Bloomin' cyclists again!

[DonPeffers]

On ‎30‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 08:46, DamperMan said:

  The worst drivers are women in a hurry to get the kids to school and the elderly.   
 

 
 

 

Only some of the elderly are careless as I always take great care passing cyclists and leave a car width when passing (having been a cyclist for many years myself). Any driver has to be aware that if a cyclist rides into a pothole, which might merely look like a puddle, then unless they are experienced and have some skill they will likely fall off into the road, hence a wide berth is best.

 

Could any Government manage a system of number plates for bicycles without huge cost, avoidance and revenue drain?

 

30 November 2019  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7740627/Scrapping-paper-car-tax-discs-cost-nearly-300million.html  Scrapping paper car tax discs has cost nearly £300million and led to a rise in fee dodging as drivers 'forget to pay' online.

 

 

[DamperMan]

We divergE.. I liked tax disks, in fact I thought like HGV’s there should have been MOT disks too.   If only to act as a reminder.   

[Blatman]

As ever the devil is in the detail and incomplete reporting to suit the story...

The AA/RAC say that evasion has gone from 30ish million a year to 90ish million, an increase of 60ish million, or one fifth of the headline figure which the article admits is a "worst case£ estimate.

 Further reading of the article suggests that some of this evasion is accidental. I'm sure the only way to measure that is to see how many evaders pay a fine for non-compliance (deliberate evasion) compared to those who pay when they realise they're out of tax (accidental evasion).

 

Then there is a bigger picture. Do those headline losses include or exclude the amount of paper (for the disc, envelope and accompanying documents), printing and postage costs saved by not printing and posting paper tax discs? That alone has to be a significant and immediate saving to the treasury. I wan't to see those numbers...

[DonPeffers]

1 hour ago, Blatman said:

. Do those headline losses include or exclude the amount of paper (for the disc, envelope and accompanying documents), printing and postage costs saved by not printing and posting paper tax discs? That alone has to be a significant and immediate saving to the treasury. I wan't to see those numbers...

Do a freedom of information request.

[Blatman]

2 minutes ago, DonPeffers said:

Do a freedom of information request.

 

I don't have the time. MY work consumes a lot of time. As a result my free time is precious and I choose not to spend it this. When I retire, maybe I'l have more time to do this sort of thing, but not right now.

Or maybe if we had a press with integrity who reported more that just the headline grabbing sound-bite, we'd all be better informed... 

[DonPeffers]

15 minutes ago, Blatman said:

 

Or maybe if we had a press with integrity who reported more that just the headline grabbing sound-bite, we'd all be better informed... 

 

See Stuff & Nonsense--Prorogation of Parliament.  Blatman Posted October 2   "Having spent a LOT of time with reporters I do have a great deal of respect for them".

 

A great deal of respect for a press without integrity has left me confused.

[Blatman]

I can respect journalists whist questioning what gets published. Anyone who spends any time with journalists knows that sometimes "editorial" considerations can get in the way and that can be outside the journo's control.

 

[DonPeffers]

3 hours ago, Blatman said:

I can respect journalists whist questioning what gets published. Anyone who spends any time with journalists knows that sometimes "editorial" considerations can get in the way and that can be outside the journo's control.

 

 

I now understand that the sweeping generalisation "if we had a press with integrity" which seemed to damn the whole presspack was meant to infer that some sections of the press might lack integrity on occasion.

 

 

[Blatman]

To me it seems that large swathes of the press have lacked integrity, particularly over the last 3 years. As have their sources.

 

[Lyonspride]

17 hours ago, Blatman said:

To me it seems that large swathes of the press have lacked integrity, particularly over the last 3 years. As have their sources.

 

 

Might that be because onw a shocking number "journalists" no longer leave their desk? The old school journos are getting few and far between, the rest now do phone interviews and copy eachothers stories from the internet.
 

[DonPeffers]

On 10/12/2019 at 14:29, Lyonspride said:

 

Might that be because now a shocking number "journalists" no longer leave their desk? The old school journos are getting few and far between, the rest now do phone interviews and copy eachothers stories from the internet.
 

 

After the Facebook false report purporting to be from a senior nurse at Leeds hospital, iro the 4 year old lad, some readers wrongly complained to the Yorkshire Evening Post which broke the true story, but the readers thought the Post had got it wrong. 

 

Facebook NEVER do political fact-check so anything can go on the site with any wild claim.

 

Sky news last night highlighted how even a journo at The Telegraph had been taken in by the false story on Facebook.

[Alan France]

Misleading news is not new. In the 80s we just missed being involved in an accident on the M1. A flatbed lorry carrying cleaning drums had a blowout, hit a van and spun, with most of his drums flying around the motorway. No injuries but we stopped at a emergency phone and reported in. A short while later radio news reported a chemical tanker had overturned and the southbound road was closed!

 

[Lyonspride]

5 hours ago, Alan France said:

Misleading news is not new. In the 80s we just missed being involved in an accident on the M1. A flatbed lorry carrying cleaning drums had a blowout, hit a van and spun, with most of his drums flying around the motorway. No injuries but we stopped at a emergency phone and reported in. A short while later radio news reported a chemical tanker had overturned and the southbound road was closed!

 

Shows how the smallest detail changes the story completely, and only really for more drama.

The one's that bug me are those which stereotype people for the purpose of victim blaming........... Like a biker has a fatal accident, because a driver pull out in front of them, the media then say something like "the accident occurred in an area well know for speeding bikers", the victim wasn't speeding but the story has been twisted to blame the victim.