Monthly Archives: February 2016

From Norman Tebbit’s infamous advice to the unemployed to get on their bikes to the Plebgate row, cycling has a long history of being embroiled in British political controversy and intrigue.

So it is not surprising that Jeremy Corbyn, perhaps Labour most divisive leader in recent history, has been accused of riding a Chairman Mao bicycle – a rumour he brushed off when discussing his love of cycling in an interview with the Tour de France winner and Olympic Gold medallist Sir Bradley Wiggins, who was guest-editing BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The Islington North MP, who took his aluminium-framed Raleigh bike along to his meeting with Wiggins, quipped:

The huge, wooden scale model of Odense, inside a temporary information centre opposite the town hall, looks initially like a replica of the Danish city. But give them a few minutes and a local would begin to spot some differences, especially to the main traffic route bisecting the urban centre. Thomas B Thriges Street was built in the 1960s as a solution to growing car congestion: a fast-moving, four-lane road laid like a curved ribbon across the middle of the city. That ribbon was first trimmed 18 months ago when a central section of the street was closed to vehicles. More is to come in the next few years, as the rest of the road is transformed into a new heart for Odense, reserved for bikes and pedestrians, and lined with shops, cafes and homes. It is the centrepiece of a hugely ambitious, and initially controversial, near-£3bn makeover for Denmark’s third-biggest city, which is attempting to revive itself from slightly struggling post-industrial area to a hi-tech hub for ed

In his Foreword to his 2013 Vision for Cycling in London, Boris Johnson candidly acknowledged that “truly mass participation” in two-wheel travel around the capital cannot be achieved unless more Londoners from those groups under represented in the city’s small but growing cycling population decide it’s better to get around by bike. He declares (on page 5) his wish for more women and older people to take up cycling, along with “more cyclists of all social backgrounds” and “more black and minority ethnic Londoners.” How might this laudable objective be achieved? It’s plain to those who wish to see that installing segregated infrastructure is not the universal answer to this question. Though safety considerations are a major factor inhibiting a lot Londoners from travelling by bike, there are also significant, specific cultural factors at work. The mayor’s Foreword didn’t mention these, but Transport for London has made a contribution to addressing them in partnership with the environmenta

Maybe it’s just the end-of-year effect, with ideas running low and a couple more commissions to fulfil. Or perhaps it’s just the traditional news lull over the festive period, obliging newspaper columnists to dig into their own experiences and prejudices. Whatever the reason, we’ve been somewhat spoiled recently with slightly silly opinion pieces about cycling.

The two that come most immediately to mind include one from this very website, a Boxing Day offering by journalist-turned author Linda Grant. Something of a classic of the “cyclists are the number one road peril!” genre, it prompted a number of complaints to me, as if somehow I get to edit or veto every Guardian article about the subject (I don’t).

Then

The debate about helmet use is too often toxic, puts off new riders and obscures more important issues, argues the founder of Vulpine

Last night I walked into a pub and spotted a guy with two empty pint glasses in front of him. He had a lovely fresh third pint poised at his trembling lips. Fantastic, just what I was looking for.

“You idiot!” I shouted as I stormed up to him, pulling the glass away and pouring the contents onto the floor with a dramatic flourish. “Stop drinking or you will die!” I walked on, chest puffed out with pride. Another liver-abuser converted. I have saved a life. This feels good!

Next stop, Colonel Chicken’s Cluck Shack. A queue of smelly teenage schoolboys in ill-fitting blazers, greasy hands tucking into breaded legs and fried potatoes. One walked out and I grabbed his oil-stained cardboard box, shaking it in his face “This filth will kill you, you fool. How DARE you eat it?”