MrsCat has just pointed out my error that it was 1400 children and that is more than the entire school population of the comp we both attended in sunny Rotherham. It’s hard to conceive of something on that scale not being discovered without a significant amount of collusion or conspiracy.

Well worth reading Big n Daft’s links, especially the blog that mentions the intimidation and threats the author received when trying to publicise the case of the victims.

Resignation offers too much retention of self esteem and they can always plead they were forced to do so, sack them all, every last one who turned a blind eye, ignored the evidence, failed to investigate or follow up accusations. Then prosecute each and every one of them to the absolute maximum possible for whatever offence will hit them hardest, minions to managers, administrators to leaders. 1200 children’s lives have been ruined, their childhood stolen.
Big n Daft – as someone who grew up in Rotherham I am rarely surprised by what I hear of the behaviour of the council and some of its members. I’m sure that there must be some excellent people but they seem to be continually overshadowed by their less capable colleagues.

I can see flames in Sheffield from here, and I’m in Pembrokeshire at the moment.

Surfing rules – explain please

Just the one:

Not local? Go home!

Really great synopsis of his work.

MoreCashThanDash – Member
Being an only child certainly brings it home to you.

Yup, I’ve been lucky to have extended family around to help but they are going fast too. Guess it time for me to MTFU and be a grown up.

@MCTD – at least there are no siblings to cause issues in making sensible decisions. And, we inherit the lot! Bwahahahahah!

Rusty Spanner – Member
Dog attacks in Wales up 81% in 10 years.

Do the Welsh have dogs whose mouths open really wide? 😀

Mine are 91 & 87 – pretty fit and capable at the moment but all paperwork is in place. I expected that it was going to be a really hard task to discuss this with them, but they were really grateful that I was concerned for them.

MrsCat & I are extending the house so if anything happens they are coming to us, her folks are 20 years younger than mine so they will come to use in their turn. It’s the only way to repay the completely unconditional love we had from them.

OP – I would suggest just sitting down with them and talking it through.

His stand up routines left me helpless and in tears of laughter. Comedy genius and one of my heroes. So sad.

Top effort Rich.

AdamW – Member

@rogerthecat
Only for the south Welsh. Us North Welsh aren’t taffies.

True, you lot are mostly from Cheshire in your holiday homes! 😉

@Aplin – predictive text issues?

Should have read “Wales… a land of Taffies?

Just rain in the Hope Valley.
No decent waves to speak of.
Like riding in the rain, off out later.

It’s only one beer each though.
Unless you buy multiples, if so where do you drink?

Round of toast = 1 slice.

We used tablets and bands which helped my eldest, I’m sure it was psychological rather than physiological.

He was much worse in soft ride ‘comfy’ cars but managed to leave his tell tale aroma in most cars we owned!

We found that giving him line of sight of the road ahead, keeping fresh air circulating in the car and taking it very steady through the twisty bits kept cleaning the car to a minimum.

We also made sure he had bags to hand and was ready to drop his window if he felt queasy – bit of a prob with the restricted drop in the back of some cars.

Good luck, by good air fresheners!!

gobuchul – Member
I’ll answer that and sign the petition once somebody can explain to me what practical use it will be.

I can’t see it doing anything other than be another touchpoint with the general masses that says we are not happy that the UK govt is indolent to the point of being obstructive and that we, the people who get to vote in the next election, are not happy about it. It may in some small way prick someone’s conscience – got to be worth a try.

Am I the only one old enough to remember the being taught about the Berlin Airlift?
As I recall there was a significantly bigger bully involved with much bigger toys, but the US & UK saw fit to deliver food and aid to those in East Berlin.

Where there is a will there is a way – it may not be a hospital ship to Gaze or deploying a naval task force to Afghanistan – it’s just that the the political motivation is simply not there.

gobuchul – Member
What about sending it to Afganistan
Good luck with that!

You sir lack ambition! 😉

Signed, not because it will happen but it does, in some small way, register my disgust at the situation.

Just read this thread over lunch – some really informative stuff and great links (excluding the Chewkbollocks).

There are sufficient intelligent people operating within the Israeli Government, with a good grasp of history and conflict, to fully understand exactly what they doing and what the likely response will be. This IMO makes them the aggressor, wholly accountable and responsible for the situation and the ones who should be internationally sanctioned for their actions.

I agree with Irish Senator David Norris – where are orators and conviction politicians like this when they are needed? He makes some brilliant points.

Hope your old fella makes a full recovery, make sure the kids are ok, keep reassuring them that it wasn’t their fault.

+1 Binners.

Peaks are awful, stay away 😉

Peaks has just about every type of riding – Monsal Trail to real tech stuff.
Prob worth gestating some local advice or checking out a guide book.
Don’t let the nay Sayers of any persuasion put you off.

EDIT: if you really want to test your fs bike I’d try riding on the roads around Sheff, Ringinglow Rd would be a good start!

Proper **** grumpy.
Little Cuz is coming to our village carnival.
This will be her last, lung cancer will kill her before Xmas.
Very very angry at those who promote cigarettes to children.
The media for making it seem ‘cool’.
She started at 15 and struggled to stop.
Seems she will be quitting shortly.
Dead at 47, leaves two teenage kids the same ages as mine.
**** every last one of them.
Proper **** grumpy.

Quick answer to cuckoo – it’s all about liability and section 56 notices. Individuals appear to be able to use them to force DCC to take action if there is a possibility of liability. Full explanation on peakdistrictmtb website. I suspect that, from conversations with DCC, that the horse riding lobby is better connected, funded and organised than the MTB riders, we are trying but it’s all done as and when we can.

Came out of St Pancras last winter with a hot chocolate freshly made from Benugo to find a huge guy looking freezing begging for money for a hot drink, no one seemed to bat an eye at this so I gave him mine, he gave me hug that nearly broke my back. Never seen him since around that area, wonder what became of him.

Too easy to be judgemental and suspicious, if I give things to a ‘wrong un’ every so often so be it, odds are that many will be grateful and it will help.

MoreCashThanDash – Member
If you get the taste for martial arts, “Angry White Pyjamas” is a great read

Fab book.
Did Judo for 23 years and Ju Jitu for 14, the best bit is that you are actually getting hold of someone and using their momentum, when it clicks it feels brilliant.
Stopped due to injury and kids, tempted to try it again but at 50 I may not be as good as my mind tells me I once was.
If I could find a club with some other ‘has beens’ who were up for it I may give it a go now the boys are grown up.

Well that’s almost all of my CD collection named so far!

I’d like to add any syncopated jazz that sounds like a group of people playing several tunes all at the same time to different beats.

Jamie – Freeloader! But we still like him
http://www.robynarouty.com/personal/
*spits out tea*

Beyonce?

Finally managed to get out and ride up & down the Long Causeway.

What is being done is somewhat different to what we had been assured would happen by PDNPA and DCC. We are a little annoyed at having been misled.

There are a few bits of stone poking through the flat surface, but nothing to challenging. The full width has been flattened.

There are drainage gulleys crossing the trail which are similar to those on Chapel Gate and could catch out anyone making use of the new, fast surface. They can be jumped if you have sufficient speed but the downslope sides are quite steep if you clip them.

We have tried to engage with DCC and PDNPA, the latter are pretty useless when DDC are involved as DCC just ignore them, DCC tell us one thing and do another.

So, if you have not joined either RS or PDNPA – head on over and sign up, join both, then we can look at stepping up what we do and have a bit more clout.

Dear Mods,
please don’t close this thread, I have found the cut and thrust of the argument interesting and informative. it has prompted me to spend a couple of hours today making myself better informed about the situation in Israel at this moment in time. I was, it seems, somewhat out of date in some of my assumptions.

There is still new information, point and counterpoint being made and it’s still an interesting read.

The last couple of points have caused me to dig a little further into HRW, an organisation I had been comfortable to trust until Ernie pointing out their US funding – more research.

Although not mountain bike related it is still interesting, so please don’t lock it. If you have read it made your point and are bored, read another thread.

Cheers, RTC.

From the CPS guidance website:

Definition of Homicide

Murder and manslaughter are two of the offences that constitute homicide.

Manslaughter can be committed in one of three ways:

1. killing with the intent for murder but where a partial defence applies, namely loss of control, diminished responsibility or killing pursuant to a suicide pact.

2. conduct that was grossly negligent given the risk of death, and did kill, is manslaughter (“gross negligence manslaughter”); and

3. conduct taking the form of an unlawful act involving a danger of some harm, that resulted in death, is manslaughter (“unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter”).

The term “involuntary manslaughter” is commonly used to describe a manslaughter falling within (2) and (3) while (1) is referred to as “voluntary manslaughter”.

There are of course other specific homicide offences, for example, infanticide, and causing death by dangerous or careless driving. For dangerous driving see CPS Guidance on Charging Offences Arising from Driving Incidents elsewhere in the Legal Guidance.

Which is defined thus:

Murder and Manslaughter

If the vehicle was intentionally used as a weapon to kill or commit grievous bodily harm, a charge of murder may be considered. If the killing was involuntary, that is to say, where it was not intended, manslaughter may be considered. Manslaughter may arise as unlawful act manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter. In addition, the charge of corporate manslaughter is also available.

Manslaughter is an obligatorily disqualifiable offence – Part II of Schedule 2 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 (RTOA 1988). An extended retest is also mandatory (section 36 of the RTOA 1988).

Manslaughter should also be considered where the driving has occurred “off road” i.e. other than on a road or other public place, or when the vehicle driven was not mechanically propelled, and death has been caused. In these cases the statutory offences such as causing death by dangerous driving or causing death by careless driving do not apply.

Prosecutors should also see the chapter on Homicide: Murder and Manslaughter in our Legal Guidance.
Unlawful act manslaughter

It must be proved that:

The suspects act caused the death of another;
The suspects act constituted a criminal offence in itself;
The suspect had the mens rea appropriate to the unlawful act which caused the death of another; and
The suspects unlawful act is objectively recognised as subjecting another to the risk of some physical harm, albeit not necessarily serious harm.

Unlawful act manslaughter will be the most appropriate charge when there is evidence that a vehicle was used as an instrument of attack or to cause fright, (but where the necessary intent for murder is absent), and death occurs as a result.

In the context of driving offences, it is important to remember that there is a difference between cases where there is a specific unlawful act which relates to the manner and standard of the driving, and those where a death has occurred as a result of driving that is unlawful only because of the negligent manner of its performance.

Driving carelessly or driving dangerously do not, on their own, amount to unlawful acts for the purpose of unlawful act manslaughter. Andrews v DPP [1937] A.C. 576

Unlawful act manslaughter should, therefore, only be charged instead of causing death by dangerous driving where there is evidence that the driver either intended to cause injury to the victim or was reckless as to whether injury would be caused.

Which seems to indicate to me that, unlike the involuntary discharge of a firearm that kills another person, running into them with a motor vehicle is a lesser offence. Happy to have someone correct, but that’s how it reads to me.

At what point does it become manslaughter?

JCB up by the revetment this morning. Heading up tomorrow morning to see if DCC & PDNPA have been spinning us a yarn about the preservation of features. Not hopeful from the look of the pic.

We were stocking up ready for the zombie apocalypse.

Don’t forget the cyclone vacuum cleaner.

Tonight was ace, high level loop of the Hope Valley, monsoon, beers and I kept up with the geardy weirdies. I is bak!

Was going to say yes but in light of the antics of the ‘death wish’ brigade ^^^ mines pretty trivial!
Abdominal surgery in Feb and struggled to get out once I was healed. Now flabby and slow and old and slow and unfit and slow and lacking in stamina and slow. Mind is willing but body is not MTFU, off out in an hour to slow down some fast mates.

EDIT: my ‘death wish’ comment seems a bit crass after Postierich’s third lung pic

+1 was there this weekend, if the weather is nice the docks are fab.
Museum of slavery is thought provoking but good.
Museum of Liverpool is worth a visit.
Water sports centre in the dock is good fun.
People are generally nice, just watch your alloys. 😀

Anything to do with kids – bloody fatherhood!

Good – I was in Liverpool 😈

Bad – getting from the Peak to Stockport.

Ugly – the attitude of some real cockwombles in cars to cyclists as we passed through crowds of cyclists – no patience. It took us longer to get from the Hope Valley to Stockport than from Stockport to Liverpool, but we just gave everyone loads of room and space. Saw riders forced into the gutter, insane overtaking of groups and no patience for slow riders. Amazingly some of the worst culprits had bikes on the roof or on the back of their cars.

There were a couple of dumb riders who cheerily tried to wave us into oncoming cars or over double whites on blind bends, then got annoyed whe I didn’t overtake! Appreciate the thought chaps but I’ll wait until I can see it’s clear thanks.

Mates who went said it was fantastic but Uni visits took priority. Would have loved to have seen it.

Scariest was the way some drivers performed with so many bikes around. A few butters waving me past at blind bends and double white lines- good intentions but a bit dumb. Best bit was seeing so many people on bikes.