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Extinction Rebellion protest British Cycling's Shell deal at National Cycling Centre

Two protesters were filmed displaying a 'Get Shell out of British Cycling' banner at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester...

Extinction Rebellion protesters have climbed onto the entrance of the National Cycling Centre in Manchester to protest British Cycling's partnership with Shell.

Two protesters displayed a banner demanding 'Get Shell out of British Cycling' and held smoke bomb-like devices. The video was filmed by Extinction Rebellion Midlands and uploaded to Twitter.

Earlier this week Extinction Rebellion Midlands accused the governing body of "taking their AGM online" due to the "likelihood of vocal opposition" to the partnership with oil and gas giants Shell.

> British Cycling and Shell: How HSBC pulling plug and COVID-19 hit governing body's finances

The protest group also advertised a Critical Mass Ride which was held this morning in Birmingham to demand Shell get "out of British Cycling".

road.cc has contacted British Cycling and Extinction Rebellion for comment.

Last month, British Cycling's announcement of Shell as a new partner on a deal that runs until 2030 attracted widespread accusations of "greenwashing".

There was outrage at the deal, with many now-former members telling us they would not continue to financially support the governing body because of the partnership.

One British Cycling member, a trained ride leader for the organisation's Breeze women-only rides, said that the energy company "stands for everything we everyday cyclists don't" while another who has belonged to the organisation for more than a quarter of a century said that the sponsorship was "greenwashing for them [Shell UK], plain and simple."

> British Cycling and Shell: THAT very controversial deal discussed

At the time then-CEO Brian Facer, who has since stepped away from his role "by mutual agreement", said the deal would help "widen access to the sport, support our elite riders and help our organisation and sport take important steps towards net zero".

However, many were unconvinced and highlighted the fact oil and gas still accounts for the vast majority of Shell's profits, with 'Renewables and energy solutions' making up just 6.3 per cent of the company's earnings for the second quarter of 2022 as it announced record $11.5bn (£9.4bn) profits.

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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22 comments

Avatar
eburtthebike | 2 years ago
3 likes

".....smoke bomb-like devices."

So, they were devices that emitted smoke, just like a smoke bomb would.

Now I'm even more confused.

I'll see if another glass of wine sorts it.

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The Accountant | 2 years ago
3 likes

Holy crap look at that protest march, there must be nearly 100 white middle class people there.

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marmotte27 replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
10 likes

Why is that a problem? Because white middle class people are not affected by climate catastrophe?

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The Accountant replied to marmotte27 | 2 years ago
3 likes

It's a problem because no one else is interested.

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marmotte27 replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
11 likes
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xcleigh1247 replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
6 likes

So predictably boring from the resident troll. Sigh. I'll see you next Tuesday at the chainy though yeah? 

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brooksby replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
9 likes
Rakia wrote:

It's a problem because no one else is interested.

I think you might be wrong

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Bungle_52 replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
5 likes
Rakia wrote:

It's a problem because no one else is interested.

I think that's why they're trying to get more people interested. It's a shame many people don't care about the future of our planet. Our politians seem to share that lack of interest judging by the outcomes from the latest COP.

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jaymack replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
6 likes

That is apart from those pesky Pacific Islanders, Pakistanis who lost their homes to flooding, Southern Europeans seeing refugees from famine arriving daily or those dispossessed by East Africa's draught. It would be foolhardy to think that no one else cares.

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cbrndc replied to marmotte27 | 2 years ago
1 like

What climate catastrophe? Total bollocks.

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jaymack replied to cbrndc | 2 years ago
1 like

You're right, it's worse than catastrophic. Or perhaps I misunderstood?

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perce replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
15 likes

We usually get a date and walnut loaf to have with cheese. Last week my wife got a cinnamon loaf by mistake and it wasn't very nice at all. I still ate it but I didn't like it very much. We usually go to Morrisons but every three or four weeks we go to Tesco. When we go to Tesco I go to the nearby garden centre for a coffee. There is a Costa in Tesco but I don't like it very much. I thought the internet was closed on Sundays

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chrisonabike replied to perce | 2 years ago
6 likes

Quality is maintained.  Reminds me a bit of the style of: https://27bslash6.com/foggot.html

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SimoninSpalding replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
4 likes

Must resist reading more of those blogs, I am supposed to be working!

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Rendel Harris replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
12 likes
Rakia wrote:

Holy crap look at that protest march, there must be nearly 100 white middle class people there.

You've already proved, and been banned for it, in your previous incarnations that you're a poisonous little racist where people of colour are concerned, if you're going to start hating on white folks too not sure you've really got anywhere left to go. 

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mattw | 2 years ago
3 likes

Loving how ER borrowed the moto-hoon "I am also a cyclist" line, as if it helps explain their ingrowing stupidity.

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hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
4 likes

Are people still using Twitter?

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chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
5 likes

Elon Musk.  And Donald Trump once he's either increased his platform's subscriptions or cashed it in.

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mattw replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
0 likes

I haven't seen many people dropping it, as we don't know how it will turn out.

Various lefty types seem to be pushing Masto-don, which bears an unfortunate name.

I'm holding back and waiting to see.

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SimoninSpalding replied to mattw | 2 years ago
1 like

Reading about the tech behind Mastodon it has the potential to be even worse than twitter in the sense that there is no overarching control and each server operator sets their own rules on content etc.

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hawkinspeter replied to SimoninSpalding | 2 years ago
1 like
SimoninSpalding wrote:

Reading about the tech behind Mastodon it has the potential to be even worse than twitter in the sense that there is no overarching control and each server operator sets their own rules on content etc.

Well, it's open source and decentralised, so that does mean that it's anti-authoritarian (those lefty types, huh?). Like any communication system, it's open to abuse, but that's more of a social problem than a technical issue. I think that a large part of the problems we see with social media is that it's run by for-profit companies and thus they chase advertising and end up heavily promoting click-bait and reaction-generating posts. At least with open source tech, you can just choose to self-host your own instance and invite a select group to avoid spammers and trolls.

(I hardly ever used twitter, but maybe I should check out Mastodon as open source tech is what I'm into)

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SimoninSpalding replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

I must admit, I am now only clicking links to a twitter feed if it is REALLY interesting. I think that most of the 4 followers I had at my peak have probably left by now...

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