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by Simon L6
13 May 2013, 7:40pm
Forum: Cycling Goods & Services - Your Reviews
Topic: Shiny Bikes (shinybikes.com)
Replies: 4
Views: 58050

Re: Shiny Bikes (shinybikes.com)

my advice is don't deal with them

if you want chapter and verse you can e-mail me on fnrttc"yahoo.co.uk
by Simon L6
9 Dec 2012, 12:27pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

gentlegreen wrote:
ukdodger wrote:
What's an 'advisory cycle lane'?

About as useful as a chocolate teapot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwqrUA4ahe4

(my first YouTube video - no swearing - not even any commentary)

that's a sweetly put together piece of work!
by Simon L6
7 Dec 2012, 10:47am
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

in answer to Thirdcrank's question - I've no idea about the audience numbers. Sorry.

I've not seen any post-transmission reviews either.......
by Simon L6
6 Dec 2012, 3:37pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

thirdcrank wrote:I'll suggest that firing off emails or even formal complaints to the BBC is a sheer waste of time and it's probably counter productive in that it's an indicator of heightened audience interest. Anybody with substantial grounds for grievance can go direct to a lawyer and take the licence payers to the cleaners.

(A lot of posts since I started on this one,)
absolutely correct. If anybody is that interested they should read the BikeBiz article.
by Simon L6
6 Dec 2012, 1:47pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

byegad wrote:If a cyclist could slap a car, without the cyclist deviating from his/her path, then the car was too close!

But slapping a car brings on the 'my space has been invaded' response which we saw several times in the programme. I don't know the answer but slapping a car can only rarely be the right answer..
I've rapped my knuckles on car windows and bonnets hundreds of times. Hundreds. And only once had the kind of reaction that Gaz got (it was a London taxi). And that's the problem with the programme, as Gaz would be quick to point out. The things we saw last night were exceptional.

One of the standout edits was on Ben's video. They showed the near head-on with a motorcyclist. They didn't show the motorcyclist offering a heartfelt apology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekSMrAL-N9E bad language alert!
by Simon L6
6 Dec 2012, 1:44pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

Geriatrix wrote:In the wake of the program it seems like another cyclist has been killed by a lorry in London:

http://lcc.org.uk/articles/another-londoner-dies-in-cyclist-lorry-crash

RIP. A tragedy for his family, my sympathies to them,
a lollipop man was killed this morning in Hampshire. It's not us. It's them
by Simon L6
6 Dec 2012, 1:43pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

guess which sport has received the biggest post-Olympics boost? Begins with C..........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/de ... ticipation
by Simon L6
6 Dec 2012, 1:32pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/bbc-do ... our/014036 for a considered view

You'll recall Danny M's video got 26 million views on youtube? In the light of the fuss about this programme, how many views do you think the WOBR youtube video has got this morning?

126

and two of those were me opening it to see how many views there'd been

The FNRttC website has had faster days...........
by Simon L6
6 Dec 2012, 11:29am
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fe ... 682580.ece

from a surprising source........Cynthia Barlow was on the case of construction traffic deaths while the LCC were busy looking the other way.
by Simon L6
6 Dec 2012, 8:59am
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

well, Chazza, it is an odd thing, isn't it? Cycle 'campaigners' ramble on about this and that junction, or how we should 'go Dutch', tell us that Britain's roads are somehow fundamentally unsuited for bikes and that death is all around us, and then they complain when they think a television programme creates a similar impression. Thirdcrank mentioned the CTC's conversion to segregation, and, while it's all too painful to discuss, and while I accept the Campaigns staff had it forced on them by a caucus within the membership, it ill-behoves the CTC to bemoan a programme sensationalising conflict between motor vehicles and cyclists when that same organisation is campaigning for cyclists to be given separate provision.

I'm reminded of that awful Walthamstow person who routinely says that Cycling Superhighways Are Wrong. Then again, I see anything up to 45 cyclists waiting at a single red light on CS7 and wonder what he knows that they don't.

The Lucas Brunelle footage was completely inappropriate for the programme, but, if I'm honest, I enjoy watching it from time to time, if only because it relieves the tedium induced by people telling me that we're dooooomed and it's all going to end in tears.
by Simon L6
6 Dec 2012, 7:27am
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

I think Pete's and Snigbo's assessments are pretty fair, in that the programme was clearly not going to encourage anybody to ride a bike, but, then again, that wasn't the intention. It's a suburban take on urban life, and, just as it would have been if the subject were public transport, it was a supposedly improving message from rather isolated folk getting upset about something they know little about. But....to repeat - it's telly. That's all it is. That's all it was ever going to be. It's a musty elderly gent's club grumbling about the modern world. To compare it with something meaningful, like a bike ride, is to compare a matchbox full of grime with a thousand tonnes of sunshine.

If the CTC wants to get hold of the medium and use the power of moving images in a worthwhile way then they should look beyond schedule fillers. Danny McAllister reaches audiences that mainstream telly doesn't touch, and it reaches them in a condensed, immediate way. Mainstream telly audiences are in decline, and the future lies in shorter, more compelling footage distributed by Facebook and affinity groups. That last night's programme was dominated by headcam footage says it all. This.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj6ho1-G6tw has had 24 million views. I doubt 'The War on Britain's Roads' got more than a tenth of that.

I sent this to the CTC yesterday. http://www.toast.co.uk/content/christma ... ster+Group You'll laugh at it, and you're entitled to laugh at it, but the virtue of it is that it's cheap, it's direct, and it's there to make a point. And, while I'm sure that most of you have no interest in buying faux fisherman's jumpers, you can, I hope, see how it 'builds the brand'. Our brand is cycling, and, more specifically, the CTC. If we think that moving images can build it, this is the kind of thing we need to look at.

My final thought is this. Each year I get e-mails from half a dozen people that run along the lines of 'your rides have changed my life'. Will last night's effort change anybody's life? You know the answer to that - it's not even chip papers. The simple truth is that we do something that is healthful, useful and joyful, and that, unlike 'The War on Britain's Roads' will endure. We can be sure of ourselves and confident of a better, brighter day.
by Simon L6
5 Dec 2012, 10:44pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

well, there you have it. Not so bad, not so good, just the usual tabloid invitation to moralise but with nice camerawork. Including the Lucas Brunelle footage was stupid, but, hey, if you're looking for context, insight and analysis, read a book. There were some affecting moments and some irritating moments (yes, Mr. Taxi Driver, you are a psycho) but overall it was a kind of ciip show for the masses and if you and I think that it has nothing to do with the joy or even the tedium of our daily ride that's not the programme's problem because it's made by couch potatoes for couch potatoes.

This is a medium that exalts witless clods like Kyle and Clarkson. Think on that and get hold of the idea that it's not supposed to be uplifting, educative or even memorable. In approximately five minutes time all but ten people will have forgotten all about it.

Oh - I thought Gaz was really good value. Respect to Croydon's finest!
by Simon L6
5 Dec 2012, 5:24pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

I take your point, R2, but I'll wait until I see the fillum.

I think the change in driving culture in London has been so much for the better than I would have thought possible, that I reckon that the effect of any bit of 'culture', however minor, would vary from place to place.
by Simon L6
5 Dec 2012, 4:48pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

it's telly, Chris. Just telly. Not the repository of hopes and fears, not a means of social advancement. Take a look at Strictly. There's kind of a man/woman thing going on there. It's, how can I put this, not exactly up-to-date with the gender politics thing. Look at any drama series and mentally take the clothes off all the men and women and then weigh said clothes - my guess is that the men will be wearing four or five times by weight what the women are wearing. And ,far from being an example to the others, the BBC is close on being the worst. Look at the way Entwistle was appointed, and note, please, that he sacked the woman candidate for his job the next day, and then remember Patten saying that they had to get 'the best man for the job'. Look at the BBC breakfast show and wonder at the balance between the male presenter and the female presenter. It is as if the last forty years hasn't happened. If the show does men and not women it's because television doesn't see women as anything other than sex objects. With respect, that's a bigger thing than a programme about cycling. Feel free to complain about it, but please don't be surprised.

http://argonon.com/waronbritainsroadsblog/ FWIW
by Simon L6
5 Dec 2012, 3:41pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The War on Britain's Roads
Replies: 417
Views: 26572

Re: The War on Britain's Roads

snibgo wrote:Thanks. I dunno why the page (http://www.leopardfilms.com/news/leopar ... pm-bbc-one) linked in the OP is now gone.
probably because it was the number one story and has now been bumped down by the appointment in the US. Bear in mind that 50 programmes a week come out of Argonon in the UK, and heaven knows how many in the US. There's a lot going on besides this programme