CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
A bit like the Evening News story covered here a while back.
Three takes on an MP claiming as little as 40p for a journey by bike:
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/854617-bike-mp-saddles-us-with-40p-bill
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353207/MPs-thousands-pounds-expenses-claims-rejected.html
http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/newspaper-calls-it-wrong-on-mp-s-bike-expenses
But cyclist-bashing shifts copies of the daily hate off the bottom shelves more than the following (which were confined to the infobox towards the bottom);
* Labour MP Tristram Hunt (pictured) – 4p for ‘travel within constituency’ in his own car
* Tory MP Sheryll Murray – five claims for 20p each for parking at her constituency surgery
* Labour MP John Cryer – £10.52 for jug
to fill kettle because sink is ‘too small’
* Tory MP Mike Weatherley – 50p for a pint of milk
This is the best line: "Mr Bayley made one claim of 40p for a 3km (two-mile) bike journey in September a day after claiming £84.80 for using his car."
So the story is about how outrageous to claim for cycle journeys when the total cost is 5% that of one car journey.
Sheesh.
MP on Radio 5 the other night was complaining about the expenses system saying that she was left with only £20 over Christmas because of delays in getting expenses approved and paid. That just made me wonder where her (above average wage) salary had gone that she had to rely on expenses to get through the month...
This bit is quite funny.
"But Emma Boon of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘Lots of taxpayers cycle to work to reduce their own commuting costs, so if MPs cycle why should taxpayers pay them?’
Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/854617-bike-mp-saddles-us-with-40p-bill#ixzz1CzC3Ilo4
"
Uh yeah. REDUCE. Not bring to zero. You do know what that means right?
Nice to see swift response from CS -
http://www.cyclingscotland.org/news/paying-cycle-mileage-saves-money-says-cycling-scotland
Min, I wondered about Ms Boon's point too. I originally thought her umbrage arose because although lots of people cycle to work because it's cheap compared with driving or buying season tickets for buses, not a lot of people can claim expenses for cycling to work -- as distinct from claiming expenses for cycling while on official business, and that the taxpayer was ultimately subsidising someone to have their commuting costs paid. But I think I read it wrong, as although the article initially states he was cycling to work, it later states he was cycling around his constituency, which presumably counts as business travel. Even the dear old Metro got confused.
It would be great if we were paid for cycling to work! We'd probably all move further out. :-)
I'm outraged. It seems like instead of claiming 40p a mile to sit in a traffic jam, a politician has dared to save public money (and public time) by riding their bike instead.
Travesty.
You don't honestly expect the journalists who "wrote" these stories to do any work do you? They just took the press release from the so called TaxPayers' Alliance, then cut and pasted. These journalists, do however, know who pays their wages, just count the cars in each of these rags...
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