Update: businesses are responding. Thanks very much to all of those who have been in touch.

What a nasty little piece of bile from the Grapevine editor in the latest edition of their ‘magazine’.

No doubt editor Ian MacGill will attempt to pass if off as humour, but this shrug of the shoulders will reveal an ignorance not only of the very real damage such idiotic statements can cause, but also of the target audience for his glossy, doorstep dropper.

In the editorial (reluctantly linked here), MacGill describes an ‘old chums’ demand for razor wire to be strung at head height in order to decapitate cyclists. It’s a woefully written piece of tripe which concludes with the oft-rolled out, tedious call for licence plates for bikes. If MacGill were even remotely aware of the almost weekly examples of trail sabotage cyclists see he’d have realised just how poor taste his ridiculous column is.

Grapevine Editorial piece – June 2019

This kind of comment – joking or otherwise – legitimises the anti-cyclist hatred and rhetoric that groups like Ride Sheffield, Peak District MTB and me – as well as others such as CycleSheffield have worked hard – successfully I might add – to combat. And more than that, as well as legitimising the bile, MacGill has gone one step further and suggested ways in which an easily led idiot could cause serious bodily harm. It’s not surprising that there have been a number of people calling for the police to be involved.

He’d do well to look at a few of the examples of people actually doing what his “chum Mr Smith” suggests. Perhaps he could imagine his kids or grandkids being on the receiving end. And these are just from a quick search of barbed wire boody traps. Add in the rocks, logs, carpet tacks and branches cyclists are caught by and he may begin to understand how much of a nasty piece of work his 300 or so words make him sound to a rider, pavement or not.

• Cyclist almost decapitated
• Barbed wire booby trap discovered
• Stretford dad scarred for life

Sheffield is proudly positioned as The Outdoor City, and cycling on or off road is embraced. MacGill is either intentionally or embarrassingly ignorant of this.

Maybe it’s the clickbait thing and MacGill and his no-doubt made up ‘chum’ Mr Smith are knowingly baiting cyclists in order to get them interested in care homes, conservatories and carpets. But it’s a door drop, cat litter tray, kindling publication so click-bait is a no-go.

Maybe MacGill has made the mistake of thinking his audience feels the same as he – sorry, his ‘chum’ – does and that cyclists; those red light jumping, pavement riding hooligans should be educated in his Charles Bronson, vigilante style.

Maybe he completely overlooks the fact that a cyclist who can spend a few thousand pounds on a bike might just be the kind of person he wishes to spend money with the advertisers who frequent his wet-bike-boot dryer.

So do we boycott Grapevine?

Well, how can you boycott a magazine that is dumped through your door with the pizza leaflets and hedge trimmer flyers? It’s like trying to boycott someone else’s fart in a lift.

No, perhaps the key to expressing your anger at ‘Mr Smith’ is in the advertisers. I’ve handily listed them here for you so you don’t have to look at the mag should you wish to make an educated decision on where you next spend your cash. Maybe those advertisers might wish to make their displeasure known to the editor.

Ian MacGill’s sorry effort at humour is, at best, not that funny, at worst a green light to people to stoke up the anti-cyclist bile to a potentially fatal level.

It will be interesting to see if the police feel the same way.

Advertisers:

• Sheffield Window Centre
• Image, Middlewood
• Disygn Ltd
• Charlesworth Landscapes
• Wragg Roofing and Building
• Borden Electrics
• Local Heat and Warmth
• Silverdale Garden Services
• Tim Mycroft Group Services
• The Porterbrook Care Home
• Grand Interior Designs
• DWS Ltd
• Fulwood Motor Company
• BMV Custom Car Centre
• Hillcare Care Home
• Tavern Service Station
• H2O Bathrooms
• Bents Green Nursery
• Alugate
• Supafit
• The Eye Place
• Alfredo’s Spanish
• Chauffer Class Service
• Drew Decor Store
• Visual Bathrooms
• John Heath and Sons
• Your PC’s Best Friend
• I Can
• Oakbrook Upholstery
• WTV Service
• Scape Easy
• Bespoke Blinds
• Fireplace Factory
• Layers Flooring
• TecNick Autos
• Aerials Above
• Steve’ll Fix It
• Fulwood Garden Services
• Graham Bathrooms
• Dragonfly Tree Services
• Rosalind Watcher Solicitor
• Quality Kitchen Facelifts
• SGS Gutter Services
• IJD Electrical
• Groundforce Landscapes
• Malden Roofind
• Shepherd Plumbing and Heating
• Overdale Care Home
• Charles Brooks
• MJ Lee Joiners
• Westside Gardens
• Star Upholstery
• CM Baker Ltd
• The Oven Guy
• Dalton Roofing
• Bensons Carpets
• Clean Care
• Central Glass Ltd
• David J. Martin
• Appliance World
• Sheffield Kitchen Interiors

Update: some businesses have brilliantly joined the chorus against the awful editorial. If you let me know who’s responded, I’ll add them here. Bravo to the following:

• The Foundry Climbing Centre have pulled all advertisin
• Otto’s Restaurant have who asked for the editorial to be pulled and for an apology to all involved.
• S11 Carpets and Flooring who are removing adverts until an apology is made. “I spoke with Grapevine today, doesn’t appear that they will issue an apology. I have told them that I won’t advertise with them next month as planned unless they apologise. They just said they understood my feelings.”
• Tapton Hall Sheffield who have stopped their advertising and are in discussions with the editors
• The Strines Inn have cancelled all advertising
• 1st Call Gas Services will not renew advertising with Grapevine after the August issue and have said “comments on his editorial are just completely unnecessary and disgusting. We also feelwhether it was a ‘joke’ or not he should apologise for his actions.“