addiscombe.org

by **Daniel Gee** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:19 am

In all fairness to him he has apologised at the end of this weeks column.

[url]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article3123486.ece[/url]

by **John the old'un** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:06 pm

[quote="Daniel Gee"]In all fairness to him he has apologised at the end of this weeks column.

[url]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article3123486.ece[/url]

by **Richard (Apples)** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:15 pm

I think there is a danger of taking his article way too seriously......

but anyhows the Times ran this article back in April so you'd think they'd be a bit more sensitive

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 637173.ece

:roll:

by **John the old'un** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:22 pm

[quote="Richard (Apples)"]I think there is a danger of taking his article way too seriously......
:

by **Richard (Apples)** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:50 pm

No I'm not suggesting that we take the law lightly , I'm just saying the article needs to be read with a little common sense.

Hes tried and obviously failed to be funny .....but I dont think anyone reading it is actually going to be encouraged go out and inflict violence on passing cyclists.

by **Brian Nolan** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:58 pm

well done to you guy's for firing off the letters to the Ed ,
it has obviously forced them to change tack & hold their hands up...

but it was pretty poor in the first place...

by **adrian** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:06 pm

I have to agree with L'Homme (Moyen) des Pommes. It's not a question of anyone disregarding the law - I think the danger here is that of flying into a tizzy and looking for legal redress because someone silly said something mildly disparaging about a loosely-defined group to which one feels one belongs.

And anyway, you have to take this article in the context of Mr Parris' work and persona. Few people find him as hilarious and endearingly mischievous as he himself does, and fewer still are likely to take him at his word and start offing cyclists.

by **John the old'un** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:44 pm

[quote="adrian"]

[color=darkred][color=red]"mildly disparaging" ? [/color][/color]
"[color=darkred]fewer still are likely to take him at his word and start offing cyclists.

by **adrian** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:09 pm

Was there a spate of attacks on DJs after Morrissey sang 'Hang the DJ, hang the DJ' back in the day? There was not. (And let's face it - with the likes of 'DLT' around at the time, there was no lack of justification :wink:

)

The 'it'll only take one idiot' argument is basically a defence of complete censorship of the press, the arts, etc for fear of how some random loon
might interpret something. If someone sets out to kill a cyclist on the say-so of Matthew Parris, they're already fairly unhinged, I'd say.

Speaking of being selective, were you out there protesting at the Danish cartoons about Islam? Or supporting the fatwa on Salman Rushdie? Calling for the repeal of Section 28, and so on?

by **Will** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:24 pm

Apparently the PCC have received 200 complaints

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7168530.stm

by **Jon H** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:39 pm

Slightly off-topic, but this has reminded me of a couple of incidents which occured in an area of Leeds where I used to go mountain biking back in the early nineties.

The first was fishing line strung across the trail between two trees - almost completely invisible as you approach it at speed, but luckily it was at the wrong height to either take my head off or flip me over the bars. It merely wrapped around the head tube, slowed me down a bit and then broke. I wasn't the only one who came across that little trick.

Second was the nutter glue-sniffers who used to hang around the place. Obviously fairly unhinged before the glue and completely unhinged afterwards, they would try and abuse/mug/pick a fight with anyone who had the misfortune to come across them. One day I met a postman legging it away after having dropped his sack and left the lowlife scumbag to take the contents.

I thought it best not to ride in the area after that, or at least not on my own.