Bike hangars are "woke" (apparently) as car parking row rumbles on; Parody Hot Fuzz police force dupes public over cyclist licence and mandatory helmets; Your reaction to Adam Blythe's gold Genesis; If the World Cup was pro cycling + more on the live blog

Rendel Harris wrote:

Laura King's complaint about the hangars being "too large for parking spaces" presumably refers to the fact that most of the designs have the nearside feet on the kerb to facilitate door opening; I've glanced at the one in our street and it takes about six inches maximum off the pavement.

I hadn't thoought of that. If that's the case then possibly a bit of a design error. If they weren't stood on the pavement would they stick out?  I'm pretty sure if Laura addressed what might be a genuine concern in some areas to Council they might be able to find a welder to raise the height so it didn't have to sit on the kerb. I do not believe that any scheme like this can't be improved upon and constructive criticism from the public should be welcomed.

As I said, it's literally less than the width of the kerbstone that's taken up, no serious person could claim that it's going to cause the slightest obstruction or safety hazard and so I don't think it really comes under the heading of constructive criticism.

Er No, absolutely no issue. I don't think that's even 2 inches. In your case it's obvious that the door mirror of the van overhangs the pavement by more than that.

I wasn't suggesting that Laura was giving constructive criticism only that if anyone did have a useful observation to make that might improve the scheme then that should be welcome.

So if that's the case, why do you get a parking ticket for doing that in London?

Rakia wrote:

So if that's the case, why do you get a parking ticket for doing that in London?

Because as is well-known, if you give motorists an inch they will take a yard (why should I be fined when I was only going 2 miles an hour over the speed limit? etc). Clearly it's easier to have a complete pavement parking ban than it would be to waste taxpayer money on compensation for errors caused by poor cycling judgement arguing the exact distance somebody has parked over the kerb.

You missed your cue - it's a simple "Can't park there, mate".

Because it's illegal to park a motor vehicle on the pavement in London (as per Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1974, section 15).

You are displaying your usual deference for UK law, Rakia.

Rakia wrote:

So if that's the case, why do you get a parking ticket for doing that in London?

You really are very unlikely to get a ticket for half of your tyre being on the kerb. Half of the cars are I see parked in London are too wide for the marked spaces now anyway - I've never seen these ticketed.

Anything to do with Council enforcement can be fought on the obligation of their enforcement being reasonable including the de minimis principle - so overhanging a double yellow by less than a foot can normally be appealed, and being slightly over the pavement may also be deemed to be trivial - doesn't stop them issuing tickets and trying for the money, but it could be argued against. It's different to a speeding offence where if you tried to argue you were doing only 31 in a 30 so it wasn't really speeding would be an admission of the absolute offence.

brooksby wrote:

If Brighton has a Green council then doesn't that mean that more people voted for the Greens?  So, liked their policies?  Isn't that how our democracy (currently) works, so why are people complaining?

It's not the people complaining, but a couple of journalists hacks stirring up the carbrains.

It's spelled C-U-N-T-S.

Awavey wrote:

Whilst everyone laments the Blythe bike appearance, is it not actually a genius move in that no one would dare want to steal it, to ever be seen riding it.

Also if he ever fancies taking up racing again his competitors would be so doubled up with laughter he'd be able to steal a march on the field.

eburtthebike wrote:

The real definition of woke is that you are alert to others' problems and empathise with them; quite how that got to be an insult, I have absolutely no idea.  What I do know is that the people using it as an insult have no idea what it means, and I've asked several.

According to Wikipedia, 'woke' means "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination", but also includes other forms of social inequalities (e.g. sexism). Its use goes way back and Lead Belly used it in his 1938 song Scottsboro Boys.

Long time since I was listening to Lead Belly. 

Okay, just listened to it. 

https://youtu.be/VrXfkPViFIE

"I advise everybody be a little careful when they go along through that, stay woke, keep their eyes open."

It's right at the end of that recording. I can't agree he's using it in the modern sense, he's telling people to stay alert – awake, even – to danger they themselves might face. 

But if anybody can find a Lead Belly song about bike hangars or even tofu... 

Bmblbzzz wrote:

Okay, just listened to it. 

https://youtu.be/VrXfkPViFIE

"I advise everybody be a little careful when they go along through that, stay woke, keep their eyes open."

It's right at the end of that recording. I can't agree he's using it in the modern sense, he's telling people to stay alert – awake, even – to danger they themselves might face. 

But if anybody can find a Lead Belly song about bike hangars or even tofu... 

I don't know, it sounds like 'stay woke' is being used to be aware of the racism and lack of justice around there. considering the subject matter of the song.

Quote:

The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American teenagers, ages 13 to 20, falsely accused in Alabama of raping two white women on a train in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. The cases included a lynch mob before the suspects had been indicted, all-white juries, rushed trials, and disruptive mobs. It is commonly cited as an example of a miscarriage of justice in the United States legal system.

The Sun?  Lying?  Say it ain't so... 

There's certainly a lot to unpick.

I'm not sure why Ellie feels the ploy to be cynical and certainly I think a scheme that raises more money for the council whilst hopefully addressing polution and climate change does, in fact, makes total sense. 

Meanwhile I have bunch of questions for Laura. Is she suggesting that the council would like motorists to moving out of Brighton perhaps to properties that have a drive, for example? What constitutes too large for a parking space? I would have thought that was predicated by the size of the parking space. Also we really need to know how these are unsafe for people using a pavement?

eburtthebike wrote:

The real definition of woke is that you are alert to others' problems and empathise with them; quite how that got to be an insult, I have absolutely no idea.  What I do know is that the people using it as an insult have no idea what it means, and I've asked several.

Er no, that's the fake definition of woke. The real definition of "woke" is the following:

"A term used for white middle class people who superficially show an interest in social justice in order to capture the moral high ground (and the business and social opportunities that arise from it), while continuing to remain ignorant of any real social issues or the irrationality of their view points.

Extra points are awarded for any of the following:

• writing he/him or she/her on email signatures and LinkedIn profiles.
• pretending that you're an anti-racist
• pretending that you're autistic
• wallowing in self-pity
• believing in equality of outcome rather than opportunity
• being offended at virtually anything on behalf of a "marginalised group".

In this case, using "woke" to describe the bike eyesores is perfectly apt: you're pretending to be doing something for the good of society (capturing the moral high ground) while really doing it out of spite to deny the hard working local population somewhere to park their cars, because they are too poor to afford a nice middle class driveway and garage.

So now you have the real definition of "woke", make sure you use the term properly.