“Man held over letter bombings is a cyclist”
That’s today’s front-page headline in the printed edition of the Times.
A man named Miles Cooper, 26, was arrested last night and is being questioned in connection with a series of letter bombs apparently targeting motoring-related institutions and surveillance companies. Mr Cooper works as a school caretaker and, according to the Times, is described by neighbours as a “bicycling loner”. And in the front-page photograph of Mr Cooper, he is wearing glasses, has the top button of his shirt done up (with no tie), and is cross-eyed.
It doesn’t look good, does it? School caretakers don’t have a good press, in my experience. They always seem to be the villains in Scooby-Doo, and occasionally in real life (Ian Huntley). Then, we have the unflattering picture of Mr Cooper, which, in every detail, speaks “nerd”. But the real clincher is that Mr Cooper is – and I’m surprised a quality newspaper would put this on the front page where children might see it at the breakfast table – a “cyclist”, who, it is confirmed in the caption below, is a “bicycling loner”.
I know that news editors would argue that the headline addresses the fact that, until now, the working assumption had been that the letter bomber would most likely be a disgruntled motorist. So the arrest and questioning of a man who does not fit that stereotype is, they would say, intrinsically newsworthy.
But we know what they really mean. There is an unmistakable subtext here … blast! Excuse me a moment while I take off my bike clips. I’m always doing that, leaving them on by mistake – sometimes virtually all day. I used to tuck my trousers into my socks, and I’d forget about that, too. That’s why my mother bought me the clips for Christmas. She hoped that I’d notice the clips more. But she still has to remind me when I get home from my job at the library …
Anyway, as I was saying, there’s an unmistakable subtext here, and – talking of stereotypes – we know exactly what they’re saying: cyclists are losers. Yes, that’s right: we’re just the sort of sad, speccy, Billy-no-mates weirdos who might take a break from fiddling with our bike’s brake levers in the garage to build a few bombs.
It’s outrageous the way the media can slip in such a slur in this nudge-nudge way. Let me say, I’m happy to open my garage to a journalist or police officer at any time: they will not find any explosive, and it won’t take them long to search – because all my bicycle tools are labelled and hang in their own places. The labels are large print, of course, as I’m a bit shortsighted.
And I hate that lazy conjunction of “bicycling” and “loner”. Take me: I’m a cyclist, yes, but I think of myself as someone with a rich and varied social life. My friends at the bicycle maintenance class would hoot with laughter at the idea that I was a loner: at our monthly meetings, let me tell you, I’ve something of a reputation as the life-and-soul. And at the library users’ group I facilitate, I’ve even been known to undo my top button. If it’s warm.
And finally, let me add that I utterly condemn this vicious bombing campaign. The clerical staff who have been its victims may be faceless bureaucrats, but I for one have nothing but admiration for them. And I bet some are cyclists, too.
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