malumbu

There are some who just constantly complain about cyclists I'm well placed to criticise cycling standards. And other road user standards. But as regards to the former I'd rather look at the positives. If which there are many. Back to my earlier questions please

I'd love to see some positive posts from you about cycling

There has been a number of achievements, but drowned out due to: Bloody awful comms from the government Some daft decisions and initiatives, then either digging themselves into a hole and/or turning For example the well off should not get winter fuel allowance, benefit needs to be reformed and rich farmers should not get tax breaks, but we now how all that went Employers national insurance - money has to be raised from somewhere but that is the difficult question The image from the right wing press has now stuck, propagated by traditional and social media. And then some appalling acts of self harm. We of course all know better, but I do wonder about the competence of those advising him.

Wouldn't you like Labour to turn things around, preferably under Starmer, at least for the time being? Otherwise, seeing as the Tories are useless, you are throwing your hand in with Farage. I'm sure that most of us on this site really don't want that.

He's done pretty well with Trump so far. Not sure where you get your info from.

Unless we don't fly I don't think we can be too critical of the authorities.

HHV tickets going fast

Can you show me where there has to be a referendum?

Rather than zero tolerance, a term I should have not used, I should have referred to crime, No crime (excluding some things which really should not be criminalised) should be tolerated (albeit the reaction to a naughty 13 year old will be different to a violent criminal, and similarly those with mental health issues there will be some flexibility), I' was talking zero crime, which is impossible. New York was vastly improved, what happened to that wonderful Giuliani chap? US is not a role model of course, homicides per head dwarf the UK; the damage that white flight and the desolation of inner cities that happened to many places such as Baltimore, Washington DC and Detroit is difficult to turn round Much rather move this debate to the Lounge!

Lloyd Weber and Cilla Black were supposed to leave when Blair got in, but didn't

You can't have zero tolerance unless you live in a fascist/police state. Sadly it is something you have to accept in a democracy. There has always been crime, even in North Korea, the Soviet bloc, Nazi Germany, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge etc. The discussion point is how big a police force we need and capabilities, punishment, and building communities. And how much we are prepared to pay in extra taxation. Even in the good (economic) times there is crime. And crime under both Labour and Tory governments. I do not accept that phone thefts and parcel thefts are just statistics. Police have to prioritise what they do, we might not agree with it. And most criminals are multi-tasking, moving to where the best return is considering the risk of being caught. And there has to be a market, someone somewhere needs to buy a stolen product (I never buy off Gumtree). A starting point would be to decriminalise all illegal drugs, but that is definitely for a separate Lounge conversation, interesting discussion paper here: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/105520/1/A. Stevens - In defence of the decriminalisation of drug possession in the uk - PPDF.pdf Did you watch any of the series of Peaky Blinders? This was a very popular series that glorified gang crime and violence. Funny (ironic) that may enjoy films and TV that does this. Although only the first series had any historical accuracy in it, Criminal gangs were around before and ever since.

Looking back at the OP I'm not sure what the purpose of starting the thread was. (a) This is dreadful, more should be done to protect the cyclists (b) Cyclists and drivers need to use the road more carefully/responsibly (c) Cyclists are menaces and it is their own fault Always useful to have some views fro/in the OP of what their interest is @ianr looking at your other posts they appear to be fairly considered so it would good to know your take But what has happened is apart from me those of you who have posted don't like cyclists, some of you have made your points on numerous threads. @tedfudge you wear your politics on your sleeve and clearly don't like the Mayor of London. From this I expect that you don't like the measures introduced to increase cycling (and walking) although numerous initiatives were introduced by a Tory mayor and Tory PMs. Whilst I have shared my views on Johnson numerous times (the damage that he did to the country); whilst his motives may be self-serving he did a lot of good for both cleaning up our air and for active travel.

Looks like he is happy to get dodgy funding for his conference too..... https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/article/reform-conference-relied-on-sponsorship-from-crypto-and-tobacco-companies?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-gb I suppose being an entrepreneur means you look the other way....

Then you will appreciate the joy and benefits. You most be aware that most on this forum post to complain about cyclists rather than promote riding. Nature of social media that tends to focus on downsides, real.or otherwise.

@jazzer start a where are the police thread on the Lounge. In response to this several police officers were hurt at the Tommy Robinson march event yesterday. 150 thousand marched in support of the convicted criminal Robinson, many who have violent criminal convictions themselves and would support violence in pursuit of their aims. And our right wing and far right politicians, celebs and influencers have all encouraged this divide in our community. Yes I have got political