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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 16 May 2008

Jon Snow

‘Recycling? Capital riders need to see red not green’, says Snow

THE newsreader Jon Snow entertained Islington Cycling Action Group (ICAG) in the Town Hall on Wednesday urging them to ditch their green image and take direct action to secure their goals.
With anecdotes ranging from Margaret Thatcher’s leggings, red-light jumping to bashing taxis on the Mall, this was one of the livelier of ICAG’s annual meetings.
Mr Snow said: “I don’t ride because I want to save the planet. I do it because it makes me feel so much better and it is the most effective way of getting around London.
“I don’t think we should ghetto-ise cyclists as environmentalists. There needs to be less wearing Lycra for a start
“I remember meeting Margaret Thatcher for the first time. She was wearing Lycra leggings. When she crossed her legs it made a kind of swooshing noise. I think she was exerting her authority. I find it weird and we need to get away from it.”
Two cyclists died on Islington roads last year, and Mr Snow said he had witnessed a fatality on Caledonian Road.
He said stricter penalties should be in force for taxis that go into a cycle lane or box. “I hit a taxi yesterday – I banged it on the roof – on the Mall,” he said. “It was parked in the box by the lights. This is the kind of thing that has to be done. We need bi-directional cycling, with the left-hand side separated from the curb.”
Mr Snow arrived at the Town Hall at 8.30pm, half an hour after finishing reading news live at Channel 4 in Horseferry Road, Victoria.
He said: “Cycling is the only way a journalist can definitely meet a deadline. Just last night [Tuesday], when Gordon Brown was doshing out billions of pounds all over the place, I was told to get to Gray’s Inn Road for 5.15 to interview Alistair Darling. It got to 6.29 and I thought shit! I’ve got the tape and I’ve got to be reading the news in half and hour. But I knew, if I really pushed it, I could make it in nine and half minutes.
“They could have sent a motorbike to get the tape – but it would have been slower than my bike.”

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