“What few of them had thought to do, however, was to check whether this apparent war between cyclists and farmers was actually a thing.”Īccording to Graham’s article, these posts – whether jokes or conspiracy theories – are “designed to demonise a minority, in this case cyclists, although these days any minority will do. “I was curious to find out more,” he writes, “so I made the mistake – and, trust me, this is always a mistake – of seeing what the public had to say on the matter. Which, as we know full well on this blog, is a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately for poor Graham, he decided to venture into the comments. While I haven’t been able to find the exact post in question – I’m not exactly a frequenter of motoring groups or Facebook in general, quite frankly – I imagine it went something along the lines of this satirical post from the ‘comedy’ page, ‘The world is not PC enough’: “And just lately they have taken to spreading the ridiculous notion that cyclists are so arrogant that we think we have more right to the roads than everybody else, especially farmers.” “For some reason that I cannot fathom,” the Advertiser’s Graham Carter writes, “Facebook thought I would be interested in joining a group that exists mainly to help speeding drivers dodge cameras, although they also spend time swapping the kind of ‘humour’ that most of us stopped giggling at when we grew out of short trousers. The piece in question, published yesterday in the Swindon Advertiser, tackles online conspiracy theories seemingly designed to simply increase the ire felt by some motorists towards cyclists on the road. Now, that’s one way to start an article and grab our attention. They are campaigning to – wait for it – ban tractors from country roads on Sundays. You’ll never guess what those damned cyclists want to do now. “The Mayor and I are determined to continue building a cleaner, safer and more prosperous London for everyone and encouraging more people to pick up greener and more sustainable transport options is a vital part of that.” “With the funding now agreed, I’m delighted that we can now restart work on these vital schemes – as well as beginning the design work for the next generation of new projects. London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, said in a statement. “In the last two years we’ve seen more Londoners than ever choosing to walk and cycle around the capital, but successive short-term funding agreements from Government forced TfL and boroughs to pause spending on some permanent walking and cycling schemes. The body will also continue the design of a further 16km of cycleways, including sections of C9 West, from Hounslow to Brentford, the C4 Extension from Greenwich to Charlton, and further sections of the C50, from Finsbury Park to Camden Town, along with a new cycle route from Wembley to Wood Lane. C34, from North Acton to Shepherds Bush. ![]()
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