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news
Barbed wire on bike path Kent2Sunday Times says Rod Liddle “piano wire” column “not intended to be taken seriously”
The Sunday Times insists a column written by Rod Liddle, in which he said it was “tempting” to string piano wire across roads used by cyclists at neck height, was “not intended to be taken seriously” – the exact phrase that Cycling UK said yesterday would be an “inappropriate” defence of it.
The newspaper made its defence of the article in response to a complaint from barrister James M Turner QC, who tweeted the newspaper’s reply.
Rod Liddle being oh-so-funny about garrotting families on bikes on Sunday, and The Sunday Times’ response to my complaint. It’s not that he’s caused offence - and they can hardly be sorry - he’s been monetising giving offence for years. It’s that some dangerous fool will try it. pic.twitter.com/otcE74kti8
— James M. Turner QC (@ShipBrief) May 27, 2020
Its letters editor, James Bleach, wrote: “Thank you for getting in touch. Rod Liddle’s remark was not intended to be taken seriously. We’re sorry he’s caused offence.
We believe that cyclists should have their say about this in our pages. To that end, we intend to publish a letter from Cycling UK putting their view of the column this coming Sunday.”
We reported yesterday on the national cycling charity’s response to Liddle’s column, which its head of campaigns, Duncan Dollimore, described as “inflammatory, in seriously poor taste, and implies that a seriously dangerous and criminal act is somehow an acceptable course of conduct.”
In his letter, he wrote: “It would be inappropriate to defend or justify Mr Liddle’s words with the easy excuse that they were not intended to be taken seriously, or that irony or sarcasm were being employed.”
That is exactly what has happened in this case, and – whether intentional or not – using exactly the same words that Dollimore said would be “inappropriate” as a defence of justification for the column.
A previous complaint by Cycling UK over a column published in 2016 in which he appeared to condone dooring cyclists was similarly rebuffed, with the newspaper claiming the piece had been written “with heavy irony.”
> Sunday Times: Rod Liddle wasn’t condoning ‘dooring’ cyclists – he was just using “heavy irony”
The broadcaster and writer Ned Boulting has also lodged a complaint with The Sunday Times over Liddle’s latest column.
.@thesundaytimes Hello. I wrote your editor a letter. It's the first time I've ever done that in my life. But you won't publish it, so I will. (And it's not even about Cummings). pic.twitter.com/jqyB8wypeV
— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) May 26, 2020
The ITV4 Tour de France commentator, who tweeted a copy of his letter, wrote of his experience of cycling in London.
He pointed out that it was “drivers of cars, vans and lorries” who pose the greatest danger on the roads, and that “those drivers are literally isolated from obvious and immediate harm in their vehicles, and that their vehicles are lethal when they collide with flesh and bone on board a bike.”
Adding that he also drives a car, he said: “Sometimes I am caught unawares by a cyclist’s sudden movement on the road. Sometimes cyclists can behave badly. I am wary, and alert. But I am also tolerant, even of those drivers of cars who behave badly.
“When I ride I am both tolerant and vulnerable and I believe most people are, most of the time. So when Mr Liddle jokingly calls for the garrotting of cyclists, he is playing the simplest, basest game of appealing to the lowest common denominator.
“It would be funny, were it funny. It would be fair, were it fair. And it would be right, were it right.
“It would be harmless were it not tediously dangerous. Apart from that, I can find no fault with it.”
He concluded by saying, “Have a word, will you?”
Liddle’s column was published on a weekend in which a cyclist in South Wales needed stiches to a facial wound after he rode into a trap comprising branches and wire placed on a trail he was riding on.
That followed a similar incident near Leeds last month in which a cyclist, who had been riding with his son, was injured by wire stretched across a trail.
> Cyclist injured by wire stretched across West Yorkshire trail
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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26 comments
I had the same (standard) response. I asked Mr Bleach to clarify how much of the newspaper was to be taken seriously, if Liddle's comnment was "not to be taken seriously". I suspect that might be a tough question for him!
Complaint made to IPSO...
"I find this truly offensive! While he is obviously making a joke, if you replace the cyclist reference with one of homosexuality, religious or ethnic group would it still be allowed or seen as funny?
What he is basically saying is that all homosexuals/Jews/Muslims/Black/Asian/Cyclists (pick a group of people you don't like) should be decapitated.
THIS IS NOT OK!
There are numerous reports of this actually happening and to make light of it in a national publication is wrong."
A google search suggests that this is the same 'columnist' who was expelled from the Labour party in 2016 for anti-semitic comments, then followed up in late 2019 by suggesting that muslims should be prevented from voting. He's either a troll or a real neo-nazi. It also appears that he habitually uses uses Trumpian couching phrases to distance himself from his own messages "I'm not really saying this, but [encourage violence/offensive acts]."
Neo-nazis and racists in journalism used to get fired when they said the quiet part out loud. It wasn't that long ago either.
A google search suggests that this is the same 'columnist' who was expelled from the Labour party in 2016 for anti-semitic comments, then followed up in late 2019 by suggesting that muslims should be prevented from voting. He's either a troll or a real neo-nazi. It also appears that he habitually uses uses Trumpian couching phrases to distance himself from his own messages "I'm not really saying this, but [encourage violence/offensive acts]."
Neo-nazis and racists in journalism used to get fired when they said the quiet part out loud. It wasn't that long ago either.
Times have changed.
OTOH ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender are much less rigid now, the younger generations seem more open-minded than ours.
The likes of Rod Liddle, Richard Littlejohn and Katie Hopkins are nothing more than overpaid, spiteful trolls. No-one would be worse off if newspaper columnists and 'social media commentators' were all wiped from the face of the earth. Hopefully if the opportunity arises they will be the first ones up against the wall.
They aren't sorry he's caused offence. They employ him because he causes offence. Controversy attracts readers, readers bring advertisers. Advertisers bring money. Ethics have been trampled by greed. That's News Corp in a nutshell.
"Thank you for getting in touch. Rod Liddle’s remark was not intended to be taken seriously. We’re sorry he’s caused offence."
They might be but he clearly isn't.
If you have received this reply please reply directly to it. This is what I wrote:
Dear Mr Bleach,
This is not the first time Mr Liddle has written offensive articles in your paper and he has previously targeted cyclists. I therefore find your comment that you are "sorry he's caused offence" totally disingenuous.
President Trump claimed his comments about folks disinfecting their insides wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. However quite a few people did.
I got exactly the same pro-forma response:
Dear [insert name of person being fobbed off here]
Thank you for getting in touch. Rod Liddle’s remark was not intended to be taken seriously. We’re sorry he’s caused offence.
We believe that cyclists should have their say about this in our pages. To that end, we intend to publish a letter from Cycling UK putting their view of the column this coming Sunday.
Best wishes
Stephen Bleach
Letters Editor
Perhaps someone should lie in wait in the street where Mr Liddle lives with a high powered rifle and pick off his wife and children.
Only joking, it works both ways you know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7CnMQ4L9Pc
As stewart Lee would say - it's just a joke. Like on Top Gear
I briefly worked with Rod Liddle's ex wife - she had some extremely damning things to say about him.
If someone said they were tempted to bomb the homes of the Sunday Times' columnists, would they treat it so lightly?
don't bother with the homes. hit them where it hurts. a few threats and smoke grenades at the printing press should shut down their plans to distribute papers nationwide. good luck offending society when you can't print or ship a single paper.
can't let a joke offend the people if it never leaves the building.
Somewhat unfair on the innocent people just working for a living. It's not their fault that the paper has become a rag.
Death Star scene from Clerks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQdDRrcAOjA
As usual, they print what they want and get away with it. Disgusting.
The Times insists it is not to be taken seriously. Fair enough. It stopped being a proper newspaper years ago.
Do you think the timing had anything to do with it being aquired by Murdoch?
Around 1981 by my reckoning
So, The Sunday Times, founded almost 200 years ago, is saying it is now no more serious a publication than, say, The Beano. Except with a more lax attitude to public safety. OK.
The Times have form on this;
Times columnist Matthew Parris’s comment piece about cyclists headlined “What’s smug and deserves to be decapitated?” received the most complaints to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in 2008. His defence was 'It was meant humorously'. Yeah, right.
So Liddle's cod piece is a joke?
I don't read papers any more, so can anyone let us know what companies advertise in the Sunday Times. I might like to drop them a line pointing out that I won't be buying whatever they're selling if they continue to support this paper.
ah typical, they give a crappy predictable response and now that they have done so they want to publish a letter from Cycling UK so they can sell more papers.
I think they have already booked their seat in hell as they couldn't possibly be more gung-ho for the crap that comes out of Liddle that they will continue working with him despite his dangerous language and blatant disregard for the rights and safety of other human beings.