The news was initally reported via Bike Biz, with a headline “Government joins #boycottaddisonlee“.

The UK Government’s Chief Procurement Officer John Collington has been reported as saying “We expect all private hire [...]]]> Yesterday, UK cycling website road.cc reportd that Addison Lee, a London minicab firm, had lost its sole contract with the United Kingdom Government.

The news was initally reported via Bike Biz, with a headline “Government joins #boycottaddisonlee“.

The UK Government’s Chief Procurement Officer John Collington has been reported as saying “We expect all private hire vehicles in London to adhere to the prohibition on using bus lanes. In regard to Addison Lee, the only existing government contract with the company will expire at the end of this month and is not being renewed.”

No-one can be sure of the size and nature of the contract, though rollkit.com intends to investigate via Freedom of Information requests on Tuesday morning (we’re having an early bank holiday to celebrate this wonderful news).

The cancellation of the contract comes despite knowledge that Griffin has donated over £250,000 to the Conservative party, the largest contingent in the UK’s Coalition Government.

John Griffin, chairman of Addison Lee, joined Sustrans’ Eleanor Besley for a debate on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, where he tried to outline his gripe with cyclists.

Griffin wasn’t in the Today studio as originally planned. He joined the debate confirming he was stuck in traffic, and wasn’t using a bus lane to beat the queues.

Later in the Today programme, rollkit.com heard #boycottaddisonlee supporter John Prescott join in a debate about how the news agenda is increasingly being driven by social media, citing the Addison Lee ‘Ratner Moment’ as an example.

Now may also be a good time to criticise BBC London TV News, who were a pioneering stalwart of ‘travel news’ for their lack of understanding of the significance of this story, until late in the day. Travel Cams on Breakfast telly, unfortunately, are not quite an example of cutting edge travel reporting in a 21st century capital.

Liberal Democrat ministers have also been fairly relaxed toward the Addison Lee debacle, in recent news Nick Clegg, the UK Deputy Prime Minister, stated that he helped his party join the Coalition Government, because he did not want his party to be harmed by the unfavourable reputation the country’s Labour party had. No comment was passed about the damage his party may have sustained in the last two years since his party joined a Conservative coalition.

Mayoral Canidates for the London elections next week, Boris Johnson, Ken Livinstone, Brian Paddick, Siobhan Benita, Carlos Cortiglio, and someone for UKIP were fairly quiet on the matter. Jenny Jones, the Green Party candidate spoke out vociferously against the idea of Addison Lee cars breaking the law. Rollkit.com is forming the opinion that Jenny Jones would be our preferred candidate for Mayor of London, given other recent gaffes by candidates.

Sorry, Ed, I missed it. I’ll probably miss Cameron’s too. No hardship, I missed the Liberal Democrat leader’s speech. Greens and UKIP too!

Party Leader speeches are just over-rated opportunities [...]]]>

“My speech was seen and heard on the BBC and in the interests of impartiality and fairness, so the prime minister’s should be.”
Ed Miliband.

Sorry, Ed, I missed it. I’ll probably miss Cameron’s too. No hardship, I missed the Liberal Democrat leader’s speech. Greens and UKIP too!

Party Leader speeches are just over-rated opportunities for the leader to spout bollocks in front of an affirmed supportive audience. To make themselves look good.

To choose who I want to lead the UK, I pay attention to what’s said by the leaders of each party when in more impartial settings than their own party party where the leader of the gang gives a parting serenade of gratitude, proving how manly and heroic he is, that the leader is better than the man who invented the next best thing since sliced bread. It’s the last dance, so to speak. Then we all clap gratefully for the cameras.

The BBC going on strike and not broadcasting this bollocks from every leader would probably do the country a whole favour about now.

I sat down to watch Question Time last night, and nearly spat my teeth out when Dimbleby announced that Cameron’s Government would only send a representative if Alistair Campbell was not on the [...]]]> Well before the General Election, I gave some examples of how politicians were trying to fundamentally meddle with the BBC’s political independence.

I sat down to watch Question Time last night, and nearly spat my teeth out when Dimbleby announced that Cameron’s Government would only send a representative if Alistair Campbell was not on the panel. Oh how petulent and immature our new Government has turned out to be.

The inference is that the Con-Dem coalition are unwilling to speak about their policy and legislature without a front-bench Labour spokesperson present. I’m not quite sure why, as surely not having a senior elected Labour person would make their job easier.

The fact that the Tories couldn’t be arsed to field a shadow minister for every programme when Labour were in power sailed over their heads. When the tables are turned, apparently the Con-Dems don’t like it.

This also shows how the Tories and Lib Dems view the BBC as a tool they can push around at will. Back in September 2009, Jeremy Hunt was pretty open in his view that the BBC should have more openly Conservative newsreaders.

What is the point of having a Royal Charter to set out the independence of the BBC from political interference if the Cameron-Clegg Government are going to undermine that very independence within two days of the Queen’s speech to Parliament?

More to the point, if the Tories and Lib Dems feel that they are so powerful and lacking in hmility that they feel they can veto a guest on a political programme, what will their next objective be?

If you value the impartiality of the BBC, be very wary over the next five years.

That’s fine, for those of us who actively buy, read or subscribe to newspapers. There are [...]]]> Today, the BBC Trust has had to force the BBC to postpone the launch of it’s smartphone applications. Apparently the Newspaper Publishers Association is worried that the poor biased newspapers would not be able to make money on mobiles.

That’s fine, for those of us who actively buy, read or subscribe to newspapers. There are also those of us who prefer our news in a more unbiased fashion. There are also those of us who pay for the BBC because we value it’s services. If Sky News can have an iPhone app, why can’t the BBC?

Is the BBC Trust acting in your best interest as a license fee payer, is it a champion for the newspaper industry? Sometimes I just can’t tell.

Christine Pratt was a name none of us had heard of before Sunday. She is the woman from the National Bullying Helpline that told the BBC her charity had received calls from employees in Downing Street.

When I heard this on the news before going to bed last [...]]]>

Pratt on BBC News last night

Christine Pratt was a name none of us had heard of before Sunday. She is the woman from the National Bullying Helpline that told the BBC her charity had received calls from employees in Downing Street.

When I heard this on the news before going to bed last night I thought to myself “now, if I were being bullied, who would I trust?” The answer is most certainly not the National Bullying Helpline. Why did this woman risk the confidentiality of callers by revealing their nature to the press, without contacting the employer directly in the first instance?

The answer can only be publicity. But when you look deeper, for example on the homepage of the National Bullying Helpline, there are some rather ringing endorsements for Pratt’s charity.

Ann Widdecombe MP, and David Cameron MP, both Conservatives, have endorsed the helpline in big blue writing on the homepage. Cllr Mary O’Connor of Hillingdon Council is a patron, oh, and another Tory. Pratt has never been a member of a political party, though we don’t know what other support she’s shown any parties.

But the joke gets better. How does the National Bullying Helpline help those being bullied? The obvious answer, we already know, is to flag it up on BBC News, but that can only be for political gain. We have to assume that in all other cases Ms Pratt would employ her “TIM”…

Our Product Suite is T.I.M ; Training, Investigations and Mediation.

Which still begs the question, why the hell did you blab quite so loudly to the BBC? Is that classed as training? Investigation? Mediation? More like putting the cat amongst the pigeons. Letting the shit hit the fan. Yeah, that kind of thing.

So, if you’re being bullied, in the first instance try a Trade Union. The following morning, this was Ms Pratt’s spin, and the headline from BBC News.

“Over recent months we have had several inquiries from staff within Gordon Brown’s office.
“Some have downloaded information; some have actually called our helpline directly and I have spoken to staff in his office.”
Christine Pratt

Professor Carey Cooper, an expert on workplace stress, stands down as a patron of the National Bullying Helpline on the grounds that founder Christine Pratt had breached confidentiality.
BBC News

The head of the National Bullying Helpline says it received no complaints about Gordon Brown himself.
BBC News

And by the time the 6 o’clock News was ready to roll, we had another headline:

Another patron of the National Bullying Helpline, the TV presenter Sarah Caywood has stood down. She said she felt she had to resign after details of confidential phone calls were made public.
BBC News