another Guardian article

"Richard Burton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Martin Family" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:BC23728B.87F7%martin-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 8/1/04 7:30 pm, in article [email hidden], "Mark Thompson"

change warm for hot said:

> another gullible MP has been hoodwinked by BHIT.
>

guardian.co.uk0,3605,1118212,00.htmlOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

And the Grauniad were entirely uncritical and failed to check basic

facts.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Letter to the politics editor sent.

text follows.

<snip> Me too! <snip>

Both very good letters & more power to you, but I think probably a little long for publishing.

ScrumpyJoe said:

The trouble with ths government is that they seem to have this totalitarian streak wherby any
misdemenour whether comitted on a cycle or a vehicle incurs a fine.

Seems that this is a major problem with a lot of governments. I read somewhere theat there were two
types of constitution:

1. we, the people, will allow the government to do the following:
2. we, the government, will allow the people to do the following:

Seems to me the Mr. Ynot B. Liar and his mob are veering too close to number
3.

--

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

"ScrumpyJoe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The trouble with ths government is that they seem to have this totalitarian streak wherby any
misdemenour whether comitted on a cycle or a vehicle incurs a fine.

Take him to uk.t!!! Everyone there knows that bikes never ever attract fines!

Quoted message said:

Seems to me that they are desparate to raise revenue by other means to fund their spending plans.

Well not speeding. See the spectator article. Northants machines make a loss.

EXCELLENT! Three gold stars and fifty house points to that man!

--

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

Richard Burton said:

Quoted message said:

Letter to the politics editor sent.

I have taken all the organisations listed as funding BHIT on their website and written to them and
others might like to do likewise, questioning why they are lending their money and support to an
organisation that blatantly misleads.

Tony

"Richard Goodman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm not sure the Thornburys would be interested in the evidence, but I

also

Quoted message said:

don't think it can be denied that in some occasional rare types of

accident

Quoted message said:

a helmet might actually save a person's life, given the right

circumstances.

On the other hand, given that both injury and death rates actually rise when compulsion is
introduced, it is equally clear that helmets may make things worse in other cases.

I read a report from Reading coroner into the death of a 71-year-old cyclist, went over the bars
after hitting a pothole. Pukka cyclist, had just finished a TT. He was wearing a helmet. My friend
Albert, at a similar age, had a similar crash and survived armed with nothign more than a
Mk. 1 standard issue skull.

I can believe that helmets may prevent up to 2/3 of head injuries. These will be the trivial ones
which are inconvenient but not life-threatening. I've yet to see any real evidence to suggest that
helmets make any significant difference to outcomes of more serious crashes, which is hardly a
surprise given that the anecdotal evidence shows both survival and death with and without lids.

Quoted message said:

What also cannot be denied is that the evidence suggests that helmet

wearing

Quoted message said:

will not save significant numbers of lives, and that a compulsory helmet

law

Quoted message said:

could actually see more lives being lost than saved, if factors of risk compensation and
discouragement of cycling exercise are taken into

account.

Just so.

Quoted message said:

What further also cannot be denied IMO is that some of the arguments

against

Quoted message said:

a compulsory helmet law (specifically the two just mentioned) constitute a reason for an
individual and personal decision not to wear a helmet - just because some people may engage in
risk-compensatory behaviour or be discouraged from cycling if they have to wear a helmet it
doesn't mean

that

Quoted message said:

I, or you, or other urc contributors, have to do so or would do so.

Quite so. It is, and should remain, a matter of personal choice.

Tony Raven said:

I have taken all the organisations listed as funding BHIT on their website and written to them and
others might like to do likewise,

"You don't appear to have the Shockwave plug-in. Please click below to get your free download."

D'oh! Bad start. Not even an alternative entry point.

Losers.

Simon

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 23:15:17 -0000 someone who may be "Ambrose
Nankivell" <[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Both very good letters & more power to you, but I think probably a little long for publishing.

Of course. The mass media is never interested in facts, which take some time to explain. They are
far more interested in sound bites.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E I will always explain revoked
keys, unless the UK government prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

In "]news:[email hidden],
Simonb <[email hidden]> typed:

Quoted message said:

Tony Raven said:

I have taken all the organisations listed as funding BHIT on their website and written to them
and others might like to do likewise,

"You don't appear to have the Shockwave plug-in. Please click below to get your free download."

D'oh! Bad start. Not even an alternative entry point.

Not to worry, you only missed out on pictures of children wearing helmets badly.

a

Simonb said:

"You don't appear to have the Shockwave plug-in. Please click below to get your free download."

D'oh! Bad start. Not even an alternative entry point.

Losers.

You can bypass that page by going to bhit.orgindex home.htmlOpen ↗ instead.

Tony

In "]news:[email hidden],
David Hansen <[email hidden]> typed:

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 23:15:17 -0000 someone who may be "Ambrose Nankivell"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Both very good letters & more power to you, but I think probably a little long for publishing.

Of course. The mass media is never interested in facts, which take some time to explain. They are
far more interested in sound bites.

This is to some extent excusable. There are (slightly less mass) media that will take the time to
explain important issues, but in general, it's not possible to be fully informed on all of the
issues that are current.

I guess the only thing to be done about it is to read something like Manufacturing Consent by Noam
Chomsky and arm yourself against the consequences of that kind of thing. No one told me how to read
the media critically at school, though.

Ambrose

"Ambrose Nankivell" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This is to some extent excusable. There are (slightly less mass) media

that

Quoted message said:

will take the time to explain important issues, but in general, it's not possible to be fully
informed on all of the issues that are current.

This applies to both the helmet debate and the speed camera debate. The only problem is that the
"lite" approach gives a view diametrically opposed to that which comes from a detailed investigation
of the facts, leaving anybody who doesn't take the trouble to become informed (i.e.most people)
substantially worse off than if they knew nothing at all about the issue.

I don't think that's excusable.

--
Guy
===

WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
chapmancentral.demon.co.ukchapmancentral.demon.co.ukOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 23:15:17 -0000 someone who may be "Ambrose
Nankivell" <[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Both very good letters & more power to you, but I think probably a little long for publishing.

Not intended for publication, more to give the editor a heads up so that they are a bit more on the
ball later on in the spring and don't just accept BHIT figures unquestioningly.

Publication is not the only reason to write to the editor.

..d

In message <[email hidden]>, David Martin
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 23:15:17 -0000 someone who may be "Ambrose Nankivell"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

> Both very good letters & more power to you, but I think probably a little long for publishing.

Not intended for publication, more to give the editor a heads up so that they are a bit more on the
ball later on in the spring and don't just accept BHIT figures unquestioningly.

Publication is not the only reason to write to the editor.

When it comes to issues of the way the newspaper has a approached or reported a story, for the
guardian it may also be worth writing to the 'Readers Editor' whose role seems to be to deal with
corrections, complaints and comments about articles the newspaper has published.

Email: [email hidden]

I like the daily 'Corrections' bit, it often slips a little bit of humour in with factual
corrections.
--
Chris French, Leeds