I am intrigued how campaigns get started. The Newcastle case seems to have to do with a lot of coincidences and chance encounters. My personal situation in 2009 was one of dissatisfaction with the council service. Too many contradictions opened up when I tried to get answers from the council officers and its cycle champion,… Read More What made me angry

I have often asked myself questions about strength. As a woman in engineering I would have been asked to strengthen my design, show strength or play to my strength. The word strength seems pivotal. Yet, to me, its meaning seems so nebulous. What is strength? The ambiguity of the word strength becomes clear, to me,… Read More What on earth is strength?

Back in the good old revolutionary 70s with all its social change and upheavals there was a revolution also happening in the sciences. The world systems theory entered the stage of social sciences and put a few things into focus. Following Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in early 60s and the Club of Rome’s Limits to… Read More Society is dead, long live society

Bremen in North Germany, a city with a population of 550,000, is steeped in the sea-faring and trading heritage of a harbour city (Hansestadt). It retained its free city status in the organisational political structure: in Germany’s devolved organisation of regions, Bremen, although small in area and population size, is both a region as well… Read More Up against an old tale – ethnographic impressions from Bremen

A dominant group, inevitably, has the greatest influence in determining a culture’s overall outlook – its philosophy morality, social theory and even its science. The dominant group, thus, legitimizes the unequal relationship and incorporates it into society’s guiding concepts. Inevitably the dominant group is the model for ‘normal human relationships’. It can become ‘normal’ to… Read More Which side are you on?

Fluff words like “culture” are rarely useful if left undefined. And when cycle campaigning gets into the “social norm” discussion, it rarely does that in full awareness of consequences. These tedious debates have various sides – and have some serious practicalities attached. The common social-norm assertions are “I am not a cyclist, but I ride… Read More When I am (not) a cyclist