http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37062440

Ah, the American dream.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37103668

No, seriously, can we just flatten India and start again? There isn't a day goes by without some utterly diseased story coming out of that country. North Korea seems more fcuking sensible.

And yes, it's bad when someone from Belfast thinks your country's fcuked up.

Kite fighting is a tradition in Japan too. Although leaving the blade strings where they might injure or kill people needs to be dropped on from a great height.

Sydney's 'war on cyclists': 'I got fined $106 for not having a bell' | Cities | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016 ... ists-fines

There seems to be some sort of belief that cyclists are ruining the economy, which is patently fcuked up in every way. The more I read about Oz politicians I realise they're relatively pathetic. And that's saying something considering the UK wasters.

The red light part seems very fair to me.
Not really. I carry my wallet with me everywhere I go, so I always have photo ID with me. I imagine most people are the same.
I will admit, the bell part is very silly.

Indeed, bells are actually quite bad for the use they're going for - they're very 'omnidirectional' noises so (say) if you're a pedestrian and you hear a bike bell, it's quite hard to immediately tell which direction the noise is coming from. Enforcing .. I dunno, a digital noisemaker with a more unidirectional tone would be better.

On the point of enforcing the laws, the Sydney penalties feel a bit draconian to me. One the spot fines are a bit pointless if they're bigger than the money most people are likely to be carrying with them. Most of the complaints about enforcing penalties at all seem pretty much 'whataboutery' though...

Jon

I'm all for cyclists who wear protective equipment, have high visibility equipment, have working lights and safe cycling practice. What drives me nuts has always been cyclists who have no lights or hi-vis stuff - multiple times I've encountered a cyclist on an unlit road at night and only spotted them when they're right in front of me because they're wearing black.

My brother-in-law had an accident with a cyclist. He was driving at a junction where the lights had turned green, and had just set off so very slow. Suddenly a cyclist appears from nowhere and hits him on the driver's side. Turns out it was a teenager riding her brother's bike. She hadn't checked it and didn't realise the brakes weren't working. She wholly admitted it was her fault. Ambulance and police attended. There was extensive damage to the allow, the wing, the bonnet (lifts up to protect pedestrians) and the wing mirror (electric and folds in). The damage came to £5000. Whilst if it had been another car, my b-i-l could have claimed from their insurance, he'll have to go through his own insurance even though it wasn't his fault.

That's why I feel that cyclists should have some sort of proficiency test before being allowed to cycle on roads and IMO some sort of insurance.

In theory he could/should forgo the insurance claim and sue her for the repair bill but in practice, in the UK, he'd never see the money if he did.


I've never seen an argument against cyclists being required to have third party insurance that holds any weight at all. And to be fair quite a lot of cyclists do have insurance because bikes aren't cheap.

The way insurance works is that you contact your insurance and they will sue the the person in any case, and if they have insurance they handle the case.
If they don't have insurance then your own insurance company will decide whether it is worth taking the individual to court and how much it will cost. If it is not economical they will just pay you from your policy.
It has happened to me where a driver destroyed my car and there was no dispute as to who was to blame, but because the other driver had no insurance and was in a poorly paid job my insurance coughed up and didn't bother reclaiming from the other person. My insurance docked MY no claims bonus and told me they were not going to chase the other party in court because although they would win, the court would have allowed the third part to pay up at 50 PENCE per month for the next 25 years.

Uber drivers in China are scaming customers by dressing as zombies | TechRadar
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and ... es-1329171

Our local Sainsburys has a charity book table. Sitting on the top of the pile today was a copy of Mein Kampf.

Maybe they were looking for the Sports Direct building.

I was just reading about two senior American judges who were sending juveniles to a private prison for millions in bribes. One guy did time for slagging off his teacher. How twisted would you need to be as a human being...

Just looked it up on Wiki - WOW - at least they got caught and are serving a long sentance

That sounds a bit messed up. Link?

Look up Kids for Cash on Wiki IIRC.