Final straw for me, STW has been disappearing up its own arse for years.

I thought i’d give the express article about Trump a quick skim read. I got as far as “in his interview with Peirs Morgan”

Says it all really.

Yup. It says anyone who links to the express is Daily Mail reader is denial.

fin25 – Member

How angry are you gonna be when they do the “7 reasons brexit will be good for MTB” article later on?

Reason 1: We can all spend £350 million per week on bikes!
Reason 2: We can also spend the same £350 million per week on trails!
Reason 3: The trails will all be smoother because just like the traffic on the M4, all the wear is caused my immigrants
Reason 4: Sovereignty!!1!
Reason 5: Bob Geldof is a ****
Reason 6: Smog. Well it didn’t make any sense in the first article either
Reason 7: It’ll really annoy THM

I’m for remain – but that article is dreadful – sensible for bike journos to stick to their knitting.

fin25 – Member

I’m VERY left wing (as in, I think the Guardian is a puppet of the establishment, left wing) and I might well be voting out

You must be one of these people which jambalaya described as ‘further left than lefty’.

I thought it was just me.

@PJM1974

@dannyh

I’m gratified that I presented an opportunity for amusement, had I known this at the time, I’d have gone the full Godwin.

I’m glad you feel gratified – I just found it a bit strange that you immediately steamed in with all the usual ‘isms’ – even though you are probably barking up the right tree. It would have done your cause much better to actually pick the OP up on what was said rather than giving in to the usual tribal mud slinging. In doing so you then open yourself up to being portrayed as a ‘sandal-wearing, lentil-munching, hand-wringing lefty’ or whatever is the current stereotype peddled by the likes of the Mail/Express/Beano/Dandy etc.

I’m for remain – but that article is dreadful – sensible for bike journos to stick to their knitting printing press releases verbatim.

FTFY

@dannyh

You may make whatever assumptions about my online persona as you please.

In part, I took exception to the OP’s expressed view “…Firstly the constant prissiness about women in maxxis catalogues etc…” – it’s probably fair to assume that the author is not female. There’s been a number of pretty offensive replied to the STW social media feed on this subject, which have become rather tiresome IMHO.

Then there’s “If I wanted to read a self-righteous left wing tabloid, I could go on the Guardian and cry myself fragile little self to sleep at night” which can fairly be described as tribal.

As I said before, feel free to apply whatever stereotype you feel appropriate, it’s a public forum and so far as I’m concerned, my posts abide by the moderator’s rules.

Fair enough – the OP was deliberately confrontational so lowering yourself to the level to have a pop back is understandable even if it does the debate few favours.

So, do ‘lefties’ still wear socks under their sandals? 😉

@dannyh

For the sake of maintaining any assumptions about my online persona I’m going to say that we tend to wear Fair Trade baseball boots these days, as sandals, socks AND lentils can prove to be an uncomfortable combination.

dannyh – Member

So, do ‘lefties’ still wear socks under their sandals?

if:

A) it’s cold

and

B) my wife isn’t looking

then yes.

much more sensible than wearing socks over my sandals, that would just be stupid.

Reason 7: It’ll really annoy THM

But really please Jambalaya

Hmmm…

I guess I’m now undecided

Joe – Member
Kind of sick of the pathetic self righteousness that the magazine seems to be pressing at the moment. Firstly the constant prissiness about women in maxxis catalogues etc. and now you’re trying to ram remain down our throats, by some spurious link to cycling.

Joe does mummy and daddy know youre on the internet, ask them to explain internet discussions and views to you.

Yeah, come on Joe, come back to us, it’s boring arguing amongst ourselves…

I’m fed up of Facts!!! “Give us Facts” cry out the stupid ones. “We need to be told how to vote with facts”. “Their Facts are better than your facts”. “I dont believe his facts”.

Its a load of rubbish. There are no facts. We are talking about the future. So therefore those Facts have not been created yet. Everything else is conjecture. Please engage your brains and decide on the important issues, the big picture.

Europe will be different in the future with or without us. There is no Status Quo. You can not vote for more of the same. Europe is traveling in a direction you need to think about that and give the future of this Country serious thought.
The problem is that I know very few people who can think complex issues through clearly. So therefore the quality of the debate has been poor

Not every vote leaver is a racist. But every racist is going to vote leave. Billy Bragg

Sums the whole debate up for me

Joe, I find it quite strange for the magazine to publish such a piece with a limp attempt to link the areferendum to mountain biking.

If they had wished to publish something it should IMO have had balanced views from both sides

The front page poll is 80% Remain and 14% Leave so perhaps they feel the piece is representative of its readership. What the poll does show is that the readership is very much not reflective of the country more broadly

Not every vote leaver is a racist. But every racist is going to vote leave. Billy Bragg

Well if you hate black people, Indians, Pakistanis, Asians and Latin Americans voting Remain will ensure it stays harder for them to come to this country.

Bollocks would it – they aren’t going to make it easier for those people to come in, they’ve been making it harder. And the conservatives will continue to make it harder.

richmtb – Member
Reason 7: It’ll really annoy THM
But really please Jambalaya

Hmmm…

I guess I’m now undecided

Tres amusant 😀

Not every vote leaver is a racist. But every racist is going to vote leave. Billy Bragg

Sums the whole debate up for me

But is it actually true?

If we stop all these white Europeans coming over to do our menial jobs isn’t it going to mean that we are going to have to once again rely on black people from places like India and Africa?

Who would you prefer to clean your house…….a nice white Polish girl, or a big black Jamaican?

If I was a racist I’d be in quite a dilemma. If there’s one thing that can be said about the EU is that it tends to keep black people out of the UK.

Not every vote leaver is a racist. But every racist is going to vote leave. Billy Bragg
Sums the whole debate up for me

But is it actually true?

If we stop all these white Europeans coming over to do our menial jobs isn’t it going to mean that we are going to have to once again rely on black people from places like India and Africa?

Who would you prefer to clean your house…….a nice white Polish girl, or a big black Jamaican?

If I was a racist I’d be in quite a dilemma. If there’s one thing that can be said about the EU is that it tends to keep black people out of the UK.

You forgot to start this with I’m not being racist but…..

Racist people are, essentially, stupid people.
Society won’t allow them to hate black people (at least in public), but there’s nothing wrong with being “concerned about all these EU migrants”.
For many people, this “concern” about migration is a proxy for being racist.
Also, I work in the care industry, about 30% of our staff are from Africa, I don’t think being a member of the EU has any bearing on the amount of Africans in the UK. This doesn’t stop most of the white British staff talking to the Africans (many of them doing masters and Phd’s on student Visas) like they are idiots though.
Not sure about what point i’m making, but I agree with Billy Bragg.

You forgot to start this with …….

I didn’t forget anything. So……would a racist prefer a nice white Polish girl or a big black Jamaican to clean their house?

What do you think? I’m not sure.

tedious?

the only thing that’s been tedious has been the complete and utter BS in the mainstream press and on farcebook etc.

actually quite refreshing to read something that talks about how some thing may or may not be affected.

now as a Brit, making good use of EU freedoms, when it is decided that I am no longer eligible to do my job, I have 2 choices…
1. go back home and steal all your jobs
2. go back home and claim benefits while surfing STW all day
which shall it be?

You forgot to start this with I’m not being racist

EU freedom of movement is fundamentally racist, it selects based purely on nationality.

I have no doubt whatsoever that ernie is not a racist, he was making a point

What do you think? I’m not sure.

your guess would be far better qualified than mine.

I didn’t forget anything. So……would a racist prefer a nice white Polish girl or a big black Jamaican to clean their house?

Is the choice only between racist stereotypes?

I didn’t forget anything. So……would a racist prefer a nice white Polish girl or a big black Jamaican to clean their house?

I think the racists you’re referring to don’t want either, but can only publicly complain about one of them.

Blah blah yadda yadda I N R A T S jumped to end of thread for a belated Chapeau for PercyPanther’s brakesit.

Oh, and French rubber. Obvs.

I think the racists you’re referring………

What racists am I referring to? Racism includes all sorts of racists, including the Poles who come over here and complain about black people, black British people. And they think that because I’m white I’ll agree with them.

Personally I think that some of the pro-EU sentiments stinks of racism.

Personally I think that some of the pro-EU sentiments stinks of racism.

Please explain, Ernie. I’ve been struggling with a lot of the stuff on this thread but here I’m completely lost.

Nothing to explain really. Some people have a problem with black people from hot countries but not quite the same problem with white non-British EU nationals.

And if I don’t have a problem with either am I still allowed to be pro-EU?

Vote stay if you like your foreigners with whiter skin. (there are no black european people obvs)
Vote Leave if you like foreign people with darker skin………..Hang on

If you are not a massive racist just vote based on whether you think Europe is alright or not.

And if I don’t have a problem with either am I still allowed to be pro-EU?

I don’t know ask Billy Bragg. He seems to think that he knows how people vote depending on whether or not they’re racist.

Personally I’m not convinced his formula is quite as foolproof as some people apparently think it is.

But that’s just my opinion, perhaps he’s right.

EU freedom of movement is fundamentally racist, it selects based purely on nationality.

You do know there is a difference between Race and Nationality?

It’s a bit like the difference between being Anti-Semetic and not approving of Israel’s treatment of Palestine, subtle but very important.

Unfortunately Billy Bragg is now a curmudgeonly old **** who will take any opportunity, no matter how obtuse, to shoehorn his dogmatic view in. He is rapidly becoming a self-parody, the ‘lefty’ David Starkey. No matter what the context they bang the same old drum.

This is a shame. I really love ‘A New England’.

Swings and roundabouts.

Joe is either on the naughty step, or mummy and daddy have sent him to bed and switched off the router