Fascism alive and well in London! This is ‘new politics’ from the tories which includes putting pressure on the BBC to pick panel members to suit them and removing protesters from London on more than one occasion over their few short weeks in power. This is the party whose leader stated in 2009 ‘the last twelve years of Labour government have diminished personal freedom… Today we are in danger of living in a control state.’ Power has clearly corrupted absolutely.

If being ticked off by a blond headed buffoon is “threatening and abusive” behaviour, then I feel the video probably does more to damage the macho image of motorcyclists than it does to harm the Mayor.

Poor lambs, were their feeling all hurt. Do they need a cuddle to calm them down?

Pussies.

Oh Orator Man you’re so butch

*Swoons*

Jack boot Boris has a sort of a ring to it. Blonde hair and all that.

Ve have vays of stopping you bikers. Ve vill put se panzers in se bus lanes!

I’m no toryboy but I wouldn’t call it threatening at all. All Boris was saying is that they’re pissing a lot of people off with their protest and that that’s not the best way to get their way on the bus lanes thing.

I’d be more impressed if he threatened some proper bikers.

And @grpartington – facism? Do get a grip.

The motorbikers don’t like being charged about one pound fifty to park their bikes in Westminster.

I’d like to see motorbike parking rules like they have in Greece and Italy where parking all over the pavement is the norm.

But in this case I support Boris.
As much as I hate the mean parking rules, I hate the BS victim stance that I just read in the OP even more.

The bikers doing these protests are a pain in the ass IMO.

There are two separate issues.

One – should motorcyclists pay Westminster council a small amount for parking. I think they should and their protest against it is idiotic – but they have the right to make their views heard.

Two – should motorcyclists (not just those in Westminster) be able to use bus lanes. This is a completely different area of policy, and has nothing to do with Westminster council.

While I think the protest is completely futile it is wrong for Boris to use it as a pretext to influence the decision on bus lanes. Motorbikes annoy me irrationally, but penalising all motorcyclists for the actions of a few dumb protestors is profoundly undemocratic.

Then again, this wasn’t a planned thing – clearly him being annoyed at the spur of the moment and being caught on camera and put on Youtube. I think we have to allow our politicians a bit of slack occasionally, especially in off-the-cuff situations. I am more concerned that he didn’t backtrack and say, “Oh, I said something silly in the heat of the moment”.

I don’t think it’s a problem that the motorcyclists are protesting, after all we are all entitled to protest if we want to. Westminster City Council ignored 8000 official objections against the Westminster motorcycle bay parking charges and not one person supported the scheme. If politicians don’t listen to the electorate, they should expect protests. What else would you suggest the bikers do, just give up?

Boris Johnson has always said that he can’t intervene in this issue as it’s nothing to do with him or TfL, it’s down to each individual council to decide their own policies, which is fair enough. But now it seems he suddenly wants to get involved, which is rather odd.

The thing that really annoys me is that Boris is threatening to withdraw something which is nothing to do with the protesters. The Mayor of London shouldn’t be blackmailing protest groups.

The London taxi drivers had a protest on Wednesday (and the Wednesday before), which was actually to do with TfL, and they completely blocked Aldgate for hours. Is the Mayor threatening to withdraw bus lane access for black cabs? No of course not!

Cyclists attend ‘Critical Mass’ on the last Friday of every month, and have done for over 15 years. Does this mean it would be okay for Boris to threaten to get rid of cycle lanes and the cycle hire scheme if cyclists don’t stop attending Critical Mass?

The bike parking protests have nothing whatsoever to do with the TfL red route bus lanes trial. The only thing that link the two are the fact that both are to do with motorcycling related issues in London. If motorcycles using bus lanes is safer for motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians and motor vehicles, then the scheme should be made permanent, if not, then it should be stopped. The decision should be based on the findings of the trial and not a political whim.

Kate may be irrationally annoyed by motorcycles (I am by caravans and tractors on back roads, but they also have a right to use the road) but at least there is aknowledgment that we have a democratic right ot protest. She is idiotic to think that we should roll over for the so-called small tax to park. If it is accepted, it will quickly go up and up and will change from being per day to per hour, etc and you can guarantee there will be no extra provision provided for this stealth tax. Westminster Council has a recorded histroy of not listening to our objections over this matter and a history of trying to shut down our street protests, our forum, and allegedly making hoax emergency calls to the ambulance service in an attempt to discredit us.
Yes, on the other side, Kate seems to underatnd that motorcycles using bus lanes is safer for all of us using the road whether it be by motorised transport, on foot, or by cycle and it SHOULD remain permanent.