Miranda Devine wrote something to upset cyclists and is so surprised that she upset some of them that she wrote another column about the vitriolic feedback she copped. I have some advice for Miranda — best move on!
In a past life I was the editor of a little mag called the Emerald Hill Weekly, which any of you living in the City of Port Phillip, may know.
I had a weekly column, which was an absolute pleasure. It was like a blog but with a lot more responsibility as people actually took it seriously. So I’d often comment about local issues, of which there were plenty to write about, and take stances that may or not have pleased the Council or residents who were members of one of the many action groups or alliances protesting about everything from park closures to the opening of a skate park for kiddies to play on – yes, you Trevor Marmalade!
One day I was hard up for a column and I was about to go on an eleven-night cruise. Care factor was at the lower end of the scale so I followed that tried and tested cure for the weary columnist; when in doubt go the cyclists! Luckily I had a hook. Then Mayor of Port Phillip Darren Ray had been quoted as saying in a new story we ran, ”It was about time motorists subsidised pedestrians and cyclists, rather than the other way round”.
I liked Darren Ray, but took issue to this comment in that motorists pay registration, fuel levies and stamp duty on new cars so it was a bit unfair to say they were being subsidised — though I may have taken things a little too far.
This is what I wrote back in July 2005.