Thetownend.com

I think we needed a new topic header for this pair of bastards  :badmood:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-66307905

It’s stuff like this that makes me think the death penalty isn’t so bad

To hear on the radio that he would have been  in constant pain for most of the 10 months of his life, made me want to inflict constant pain on that monster for the rest of HIS life. Heartbreaking.

A minimum of 28 years, let's hope the prick never gets released.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-66405310

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-67344032

He's 78 years old for fuck sake   :badmood:

Cunts. I can picture the anti British mob who will be responsible. Hope things don't kick off on remembrance day, might have to attend this year.

Saw a video of the free Palestine protesters abusing a kid and his mum for getting a McDonalds yesterday. Beggars belief.

Get the Army to protect the Cenotaph -  they will look after it, if the police are too woke.

It’s not the army’s job to control civilians, though.

Just the anti western mob need keeping an eye on.

Tony Robinson and friends will have a say!

Manuel?

Baldrick?

Ah, yes.

Fawlty thinking there.

 :D
The Scales have now dropped from my eyes

Don't worry Audrey has a cunning plan....

Boom! Boom! Boom!

That's bad but not quite as bad as that time Ian Tomlinson was pushed over and killed at a protest. No conviction that time so this is unlikely to merit it unfortunately.

The tabloids, the Home Secretary, some back benchers and their media mouthpieces, are going to be incredibly pissed off if the tinderbox of tensions they've been desperately fanning all week don't explode into a riot, albeit I see the Met are still noting that they fear the biggest risk for disorder is from right wing groups (and football hooligans bizarrely (no idea why they will be in London on Sunday?))

What people seem to be ignoring is that the march is actually Saturday (and is planned to go nowhere near the cenotaph) whilst the remembrance stuff at the cenotaph is on Sunday as usual I assume?

This won't be helping matters though to be fair.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-67349510

Antagonistic behaviour. Cunts.

The politicians and media have wound up certain elements of the Poppy brigade over a peace march.

Wind them up watch them go, its all predictably depressing

I must confess the PM threatening the police was not what I expected to see coming... https://news.sky.com/story/armistice-wrong-day-for-gaza-protest-barclay-says-as-he-reveals-ongoing-govt-talks-despite-police-green-light-13003150

No idea how this is going to end up...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-e3ZwJXsAAowEZ?format=jpg&name=small)

Always seemed a little odd that a 78 year old bloke was being assaulted in a crowded station an no one stepped in (or equally depressingly filmed it at great length and put it on SM).

But hey ho, the Mail got its headline and managed to incite some poppy rage, it really comes earlier and earlier each year.

Young drivers who think it is cool to be sucking on a balloon full of nitrous oxide whilst driving

Fuckwit!

Low team scores on the chase. Waste of a fucking hour

Yes. Knobheads on Quiz Shows generally

Absolutely this... "Geography's not my strong point...or History...or Sport...or Books"... so why the fcuk go on a quiz show then??

Or.... "Oooh I don't know, that's before my time".... OK, so you're not aware of a single thing that happened before you were born, like the Bible... or Hitler... or Shakespeare...etc etc etc😖

I used to run pub quizzes (still supply The Plough in Old Town, if you’ve ever been to one there, it’s mine) and I joke ye not, the most common answer to the question ‘what is the only mammal that can fly’ is ‘penguin’.

Greed.

I expect the TV executives probably pick some of them deliberately to go on the quiz show to perform comically bad…

Celebrities, thick as mince.

The standard of driving in this country with lack of prosecution or accountability.

Cyclist here - BIG AGREE

The standard of cycling is also pretty poor at times as well to be fair...

...and I'm a driver and cyclist...

oh 100% and for the record - I drive too (fantastically I may add).
The increased risk of a car being driven poorly vs a bike is what gets me, alongside the police/cps being unwilling/unable to charge a shit driver.

It may make people rage - Cycling Micky does a great job. Stay off your fucking phone if your engine is running

Maybe I'm getting old but I do find that in general people tend to be much more aggressive these days, people overtaking on roundabouts, sitting right up my arse even when I'm doing the speed limit. (I've given myself enough time to get to my destination early, perhaps you too might like to adopt that practice if you are in a hurry)

It's been done to death but the standard of roads are also atrocious. I guess it doesn't help that the general public tend to favour 2 ton wanker tractors these days which can't help the crumbling and old infrastructure.



Mobile phone addiction makes me mildly seeth. It's one of the many reasons why my commute to London is such a pain in the arse. I'd love someone to invent something that means that if you are moving you can't access any apps on your phone, apart from perhaps the receive and make calls one.

Not sure if agreed with this.

Posted from my iPhone.
Whilst having a nice sunny post school run morning stroll.

Cyclists who think they are some sort of law enforcement officer, and those that wear helmet cameras.

Hope you walk into a lamppost :)

All of the above! I'm a grumpy fucker.

What really makes me see red are twats that let cars (or worse still trucks) onto main roads. But my worst trigger is shopping, I hate it at the best os times, particularly food shopping, but especially when I'm looking at the shelf & someone comes & stands right in front of me, when people block the aisles having a catch up or when I'm in a queue & the old Doris at the front starts counting her cash out!

 :nod:

The shopper and till operator who know each other and start talking about holidays and other shit for another 10 minutes after the last item went through.

Years ago some woman had a go at me in a supermarket for moving her unoccupied trolley out of the way as it was blocking what I needed to get to. Told her she shouldn't leave it unattended in such a stupid place  :)

I think passively seeing and reporting is very different to going out looking for people doing illegal things is very different. I approve of the former!
If driver is on their phone for 10 seconds plus at a red light and don't see someone looking through their window with a camera, it's not great and i applaud the po-po for making it easier to report these dangerous drivers

Now that they have introduced new laws to punish death/injury by dangerous cycling it's only a matter of time before registration and insurance will be required to cycle on the roads.  The playing field will be levelled then and there will be a raft of drivers reporting cyclist for cycling with undue care and attention.  Then we will hear a different story no doubt.  I see just as many bad cyclists as i do drivers, especially in the tight roads where we live.

Not before time Berni,  think Bennett needs to get a life.

Bennett has got plenty going on in his life, he is busy trying to make everyone on here a tad less grumpy..

He deserves the fan of the season medal, especially his trust work.

And perhaps a cycle rack at the ground. But it's obvious that's a bit beyond the current administration.

Let's not go too far too soon..  a medal would expand his ego too soon, won't be able to get his cycling helmet on :)

Which bit do you take issue with?

Successive governments have looked into the idea, they've all found it unworkable and only good for a soundbite rather than a good policy.
That said registration kinda makes sense, i look forward to Dido Harding setting it up next year.
Do you mean levelled in terms of reporting or outcome? Because nothing stops anyone reporting anything from their dashcam...

As with so much performative legislation and governance by the present incumbents of no.10 this is all going to come with a shed load of unintended consequences.

Firstly on insurance, those who seem to get the blood pressure raging the most are those wearing lycra, I would suspect that probably 99% of those already have insurance via a multitude of sources (be that personal insurance, membership of a club, membership of Cycling UK, British Cycling etc), what it will absolutely clobber is the bloke riding his bike to work or little Johnny riding his bike to school or wanting to go out and do tricks on his BMX with his mates.

Registration could possibly be a good idea, but considering how many thousands of un registered motors and unlicensed drivers are knocking about (estimated that over a million vehicles are driven uninsured or unlicensed daily on our roads) its just going to vastly increase the burden on a system that just doesn't work as it stand.

Thirdly its gonna lead to a hell of a lot more cyclists having camera's and reporting close passes etc, I don't ride with one now (would have been handy to have had one when the lorry driver who didn't know how long his wagon was hit me and put me on the verge, crushing my hand!) but would sure as dammit be buying one if this half arsed law comes into effect.

An ex traffic copper noted on Twitter the other day that actually if they bring this to the fore it potentially has a side effect that the drop in what would be defined as the "dangerous" charging thresholds to accommodate & make the legislation effective could then see hundreds more drivers jailed, bearing in mind that at present if you hit and kill a pedestrian on a bike (and are found to be at fault) you tend to do jail time (been two in last 12 years, both done time), motorists rarely do so if you are planning to level up the system, its gonna have to go the other way.

Long and short there are shit cyclists and shit drivers, but one are considerably more likley to injure and kill pedestrians so why are we wasting legislative time and money concentrating on the former (this is a rhetorical question, we all know why, its gets column inches inn the Mail and Telegraph and gets the party faithful's juices flowing) rather than using the existing laws better to manage the latter.

Reporting which leads to outcome.  Let's face it, if a lycra clad cyclist reports number plate XXX then they have something to work with, if the driver reports a blue bike with a bloke wearing purple lycra, that could mean anyone of a 1000 cyclists out on the road.  Cyclists are a lot more vocal about when there is an incident because they just take a photo of the number plate, a driver has no chance of getting listened to.

How can you be accused of dangerous driving if you look at your phone for ten seconds at traffic lights ??  You’re not even moving.  Too many people sticking their noses into other people’s business
One man one job,  enough do goodders about,  let the police do what they’re paid for.

Not sure what lycra has to do with it, but if you report someone to inspector knacker with just a number plate but no photographic evidence they won't even look into it, when that wagon hit me the fuzz didn't even acknowledge the report!

I didn't say dangerous driving, but you must be in control of your vehicle at all times. Checking your phone isn't doing that...see 149 here
https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/general-rules-techniques-and-advice-for-all-drivers-and-riders-general-advice.html

I said going out of your way to report people isn't cool, but if i spot someone driving dangerously or checking their phone whilst driving I wouldn't hesitate to report them

There's also a range that the cyclist is realistically going to be within from the incident. Report them all, see if the police can be arsed to track them down given they've given up on registration plates for taxed or insured cars, even when some get reported.

I guess i'm coming from this from an emotive place of - I've nearly been killed by drivers and their cars driving way too shittily. I don't see a danger that cyclists pose to drivers that could warrant a level playing field.

If we're talking about "ummm achtually you ought to be in that box" or "you passed on a partial red", absolutely fair playing field.

Not sure what things like 2 ton wanker tractor or the likes has to do with it but the cycling community love to throw them out there and drivers don't get offended, take it as a term of endearment.


I am just debating the other side of the discussion because car drivers tend to get tarred with the same brush when the cyclists raise the issue.  Cyclist are right to raise it, they are putting their lives at risk when choosing to ride on a road on a bike for sure, but they do choose to do that.  I get that they don't choose to have cars driven close to them or hitting them in the same way that car drivers do not choose to have their cars scratched or damaged when a cyclist decides to come too close to them in traffic or just pedals straight through a red light. i get it, their lives aren't at risk, but i choose not to take that risk.  Some cyclist choose not to wear helmets, choose to wear no protective clothing and in most cases no protection over their skin at all.

I guess i am just saying that the mightier than thou attitude of some because they are using pedal power, not polluting and it is always the drivers fault, does not do the cyclists group any favours. And like with so many other areas of life, there needs to be less of a split and more of a level view.

And as far as danger to drivers, i would agree there is not much at all, except if you have ever been in the unfortunate situation where you hit a cyclist when they are cycling like an absolute plank, especially when that cyclist is a child, then you might have a different view..

In BO's defence Berni, I think he was exclusively talking about the ''White Range Rover'' brigade, who seemingly have no self awareness as many of them are far too busy taking a selfie to upload to ''the gram'' and putting their teeth whitening light in their gob, to be concerned with actually driving their ''2 ton wanker tractors''  :D

I'm sure there are some people that do drive White Range Rovers who are very very conscientious and aware drivers but it tends to attract a certain type of narcissist. Doesn't help when half of the cast of TOWIE, Love Island and Jordan drive one.

But yeah, I am 99% certain BO meant those types mentioned above when giving that pet name, rather than using it as a cover all for all drivers  ;)

I’m impressed. You managed to get to two lines from the end before mentioning the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph. The therapy must be worth the investment 🤣🤣

The term is Wankpazer

I tend to agree with Mr Boardman:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hyb4h7 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hyb4h7)

Bamboo, it wasn’t directed at Bob, or aimed at Bob, I just used his example to counter the offence taken at referencing Lycra in a Cycling discussion, who would have thought it. My point was that these names get banded around all of the time.  I am intelligent enough to know what Bob meant, and he is right, Bob also knows me well enough on here to know that I wasn’t having a dig at him for the name he used, I took it as a useful example because I couldn’t think of a better one, it seems that you have got offended by my use of it on his behalf, which is a bit weird.

Anyhow, I’m done with the subject now, I don’t ride a bike, I am a very good driver, and I don’t care enough about the subject to warrant this level of excitement that this discussion has raised this afternoon If only we had a decent football club to talk about..

Alright Berni, don't get your lycra in a twist!

Oh for pity's sake Berni, it was quite clear you did single out that specific comment. Just own your shit pal, it's funny how you actually draw me into your own sidelined argument, yet the other week when I totally agreed with you on a matter, you were completely silent. So things only garner a response when something isn't agreeable. Yet you're telling everyone and his dog to be holier than thou most the time.

You just appear to not like it when you're rightfully called out on something, because it is indeed yourself who wants to appear ''right'' all the time. Rather than just put your hands up and say, ''yep, I targeted what Bob said as an example and partly misinterpreted it as for all cars'' but nope, Mr Backtrack has to then turn it into someone else's problem.

I'll not get much ''backing'' on this because I'm not the forum ''bike'' {no pun}. One thing I will say is, you're always telling folk to lighten up, chill out or not take things too seriously but here you are getting hot under the collar about something you've said yourself  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I've not got offended at all, I found it quite funny. Beer O'clock. Laters  :pint: :pint: :pint:

Fuck me, how have you managed to turn this into all about you when you weren't even involved in the discussion?  I wanted to talk about cyclists vs drivers, which is how this started with Bennett and myself and now you have waded in and turned it into a forensic examination of my posts, with you telling me what i meant and what i was doing?

And you are harping back to older posts where i seem to have offended you for not acknowledging that you agreed with me?  Why would i respond to a post agreeing with the point i have already made, you don't need my validation.  If you provide a response that isn't accurate then of course i am going to respond if i feel the need... which is why i have here because a large portion of what you just said is just wrong or your opinion, and that's fine, but i am not going to break it down line by line.

Anyway, i am going to try to step out again.  Off to Corfu tomorrow for a much needed break and some sun and beer - and a well needed escape from the world of STFC.

Ciao mf's

Don't you encourage him, i seem to be able to do that well enough on my own without even realising it..  like an episode of Baby Reindeer.. :)

 :yawn:

Have a good break,  could be a totally different club by the time you return.

He's only going on holiday...he's not emigrating ;)

Legend has it he's going to Aus to Clem's House

#NewManager  :D

This, the fucking bitch killed my 1st Cousins Grandson, 14-year-old Harry Parker RIP.

https://www.wiltshire999s.co.uk/woman-killing-swindon-teen-licence/

I hope she fucking rots in hell the cunt.

Agree. But why is she not charged with ‘causing Death by Dangerous Driving’. No licence surely means you are unskilled to drive and should be charged with the maximum?!

Probably some "technicality" she needs to go away for a long time and I am not talking a couple of years but as you state willfully causing death by dangerous driving would be a starting point.