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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 12h

Time for another edition of Crap Cycles Lanes (although, at least some genuinely great ones exist as well now) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

Crap cycle lanes

From amusing and pointless to downright dangerous lanes, the Warrington Cycle Campaign's book of Crap Cycle Lanes is notorious among cyclists

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Also, why are our lanes 60mph?

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

One reason why I am a nut for devolution is this: central government ministers shouldn't spend their working hours thinking about the correct design of bus stops.

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Lee Waters @waterslee.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

In 1971, 80% of British 7 year olds went to school on their own; today it’s unthinkable. As Meyer Hillman (who has died) pointed out, we’ve removed children from danger rather than removing danger from children – and filled roads with polluting cars on school run www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

'We're doomed': Mayer Hillman on the climate reality no one else will dare mention

The 86-year-old social scientist says accepting the impending end of most life on Earth might be the very thing needed to help us prolong it

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

There are certainly long lead times - high international demand and not many trusted suppliers. Generation technology (onshore/offshore wind, solar, battery etc) has developed quickly and it would have been hard (and expensive) to predict where the extra capacity would be needed.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I'd like to see the case being made here. Govt already has significant control levers via NESO, Ofgem and the planning system. Not sure how nationalisation solves current supply chain delays from manufacturers of cables, transformers, and for civil works etc.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Just feel grateful that you are still young enough to be able to hear those high frequencies?

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Once we have given citizenship to someone, they are our problem, exactly like any other citizen is. The law is there to deal with them, just as with everyone else. There should be no second class citizenship.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Slow in coming, but important, that at last, he is starting to call this out. We need our leaders to set an example so others dare to as well.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Fairy lights and fibre optic wands for the win!

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It is sensible -although it's not ideal for longer distance cycling by faster cyclists. But I think it is less important for the UK to add extra rules to allow speed pedelecs than it is to improve our infrastructure to be safer for all cycles.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Yes, although it's vanishingly rare. A 20mph pedelec is currently is not allowed on bike lanes. Arguably it should be because the rider is similarly vulnerable. On the other hand, many of our cycle lanes are unsuited to 20mph. Personally, I think the current limit is reasonable.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I think e-moto works quite well as a description. Currently illegal for on-road use in the UK, but some would be legal in NL as 'speed pedelecs' or in the US where even class 1 ebikes can go to 20mph. UK allows mopeds. Should we allow these too, if registered? Opens some interesting questions.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Do you have a handy quotable reference for that?

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

In that scenario, why would you *not* vote Lib Dem? Maybe only because you felt that past results suggested they couldn't win, in which case the answer is more campaigners on the ground and working out how to get more national media coverage for the party

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

What are the government and the police doing about this and why am I not hearing the BBC challenging them about their lack of action?

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Red's good, but both of these are better than bright green.

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couchtripper @couchtripper.com · 15/09/2026

I've been keeping a list of drivers crashing into houses for the last 18 months. There are so many cases. I haven't seen one where a cyclist killed someone in their living room. couchtripper.com/blog/?p=7401

couchtripper.com

Cars Vs Houses

News reports about the most significant external threat to people in their own homes - drivers crashing into their houses.

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Richard Corbett CBE @richardcorbett.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Striking trend in today’s news: -Canada says it wants a deep partnership with the EU -Australia says it wants same - UK opinion polls show record number wanting to Rejoin EU -TUC calls for govt red lines to be scrapped -Leaders of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 & N.IRL say they want to be inside EU

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It's absolutely not a non-issue, but don't forget all the pedestrians and cyclists injured by cars who also never make it into the statistics - it's very common too.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I see we are back into one of the intermittent periods of media moral panics about cycling. It is presumably a matter of days before someone calls for mandatory registration and insurance. Please do wake me up if anyone writes something we haven't already read 10,000 times before.

Celia Walden

Failure to act on e-bikes is now wilful negligence

Reckless pests are becoming more brazen and the injuries – and deaths – they cause will only rise if the Government does nothing

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Police routinely refuse to process near misses by cars of bikes, but near misses by bikes of pedestrians are a mainstay of local letters pages.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Cases of drivers causing death and serious injury are so common and accepted that they usually get low publicity and, if there is public outrage, it is about the individual and there is rarely a call to limit speed, power or design of car, or to increase driver training or penalties.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I showed you an example of a single unfortunate collision that resulted in national publicity for a call for registration of legal ebikes. Just one tiny example, but one of many to control, limit and ban legal ebikes based on far lower levels of harm than cars pose.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

If a pedestrian darts out in front of me and I hit them with my car at 30mph, my expectation is that the world largely blames the pedestrian. If they dart out in front of my ebike going at 15mph, I expect to be blamed, maybe with mass coverage and a call to ban ebikes.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

My point is that drivers largely do not face that proportionate penalty. Whereas, the call is for far less dangerous/reckless action by people on ebikes, including low speed, low power, legal ebikes that are by and large, not the major problem, to face higher penalty.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

*Some* drivers lose their licences for driving dangerously, but usually only when they are behaving far more recklessly and far more dangerously than the instances being quoted in this thread as dangerous cycling.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

OK, I agree we should take away licences far more readily, but I don't think it is practical or reasonable to take away licences for every mistake that results in a near miss/injury, especially when road design contributes by inappropriately mixing cycles/pedestrians or pushes drivers to go too fast

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

BBC News - Reckless e-bike riders 'dangerous' for cyclists www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Awful for her. Quite possibly a victim of reckless riding of an illegal ebike, but results in a national call to restrict legal ebikes. We simply do not get the same calls to restrict driving when a driver kills

bbc.co.uk

Londoner warns reckless e-bike riders are a 'danger' for cyclists

Morwenna Hughes' arm was shattered after an e-bike rider knocked her off her bike in Hammersmith.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

If we are going to do that, then perhaps people who drive dangerously should also lose their licence? (The bar for losing your driving licence for driving is very high - it takes more than merely killing someone, and frankly, it is quite hard to cycle in an equivalently dangerous manner).

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Meanwhile, it is also true that there is 1) systemic poor provision for cycling that in many places makes obeying the rules difficult or unsafe 2) national media outrage when someone on a bike nearly hits a pedestrian that is far greater than the fleeting local media shrug when a driver kills

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

How odd. Maybe time to give Fat Man on a Bicycle by Tom Vernon another read?

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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

“The pogrom had bad intelligence” is really a bad stance for a Labour MP to take

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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Kent police said 'no arrests were made' of the people who blocked a port and roads. There's your two-tier policing, folks www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...

bbc.co.uk

Port of Dover delays: Disruption as masked 'stop the boats' protesters block roads

Hundreds of demonstrators, wearing black with their faces covered, caused delays to traffic reaching the port.

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Ed Davey @eddavey.libdems.org.uk · 04/09/2026

Three senior Reform figures were involved in those Channel 4 revelations we saw last night. Two have been kicked out. The third is Nigel Farage. Farage should be suspended while this matter is investigated. He has very serious questions to answer.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Hopefully, some of those asterisked names...

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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 04/09/2026

So, if I understand Nigel Farage's argument correctly it is: "Everyone I trusted and elevated into a position of responsibility is constantly doing crimes that benefit me but of which I somehow have no knowledge. I am a man with the character, judgement, and intelligence to run the country." Ok.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

One near us got hit by lightning and exploded a few years ago, but has been replaced.

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

It's not often you can pinpoint real, positive change a journalist has caused. But as Turkmeni sources state, @dpcarrington.bsky.social's persistent and probing coverage of this issue has been critical to a change of policy, with massive implications. Big congrats www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

‘Breakthrough’ as Turkmenistan starts fixing ‘mindboggling’ methane mega-leaks

Secretive state begins repairs on ageing facilities after being revealed as worst country for leaks of potent greenhouse gas

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Can you just buy one and go, or are there local rules on tax, insurance, power limits, design safety, driver age, licensing..?

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Also worth looking at Liv brand which focuses on smaller sizes for women.

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Ruth Fletcher @mihe2000.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Smaller frame sizes are often more stretched out than larger ones. Consider a 26" or 650B wheel size -this means you can get shorter reach without toe overlap or an excessively high bottom bracket. Second hand Thorn perhaps? www.thorncyclesforum.co.uk

thorncyclesforum.co.uk

Thorn Cycles Forum - Index

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

This is an inappropriate, credulous & politically biased BBC headline. The claims about savings will be sharply contested. News reports should not imclude what reads as an ediorial endorsememt in the headline www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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