Cyclists respond to the Addison Lee chairman's "get trained and pay up" rant
John Griffin, chairman of the minicab firm, had this to say in the company magazine:
“The rest of us occupying this roadspace have had to undergo extensive training. We are sitting inside a protected space with impact bars and air bags and paying extortionate amounts of taxes on our vehicle purchase, parking, servicing, insurance and road tax. It is time for us to say to cyclists, ‘You want to join our gang, get trained and pay up’.”
Gaz at The Croydon Cyclist is blunt:
“He started this week off by whining on TV that his minicabs are being treated unfairly because they aren’t allowed to use the bus lanes. By the end of the week he has stated that it isn’t the drivers fault if an inexperienced cyclist gets in their way. John Griffin is a child”.
Simon MacMichael at Road.cc wants a boycott:
“Earlier this week, the company used its Twitter feed to proclaim proudly that its account customers had overwhelmingly backed its unilateral decision to illegally use London’s bus lanes; we wonder whether all of his customers will endorse his views on cycling, and those who have died while riding their bikes, once they learn of them? We also wonder whether any of them might take their business elsewhere?”
Cyclists in the City demolishes Griffin’s argument:
“He seems to be hinting that motorists should have no obligation to slow down or pay attention to what happens around them as far people on bikes (or pedestrians, one assumes?) are concerned because they may be new cyclists and they may not be trained and they may not have paid for a motor vehicle or for (non-existant) “road tax”. He is suggesting people should not have rights to cycle on public roads until they become ‘one of us’ – fully trained and paid up.”
And there are already plans for a die-in outside the firm’s offices next Monday.
It’s a cliche to say that someone “thinks they own the road”. But Mr Griffin appears to think that motorists do, and that cyclists don’t have equal rights on a public road. It’s an untenable stance.
UPDATE: Ross Lydall has spoken to Mr Griffin, and you can read his full response here. A sample:
“I think cyclists are not properly trained. The facts are that somebody who has never ridden a bike in their life can go out and hurl themselves into one of the busiest capitals in the world. That is irresponsible.”
The Croydon Cyclist – Addison Lee is a joke
Road.cc – Addison Lee chairman provokes controversy with his views on London cyclist deaths
Cyclists in the City – If AddisonLee wasn’t worrying you before, it will be once you’ve read this.
Facebook event – Addison Lee die-in
Ross Lydall at The Standard – Minicab boss: my plan to tackle ‘holier than thou, gung-ho cyclists’
20 Apr 2012
London agenda for Friday 20 April 2012
1. Celebrate the 5th anniversary of Kilburn’s Westbury [Le Cool]
2. Experience late night foxtrots, moonshine in teapots, pearls and flappers, bootleggers and millionaires at the Great Gatzby [Run Riot]
3. Get wrecked in Shacklewell at the Robot Elephant Records Showcase [Flavorpill]
4. View the first solo show in the UK of work by Sergio Fermariello [Don’t Panic]
5. Pay £75 to see the Vogue Festival at the Royal Geographic Society and do something [Time Out]
6. Prove that Nevil Maskelyne, the villain of Dava Sobel’s Longitude was a stand-up guy. [Ian Visits]
7. Experience the Georgian Parlour at Dr Johnson’s House [Tired of London]
20 Apr 2012
Why run for London assembly or Mayor when you can be a lord?
The fun-loving, envelope stuffers at Don’t Panic have crafted this video testing the rights and privileges that come with being a Lord. Huzzah huzzah.
19 Apr 2012
Justin Hollar followed the School of Seven Bells on tour and made this beautiful book
Brooklyn based photographer Justin Hollar is best known for his fashion photography, but his new books shows his real passion, music. Inspired by the backstage photos of The Beatles, The Stones and Bob Dylan that he loved when he was growing up, Justin went on tour for two months with School of Seven Bells to capture these backstage moments. The product of this tour is the beautiful and moving SVIIB.
Capturing the atmosphere of the tour and the different sides to the duo’s personality, pictures range from playful and energetic to reflective and lonely. Often pictured on their own or with single objects as the focus – a lone microphone, a guitar sat to rest at the edge of the stage, a small, warm lamp in San Francisco. One of my favourite things about these pictures is the non-intrusive way that he’s captured the artist’s characters and emotions during what must have been an enjoyable but exhausting tour. This book is a must for School of Seven Bells fans or fans of music photography.
SVIIB is available now from artbookclub.org
19 Apr 2012
What the media are saying about "media blackout" victim Siobhan Benita
Here are some excerpts from that media blackout.
“Finally she arrived and, while I won’t say that the media swooned, she certainly had an impact. Tall, glossy-haired, elegant in a pencil dress with scarlet jacket, and a diamond wedding ring that would make an American rapper envious, she’d stand out in any room. She spoke to the TV crews with confidence and panache. “She’s camera-ready!” said an admiring woman reporter, which made her sound like an oven-ready chicken. Her posters show her gazing inspirationally into the distance, a cross between a fashion model and Che Guevara.”
Simon Hoggart – Siobhan Benita: a star is born? in The Guardian.
“She would like to give young people a bigger role in the way London is governed and says that, if elected, she would give up a chunk of the £143,000 salary (“£100,000 is enough for anyone to earn”) and use it to pay a young mayor, aged between 18 and 25, to work alongside her.”
Joanna Moorhead – Siobhan Benita: The mum who would be mayor in The Guardian.
“Benita is used to success. The 40-year-old mother of two cites her first ever driving test as an example of when she last failed, and she didn’t have many setbacks in her high flying career in the civil service. So why, then, has she given it all up to to run as an independent candidate for the Mayor of London? It’s all about “trying to provide something different.”
Dina Rickman – Siobhan Benita – A London Mayoral Candidate Who’s Making Waves at Huff Post UK.
“Ms Benita, 40, now has a support staff of 20 full-time volunteers, and is getting noticed and written about by the political commentariat. In the ultimate accolade some are even beginning to attack her.”
Oliver Wright – No money, no staff, no chance – but independent mayoral candidate Siobhan Benita is getting London excited in the Independent
…Siobhan Benita, has many attractive qualities, but I read her pitch and am suspicious. She writes on her website: “I am not a party politician and won’t waste my time – or yours – fighting tired political battles….What does she mean by “tired political battles”? Democratic politics depend on the resolution of differences through political battles rather than the military alternative. It is too easy to claim that they can be transcended with the wave of a charming wand.”
Steve Richards – The false allure of mavericks like Siobhan Benita and George Galloway in the Independent
“I object to the note of entitlement which runs through her candidacy. Whatever Benita may think, you are not entitled to broadcast airtime and space in national newspapers simply by hiring a PR and printing glossy leaflets. You need either a track record, or genuinely distinctive ideas. Benita has neither.”
Andrew Gilligan – Siobhan Benita: Whitehall’s candidate for mayor
“Siobhan is …the dark horse coming up on the rails at a time when anything is possible. She has been described as the Borgen candidate, after the Danish TV series in which a little-known outsider takes on the political establishment and wins.
The choice is ours on May 3: a romantic insurgency or a return of the retreads? I know which has my vote.”
Martin Bell – New Mayors? It’s like the return of the living dead: Martin Bell on the political ghosts who want to run YOUR city in the Mail
And here’s a link to her BBC London interview, which is streaming online.
I quite like Siobhan Benita as a candidate. Her support for the 3rd runway at Heathrow, to take one issue, is brave, distinctive and correct. But as Adam has written, her coverage so far has been generous in both extent and tone. Some of the above is critical, most is fawning. But you can’t deny that there’s enough there for you to make up your minds.
She and her team should keep campaigning, but stop complaining. She’s getting a fair hearing, it’s time to make the most of it.
19 Apr 2012
London agenda for Thursday 19 April 2012
1. Watch Amy Grimehouse ‘get over-excited, dress decorate and play games like Bab’s Antiques Challenge, Mrs O’s Blindfold Tea Tray Trial and dance till 1am’ at the Book Club [Le Cool]
2. Listen to 30 years worth of war stories from Michael Lawrence [Run Riot]
3. Hear a ‘night of future pointed, bass induced electronica’ from Heresy [Don’t Panic]
4. View the ‘ the crème de la crème of sketch comedy’ at The Joy of Sketch [Time Out]
5. Recognise Yom Hashoah with a talk on The Jewish Predicament in the Aftermath of World War Two [Ian Visits]
6. Experience the Georgian Parlour at Dr Johnson’s House [Tired of London]
19 Apr 2012
The O2 should have been renamed the Millennium Dome for the Olympics
The decision to call the O2 the “North Greenwich Arena” for the duration of the Olympics was made a long time ago. Since the Olympics are primarily a vehicle for brands to advertise (jaded, me?!), and since BT is one of those brands, this decision was inevitable.
But really. North Greenwich Arena? What the hell is that about. No-one knows what it is, so you have the BBC publishing ludicrous, self-defeating sentences like this:
The BBC has also learned that the million tickets released in April will include 50,000 tickets for basketball sessions at the Olympic Park and the North Greenwich Arena (O2).
It could have been different. It could have been beautiful. It could have been the triumphant return of the Millennium Dome.
It was savaged once, but time heals all wounds. The stage could have been set for a glorious, Take That style return. But something more than a return: a redemption.
“I’m going to watch Olympic gymnastics at the Millennium Dome” could have been the tribune call for a moment of national catharsis, a chance for the structure which failed us once to finally redeem itself before a merciful and forgiving populace.
But alas, this deliverance shall not come to pass. A 2009 story from Event Magazine provides some background:
“LOCOG said it was looking at a marketing strategy to combat any confusion, but use of the venue’s former name, the Millennium Dome, was unlikely, because AEG does not like the negative ‘white elephant’ status associated with the moniker.”
And so North Greenwich Arena (O2) is all we shall have. And the Dome, ever unloved, has lost its only chance to make amends.
BBC – London 2012: 40,000 tickets to be released for athletics
Event Magazine – BT 2012 Olympics sponsorship forces O2 Arena to rebrand
Image: Tiago A. Pereira on Flickr under Creative Commons licence
19 Apr 2012
Brian Paddick on racist police and his "flaky" rival Siobhan Benita
Brian Paddick today accused the police of stereotyping black people as criminals and suggested that a Mayoral rival was using “rich friends” to manipulate the betting markets.
Speaking to The Scoop during a campaign visit to Greenwich, the former senior police officer and Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor said:
“I asked groups of officers, okay imagine you’re sitting in your patrol car at three in the morning and two cars go past and the first has got four young white men in it and the second one has got four young black men in it, which one are you going to stop? And they all said the second one. Unfortunately a lot of police officers racially stereotype black people as criminals. And that’s why nationally you’re seven times more likely to be stopped by police officers if you’re black than if you’re white. “
Paddick said that he had drawn up a report in 2004 proposing reforms to stop and search, but claimed that “my boss just put it in the bin.”
Under his proposals police would be encouraged to make more detailed descriptions of targets rather than “circulating a description that the suspect is a young black man wearing a hooded top, which could probably apply to about 20,000 people on the streets as we speak.”
Brian Paddick also hit out at his independent rival Siobhan Benita who has overtaken him on the betting markets despite only polling between 0.5% and 2% in the polls.
Paddick told The Scoop:
“it is possible to alter betting odds. What you do is you get lots of rich friends who have got enough money to throw away to go and place bets on you winning the election. And as soon as the bookies see a lot of money being put on a candidate then they shorten the odds to cover themselves. But you can’t pay people who are being polled by legitimate polling organisations to change their view. You could understand it if the odds shortened considerably and the opinion polls also showed a leap. But on the latest opinion poll, [Siobhan] Benita is on 2% and I’m on 7%.
Asked whether anyone had ever tried to boost his betting odds, he replied “no, the Liberal Democrats have never wasted any money on me.”
On Benita’s claims that she has suffered a “media blackout” he replied:
“No I don’t think she’s suffered from a media blackout at all. I think she’s got far more coverage than she could ever have hoped or dreamed of, because it’s a novelty isn’t it?”
He said that he would welcome Benita taking a place in the hustings because he believed she would be exposed as “flaky”:
“I think it would be really useful for her to be on the hustings because when you actually drill down into what lies behind her policies she gets very flaky. So on the surface, things look pretty good, but actually there’s no substance to what she’s saying. And certainly in the south west of London, being the only mayoral candidate to support a third runway at Heathrow is not boosting her electoral chances.”
Brian Paddick also said that he would not rule out plans by the current Mayor to build a tunnel under the Thames at Silvertown, but said that it would need to be “cyclist friendly” before he would consider it.
18 Apr 2012
London agenda for Wednesday 18 April 2012
1. Go solo to How To Spend Time Alone [Le Cool]
2. Watch a fusion of drama, edge of seat acrobatics & live music at Backgammon for Beginners [Run Riot]
3. Don’t Panic says ‘electronic beats, African rhythms, rich piano chords, shimmering electric guitars and an all-female polyphonic vocal group to create a colourful sound-world’ by Francois & the Atlas Mountain. So that’s where to be. [Don’t Panic]
4. Explore the relationship between the palace and the press at Media and the Monarchy [Ian Visits]
5. Visit Syon Park [Tired of London]
18 Apr 2012
Jonquil - Run (Keep Shelly In Athens Remix)
Sunny Oxonian pop boys Jonquil have released a remix by their US-tour-buddies Keep Shelly In Athens. Their bright-eyed, white-toothed, wholesome pop sound is hand-washed in those ubiquitous reverby synth textures and R&B basslines that all the cool kids are into right now. In this case, it happily makes for enjoyable listening rather than let’s-go-to-E8-and-punch-a-fake-R&B-loving-hipster vibez. Awesome! Catch Jonquil live at Cargo on May 23rd.
18 Apr 2012
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- The five best places in London to have an epiphany
- London has chosen its mayor, but why can’t it choose its own media?
- Summer Camp: Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days
- A unique collection of photos of Edwardian Londoners
- Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
- Silencing the Brick Lane curry touts could be fatal for the city's self-esteem
- 9 poems about London: one for each of your moods
- Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
- An interview with Desiree Akhavan
- Diary of the shy Londoner
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