# Should I respond to anti cyclist rant letter in our local paper.



## Banjo (7 Jul 2017)

Theres a really negative anti cyclist rant in a letter to the editor of our local rag.

The letter written by a certain Karl James Langford who claims to be a "Liberal Party Parliamentary Spokesman" contains some very doubtfull statements and out an out inaccuracies .

He claims foul mouthed cyclists tried to force him and his children off a shared path onto a dangerous road.He stood his ground and an argument took place .

I know the path in question , Its about a 4 feet 6 inch wide strip of tarmac with care bikes and peds can pass each other but crucially theres a ten feet wide strip of grass between path and road so in no way would he have been forced onto the "dangerous road"as he claims.

I normally cycle on the road so this morning deliberately cycled the full length of the path and the situation described in his letter could not possibly happen as described.

he then went on to say cyclists were a complete menace and should be banned from main roads and narrow country lanes and were a nuisance on trains. his rant then went on almost laughably to the old they don't pay road tax nonsense and even how horrified he is to see children being carried on bikes.

I was expecting him to be an elderly gent totally out of touch with reality but in fact googling revealed he is a highly educated young man with small children.

I have drafted an email letter to the editor addressing some of his points and saying a Parliamentary spokesman really should know a bit more about the UK tax system but in the back of my mind i know this will just feed the trolls and spark up a load of anti bike crap in future editions .


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## MiK1138 (7 Jul 2017)

Send it, shame him for the nobber he is


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## Andrew_Culture (7 Jul 2017)

Normally I'd say 'don't feed the trolls'. But if a sketchy opinion is being shoved into the cosmos by a servant of the people then I think it's only fair you respond.


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## Heltor Chasca (7 Jul 2017)

Similar rant from a local councillor in a local rag. He didn't spend time on putting his rant together or his facts like the sounds of your gentleman. The chair of the local road club wrote in the next week. His letter was eloquently written and ripped a strip off this old, blinkered dinoknobasarus in a matter of sentences. It was very fair and very stylish. His facts were absolutely correct and not emotive in the least. He made the councilor look like an idiot and he would have no doubt lost face. Given that the demographic of the readers, many would have been his pals and it would have been painful and awkward as a result.

Since then, not one anti cycling complaint letter has been printed.

Nip it in the bud if you feel you can. Good luck.


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## swee'pea99 (7 Jul 2017)

Sirs

Is Karl James Langford well? One unfortunate encounter and he seems to have totally lost it. One expects better from a 'Liberal Party Parliamentary Spokesman', doesn't one?

Yours in concern


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## Heigue'r (7 Jul 2017)

dinoknobasarus.....


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## jefmcg (7 Jul 2017)

He seems to be an actor whose second last tweet was a link to BNP article that begins (I clicked so you don't have to)

"Following an attack on Muslim worshippers outside Finsbury mosque in London last night, politicians lined up to lavish on Muslims the Politically Correct sacred status of ultimate ‘victim’." The "Liberal" claim seems bullshit to me.

Ignore him. Please.


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## Banjo (7 Jul 2017)

jefmcg said:


> He seems to be an actor whose second last tweet was a link to BNP article that begins (I clicked so you don't have to)
> 
> 
> 
> Ignore him. Please.



wow He is even more unpleasant than I realised. Seems that Cyclists aren't the only targets for his hate. I think now he is clearly trolling for a reaction which isn't going to be coming from me.


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## Will Spin (7 Jul 2017)

I usually send a letter to our local rag if there's and anti cycling piece included that needs a response. The last one I sent wasn't published, no surprises here as it was a response to an editorial complaining about cyclists not using a woefully inadequate local cycle path and getting in his way. Generally I try to keep it factual and non personal.


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## Banjo (7 Jul 2017)

I just had an interesting phone conversation with a very pleasant man who is the Wales area contact for the Liberal Party about this.

Firstly the views expressed in Langfords letter are completely at odds with Liberal policy
secondly He is not an officer of any sort in the liberal party and they are checking now to see if he is even a member.

He couldn't say too much but assured me that the party was aware and were looking into it.

I seriously think that the whole incident report in the letter was fabricated and is pure trolling.


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## winjim (7 Jul 2017)

I googled his name and there seems to be a fun little spat involving him and the South Wales archaeology community in the archives from about ten years ago. All jolly japes I'm sure.


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## Lonestar (7 Jul 2017)

Leave it,he's a self important person.


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## DaveReading (7 Jul 2017)

My first reaction was that anyone who claims to be a "Liberal Party Parliamentary Spokesman" is suffering from delusions of grandeur.

But on reflection ...


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## DaveReading (7 Jul 2017)

Working link: It’s about time cyclists started paying road tax


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## Lonestar (7 Jul 2017)

Dogtrousers said:


> *Leave it!*
> 'e's not worf it!



Actor,Liberal party whatnot/Pays road tax/double barreled name/ticks all the boxes.

Drives a car/owns the road...Please see road tax.


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## jefmcg (7 Jul 2017)

Lonestar said:


> Actor,Liberal party whatnot/Pays road tax/double barreled name/ticks all the boxes.


Your forget sharing anti muslim BNP views


Lonestar said:


> Drives a car/owns the road...Please see road tax.


And more here: When he is walking they should get off the footpath. When he is driving they should get off the road. Can he get a special sign, so we know where we should be when he is around?


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## Milzy (7 Jul 2017)

He's the kind of guy who writes to complain to the supermarket if one of his tea cakes has been squashed.


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## Dayvo (7 Jul 2017)

Nutter - possibly!


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## jefmcg (7 Jul 2017)

Dayvo said:


> Nutter - possibly!
> 
> View attachment 360849


I won't have it!






His headshot looks like a mugshot, yet he gives someone a photo credit.


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## rugby bloke (7 Jul 2017)

Do you think he failed his cycling proficiency test and the pain has been eating into his soul since ?


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## Dayvo (7 Jul 2017)

jefmcg said:


> I won't have it!
> 
> View attachment 360862
> 
> ...



It's in his eyes...


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## Lonestar (7 Jul 2017)

@Banjo Thread title is wrong...it should be....

*Anyone know this idiot?*


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## Ming the Merciless (7 Jul 2017)

Yesterday's news, tomorrow's cat litter tray liner.


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## jay clock (7 Jul 2017)

move on. he aint worth it


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## winjim (7 Jul 2017)

DaveReading said:


> Working link: It’s about time cyclists started paying road tax


Observe the English he displays.


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## Lonestar (7 Jul 2017)

winjim said:


> Observe the English he displays.



That's pretty much the way I would have written it out.The again I didn't go to Oxbridge...or even school half the time.


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## Alan O (7 Jul 2017)

Liberal party leader Steve Radford is a personal friend. You can learn about them, if you want, at Wikipedia.

I'd never heard of that Karl James Langford nob, and I'm sure Steve would be horrified.

(edited)


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## Bollo (7 Jul 2017)

Alan O said:


> No, the party leader Steve Radford is a personal friend, and you've got that badly wrong. You can learn about them, if you want, at Wikipedia.
> 
> (I'd never heard of that Karl James Langford nob, and I'm sure Steve would be horrified)


I know where @Dogtrousers is coming from, even if it's not the case here. I think there've been instances in the past where BNP or other 'right-leaning' candidates have stood for a party name designed to trick the unwary (English Democrats, that type of thing). I'm sure they tightened the rules a few years ago, but happy to defer to anyone who knows better.

Anyway, the article is clickbait c0ckery. Ignore.


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## Lonestar (8 Jul 2017)

Dogtrousers said:


> Careful. I don't like the way this thread is heading



Then again my views are not like his.Sorry for the confusion..


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## Cuchilo (8 Jul 2017)

jefmcg said:


> I won't have it!
> 
> View attachment 360862
> 
> ...


He has a lazy eye


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## ufkacbln (8 Jul 2017)

DaveReading said:


> Working link: It’s about time cyclists started paying road tax



He has read this...


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## ufkacbln (8 Jul 2017)

You could simply ask about perspective?

In the same web page:


*Drunk uninsured driver left head-on crash victim with horrific injuries then tried to blame them**
*
If only this driver had been required to take a test, pay road tax and be insured?


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## pawl (8 Jul 2017)

Perhaps he lost his deposit.Misarable sod.


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## Lonestar (8 Jul 2017)

3rdworldcyclinginGB says:
 September 25, 2012 at 5:56 pm


You mean like this…

People like Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button and my old favourite Jeremy Clarkson are great role models and an inspiration to all drivers. With the resulting upsurge in interest in driving in Britain following their success and infrastructure improvements strongly campaigned for by organizations such as Transport for London, it is a shame that some drivers are unwilling to respect other road users. Everyone has stories of how these petrol louts break the law or thoughtlessly indulge in other anti-social practices: red light jumping, speeding, not-signalling overtaking in the most ridiculous places, using their mobile phones while eating and reading the newspaper, and worst of all, killing and maiming everybody else. We build perfectly good facilities for them, but what do they do – park on pavements and block cycle lanes. They seem wilfully ignorant of the numerous studies that show that most deaths and casualties due to driving result from the driver not looking and the main cause of deaths and casualties is due to head injuries. But how many drivers drive brightly coloured cars or wear the helmets that any sensible person can see would significantly improve their chances of avoiding injury? Ninja motorists are not just a figment of a manga artists imagination, I can tell you. And if you confront them about this disgraceful behaviour, all you get is unreasoning knee-jerk profanity. Now call me reactionary but why should there be funding for new driving infrastructure if they behave like this?

Anyone with any experience of drivers can see the sense in this. Just look at how self-righteously angry these sensitive souls can be. Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends are drivers and I’ve driven myself, so I know what it’s like. it changes you. My friends told me I was an idiot to do it. After a few streets of driving I was so boiling with rage, shouting at everone in unseeing fury, that I drove onto the pavement, hit a bollard, staggered to the nearest bike shop, bought a bike and cycled home. I’ve never driven since.


Genius....


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## Drago (8 Jul 2017)

Writing indignant letters to local newspapers is one of life's pleasures.


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## snorri (8 Jul 2017)

There was a letter in my local paper sent in by a guy who lives quite close to me. His topic had been the need to own a car and the ever increasing costs involved. I wondered if I should respond and eventually composed a letter exposing the idiocy of every point he had made, it wasn't difficult. I considered sending it to the newspaper but eventually put it in the senders letterbox.
A few days elapsed until I saw him making his way along the road towards me, as he came closer I prepared myself for lively debate when he said "That was an excellent letter you wrote, you should send it in to the paper " and strolled away leaving me quite deflated .


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## winjim (9 Jul 2017)

It's a shame, proper letter writing is a dying form. Nowadays you can't have an opinion unless it can be expressed in 140 characters or fewe


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## jefmcg (9 Jul 2017)

snorri said:


> A few days elapsed until I saw him making his way along the road towards me, as he came closer I prepared myself for lively debate when he said "That was an excellent letter you wrote, you should send it in to the paper " and strolled away leaving me quite deflated .


This makes me so happy. Everyone behaved well. You didn't publicly shame your neighbour, and he listened to what you said and learnt something from it.

Did you then send it to the paper?


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## jefmcg (9 Jul 2017)

winjim said:


> It's a shame, proper letter writing is a dying form. Nowadays you can't have an opinion unless it can be expressed in 140 characters or fewe


Word's can't express how sad I was to realise that this was way longer than 140 characters.

You've got to commit to the bit!


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## winjim (9 Jul 2017)

jefmcg said:


> Word's can't express how sad I was to realise that this was way longer than 140 characters.
> 
> You've got to commit to the bit!


How many do you count?


Spoiler


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## jefmcg (9 Jul 2017)

winjim said:


> How many do you count?


Ugh, Less than 140. I messed up. 

Apologies.


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## winjim (9 Jul 2017)

jefmcg said:


> Ugh, Less than 140. I messed up.
> 
> Apologies.


We could always delete and hope nobody was watching.


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## ufkacbln (9 Jul 2017)

I do think that a simple reply would be best ...

The writer's integrity is questionable as his claim to be a Liberal Party Spokesman is untrue. I suspect that the rest of this rant should be read in the light of this knowledge


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## snorri (9 Jul 2017)

jefmcg said:


> Did you then send it to the paper?


No, but I have retold the story to friends whenever his letters to the press crop up in conversation.


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## Drago (9 Jul 2017)

Cunobelin said:


> I do think that a simple reply would be best ...
> 
> The writer's integrity is questionable as his claim to be a Liberal Party Spokesman is untrue. I suspect that the rest of this rant should be read in the light of this knowledge



One could even email the editor with this info - a major scoop of a local Walt. Fibs, politics, they'll be all over it like Eric Pickles at a free buffet.


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## Ming the Merciless (9 Jul 2017)

Banjo said:


> Theres a really negative anti cyclist rant in a letter to the editor of our local rag.
> 
> The letter written by a certain Karl James Langford who claims to be a "Liberal Party Parliamentary Spokesman" contains some very doubtfull statements and out an out inaccuracies .
> 
> ...




Dear Sirs,

I was saddened to read the letter by Karl James Langford who claims to be a Liberal Party Parliamentary spokesperson. Call me old fashioned but I thought you needed to be an elected representative of Parliament , an MP, to be such a spokesperson? Garnering less than 1% of the vote in the local elections in 2005 hardly counts, does it?

One cannot take his letter seriously and am I surprised you published it without confirming that any of it is true. Were there any verifiable facts in it? I think not! Cyclist bashing has sadly become an all too common a past time, at a time when we need to be protecting our most vulnerable road users.

I do hope that your readers will continue to share our streets and that unnecessary conflict can be avoided. Let's not pander to what are in essence letters designed to provoke and potentially put daughters, sons, husbands and wives in danger. Purely because they decided to ride a bike. We are all better than this,

Your reasonably

A concerned tax payer.


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## winjim (9 Jul 2017)

[QUOTE 4872630, member: 259"]Nah, I've got it stored safely in case there's another pizza flare-up![/QUOTE]
Did it kick off in the pizza thread? I missed that.


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## Banjo (9 Jul 2017)

YukonBoy said:


> Dear Sirs,
> 
> I was saddened to read the letter by Karl James Langford who claims to be a Liberal Party Parliamentary spokesperson. Call me old fashioned but I thought you needed to be an elected representative of Parliament , an MP, to be such a spokesperson? Garnering less than 1% of the vote in the local elections in 2005 hardly counts, does it?
> 
> ...



That is a superb piece of penmanship.

I considered asking you if I could use it but anyone who knows me would know thats not my work.


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## Ming the Merciless (9 Jul 2017)

Banjo said:


> That is a superb piece of penmanship.
> 
> I considered asking you if I could use it but anyone who knows me would know thats not my work.



Feel free to use , or translate into your own words should you choose.


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## classic33 (9 Jul 2017)

There isn't a  Liberal Party registered in the UK.


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## classic33 (9 Jul 2017)

Dogtrousers said:


> http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/English/Registrations/PP54


Note the last registered name change


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## jefmcg (10 Jul 2017)

classic33 said:


> Note the last registered name change
> View attachment 361369
> 
> View attachment 361370


Last registered *description* change. 

Also,


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## rugby bloke (10 Jul 2017)

What ? No People's Party of Judea ...


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## roadrash (10 Jul 2017)

no, its the Judean peoples popular front..................................splitter


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## classic33 (10 Jul 2017)

jefmcg said:


> Last registered *description* change.
> 
> Also,
> View attachment 361387


Last Registered Description being the party name. Last changed in 2014. As shown on that page the name they registered under first, follow the link(PP54) and you'll see the list of regisgtered names they've used.


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## classic33 (10 Jul 2017)

Dogtrousers said:


> I'm missing the point of this.
> It would appear that they've changed their description, while retaining the primary name of "The Liberal Party". It's unclear what the purpose of the "description" is, but I rather doubt that it's the party name. But, even if it were, and they had changed the name to "Liberal Party for a Fairer Country" I'm not sure what relevance this has. They definitely exist. Whether the writer of the letter has any right to describe themselves as "Liberal Party Parliamentary Spokesman" is open to doubt.


Spokesman for a party that doesn't exist?


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## winjim (10 Jul 2017)

Blimey, this thread's moved on. Are we really debating the very existence of the Liberal Party?


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## jefmcg (10 Jul 2017)

classic33 said:


> Last Registered Description being the party name.


No, it's not. The party name is at the top of the page, marked by the phrase "Party Name" not sneakily hidden in a column named "Description" inside a section named "Descriptions"

But I am not sure how they come into it at all. There is no party affiliation in the Wales Online article, and if there was in the printed newspaper, I'd wouldn't be surprised if there was a correction next week.


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## classic33 (10 Jul 2017)

jefmcg said:


> No, it's not. The party name is at the top of the page, marked by the phrase "Party Name" not sneakily hidden in a column named "Description" inside a section named "Descriptions"
> 
> But I am not sure how they come into it at all. There is no party affiliation in the Wales Online article, and if there was in the printed newspaper, I'd wouldn't be surprised if there was a correction next week.


Do what I did last week, actually phone the Electoral Commission and ask them if there's a Liberal Party registered within the UK.


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## jefmcg (10 Jul 2017)

classic33 said:


> Do what I did last week, actually phone the Electoral Commission and ask them if there's a Liberal Party registered within the UK.


Why would I do that? It's clearly listed on their website. That's going to be linked to the current database. A person picking up the phone is either going use the same database or rely on their memory. The former will give the same result as you can get from the website, the latter will either be the same or wrong.


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## winjim (10 Jul 2017)

classic33 said:


> Do what I did last week, actually phone the Electoral Commission and ask them if there's a Liberal Party registered within the UK.





jefmcg said:


> Why would I do that? It's clearly listed on their website. That's going to be linked to the current database. A person picking up the phone is either going use the same database or rely on their memory. The former will give the same result as you can get from the website, the latter will either be the same or wrong.


The Liberal Party fielded candidates in the 2017 general election. They exist.


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## Drago (10 Jul 2017)

And they're clearly very optimistic too to have a parliamentary spokesman already!


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## Banjo (10 Jul 2017)

Liberal Party certainly exists but have no MPs at the moment.
I never new much about them before but looking at their policies they have a lot of good ideas IMHO.
They are against building more roads and in favour of improving public transport , walking and cycling.


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## winjim (10 Jul 2017)

Drago said:


> And they're clearly very optimistic too to have a parliamentary spokesman already!


They were doing very well up until about this time last century.


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