Commuter diaries – must clean up the lounge

Is it because you dress sharply and have a winning smile?

A LBS chap said that he avoids them because the food delivery ones (the lower end of the speed potential usually) are often ridden in to the ground (by people who may be renting the bike anyway). So if they appear at his door they're already falling to bits and/or are held together by tape, without even starting on the electrics...

Just a point of fact to highlight because some people are unaware: the police do not have the authority to "commandeer" your personal property. In this case the officer asked permission to borrow a bike and the owner agreed, but this not America and you have an absolute right to say no if you prefer. "Why would you?" some will no doubt ask, which is a common question from people who've never had to be subjected to the often malicious, incompetent, incoherent, accusatory misconduct of the police, typically people who also largely have no appreciation for the carefully curated and selective image the police present with stories like this. Today they were chasing a bike thief and you get to see their heroics, tomorrow they're chasing down some poor kid who's done nothing wrong riding their bike home because they have the wrong colour skin and the body camera footage will mysteriously vanish into the ether, and people should be aware they have an absolute right to refuse to be complicit in a situation that is statistically speaking far more likely to be some version of the latter than the former.

My main arena is Oxford and was London. I think the main need is to make car use inconvenient, not stop it. 20mph limits are great, much of European urban centres have been that slow (30kph) for decades. And ... what they also have is multitudes of uncontrolled pedestrian crossings, at most junctions, which require drivers to slow down and look - of course normal (non- or legal-electric) cyclists are already in that realm. In those environments cycling, walking and even motoring is so much more human and calm. Here, if a pedestrian crossing of any type is proposed here there are immediate objections to how it will "slow" motor traffic and that is what needs support. The Iffley Road in Oxford is an example - its 1.2miles has 3 zebras and 3 pelicans, about 6 other crossing refuges - there's about 20 junctions, if each of those had a zebra (along with similar in all the other streets) it would make a great change. Instead they are trying congestion charging and blocking most side streets. In my opinion it would take a while to get used to, but more people would walk, cycle and drive only when needed. I guess the high speed cyclists would get a bit frustrated with pedestrians but they might accept that more than 90% of cycle journeys in urban settings are for practicality, not fitness/sport. I haven't been in Bath much recently but I think it would benefit from a similar treatment - a zebra crossing at every junction on the London Road in from the A46, and similar across the city. Every urban area in the British Isles please!

Before I start arguing about whether cyclists are constrained by speed limits (it only leads to scoffing that they should be -and licensed, and insured, and number-plated, and anything else I can pull out of my cliche bag), I would: - challenge the presenter's assertion that he sees cyclists zooming by at over 20 mph in slow traffic - highly unlikely to be more than a rare event - challenge the presenter's description of being trapped in traffic, when he is the traffic he's complaining about - remind the presenter that, if he took to a bike, he could show other cyclists, based on his undoubted experience and knowledge, how to cycle properly - and he'd get around faster, to boot! - in the first place and at the first opportunity, refer the researcher inviting me to the "interview" on GBeebies to the answer given in Arkell v Pressdram.

Why are the Merseyside trains more precious than Le Shuttle, the channel ferries, or the many ferries that serve our islands? And why did BA let me bring two 500W batteries on my flight last year?

We need to ban petrol, diesel, and electric cars from the shuttle train, and ferries, and car parks, and parking lots, and garages, and... oh wait.

@HarrogateSpa China is making great strides in climate action.

@chrisonabike A lot more of these around city centres would help.

Odd: they laughed at Sherry, who was 100% right, but listened in silence to Charles Amos whose figures were laughable. I wonder if he'd be of the same opinion that saving money is more important than saving lives if it was his parents or children that were next to be killed.