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The issue I have with Greta Thunberg is that whilst she is highlighting climate change, which needs addressing, I feel tht she is poisoning young impressionable minds. Bear with me on this. In our modern snowflake generation, much is said regarding not giving children too much bad news. The way Greta slags off the rest of the world and paints a picture of doom and gloom can, and will, give children nightmares. They will go to bed after seeing her, thinking the world is going to end. As I said, I do agree climate change is a massive issue, and needs addressing, but not in this manner. Also, I do not agree with kids bunking off school to go see her. Their parents should be fined, as they would if they took them on holiday in term time. We don't have kids, but we both still pay a hell of a lot of tax towards education, as seen in black and white on my annual tax summary. Why should I pay tax, for kids to bunk off school to go see an overbearing, priviledged smacked-ass kid preach horrific stuff to them?

Bollocks. The issue you have is not that she is frightening children, it’s that she is frightening adults like yourself. It’s that she’s highlighting what we have done and holding us accountable for failing her generation. As for school, that was the point. Adults have not acted to prevent climate catastrophe, so what is the point of going to school if you have no future? It’s that action that reinforces the inadequacy of our response to the problem we created. If you’re uncomfortable with the role reversals, where the children discipline the adults for their behaviour, do the adult thing and accept responsibility.

She does manage to bring a certain anger and resentment out of a certain group of people.

Good luck to her.  I hope she can acheive her aims, and make the world really listen.

I do admire her chutzpah.

I wrote a paper on climate change as an engineering student in 1988. Since then, we've done very little substantive. Typically politicians see no further than the next election and the general population is addicted to easy transport and stuff from China. I'd include myself here with my carbon bike, plenty of lycra gear and aversion to commuting - by and large I just ride for fun and cycling does very little to reduce my footprint.

Greta Thunberg has been just about the only person able to make people with power pay any attention. Those who think "this needs something doing but not when it actually comes to having to face the consequences" are sadly mistaken. Perhaps when Miami is under water, or some other major city, you'll realise that Greta is right and we adults have been fiddling while Rome burns for more than 30 years. Even Margaret Thatcher got this.

So worry less about the tax you have paid being wasted by school strikes and more about the impending costs we will face when the destruction of human habitats means competition for our Western privileged lifestyles from even more desperate migrants.

And as for ickle kiddy-winkies being unable to sleep, most generations have something to keep them awake. Mine: cold war. My parents: the actual war (WW2). Both recoverable given time. My kids face something that may be irrevocable given the science of tipping points into positive feedback loops.

Sorry for the horrific stuff from an overbearing, privileged, smacked-ass (wot?) middle aged bloke. Hope you sleep soundly.

Seriously "biker fill"?? You don't have kids, but because (you think) you "pay a hell of a lot of taxes" you believe you have the right to dictate how people should educate their children? Fines for "bunking off"?? Horse sh!t!!! Your world is so obviously insular it's frickin scary, just like the fact that people like you exist in 2020...

"snowflake" is a term used by boomers like you to dismiss the opinions of people who you consider to be threatening to your perception of a normal way of life because they happen to be ok with voicing an opinion which you find uncomfortable - largely because you're part of the problem and you know it - guilt is powerful emotion isn't it?

You sound like the motorists that don't ride bikes but  know how they should be ridden - cos "cyclists don't pay no road tax". The education system in this country is designed to produce drones that work in factories to turn out profits for the pensions of Daily (hate) Mail readers like you. There is a different, more positive way, but you wouldn't know cos you ain't got kids...

News flash 'biker fill' - Greta has a message and the kids that will be responsible for doping you up in a care home and then disposing of your rancid corpse once you expire are listening to her, so before you strap your 'specialiZed tarmac ultra glitter Roubaix Never Been Carbon Fibre Poseurfest' to the roof of your wife's maroon Range Rover Evoque and stuff another 'Full English' breakfast down your fat neck which has been manufactured from processed animal carcasses with an environmental impact equal to the Exxon Valdise disaster, just think - your opinion counts for jack sh*t if you have no experience in any of the crap you just spouted...

Educate yourself by reading a couple of books - start with  'Sapiens' and 'Homo Deus' by Yuval Noah Harari and then consider the possible impact of IR35 on your salary instead of watching "Celebrity-Come-Dine-with-me-on-an-antiques-cruise-ship-Eastenders-love-island-Christmas-special-on-ice" repeat on Channel 5...

Damn, that went from a stern talking to, up to “somebody crapped in my cornflakes and I’m blaming you” in about half a paragraph. Outstanding!

Volùme up to 11 for a first post. Where does he go from here?

I don’t know, but we may have found the angry young man from the Billy Joel song!

Wow. You are a very angry person. Are you also a vegan by any chance too?

biker phil wrote:

The issue I have with Greta Thunberg is that whilst she is highlighting climate change, which needs addressing, I feel tht she is poisoning young impressionable minds. Bear with me on this. In our modern snowflake generation, much is said regarding not giving children too much bad news. The way Greta slags off the rest of the world and paints a picture of doom and gloom can, and will, give children nightmares. They will go to bed after seeing her, thinking the world is going to end. As I said, I do agree climate change is a massive issue, and needs addressing, but not in this manner. Also, I do not agree with kids bunking off school to go see her. Their parents should be fined, as they would if they took them on holiday in term time. We don't have kids, but we both still pay a hell of a lot of tax towards education, as seen in black and white on my annual tax summary. Why should I pay tax, for kids to bunk off school to go see an overbearing, priviledged smacked-ass kid preach horrific stuff to them?

When I was a kid, we had the threat of nuclear holocaust hanging over our heads. Nothing like the threat of slowly dying from radiation sickness whilst scouring the blasted cities for the last remaining can of beans to give you sweet dreams.

Greta is just a voice and figurehead trying to get people to recognise the absurdity of trashing our own environment. She didn't create the problems - she's just pointing out that politicians/leaders are doing sweet F.A. to address the issues as it'll cost them some profit margins.

It really bugs me that some people are attacking the person (Greta) rather than focussing on the message. It doesn't matter who says it - we need to clean up our act and aim for long-term sustainability. It's just retarded, short-term thinking to focus on business profits instead.

I tried to save you the trouble by linking to the original article , but the £ sign in the link was causing havoc within the comments

I had the exact same thought

eburtthebike wrote:

"Ford tease new anti-dooring technology"

I know drivers are getting dumber all the time, but should we really be pandering to them at this level?  If they are too stupid to look in the mirror, they shouldn't be on the road.

I get your point, but if it saves a few doorings then I'm perfectly happy with car buyers spending a bit more.

The trouble is the initial tech is from the blind spot warnings, how far back do those sensors check, If i'm doing 18mph that is several cars back when they start to open the doors. (Although if I'm doing that in the dooring zone without being ultra careful some of that is back on me)

Anti-dooring tech was developed years ago, and demonstrated every week on “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Just weld the doors shut, make ‘em climb out the windows. That will solve it.

Cars are becoming the new guide dog aren’t they? God forbid drivers had to look away from their phone…