Matthew Parris times article

[barq]

I guess Parris would argue that the piano wire idea wasn't to be taken seriously, but the problem is that it puts the idea in people's minds and just once in a while some idiot actually goes and does it.

About four years ago someone put fishing line between trees at Newlands Corner in Surrey and a cyclist was injured. Afterwards a worrying number of my friends seemed to think it was a 'harmless prank gone wrong' and that cyclists 'ask for it'. That sort of attitude is why these things get treated so trivially rather than as attempted murder.

 

[gambatte]

I had an incident a couple of years ago, walking though a snicket/gennel. Someone had put up a clothesline in their garden and there was a lot of excess. Someone had taken this and tied it across the snicket.

I was walking the dog, so it hit my throat at a slow walking pace. Still a shock and painful. I don't like to think about if it was at speed on a bike...

 

[TimDanaher]

I've sent off a complaint to the PCC, but looking at their Code of Practice, it's difficult to see what part of the CoP has actually been violated.

There doesn't seem to be a section on not being a smug cünt.

 

[piedwagtail91]

this is from a post by a bloke called bernard on
http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=17192&st=30


There are 2 particular codes that I think have been broken:

1> All members of the press have a duty to maintain the highest professional standards

2> Journalists must not engage in intimidation

There are more, but these are fairly obvious and I'll complain using these.

 

[Pete]

Well, I've added my (I hope, polite but firm and unremitting) E-mail to the growing pile that must be amassing on the editor's inbox... played it a bit sycophantic, reminding him what a great newspaper he edits (ho ho!) etc. etc. Hope I didn't do wrong there!

I think there's a chance that letters direct to the editor (and by that I mean the general editor, not the letters editor) can and occasionally do strike gold. The formerly odious Hoggart (on the Guardian) has kept very quiet on his pet topic of cyclists, for many months now. I wonder whether Rusbridger has breathed a quiet word in his ear - and whether this was fuelled by reader feedback direct to Rusbridger?

One thing I can't do, is the time-honoured posturing of "I'll cancel my subscription to The Times". Seeing as I already don't subscribe to The Times. I used to - way back in the 1970s, long before the Mudrock takeover when I switched to the good old Grauniad...

 

[Cathryn]

I continue to be horrified by this. I think it's so irresponsible and dangerous. I emailed the editor and said so. No idea if it'll make a difference, but I felt I'd fought my corner.

 

[Twenty Inch]

My mail to Harding, helpfully including links to BBC articles describing similar episodes.

Dear Mr. Harding

I read with disbelief Matthew Parris's article on 27 December, calling for cyclists to be decapitated by stringing piano wire across roads. This regularly happens, as the links that I attach below will show. It is completely unacceptable for Parris or anyone else to advocate causing injury to others. No doubt he will say that it was in jest. It is not funny when it happens to you.

I have been assaulted, spat at, punched, abused and had objects thrown at me when out cycling. Parris's idiotic remarks create the environment in which this happens. I hope that you will be having words with him.

Regards


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6950033.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/5156908.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/4597616.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/3987269.stm

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I suppose we are lucky this ****wit posted in the times and not the mirror or sun etc...must Chavs dont read the times....I feel sure that if they were to get hold of an idea like this there would already be headless cyclists littering the roads of south essex. What a totally irresponsible article. he should be forced to retract and apologise, then made to ride a bike on the roads for eternity.

 

[Pete]

must Chavs dont read the times....

I'd shorten that remark to say simply "most chavs don't read" But sadly, not quite true, and there is every possibility that a google search on some lunatic and nefarious topic might home in on that article. You don't have to be a Times reader to read a Times article, these days...

... he should be ... made to ride a bike on the roads for eternity.

No no NO!!! What we want is a punishment for the bloke, you are proposing a reward...

 

[Twenty Inch]

I suppose we are lucky this ****wit posted in the times and not the mirror or sun etc...must Chavs dont read the times....I feel sure that if they were to get hold of an idea like this there would already be headless cyclists littering the roads of south essex. What a totally irresponsible article. he should be forced to retract and apologise, then made to ride a bike on the roads for eternity.

Unfortunately it's not only chavs who have problems with cyclists. Part of my commute takes me through very well-to-do parts of sarf London. Range Rovers, Mercs and BMW drivers all read the Times as well. They might not string wire across Elmers End Road, but this drivel doesn't help them to be responsible drivers.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I agree. I suggest we lay down stingers for the sarf london lot with a central cycle friendly section...that should do it.

 

[Globalti]

I have just sent a complaint to the PCC.

Surely Parris could be prosecuted for Incitement to Murder?

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Surely Parris could be prosecuted for Incitement to Murder?

I agree & so should the editor. As some of the comments from readers state had he said the same about black peeps things would have been a lot worse for him....but because it was mere cyclists, and 99% of the population are lazy ignorant motorists they dont give a toss....after all they were planning on killing us anyway .

 

[barq]

Unfortunately it's not only chavs who have problems with cyclists.

Yeah, here in leafy Surrey there is a elderly and very well-to-do woman who walks her dog in the same area I go riding (off-road). She has an absolute vendetta against MTB riders and drags logs around to obstruct bridleways. Mostly her actions are simply annoying, but she sometimes positions them in quite dangerous places.

I bet articles like this one feed her fury and make her believe she is doing the right thing.

 

[girofan]

I suppose we are lucky this ****wit posted in the times and not the mirror or sun etc...must Chavs dont read the times....I feel sure that if they were to get hold of an idea like this there would already be headless cyclists littering the roads of south essex. What a totally irresponsible article. he should be forced to retract and apologise, then made to ride a bike on the roads for eternity.

What worries me is that the members of The Countryside Alliance see this article. As a right-wing group they make the Hitler Youth look like the WI.
I can imagine the local Young Farmers thinking this a super wheeze to teach those townies a lesson.