Of course cycling is a Right Wing activity

Prick

Burke is as Berk does.

That’s all ironic, right? No one with that level of ignorance should be able to broadcast it to the public?

A lovely piece written to confirm what the readers of The Spectator think. Extra marks for the point about the destruction of the environment by proposing removal of a handful of trees.

Perhaps he should avoid using the cycle lanes in London and take his chance with the trucks, cars and vans.

A lovely piece written to confirm what the readers of The Spectator think. Extra marks for the point about the destruction of the environment by proposing removal of a handful of trees.

WRITTEN BY
Paul Burke
Paul Burke is an award-winning advertising copywriter

Describing stuff as either right or left wing hasn’t really worked since the french revolution, even then I’m sure it was unhelpfully reductive. What would I know, I’m just an elitist two-wheeling berk-about-town.

nominative determinism

Cos London is everything.

According to one observer, ‘If they were to measure the pollution, it will be infinitely worse than before cycle lanes were put there’. And who was that observer? Dorothea Hackman from Extinction Rebellion.

I like that, as if it somehow adds credibility.

Describing stuff as either right or left wing hasn’t really worked since the french revolution

That depends entirely on the definition and context of ‘worked’. Dumbed-down hyper-polarisation is fuelling a multimedia/social-media industry. Politicians profit too. And those place/d their bets on the winning ‘team’. Think of all the rich grifters and their sponsors/advertisers. Division has always ‘worked’ for those that gain the most (choose your currency) from it.

One might wonder when a Burke (whoever/whichever this one is) was having a ‘slim’ month because that reads as if it was emailed in by some sub-editor who had a space to fill. The Spectator has long been the go-to ‘rid the streets of the scourge of commulist cyclist’ rag.

And the right/left thing definitely works in the US where anyone who is even slight left is looking to turn the whole of the US into a communist state.

The right/left bashing thing of late is tiresome. These muppets have to always try to equate swathes of the population to the fringes of the political spectrum. Hopefully this cheap trolling and polarising tactic becomes something soo 2020.

He’s right about one thing though, if I was riding through a city, I’d much rather be cycling on backstreets and through the parks than a coloured strip on an A road.

“A lovely piece written to confirm what the readers of The Spectator think.” read the comments – I’ll think you’ll find most commentators disagreed with the article.Theres a great spread of opinion amongst the spectator articles and the comments below the line.

Journalism via Cards Against Humanity. Next headline, Cycling Gives Me Uncontrollable Gas

*deleted*. Can’t be arsed to give that rag any link/traffic

I stumbled on that steaming pile of fetid dingoes kidneys. If I’d had a printed copy I’d have taken it with me for my morning ablutions and put his opinion behind me.

I mean, I know I’ve spent a quite a bit of time riding bikes (pretty much 40 years or so) , but I just don’t get get why people have such a problem with people riding bikes. It’s very strange…

Most people I see cycling are well-off middle class folk. Rarely I’ll see someone commuting who maybe can’t afford a car.

Cycling is currently a bit middle class. It’s not the people’s transport that we like to think it is.

Obviously the article is mostly bizarre nonsensical doublethink but there’s a grain of truth underlying it.

Rarely I’ll see someone commuting who maybe can’t afford a car.

Plenty of “ordinary people” commute by very ordinary bikes around Ilkeston/Nottingham.

Most people I see cycling are well-off middle class folk. Rarely I’ll see someone commuting who maybe can’t afford a car.

I regularly see folks go past the front door at commuting time who ride a bike because a car is too expensive. It might be because we’re on a quiet service road/part of NCR51 and only the hardcore will dice with the unthinking on the main routes into town.

Build it and they will come.

Telling that they got a marketing specialist to write the piece rather than an investigative journalist who would have check pollution facts and figures before drawing a conclusion.

There are probably lots of low income families with a car or even two cars who would be in a better financial position if they were able to use bikes and public transport

Clickbait. Round here (Durham) during the week you’re as likely to see someone riding in a fluorescent construction jacket as you are in a hi-vis cycling vest.

Paul Burke is an award-winning advertising copywriter

And that, dear reader, was an intellectual exercise in messaging the selected audience (Spectator gammons). He thinks he can dress up even the most ludicrous statement and make it seem rational. The fact only the Spectator (and presumably the Mail or Telegraph in a few days) can run it is an admission of failure.

Clickbait. Round here (Durham) during the week you’re as likely to see someone riding in a fluorescent construction jacket as you are in a hi-vis cycling vest.

This. I’ve no idea if they can afford a car or not, and wouldn’t hazard a guess either way. Rigger boots and a carrier bag on the saddle does not automatically mean destitute!!

I regularly see folks go past the front door at commuting time who ride a bike because a car is too expensive

How do you know they can’t afford a car. Lots of people travel to work by bus or train, who also own cars…

The turgid hack is also wrong
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/01/removed-london-bike-lane-blocked-by-parked-cars-most-of-the-time-study-kensington-and-chelsea-council
I used to get acquaintances asking if I couldn’t afford a car because I commuted by bike.

Circulation about 85,000 need a pro copy writer but not one that contributes nothing but cliches…my dentist was an avid reader recently retired so that reduced readership as well

The Conservative-run authority said removing the cycle lane, which was used by up to 4,000 cyclists a day, would add extra space for motor traffic, and thus ease congestion and quicken journey times.

I thought that particular fallacy had been long since recognised.