Boris and Kate "The Real Menace" Hoey.

dondare

Cyclist Boris has employed Kate Hoey as an advisor.
Does anyone remember that vitriolic attack Kate Hoey made against cyclists in the Mail on Sunday a while back? Without any irony or humour of any sort she wrote a whole page condeming cyclsts as "The Real Menace on The Roads."

attica

It'll be Matthew "Piano wire across the roads" Parrish next!

number9

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/mot ... 40,00.html

there was also an intriguing reference to Kate Hoey MP. Someone called her a 'well-known cyclist hater and blood-sports enthusiast'.


My eyebrows shot up. I looked into it. The former accusation stems from an article Hoey wrote for the Mail on Sunday in 2003, headlined 'Lycra Louts'. Hoey informed her readers that the reason bicycle users sometimes break the rules has nothing to do with making it safer for themselves, or wanting to get down the shops a bit quicker. In fact, she says, they 'take pleasure in flouting the law and deliberately winding up motorists'.


Christ.


She goes on to complain that 'there's a kind of innate moral superiority about cycling that assumes they should be immune from the law and have the freedom to do as they please'. She then notes her outrage that when she beeps her car horn at a rider for using the road when there's a cycle lane nearby, she gets abused.

Following the publication of 'Lycra Louts', Kate was assailed by angry emailing activists. No wonder she was defensive.

patchy

that guardian article is surprisingly good - although it only really touches on the real issue, the whole 'every person for themself' attitude which is increasingly endemic between cyclists, motorists and pedestrians – and which i suspect may be the real issue.

Gawd, keep on like this i'll be bemoaning the breakdown of community as the true evil of modern life...

SamWise72

The thing is, I just don't recognise the "It's dog eat dog, and everyone is trying to kill us" situation he describes. I ride in London a couple of times a week, and in Southampton all the time, and it's very rare that I have any problems. In London particularly, I'm much more shocked by the behaviour of other cyclists than of motorists, generally.

In other news, I thought this was one of the best descriptions ever:
"tube-shy gutter wobblers"

Lovely!