Let's see if I get this right.
Bella Sankley, a Labour councillor in Brighton has accused the Green Party's increase in parking fee for drivers for causing the popular tourist destination to supposedly see fewer people come in the last three years and suffer a £1.2m fall in parking revenue.
Am I forgetting any particular global event which might have put off the said people to go and have fun at the beaches?
As much as I'd like to, I just can't seem to get around and do this trick of forgetting. But seems like someone has figured out a way to erase those wretched memories of being stuck in your home in your PJs, watching too much YouTube and Netflix, and eating an ungodly amount of Skittles. Erm, the last one might be just specific to me.
The Telegraph reports that Sankley blamed "incompetence" of the Green Party council, which after increasing the parking fee seems to have "scared off" the drivers, leaving a "black hole" in the city's finances.
The Greens were running a minority administration since 2020 until earlier this year, until the Labour won back majority of the Brighton and Hove City Council, and during that time, the former party presided over a string of increases in the cost of parking in the city for visitors and permit-holding residents.
> Cars to be banned from road along Brighton seafront to allow people to exercise safely
In April 2020, the council had also closed a major road along the south coast resort's seafront to motor traffic to give locals more space to take their outdoor exercise while maintaining social distance during the coronavirus pandemic.
But the convenient rewriting of the last three years and somehow blaming the increased parking fee for people for not leaving their houses as much to go to the beach has left people on social media baffled.
Anything else that could’ve put people off day trips from 2020-22? Anything? Hmm.
— Kyle Mcnamara (@KyleMcn12667834) June 28, 2023
Did anyone also forget the cost of living crisis?
There is no link between this and the drop in tourism, you clutching at straws. The country as a whole is going through a cost of living crisis. People would not be put off just because of a rise in car parking.
— Keith Beard (@KeithBe63758343) June 28, 2023
Or maybe, people still went to Brighton, but just not by cars?
The article doesn't have any evidence fewer people went to Brighton - it just says parking revenue went down as fewer people went there by car.
— London Cycles (@London_Cycles) June 29, 2023
Another wild night out Pete? Wait, a wild morning out?!
The three-time world champion was handed a three-month suspended prison sentence, and banned from driving for the same period yesterday, after he was caught drink driving on a motorised bike through the streets of Monaco on 12 May... at 11:35 AM.
> Peter Sagan handed three-month suspended prison sentence for drink driving
Credit where credit's due, at least he wasn't behind the wheel of a car. I'm guessing it's also significantly more difficult to perform wheelies on a four-wheeled vehicle than a two-wheeled one.
The TotalEnergies rider has now posted a supremely awkward apology video on Instagram, and he looks absolutely devastated. Or I think, that's what I'm trying to believe.
He says in the video: "I am reaching out to tell you I'm deeply sorry for screwing up after a moment of weakness. I would like to apologise to my family, my friends, my team, our sponsors and everybody that supported me. I'm committed to learn from this mistake and becoming a better person in the future."
Not the best thing to tackle when you'll be starting your last Tour de France in under 50 hours. But hey, can't be worse than Lotto-Dstny.
The Australian DS, a former pro rider himself, has been accused of sending inappropriate messages and photos to "at least 30 women" on social media, with Lotto Dstny claiming that the matter "has nothing to do" with the team.
Well, this would go down well for a team heading into the Tour de France on a wildcard.
You have been merrily pedalling your way from Peckham for a nice Chacago-style pizza in Soho (and a couple of pints, of course), when just a few minutes into your ride, you are reminded that you will have to cross the dreaded Westminster bridge.
Has that ever happened to you? If not, you're lucky and I hope it never does.
London’s - perhaps the world’s - most useless bike lane strikes again. pic.twitter.com/TNpwP0P2J2
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 28, 2023
But I'll spare a thought for all those who've had to endure the trials and tribulations of this bike lane. Sometimes I think if it didn't exist, how would all the people take pictures of the Big Ben or the House of Commons?
It's a mistake people only make once.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 28, 2023
Although I personally don't have anything against the ice-cream van — it's a landmark in itself, probably more iconic than all the other towering monuments around it — but the queues for a cone of indecently overpriced ice-cream do get a bit much.
Apart from the fact that just behind me there were about another 50 people stood in the bike lane to take pics with Big Ben in the background.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 28, 2023
Jeremy Vine has a solution.
That said, an Airzound horn does help clear the path
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) June 29, 2023
But this one's my favourite:
Park it the other way and hand out 99s to passing cyclists like marathon runners passing a water station
— Danny Chips (@danny_chips_) June 29, 2023
Not cycling related per se, but with the Tour making its way from the Basque city on Saturday, it qualifies. Also, just a really good trivia worthy of a blog mention.
Random 1923 connection: This was the year that Athletic Bilbao won the Copa del Rey. They were managed by a man from Wolverhampton called Fed Pentland, famous for his bowler hat, and nicknamed "El Bombin" - he revolutionised the way that football was played in Spain. pic.twitter.com/rB5eFHXjr4
— Ned Boulting 🏳️⚧️ (@nedboulting) June 29, 2023
Okay this one's a bit different. Everyone talks about doping, we know cycling went through that. But there's a time and place for other, non-substance reliant cheeky and sometimes eye-gouging ways to get yourself over the finish line. And that's what we take a look at here...
> Cheating at the Tour de France — a rich history dating back 120 years
Flat 100-km ride, how quick do you think you can do it?
Now, how quick do you think a certain Wout van Aert can do it?
After demolishing a 104.2km ride in 2 hours and 18 minutes, with an average speed of 45.2 km/h and max speed of 63.8 km/h, the Belgian rider's activity has been flagged on Strava.
This comes just a couple of weeks after we reported that the activity-sharing app is updating its algorithm to flag suspicious activities, after a host of nefarious Strava fanatics started using motorbikes to cover segments and steal cyclists' prized possessions of KOMs/QOMs.
All his segment records have been excluded as of now. So the locals are probably safe from waking up to the dreaded "Uh oh" message, only to find that they have lost their crown to a three-time cyclo-cross world champion.
But if you would anyone to expect to be putting up those numbers in the world, Van Aert is probably going to be in the top three or top five, at least. And with a little cycling get-together due to begin this weekend, maybe he was doing final training runs?