# Yet another rant against cyclists



## redfalo (25 Mar 2011)

by a Celia Walden in the "Telegraph"

I've written a reply to her on my blog. I think this lady owes Tom Barrett, Gary Mason, Colin Hawkes and so many other innocent cyclists who have been killed by reckless drivers an apology.


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## mickle (25 Mar 2011)

People get paid to write that sh!t?


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## her_welshness (25 Mar 2011)

mickle said:


> People get paid to write that sh!t?



Piers Morgan's wife, innit?


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## mr Mag00 (25 Mar 2011)

that was disgraceful


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## GrumpyGregry (25 Mar 2011)

sh!t stirring sells papers.


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## ohnovino (25 Mar 2011)

Sentence 2: detailed description of what the cyclist was wearing and her exact actions.
Sentence 3: implies she couldn't see the cyclist because of a lack of hi-viz.

I think we have an early contender for the award of "Most Efficient Contradiction 2011"


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## mickle (25 Mar 2011)

her_welshness said:


> Piers Morgan's wife, innit?



Isit though??


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## slowmotion (25 Mar 2011)

According to Morgan's wiki entry, she is his wife.

"He was linked romantically to _The Guardian_ columnist Marina Hyde, and his current wife is _The Daily Telegraph'_s columnist and features writer, Celia Walden,[sup][10][/sup] who is the daughter of the former Conservative MP George Walden.[sup][11]"[/sup]


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## yello (25 Mar 2011)

I'll not bother reading it as I don't want my 'click' to be added to their count, which probably some how feeds into advertising revenue... which is exactly why such opinion pieces are written. I wonder if the journalist ever gets depressed at not being able to write a real column, or do some real journalism for a change. All those years at college, all those ambitions... just to churn out dross.


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## JonnyBlade (25 Mar 2011)

ohnovino said:


> Sentence 2: detailed description of what the cyclist was wearing and her exact actions.
> Sentence 3: implies she couldn't see the cyclist because of a lack of hi-viz.
> 
> I think we have an early contender for the award of "Most Efficient Contradiction 2011"




My thoughts exactly. You could also suggest that such a detailed description might have taken up observation time that might have been better used concentrating on not hitting other traffic!


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## bof (25 Mar 2011)

She's not worth dignifying with a reply


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## GrumpyGregry (25 Mar 2011)

Glad to see someone has updated her wikipedia entry with the following....

_On 24th March 2011, Celia Morgan wrote a column in The Daily Telegraph expressing her hatred of cyclists, fair weather cyclists in particular. The end of the article read, "And of course this lot are so confident on the roads that they will all be plugged into their iPods, calmly humming "lalalalala" along to Sasha Distel as that articulated lorry indicates left." This was seen as bad taste due[sup][3][/sup] to the article being published in the same week that a cyclist in central London had been killed by a HGV, and six other cyclists being killed by HGVs since the beginning of the year._


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## downfader (25 Mar 2011)

My comment on there alludes to her dystopic view.


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## the_mikey (25 Mar 2011)

it would be much more helpful if people didn't respond or share links to these pieces visitor bait, probably helps the newspaper squeeze some revenue out of their advertisers.


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## buggi (26 Mar 2011)

Perhaps you could write to the Editor of the paper, linking in your reply, and asking him if he's brave enough to publish it in reply to her blog entry?


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## downfader (26 Mar 2011)

buggi said:


> Perhaps you could write to the Editor of the paper, linking in your reply, and asking him if he's brave enough to publish it in reply to her blog entry?




I'm already forumatling a reply to send to their sunday letters. Bit disappointed with the TG as I quite like that paper. If others send a letter/email, then please keep it civil, check your facts and maybe we can win some more people over with the low fuel cost argument


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## OldFashionedCyclist (26 Mar 2011)

The replies support the columnist's contention that cyclists live in a fantasy world. You blather on about her supposedly contradicting herself, which she didn't (she never said she didn't see her), when the key phrase was "she swerved into the middle of my lane without signalling", which no-one has mentioned. Don't you think that was rather a stupid thing for a cyclist to do? But, of course, the inhabitants of cycleworld are never stupid. Or selfish, or rude, or dangerous, or childish.

A friend of mine who still cycles regularly (and does so properly) told me that when he has had problems it's generally not from car drivers, but from other cyclists.


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## Jezston (26 Mar 2011)

I'm sorry, but what's the deal with someone creating a new account to post rants against members of the forum, and in the other case digging up a six month old thread to do so?

Mind explaining your agenda, OldFashionedCyclist?

And in reply to the author of the column. So she's the daughter of some rich tory MP, and married to Piers Morgan. Clearly the kind of privileged self entitled posho that write such columns for the Mail group papers, having never done a hard days work in their life but yet still going on about scroungers and immigrants. True scum.


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## atbman (27 Mar 2011)

Curiously enough, for an article of this kind, the majority of the reader responses are anti-Walden.

And why does this woman think that cyclists go round la-la-ing to Sacha Distel? Is this something exclusive to London cyclists


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## downfader (27 Mar 2011)

atbman said:


> Curiously enough, for an article of this kind, the majority of the reader responses are anti-Walden.
> 
> And why does this woman think that cyclists go round la-la-ing to Sacha Distel? Is this something exclusive to London cyclists




A roundabout way of calling them gay?


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## User482 (28 Mar 2011)

Almost by her own admission, this "journalist" is berating someone younger, prettier, fitter, faster and better-dressed.

It's just jealousy.


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## Nigel-YZ1 (30 Mar 2011)

What sort of editor even thinks this crap worth printing these days?


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## dellzeqq (30 Mar 2011)

I think that Celia Walden describing others as 'preening' and 'upper-middle class' is a bit rich....


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## Angelfishsolo (30 Mar 2011)

+1


buggi said:


> Perhaps you could write to the Editor of the paper, linking in your reply, and asking him if he's brave enough to publish it in reply to her blog entry?


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## GilesM (30 Mar 2011)

Generally a right old load of bollocks, but she did write this in the article:

_"up there as they are on the moral high ground with their officially endorsed sense of righteousness"

_ Can't help thinking she may have a point with that line.


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## mickle (30 Mar 2011)

GilesM said:


> Generally a right old load of bollocks, but she did write this in the article:
> 
> _"up there as they are on the moral high ground with their officially endorsed sense of righteousness"
> 
> _ Can't help thinking she may have a point with that line.




Don't fall for it. And it's a bit rich. Twunts like her make the mistake of confusing our sense of outrage at being treated like crap with self-righteousness. It isn't, it's plain old anger. It's driven by the daily threats posed by inept, aggressive drivers not by a sense of moral superiority. To phrase it like that is to demean it. Phrasing it like that allows her to justify her irrational hatred of cyclists. She can **** off.


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## GilesM (30 Mar 2011)

mickle said:


> Don't fall for it. And it's a bit rich. Twunts like her make the mistake of confusing our sense of outrage at being treated like crap with self-righteousness. It isn't, it's plain old anger. It's driven by the daily threats posed by inept, aggressive drivers not by a sense of moral superiority. To phrase it like that is to demean it. Phrasing it like that allows her to justify her irrational hatred of cyclists. She can **** off.



You could be right in this case, and fortunately for me I don't have the pleasure of cycling in London, but I've met enough self righteous cyclists over the years.


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## downfader (30 Mar 2011)

GilesM said:


> You could be right in this case, and fortunately for me I don't have the pleasure of cycling in London, but I've met enough self righteous cyclists over the years.




I've only ever met about 2 that I can think of. I did put forward a different perspective to theirs when we chatted (eg dont jump off the kerb in front of cars). 

I think most people are like us. A bit miffed that people can drive and ride with impunity and act like selfish c*cks. That safety is paramount.


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## User482 (30 Mar 2011)

GilesM said:


> You could be right in this case, and fortunately for me I don't have the pleasure of cycling in London, but I've met enough self righteous cyclists over the years.



Some self-righteous people happen to be cyclists.


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## Rebel Ian (30 Mar 2011)

User482 said:


> Some self-righteous people happen to be cyclists.




Indeed. All elephants are grey but not all grey things are elephants.


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## ComedyPilot (13 Apr 2011)

GregCollins said:


> sh!t stirring sells papers.



....and ****ing morons queue up to buy that sh1t


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## craigwend (13 Apr 2011)

from the BBC...

Is dangerous cycling a problem?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13040607


Having followed a 'yowth' cycling whlist texting - whilst wobbling in the middle of the road, whilst driving home ummmmmm

but then again how many car drivers do the same thing? 

'the yowth' was most likely to injure himself or cause an accident by cars avoiding his 'behaviour' 

if it is the other way round much more serious (having had a close incident on the way to work recently...)


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## Tynan (14 Apr 2011)

what lane was the lady cyclist in to start with, assuming same lane then the presumed passing is an issue

anyone trying to pass a cyclist on Hyde Park corner and getting it wrong is on dubious ground

it's a lazy write itself piece, might not even have happened

two apologies today from the Mirror admitting that they made up two stories about Karen Brady on two sucessive weekends, both personal and snide

I think there's a third story from the third week still being dealt with


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## MissTillyFlop (23 Dec 2011)

Listen, I think we're all being a bit harsh - if we had to lie back and think of England whilst being porked by Piers Morgan, we'd all go funny in the head too...


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## growingvegetables (23 Dec 2011)

MissTillyFlop said:


> Listen, I think we're all being a bit harsh - if we had to lie back and think of England whilst being porked by Piers Morgan, we'd all go funny in the head too...


D**n you - my keyboard is now sloshing with coffee!


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## HLaB (28 Dec 2011)

mickle said:


> People get paid to write that sh!t?


Well I don't get paid to read it I'll take your word for it that its the usual sh1t


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## dawesome (29 Dec 2011)

Her partner hacks monopeds, how dare she witter about "moral high ground".


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## ComedyPilot (31 Dec 2011)

MissTillyFlop said:


> Listen, I think we're all being a bit harsh - if we had to lie back and think of England whilst being porked by Piers Morgan, we'd all go funny in the head too...


No way would Iay back and think of England, I am a more in control kinda guy, and if anyone's going to be porking anyone, it would be me not Piers.....


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