Police joggers in cycle helmets!?

Tom Crispin writtificated

Quoted message said:

Watching the Olympic torch being taken through London, I was surprised
to see a great many police jogging alongside wearing cycle helmets.
Why!?

Rollocks, you beat me to it 😉

I think they're retasked bicycle police. The alternative is that the
police felt head protection was necessary, but that traditional helmets
weren't available and riot helmets OTT. On reflection, that seems
silly, so my money is on retasked bike cops. They don't carry police
hats with them, so they'd have had to keep their cycle helmets on or go
<shock-horror> bare headed in public.

"Tom Crispin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Watching the Olympic torch being taken through London, I was surprised
to see a great many police jogging alongside wearing cycle helmets.
Why!?

Possibly because they were previously on bicycles

Mark T writtificated

Quoted message said:

I think they're retasked bicycle police.

Watched a bit on the news and most seemed to be wearing clear cycling
glasses, so looks like they're retasked cycle cops.

On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:33:58 +0100 someone who may be Tom Crispin
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Watching the Olympic torch being taken through London, I was surprised
to see a great many police jogging alongside wearing cycle helmets.
Why!?

They started off on bicycles. At some point they abandoned them.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

Mark T said:

Mark T writtificated

Quoted message said:

I think they're retasked bicycle police.

Watched a bit on the news and most seemed to be wearing clear cycling
glasses, so looks like they're retasked cycle cops.

On some pix on the BBC news site they had their bikes. Perhaps they
abandoned them as they got in the way of their chasing down and tackling
protestors.
Any news of the Sheldon Brown Ride?

On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:33:11 +0100 someone who may be Dan Gregory
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

On some pix on the BBC news site they had their bikes. Perhaps they
abandoned them as they got in the way of their chasing down and tackling
protestors.

I think they abandoned them when they realised they needed three
circles of bods shoulder to shoulder around the person supporting
the evil regime in China by carrying the torch. An excellent example
of non-violent direct action by the protestors though, as one would
expect given the cause.

Anyway the real "flame" was kept on the bus at all times, as could
be seen when the torches were turned off as the regime supporters
got on the bus.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

On 6 Apr 2008 15:46:33 GMT, Mark T
<pleasegivegenerously@warmail*turn_up_the_heat_to_reply*.com.invalid>

Quoted message said:

Tom Crispin writtificated

Quoted message said:

Watching the Olympic torch being taken through London, I was surprised
to see a great many police jogging alongside wearing cycle helmets.
Why!?

Rollocks, you beat me to it 😉

I think they're retasked bicycle police. The alternative is that the
police felt head protection was necessary, but that traditional helmets
weren't available and riot helmets OTT. On reflection, that seems
silly, so my money is on retasked bike cops. They don't carry police
hats with them, so they'd have had to keep their cycle helmets on or go
<shock-horror> bare headed in public.

I cycled down to Greenwich today (and had loads of adventures). I was
in pole position to see the flame come off the boat and be carried
ashore. As the police jogged up the gangway with Ellen McArthur they
were still wearing their cycle helmets.

http://www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/flame/P4066342.JPG
Ellen holding the flame at the boat's bow.
http://www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/flame/P4066337.JPG
Zoomed in on the police in the boat a few seconds earlier.
http://www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/flame/P4066365.JPG
Ellen dwarfed by jogging police in cycle helmets on the gangway.

And off-topic...
http://www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/flame/P4066405.JPG
The flame leaving the Dome. I cycled *within* the convoy - next to
the bus for about 1000 metres.
http://www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/flame/P4066384.JPG
A sea of protest against the Beijing Olympics.

David Hansen said:

On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:33:11 +0100 someone who may be Dan Gregory
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

On some pix on the BBC news site they had their bikes. Perhaps they
abandoned them as they got in the way of their chasing down and tackling
protestors.

I think they abandoned them when they realised they needed three
circles of bods shoulder to shoulder around the person supporting
the evil regime in China by carrying the torch. An excellent example
of non-violent direct action by the protestors though, as one would
expect given the cause.

Anyway the real "flame" was kept on the bus at all times, as could
be seen when the torches were turned off as the regime supporters
got on the bus.

I'd be surprised if the torch was not lit by the real flame. The
Chinese would suffer a great loss of face if it was revealed that the
torch was not lit by the real flame.

I can't really see carrying the flame as anything other than
supporting the Olympic ideal. Buying "made in China" goods does more
to support the Chinese Government. Do you think that the Chinese
Politburo would have been made *more* aware of World public opinion
had the flame not travelled to London?

On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:33:11 +0100,

Dan Gregory said:

Mark T said:

Mark T writtificated

Quoted message said:

I think they're retasked bicycle police.

Watched a bit on the news and most seemed to be wearing clear cycling
glasses, so looks like they're retasked cycle cops.

On some pix on the BBC news site they had their bikes. Perhaps they
abandoned them as they got in the way of their chasing down and tackling
protestors.
Any news of the Sheldon Brown Ride?

I was on it. It was good (if rather slow so my hands got a bit cold and
I wished I'd taken an extra layer to wear)

I didn't stop at the pub at the end.

I've got a video of the ride at 10x speed if anyone is interested (It's
not that exciting). It's rather big (70M). Anyone a youtube person who
can upload it to there? I don't think I'll be too popular if post it on
the normal server I post them to. (I've lost the last 10mins or so - I
forgot to put the camera to 15 frames/sec so ran out of space)

Tim.

--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.

http://tjw.hn.org/ http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/

On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:49:18 +0100 someone who may be Tom Crispin
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

I can't really see carrying the flame as anything other than
supporting the Olympic ideal.

The "tradition" of the torch relay was introduced for political
reasons in 1936. It has become a means of big business promoting
their wares; though I doubt if Samsung, Coca-Cola and Lenovo will
think that they got any good publicity out of their money on this
occasion. The first are the ones who appeared to have their name
dragged through the mud in the mass media the most, the latter had
less coverage and the latter none at all. However, they may have had
more exposure on the streets, I gather the middle ones had "dancing
girls" on a lorry in front of the "sacred" flame runners.

"Olympic ideal"? These people run round in circles fast, throw
things long distances, ride bikes in circles, swim fast and so on.
All very worthy for those that take part and those who want to watch
them, but utterly unimportant. They are only games, leisure
activities, certainly nothing to do with all the worthy words about
harmony which the sporting lobby hide behind. Given that the relay
was introduced for political reasons it doesn't do the sporting
lobby any good to now claim that it should not be political.

The sporting lobby tied themselves to the vile regime in China. They
have been held to account by the public on the streets of London and
Paris. Hopefully the same thing will happen tomorrow. The big-heads
of the sporting lobby have been given a bit of education, which is
excellent.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:38:43 +0100 someone who may be Tom Crispin
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

http://www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/flame/P4066365.JPG
Ellen dwarfed by jogging police in cycle helmets on the gangway.

An excellent photograph which demonstrates the pointlessness of the
whole exercise.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

David Hansen writtificated:

Quoted message said:

Bah! Humbug!

I've summarised your post 😉

Quoting Tim Woodall <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Dan Gregory said:

Any news of the Sheldon Brown Ride?

I was on it.

So was I, the solo tandem rider.

Quoted message said:

It was good (if rather slow so my hands got a bit cold and
I wished I'd taken an extra layer to wear)

I was fine when we were rolling, but got very cold waiting to set off.

Quoted message said:

I didn't stop at the pub at the end.

I stopped for a swift one which turned into a few...
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> Kill the tomato!
Today is Second Epithumia, April - a weekend.

On Apr 8, 2:29 pm, David Damerell <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoting Tim Woodall <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Dan Gregory said:

Any news of the Sheldon Brown Ride?

I was on it.

So was I, the solo tandem rider.

I'm the only cyclist in the cycle lane in the picture immediately
below the text "Speakers Corner, Hyde Park meeting point." (on the
Brompton) in Tony's pictures.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It was good (if rather slow so my hands got a bit cold and
I wished I'd taken an extra layer to wear)

I was fine when we were rolling, but got very cold waiting to set off.

I only got there on the dot of 13:30 so I didn't have to hang round
for very long (about 15 mins I think)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I didn't stop at the pub at the end.

I stopped for a swift one which turned into a few...

That's what I was worried about and I had things I needed to do at
home.

Tim.

On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:49:18 +0100, Tom Crispin
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[Apologies - your message has been deleted from my server so I have
recovered it from Google.]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I can't really see carrying the flame as anything other than
supporting the Olympic ideal.

The "tradition" of the torch relay was introduced for political
reasons in 1936. It has become a means of big business promoting
think that they got any good publicity out of their money on this
occasion. The first are the ones who appeared to have their name
dragged through the mud in the mass media the most, the latter had
less coverage and the latter none at all. However, they may have had
more exposure on the streets, I gather the middle ones had "dancing
girls" on a lorry in front of the "sacred" flame runners.

"Olympic ideal"? These people run round in circles fast, throw
things long distances, ride bikes in circles, swim fast and so on.
All very worthy for those that take part and those who want to watch
them, but utterly unimportant. They are only games, leisure
activities, certainly nothing to do with all the worthy words about
harmony which the sporting lobby hide behind. Given that the relay
was introduced for political reasons it doesn't do the sporting
lobby any good to now claim that it should not be political.

The sporting lobby tied themselves to the vile regime in China. They
have been held to account by the public on the streets of London and
Paris. Hopefully the same thing will happen tomorrow. The big-heads
of the sporting lobby have been given a bit of education, which is
excellent.

OK - so the torch relay is political. Awarding the Olympics to China
was political.

Will the Olympics accelerate or decellerate China's reform?

And don't forget, when Britain was at China's stage of economic
development we were starving the people of Ireland, sending children
to workhouses and only half the population were allowed to vote.

I have travelled to China on a regular basis for the last 15 years.
The pace of reform is astonishing. That is not to say that there is
not some considerable way to go, but the general direction is good.

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:28:19 +0100 someone who may be Tom Crispin
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

OK - so the torch relay is political. Awarding the Olympics to China
was political.

Glad we agree.

Quoted message said:

Will the Olympics accelerate or decellerate China's reform?

Before it was awarded some people claimed that it would accelerate
reform. It would have to, because at the time China did not fulfill
parts of the olympic charter and the Chinese regime made promises
about this (details are in various mass media articles I can't be
bothered to look up). Others said that the Chinese regime would not
fulfill their promises.

We now know that the latter were right.

The Chinese regime having failed to fulfill their promises, what
should the sporting lobby do? I think they should cancel the games,
but there is too much money involved for them to do that. For the
future they should hold the games in Greece, where they could put
their semi-spiritual words into action.

I hope that the sporting lobby are again held to account on the
streets of San Francisco today. In Paris and London the protests
have been non-violent (which is not the same thing as passive) and I
hope that is maintained today. Removing the blood spattered torch
from someone supporting the evil regime is something I approve of,
attacking them is something I would not approve of. Note that some
in the sporting lobby have lied about violent demonstrations. There
have been no reports of people being harmed, shop windows being
broken and so on.

I gather that those who carry one of these torches are entitled to
keep them. I hope they reflect on their support for the vile regime
in China when they look at them in future and the torch becomes an
embarrassment to them.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

The BBC commentator at one point told us about the 'crowds' out to see
the flame. I've seen better crowds at a Tuesday evening ten when it
was raining!

BigRab said:

The BBC commentator at one point told us about the 'crowds' out to see
the flame. I've seen better crowds at a Tuesday evening ten when it
was raining!

The route was 31 miles. What do you expect? Crowds 10 deep every
yard of the route!? Even the London Marathon cannot manage that and
that's only 26 miles.