Cycling UK Forum

If you want a sharp knife you will get one. I have a very sharp billhook in the garage, for work on hedges, and it would make a formidable weapon. I have a few Stanley knives, a knife that carves up veg very nicely, and a few axes. Normal peaceful existence is full of implements that could kill if misused. There are cars too, of course. If someone is not in prison they will have access to things that could kill.

Im waiting for someone to announce that Narwhal tusks are to be classified as an offensive weapon.

I managed to pierce the skin yesterday with our bread knife. The end might be rounded but the tip of the cutting edge isn't blunt as I found out.

kwackers wrote:

pete75 wrote:In any case it takes but a few minutes with a bench grinder to turn a blunt ended knife into a sharp pointy knife.

Or pretty much any bit of metal.
Handles - that's where the "difficulty" lies.

Eh? They'r enot difficult to make. Two pieces of wood and a couple of rivets or countersunk nuts and bolts or even, if its for a one off use, masking tape or duct tape.

If anyone fancies experiencing wielding a Narwhal tusk, the most excellent Whitby museum has a whole basket full of them you can go and pick up.

They are very heavy and would be excellent for keeping a knife wielding fanatic at bay.

https://whitbymuseum.org.uk/whats-here/

It's also got some world class fossils such as ichthyosaurs as well as a wonderfully eclectic bunch of random stuff.

Our rather unpleasant government is obsessed with a) blaming Labour for something that happened several years into their own regime and b) trying to sound ever more tough and punitive. They fail entirely to pay even the tiniest attention to the work that the two murdered young people were involved with.

Oldjohnw wrote:Our rather unpleasant government is obsessed with a) blaming Labour for something that happened several years into their own regime and b) trying to sound every more tough and punitive. They fail entirely to pay even the tiniest attention to the work that the two murdered young people were involved with.

The rank stench of their mendacity, opportunism and moral decay seeps from their every utterance.

I'm into my 6th decade now, and I have never in my life experienced anything approaching such a toxic brew of dishonesty, self entitlement and cowardice in British politics.

I think they will win. It turns my stomach.

I just entered my 8th decade. I couldn't tell you how many GEs I've followed. Whilst always the parties try to knock each other down and play up the their own ambitions, I have never seen lies like the currrnt campaign, or an incompetent liar as the leader

roubaixtuesday wrote:

Oldjohnw wrote:Our rather unpleasant government is obsessed with a) blaming Labour for something that happened several years into their own regime and b) trying to sound every more tough and punitive. They fail entirely to pay even the tiniest attention to the work that the two murdered young people were involved with.

The rank stench of their mendacity, opportunism and moral decay seeps from their every utterance.

I'm into my 6th decade now, and I have never in my life experienced anything approaching such a toxic brew of dishonesty, self entitlement and cowardice in British politics.

I think they will win. It turns my stomach.

I don’t know whether they will win or not and if they do win then I suspect that it will be by not as much as is forecast. Personally I think that the Conservative party picked the wrong leader and they will pay a price for it. Sadly Labour (or should that be Momentum) have picked someone who is broadly seem (and certainly portrayed) as being unelectable, someone along Blair’s lines would have been in power after the last election. Blair would also have had the sense to say that the Brexit referendum result was too close to act on and have then gone for a second referendum requiring both a higher percentage and number of votes to change the status quo (ie. give a clear rather than a marginal instruction to leave or we stay until that changes).

To some extent Labour have been the architect of their own failure to be elected. Some in the Labour Party didn’t like Blair, but he got elected and the Tories did not. None of the parties bring much credit on themselves by their behaviour in Parliament, in my viewing Labour MP’s simply haven’t impressed and by a margin win the worst behaved competition - that doesn’t incline Joe public to vote for them.

Opportunities arise from all things. I have wondered why politicians haven’t pointed at the positive actions of the rehabilitated prisoners and claimed credit for such things, but for their actions and those of other civilian heros the outcome could have been far worse.

pete75 wrote:

kwackers wrote:

pete75 wrote:In any case it takes but a few minutes with a bench grinder to turn a blunt ended knife into a sharp pointy knife.

Or pretty much any bit of metal.
Handles - that's where the "difficulty" lies.

Eh? They'r enot difficult to make. Two pieces of wood and a couple of rivets or countersunk nuts and bolts or even, if its for a one off use, masking tape or duct tape.

That's why I put it in quotes.
30 seconds on a grinder for the blade, a few minutes for a handle.

An account of the brave people tackling Khan'

Witnesses describe how Usman Khan went from delegate to killer, and the heroic resistance he met

[url]https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/02/bravery-teamwork-tragedy-the-effort-to-stop-the-london-bridge-attack
[/url]

One wonders if one would be brave enough to do this. I hope I would be.

pete75 wrote:

kwackers wrote:

pete75 wrote:In any case it takes but a few minutes with a bench grinder to turn a blunt ended knife into a sharp pointy knife.

Or pretty much any bit of metal.
Handles - that's where the "difficulty" lies.

Eh? They'r enot difficult to make. Two pieces of wood and a couple of rivets or countersunk nuts and bolts or even, if its for a one off use, masking tape or duct tape.

The guys at work use old band saw blades, cut to length then the teeth ground out to a knife blade. A handle of cellotape wrapped so many times. Rather floppy at times but it's only for cutting glass fibre, fabric and other soft materials.

They also make knives out of any metal they can find. Flat bar is a favourite though. Handles are the easiest part to make.

Btw I would not be surprised to find out a few of the guys being of the type to use a knife on the streets too. So the skills they have making knives at work could certainly have outside use. It doesn't have to be pretty or durable. Indeed if it breaks after stabbing it's possibly a better thing if you're a ne'er do well.

kwackers wrote:

pete75 wrote:In any case it takes but a few minutes with a bench grinder to turn a blunt ended knife into a sharp pointy knife.

Or pretty much any bit of metal.
Handles - that's where the "difficulty" lies.

Outside, as we have seen, a motor makes a very good weapon without modification.
Also, motors can carry a lot more explosive than a body belt.
Is it time for more restrictions on their use?

Mike Sales wrote:

kwackers wrote:

pete75 wrote:In any case it takes but a few minutes with a bench grinder to turn a blunt ended knife into a sharp pointy knife.

Or pretty much any bit of metal.
Handles - that's where the "difficulty" lies.

Outside, as we have seen, a motor makes a very good weapon without modification.
Also, motors can carry a lot more explosive than a body belt.
Is it time for more restrictions on their use?

As we know, cyclists in that London are all pedestrian-killers - and this with just an un-weaponised bike! Obviously they should all be banned in case they stuff their down tube with nerve gas that they exude via a hole in the BB as they pass through the heaving thoroughfares.

Also, cyclists induce car drivers to feel delayed, probably in the hope that the poor drivers will lose their temper and run over someone as a necessary emollient to their disturbed emotional condition. Those bikes can also scratch the car paintwork, you know, when a driver has to run over one to get past!

Cugel, wondering if a jack plane on a string would make a good morningstar.

I have heard that in some areas of London bikes left chained to railings will be kidnapped by the police and held hostage in the copshop lest they explode!