It would appear that an adviser to London’s Mayor has lost his mind. For we’ve an insistence that either more blacks must be forced to cycle in that city or fewer whites can be allowed to. No, really, we’ve been told that there’s just not enough diversity among those who choose to travel upon two wheels and something must be done. That something including the setting of targets – and we are all interested in how targets are to be enforced, aren’t we?
London cyclists too white, male and middle class, says capital’s cycling chief in vow to tackle diversity ‘problem’
Even the Independent’s not buying this one, note the ” around problem.
Too few women and people from ethnic minority groups cycle in London and more must be done to promote diversity among a largely white, male and middle class biking community, the city’s walking and cycling commissioner has said.
That’s not quite all:
Cycling must be made more attractive to a BME audience, according to the capital’s first walking and cycling commissioner.
No, really, something as trivial as whether people cycle or walk has been colonised by the idea that we must have equal gender and race representation among those who do.
Our own suspicion here is that the real question to be answered is why is the London administration employing at least one idiot too many?
*Yes, in Britspeak, “black” is correct, the official designations are BAME or BME, black and minority ethnic or black, minority ethnic.
I see more blacks cycling every year. They are likely underrepresented but likely won’t be in a decade or so.
Perhaps this advisor shares my opinion and is positioning himself to get paid for a program which he can later claim as a success, without having to actually do anything.
If a black Londoner doesn’t cycle, by what principle does that become the problem of any other black Londoner? That’s right; by the principle of racism.
I thought BAME was black, asian or minority ethnic.
hipster tossers trying to show their green/hairshirt credentials to their peers ride bikes in London like utter twats. black people do something sensible like take the bus?
Seriously, riding a bike in London. Are you mad?
My experience of London you see quite a lot of them cycling. Fleetingly. On someone else’s bike.
Are Jewish folk counted as Minority Ethnic? Always wondered.
possible to construe it as a defensive tactical action rather than an ambition.. so mssr cyclist enthusiast ‘i’d like the mayor to make oxford street cyclists only every other 12 hour cycle (fnar) .Mayor@ “well yes sure… so long as they aint all pasty, beardy types”.
It sounds like a problem to me. It’s similar to underrepresentation of black skiers, fly fishermen and in curling. Something ought to be done and I salute the Brits for pioneering this effort. I look forward to seeing their results.
I do too, as it has been a chronic problem getting whites on the football gridiron in numbers that reflect their percentage of the national population.
Whatever BAME is, it’s a mutilation of language, ethnic is an adjective not a noun, minority is a noun not an adjective, so the correct english is ethnic minority not minority ethnic, and black people *ARE* ethnic minorities, so, again, the correct english is just pure simple ethnic minority.
Only a mattter of time then before it becomes a LGBTETC issue too.
There is nothing more insane in the modern world than taking a tiny and utterly unrepresentative slice of a population and claiming that slice should look like the general population.
The people who choose to cycle in London represent only the group “people who cycle in London”, not them plus the 99.99% who do not.
Whatever BAME is, it’s a mutilation of language, ethnic is an adjective not a noun, minority is a noun not an adjective, so the correct english is ethnic minority not minority ethnic, and black people *ARE* ethnic minorities, so, again, the correct english is just pure simple ethnic minority.
possible to construe it as a defensive tactical action rather than an ambition.. so mssr cyclist enthusiast ‘i’d like the mayor to make oxford street cyclists only every other 12 hour cycle (fnar) .Mayor@ “well yes sure… so long as they aint all pasty, beardy types”.
I thought BAME was black, asian or minority ethnic.
Only a mattter of time then before it becomes a LGBTETC issue too.
If a black Londoner doesn’t cycle, by what principle does that become the problem of any other black Londoner? That’s right; by the principle of racism.
hipster tossers trying to show their green/hairshirt credentials to their peers ride bikes in London like utter twats. black people do something sensible like take the bus?
Seriously, riding a bike in London. Are you mad?