In the news

Good work?

That was a joke.

Sort of 'news'. In Time Out magazine this week there's an article which focuses on cycling to work during the Olympics (with other pieces about walking and running).

The person who tried cycling came through Southwark, but after coming down Camberwell Grove he headed up Camberwell Rd, Walworth Rd, Elephant and Castle etc - then complained about how busy and horrible it was. Shame he didn't take the quiet, more pleasant route on the back streets and E&C bypass.

I fear the tone of the article will not help new cyclists into using the mode, only scare them. What a missed opportunity.

Time Out Magazine being shit. Pretty standard.

Since the lights change all routes on main roads seem to be awful for cycling. If people start trying to cycle through camden / bloomsbury area without researching alternative routes it will be really dangerous. The traffic weight is just too much.

The whole concept of the torch relay is such bollocks.

Why?

Because you can buy a Bic lighter in any corner shop for 50p

all hail the flame!

Congratulations, that makes................................................................................................................................................................................. no sense

using the mode

You mean "riding their bikes".

You have been around urban planning professionals for too long.

Why?

Because the torch relay was introduced by Carl Diem at the 1936 Olympics and there is no evidence that such a thing ever occurred in the ancient games. It is therefore, arguably, little more than a NAZI propaganda tool that people decided was quite nice and have subsequently shrouded in myth and bullshit to try and cover up its ideologically suspect origins.

Because the torch relay was introduced by Carl Diem
You could say that he seized upon the idea.

#schickjoke

Yeah but its tradition though innit.

Hitler loved lights and torches.

Tradition that was started by a bunch of genocidal megalomaniacs.

Yeah but its tradition though innit.

Tradition does not automatically make something good or worthwhile.

I believe you'll find it does.

Oh no it doesn't.

Tradition does not automatically make something good or worthwhile.

Don't let GA2G hear you say this.

Why?

Putting aside it's origins, imagine if someone can up with this idea now.

"Let's take a flame, from greece, in a plane, to the country the games are taking place, and run it around the country for weeks, at great expense, and then finally light a beacon in the stadium". It's just ridiculous.

It's a huge waste of money, causes disruption in the areas it's in, and I fail to see what it achieves, that just lighting the flame in the stadium doesn't.

Sure, you could argue it gets people around the country interested in the games, so maybe you could argue it's a marketing ploy, but in this day and age I don't think that's the most effective way to achieve that.

Yeah, i want a an e-flame on myspace that we can pass around the country by liking it!

i sense a new tradition

The torch relay is for no other reason than to placate the proles in the provinces who whinge incessantly about the Olympics being all about London. Why any of them would be envious of the almighty clusterfuck that's currently simmering in the capital is anyone's guess. The Daily Mail are probably to blame.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/two-feared-dead-in-dorset-landslide-7953063.html

After a landslide in a tunnel last week, the authorities finally get round to clearing the pile of mud a debris.

They've found a car under it all with two people in it.

Don't want to sound grisly, but I hope they died instantly, because the idea of being buried alive fills me with dread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Yyhxq56Xg