds a much stronger picture.
As the phrase “Stop De Kindermoord” is in and of itself an isolated sentence, we cannot judge the meaning of a translation where a language has differences in detail. Without being a linguist and understanding all bases, definitions, interpretations and alternatives, it is hard to understand the exact context of any campaign literature without error. Therefore it is impossible to judge on whether word use was appropriate, correct and proportional.
From the tragic Birmingham
From the tragic Birmingham story we yet again see the increasing trend for drivers not stopping following a collision.
Why on earth are our parliamentarians not tackling this through law and penalty changes?
This isn’t being tackled
This isn’t being tackled because our govt are so scared of the electorate response. If they had any skill and understanding, tackling this in the right way through investment in various areas, the response could be a vote winner so Tories should step aside to let others solve the issues if they cannot.
Safety wrote:
You mean by way of some sort of “comprehensive road safety review”?
brooksby wrote:
I can’t wait! Any day now!
The news story also refers to
The news story also refers to cars not stopping at red lights, which is weird as the Express/Mail/Torygraph/that-tit-who-thinks-you-can-grow-concrete etc all say that only cyclists jump red lights. Shurely shome mishtake?
Wych Lodge MTB Trails
Wych Lodge MTB Trails
It would appear that Forestry England are going all out to maximise short term profit, while ignoring the people who live there. They aren’t a democratic body, I think they are some sort of quango set up to make profit while avoiding responsibility. In the Forest of Dean, a campaign, HOOF, Hands Off Our Forest, was set up to stop the then Forestry Commission selling off the forest, but the tories moved the goalposts and are privatising it by stealth.
They tried exactly the same tactics at a local beauty spot, Cannop Ponds, of just announcing their decision to drain them, with no consultation, so the locals got together and formed another campaign group “Save Cannop Ponds” to fight it. FE says that the ponds are now reservoirs and have to be drained because of the flood risk: they’ve been there nearly two hundred years, and no flooding has ever happened.
I don’t know the situation at Wych Lodge, but in the FoD, they are clearfelling huge areas, making vast sums from selling the wood and then selling the new planting as carbon sinks.
Managed to end up in the
Managed to end up in the middle of an open road cycle race on holiday ! The A170 was shut (according to drivers coming the other way and I had no intention of going down the 25% gradient to check).
Ended up on a single track with passing places but was the only driver to be considerate. Looked hard work for the participants.
Don’t cycle on the pavment !
Don’t cycle on the pavement !
The rest of the clips is a reminder that we have to share the roads with these incompetents.
Obvioulsy the New Statesman
Obvioulsy the New Statesman is being ‘balanced’. … of course the author doesn’t give a f**k about the working class – neither did Johnson, Farage, Mogg et al. It has taken a while for people to acknowledge the latter’s lies and deceit.
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP wrote:
IAF Johnson, Farage, Mogg absolutely love the working class. But only for so long as those working class folks are doing work for them (and voting for them).
I thought that the Birmingham
I thought that the Birmingham story was about clamping down on dangerous driving and saving the lives of children, then those expert folks on twitter made me realise that it’s anti-car and about banning vans and lorries, so that we can’t get our plumbing fixed, or our parcels delivered – I really must learn to read these articles properly…