When Tim Berners-Lee sat back at the end of a hard day’s work and said “guys, I’ve just invented the most amazing thing that’ll bring prosperity to all, and will lead to world peace” he wasn’t expecting this…. or Picolax, or Mumsnet beakers 😀

This quote is interesting…

“It’s a risky business being a cyclist in the UK, there are a lot of people who really dislike us. It’s the Jeremy Clarkson influence – we’re hated on the roads. We just hope people realise we are just flesh and bones on two wheels.”
Victoria Pendleton, gold medal winner in the women’s sprint at the Beijing Olympics, 2008.

I’m not much liking the greedy desperate person I appear to be becoming

You don’t sound like that to me. If you use the cash to support your daughter then that’s not really greed IMO. Give some to charity if you don’t want to feel guilty.

Certainly in comparison to your typical Apple/SUV/shiny-things-addicted Brit, I’d say you’re doing pretty well 🙂

If you want to be good at riding up hills, then ride up lots of hills, frequently 🙂
Personally I recommend lots of core strength and flexibility work – seems to help put the power down. Also, get a singlespeed for commuting – gives you no choice but to ride hard up the hills

India and China both dropped their rates this week – global economy ain’t looking too good.
I suspect UK rates will go nowhere fast but BoE need us to think they’re going up soon to prevent the property bubble bursting – which it will at some point as people are so massively leveraged – hence they keep reminding people rates will go up to stop even more people overborrowing.
Quite a lot of First Time Buyers appear to be refusing to step into such an overheated market, hence mortgage rates dropping like a stone as hardly anyone wants to borrow and so the banks are missing their sales targets and they have fewer assets on their delicate balance sheets.
The banks are happy for people to think rates will go up as it means they can put them on higher fixed rates and replace some of the lost income from lack of FTBers

Dave Barter

Not quite what you’re asking for but a great read on the reality of being a middle-aged UK bloke cyclist.

He does have a chapter on LEJOG which might count as a travelogue!

I’ll say one thing for Farage – he’s bang on the money that the established parties have lost touch with the electorate. He’s got us talking about politics and change in a way I don’t recall (I’m 42 this year). Problem what we’re talking about is “what’s the point in voting, they’re all a bunch of self-serving crooks”… none of the parties, established or fringe seem to have a positive ideology to sell with sensible-sounding policies to deliver it, it’s all reactionary nonsense and manipulation.
Maybe that’s the revolution – complete rejection of first past the post and moving towards Proportional Representation – which would be a massive shift for UK politics.

Also interesting is what’s happening in the good old USofA – possibly the third Bush in power in 30 years. If not then they’ll probably get a Clinton instead – and that’s the country who most espouse democracy! Not so far away from the Putin/Medvedev swappsies 😯

It’s rented, whilst half the country appears to have applied the N+1 rule to houses instead of bikes 😯
Not that trivial!

I find this class war thing is really seriously embedded in the British society to the point of total hatred.

Where I was there was/is no distinction with one’s education background so long as they are not corrupted.

I hope you’re not accusing me of class hatred cos that’s a gross distortion of the point I’m making!… I’m merely pointing you to a few pieces of information which suggest Farage is of the same background as the current establishment and does not represent change in that respect. I’m not passing a judgement on whether I approve of him on that basis or not.

If you want to vote for him, go ahead, just don’t be surprised when he doesn’t bring about any real change (assuming UKIP actually get enough seats to be able to have any influence on legislation)

Do you blame their parents for wanting to give them the best education they should get? In other part of the world parents would sacrifice almost everything to give their children the best education they can afford.

Nothing to do with that – just using education as a proxy for social background to suggest that Nigel Farage is not the ‘man of the people’ as he presents himself as being. Read the FT piece. Of course they’re anti him but assuming it’s not a pack of lies, it does rather knock down the idea that he’s any different from the current political establishment, which is the point I’m making – he’s more of the same, not change or revolution.

I’d like to think that a UKIP MP in my marginal would be a bloody nose at the three main parties and make them realise they have to listen to the people.

So long as you understand that UKIP/Farage are no more ‘of the people’ than either David Cameron or Nick Clegg – only Miliband comes close…

Cameron: Eton (Public School)
Clegg: Caldicott School + Westminster School (Independent)
Miliband: Primrose Hill Primary and Haverstock Comprehensive (State School)
Farage: Dulwich College (Public School)

Vote how you like, there’s nothing wrong about it.

However, well worth reading this profile of him in the FT. Note that for all his ‘man of the people’ image, he went to Dulwich College – a public school and is an ex City boy so in social background, he’s very close to the Tories and on that front voting for him is not really voting for change.

Nigel Farage

Also note that right-wing parties are on the rise throughout Europe – not dissimilar pattern to the 1930’s – economic depression followed by popular resentment. So UKIP rise is not because they have any particular positive solutions to the problems we face, more that Nigel has tapped into that popular resentment and said the right things to those people to get himself political power.

Much as I find his politics distasteful, the main reason to avoid him IMO is he’s a charlatan – he pretends to care about people and pretends to be different to the political establishment and pretends to have solutions to some pretty massive problems – when he’s actually very close to the existing establishment and is simply riding a wave of popular discontent which is driven mainly by macro economic, technological and demographic changes (globalisation, automation of jobs, ageing population) which is sweeping across the Western world and tbh it’s beyond the ability of any government to hold these forces back.

Personally I don’t know who to vote for, I don’t think any party knows how to manage the state the UK’s in and UKIP are more of a vanity project for Nigel Farage than a breath of fresh air with real leadership and a vision for Britain

Has the business folded and creased trading.?

Sweet Jesus. I hope you’re thoroughly ashamed of yourself if that’s the best you can do 🙂

Shall we play electioneering bingo?
Every time a policy announcement is made which is clearly about trying to win votes, whilst pretending to care in the slightest about anyone outside Westminster…
We might be quite busy for the next few months 🙂

More to the point, how much faster will you be on your MTB from putting in the road miles 🙂

On the MTB I carry way more kit than I do on the road bike – and it gets used – spare tubes, toolkit, food etc.
On the road bike everything I need fits into my shirt pockets + 2 bottles on the bike.
You don’t need anything like the amount of kit on a roadbike that you need on an MTB a) much less goes wrong b) you’re not in the middle of the woods if it does so you can just limp back to the nearest cab/train station…
I suspect a heavy pack on your back for the position you’re in and for the length of time you ride a road bike for, will do your back no good at all.

A couple of spare tubes, wallet, phone, pump and food will fit into your shirt pockets and you’ll be right

IME roadie comments are 99% tongue in cheek

Cameras on cyclists are clearly scaring people who drive badly. They realise they can get caught and prosecuted, having enjoyed so many years of getting away with it…
Attacking the ‘vigilante cyclist’ is just a way of trying to get rid of what they see as a threat – a pre-emptive strike effectively.

Clearly we need some kind of attitudinal/psychological test before giving out licences if being caught breaking the law is somehow deemed the fault of the person who did the catching rather than the person who broke the law!

I was chatting to a few of my London cycling club members last night about how central London’s pavements have reached peak capacity – the place is so crowded now, but you can’t widen the pavements as the roads are already too narrow to fit the number of people who want to drive through.
Of course if you restricted central London roads to public transport, taxis and commercial vehicles only you’d have much less of a problem with traffic capacity and you could widen the pavements.
Private citizens could get around by bike… problem solved. Boris is only a fan of cycling to the extent that it removes people from the overcrowded public transport system so to that extent, cycling is and will continue to be a significant transport event. in London at least.

IMO the most significant transport planning events right now are not about infrastructure or formal planning per se, it’s about the end of the human-driven vehicle or even the need to travel so regularly.

Cars to be replaced by self-driving rental cars, delivery vans to be replaced by drones, commuting to be replaced by working from home or remotely.
These things are already in development and proofs of concept delivered.

Whatever people might think of the Guardian’s politics it surely provides an antidote/alternative to the corporate-owned media that dominates.

Agreed, that’s why I look at their website regularly. I do like the idea of a Trust rather than a proprietor.
But as you say it’s not reliable as a source of unbiased education. Maybe not as bad as the other papers <maybe I was unfairly strong is saying The Guardian is AS bad> I mentioned but certainly not to be relied on as your primary source of education IMO

I keep seeing stories about redundancies at the same time as the official figures keep showing unemployment falling. Something’s not stacking up…

Good luck in your job hunts. As a contractor I expect to have to go through it at least once a year, it’s not easy

Erm, nobody owns the Graun, though (or more precisely it’s owned by it’s own trust, with the aim of safeguarding editorial independence). I’m not defending their journalism here, but that particular criticism really doesn’t stack up at all.

As it happens, The Guardian is one of the sites I frequent. I prefer their politics to that of The Telegraph despite being centre right in my personal politics. I know it’s owned by a Trust but the editorial stance is still full of left-wing bias – which I like as a balance to my natural instincts – and in that respect it’s still no use as a form of education… the Trust replaces the owner in respect of having a particular political bias it wishes to push….

I’ve learnt the hard way that if you’re the kind of person who thinks for themselves and is happy to try and instigate change, then you’re one of those monkeys. From what I see of Binners’ posts, he’s too clear-eyed about the reality of life to survive long anywhere there’s power being misused – which is pretty much every office everywhere!

The best solution I’ve found is to be a self-employed contractor – people get less upset when you don’t follow the unspoken rules. In fact I get the distinct impression some people use me to unsettle the incumbents. It can be quite amusing sometimes 🙂

I’ve never flounced. I keep my opinions to myself and just hunker on down or get out. Flouncing isn’t a great option IMO it’s not a great reputation builder.

Don’t believe anything you read in the newspaper!

My Dad was saying that 30 years ago. I thought he was being cynical but I agree with him now.
Best thing about the internet is being able to access multiple publications in a matter of minutes – just compare how one broadsheet tackles a subject to another, or even the stories they publish and how much priority they give them. The Guardian is as bad as the Telegraph and the FT etc etc. They’re tools of influence for the owner, not tools of education.

The only reason I can think that people continue to read UK newspapers is because they want something that shores up their existing beliefs/perpetuates their desire to hide away from the obvious realities of their lives – they serve no use in education of the reader. Probably never have tbh

Angry and stupid people are angry and stupid… best leave them alone to their anger and stupidity 😀

If someone’s angry and stupid enough to abuse a stranger about something like ‘road tax’ then there’s no kind of response that will lead them to say ‘oh I didn’t realise I had no idea what I was talking about and I’m sorry for abusing you’. They’ll carry on trying to justify their position no matter how many factually correct and rational arguments you respond with. If anything they’ll resent you more for backing them into a corner and exposing their anger and stupidity…

Minorities always get it in the neck during hard times/times of change… and cyclists are one of the outgroups currently getting it in the neck. Also see Jews and Muslims and immigrants. It’s less socially and legally acceptable to be outright racist, sexist and homophobic these days, so angry and stupid people have moved on to the next unprotected target.

In some ways it’s’ pretty tragic – they’d be better off having a few therapy sessions than abusing strangers on bikes…

Always worth remembering that the selfishness of human nature is inherent. A few highly moral people can override it but we’re hardwired to be concerned first and foremost about our own survival. The only reason any of us are here right now is that our ancestors grabbed enough resources to survive… The ones who didn’t, didn’t get to pass on their genes

A useful trick to play on yourself with a road bike is to buy one that’s slightly above your level as a rider, such that you look a bit ATGWNI on it ie: it’s a light, fast bike but you’re not so fast.
Let your ego take over, feel like an idiot who’s overspent and ride it all the time till you can ride fast enough to justify such a nice and expensive bike…

a) you’ve got a nice bike
b) you’re fitter than a butcher’s dog – win win 🙂

btw I’m a Condor lover – I have two and they’re beautiful bikes to ride. If I needed another bike I’d def be looking at an Acaccio

Music follows certain rules. Simple music follows simple rules. AI music sounds simple.

Much of 50s and 60s rock n roll was simple but it still sounded ace and took over the world 🙂
AC/DC’s tunes aren’t exactly complex either.

Just because AI can only manage simple creativity doesn’t mean it can’t produce stuff that we humans like.

I hope the BTL recommendations are joking 🙁

The next government is quite likely to let the builders go rip at full speed ahead – housing is already in crisis and fast becoming an electoral issue.
London is now unaffordable to even the well paid middle classes, who’ve started moving to the home counties in even greater numbers that previously…

So you have a landowner who’s keen to sell for development, pressure to change NIMBY planning laws and a massive demand for more housing.

I wouldn’t buy the house if you don’t like the idea of the paddock being given over to a developer in the next couple of years. After all, you’ve chosen to live there so it’s clearly an attractive place to be!

Wow. This robot thing is true – we don’t even need teachers anymore!

Thanks for the ideas, all. WFH on a sunny day doesn’t appeal!

Def worth listening to that programme Somafunk posted above, it’s a very considered piece on the potential outcomes…

Thing is, just because technology may create new jobs, they may not be the ones we’re able to do and have trained for – I suspect some sectors of society will gain and some will lose. Right now no-one knows who will be the winners and losers…

I’m looking at what I do (marketing) and keeping an eye out for how technology may make my skills useless or less in demand (some may argue that’s a win for society at large!) and thinking about what my alternatives might be. Maybe I’ll move into marketing robots 🙂

I suspect a lot of people in good, white-collar jobs are going to get caught out in the next 10 years if they don’t keep an eye out and get ready to retrain to something entirely different…

Thanks DPM. I think LMNH may be a bit risky – I’m not likely to get much work done 🙂

it leads to millions of people not needing to work because robots do everything.

That model’s effectively what the Saudis have been doing for decades. The oil just comes out of the ground following investment in previous years. Hardly anyone’s needed to do the work necessary to do this.

The population at large would go mental if they weren;t kept occupied and there’d be constant social unrest so the government creates meaningless state jobs to prevent it. With an added bit of autocracy to keep a lid on things.

Be careful what you wish for. Personally I prefer what I have now to a country like Saudi Arabia

Someone needs to send this to Nigel Farage. Immigrants are no kind of threat to our jobs compared to AI and machines. It’s not the future either, it’s already here.
Look at your local Tesco and Sainsbury local and see how many manned tills they have vs automated – back in the day they’d have employed twice as many people
Doctors and lawyers are seeing the number of jobs reduced from automation and use of machines.
Taxi drivers will be screwed once self-driving cars are with us, white van man will be screwed when the regulations around drones are removed…

It’s not that machines can do our jobs necessarily, it’s that a machine allows me to be twice as efficient, which means I have a job and you don’t (or vice versa!)

21st century’s going to be interesting. I doubt this level of disruption will go smoothly

I get the resistance to my comments – but there’s way more criticism on this thread of the cyclist which IMO totally misses the point of the fact the lorry driver was 100% breaking the law, whilst the cyclist was mainly riding with poor skill and observation.
That’s a very clear line in terms of who was in the wrong – the driver broke the law, the cyclist was mainly misjudging the situation.

This is important because the level of confidence and skill required to ride safely in the UK is putting off loads of people who’d like to ride – they think it’s too dangerous and they lack the confidence to be able to deal with this danger. The health impact of this is massive – c 30k people dead of obesity-related diseases and c 30k of pollution-related diseases -and £bns of our money spent on the NHS as a result….

My granddad gave my mum some advice in the 50’s when she was learning to drive – assume everyone else is an idiot. That’s the best advice to cyclists IMO – learn to deal with other people’s poor skill and aggression if you want to survive.

It’s really really sad it’s come to that IMO. Accepting poor standards of driving and saying ‘it’s down to you as a cyclist to deal with the problem’ isn’t sorting the problem… it’s kicking the can down the road. Meanwhile the costs of too few people cycling mounts up…

IMHO city commuting on a ‘racing’ bike is like commuting in a Porche 911. Looks cool, but is stupidly impractical and potentially dangerous (for most people that aren’t actual rodies).

I ride drops for all my road riding. Last year I did 5k miles and not knocked off once. I think you’ll find it’s the lousy law-breaking driving of the lorry and failure of the cyclist to ride according to the risk presented to him from the law-breaking lorry driver that are more at fault here.

Or are we all to have to buy new bikes/ditch a handlebar design which has been perfectly fit for purpose for decades just because red light jumping in a lorry in the middle of densely city streets is now culturally acceptable?

It’s scary that the population at large seem to have come to the collective belief that driving dangerously is acceptable. I suspect it’s because we all drive dangerously at least some of the time, so failing to criticise dangerous driving as a population is a form of guilt and self-defence from our own actions…

Meanwhile, 30k+ die of obesity-related diseases each year and we all continue to get fat…

I have a Gore Gilet I bought 10 years ago which has had plenty of use. I reckon I could get away with putting labels on it and putting back on the rail in a shop and you wouldn’t notice until you looked closely that it wasn’t brand new.
Also, as cycling-specific kit it’s usually very fit for purpose

Don’t get me wrong – that was poor judgement by the guy on the bike – the one thing about cycling you should always remember is that your vulnerability means you have to take responsibility for the poor skills and judgement of everyone else…

But red light jumping is 100% against the law… and it seems to have become socially acceptable to add to the risk everyone else has to face just because you’re a bit impatient…

This happened to me 10 years ago. Once you’ve filled in one they expect you to do it for ever more until they tell you otherwise… their failure to tell you this is your fault, apparently, and they’ll happily punish you for it.
I appealed and got the fine back.
This year, they’ve reversed their decision from a year ago and decided without reasoning or notice that they’re taking £1400 from me.

Agree that better judgement needed from the cyclist – but really and truly, going through a green light should be a relatively risk-free experience!

I stopped an an amber on Thursday going through Victoria and nearly got run over by the truck behind me who just carried straight on. I would be dead if I hadn’t looked behind me before stopping, and getting out of his way when I realised he wasn’t stopping.

He was plastered with those ‘cyclists keep clear’ stickers of course – the ones that he thinks absolve him of taking any care around cyclists…

The real issue here is the utter disregard of red light…