As an intensive care nurse for the NHS, I work tough 12-hour shifts. So I appreciate anything that makes my life a little easier, especially when I’m working on a Saturday, and wish I could just teleport home (or to a pub, more likely).
That’s how my love affair with Lime bikes started ("I can’t imagine anything worse than cycling on a Lime bike – here’s why", Tuesday 17 September).
I was hooked from my first cycle. They make me feel safer, are affordable, convenient and, most importantly, save me time. Most people I talk to feel the same.
So I was pretty surprised by all the complaints about them.
The hospital I work in is located in a badly connected area of London, my commute via bus and train would take more than 50 minutes.
But with a hired bike, I get there in just 15! Not quite teleporting, but as close as you’ll get. It gives me 30 extra minutes in bed, or getting home 30 minutes earlier, to squeeze in an extra Netflix episode.
During the winter, I get home well past 8pm, long after it gets dark. I can feel uneasy walking alone from the bus stop, and I’m sure most women can relate.
On an e-bike, it’s practically door-to-door from work to home. I don’t have to look over my shoulder. I think this is often overlooked by those who think that Lime bikes are only hired for fun.
That being said… it is fun! My job is rewarding, but can be mentally draining – it makes me realise we should celebrate the things that make us happy! After a long shift, being in the fresh air and cycling home helps clear my head; it is the highlight of my day.
I get why some people feel fed up. And it’s awful that wheelchair users or the elderly might be impacted by Lime bike users parking stupidly.
But if councils want to fix this poor behaviour, they should work with bike companies, not against them. More and more dedicated parking locations have popped up in recent years, and it’s helped massively. London is already filled with cars, so why not just replace a couple more parking spaces with bike parking instead?
The arrival of e-bikes has improved life for many people in London. I’ve loved seeing our city slowly get taken over by cyclists. I don’t think banning them would get us anywhere.
Encouraging more active and green ways to get around London can only be a good thing – and I’m happy to be part of this growing club.
Jessica Mackness
London
The lesson that Tories must learn from Reform
In his recent BBC interview, John Major criticised those Conservatives who would seek to do a deal with Reform UK (“If the Tory party wants to get back into power, it would do well to listen to John Major”, Wednesday 18 September).
In my opinion, many people have underestimated the impact of Reform on the outcome of the recent election, dismissing their small number of parliamentary seats.
I am no supporter of Reform, but Labour won its large majority – and the Lib Dems gained their unprecedented 72 seats – only because Reform took significant chunks out of the Conservative vote, and in almost every constituency.
Who knows what the result would have been without Reform? Probably a very uncomfortably hung parliament. Labour might not even have been the largest party.
The Tories face a dilemma. It seems unlikely that a new leader would heed Major’s advice and take the party back (quite some years) to a more moderate right-of-centre position.
This would probably not win back enough voters from Reform UK anyway; nor would a lurch to the right, since many of those former Tory voters have already found a more comfortable new home.
Gavin Turner
Norfolk
Parties should stop playing games
I enjoyed Andrew Grice’s recent article, as always (“Why both Labour and the Conservatives need to take the Liberal Democrats more seriously”, Wednesday 18 September). But then I realised that it is all about what the Lib Dems need to believe, or even more cynically, what they need to say, in order to take even more seats from the Tories.
This puts party politics on more or less the same footing as a football league – with voters instead of team supporters, and a general election as the final.
Surely, the job of the political parties is to put forward a plausible plan for government, which will address society’s needs according to a particular political philosophy – and then convince the electorate that both the philosophy and the plan are worth voting for.
At the moment, we have both the Tories and Labour busy changing their philosophies to chase any vote possible. It will be an odd day when the Tories represent the working person, and Labour the bourgeoisie and toffs, but that seems to be where we are heading.
Rachael Padman
Suffolk
Trump’s warning from history
When members of minority-ethnic groups in the United States are deciding who to vote for this November, they should consider the kind of people that former president Donald Trump, if elected, would inevitably bring in to run his administration.
They should also consider how a new Trump administration would address the issues most important to them: jobs, immigration, violence and discrimination (“The Republicans defending Trump’s debunked claims about pet-eating Haitian immigrants”, Sunday 15 September).
Trump’s own selection for vice president, JD Vance, has spoken out about how Trump and his administration would treat minorities, posting in 2016 how “there are, undoubtedly, vile racists at the core of Trump’s movement”.
As Maya Angelou once cautioned: “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Mike Barrett
Ashburn, Virginia
We are all ‘Regrexiteers’ now
James Moore’s argument that we need to be back in the single market is logical – but, as yet, there is no clamour for such a brave move ("Brexit has delivered a great trade crash – and it’s only getting worse", Wednesday 18 September).
Is the government simply waiting for both public and business opinion to say it more loudly before it decides we’ve reached a tipping point?
Margaret Adams
Keighley
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