Bicycle people are nice people, car people are fascists

Citizens from countries that use bicycles in disproportionate numbers tend to be the most tolerant and free-spirited.

The letters page of The Irish Times has recently been entertaining a debate about the menace that careering cyclists pose to poor wee drivers and their delicate metal carriages. One correspondent, annoyed by poor behaviour from the cycling community, has suggested that number plates be mandatory for all users of the two-wheeled engines of death (my facetious words, not hers). Read article

Plastic shells keep our heads from coming open, but they also deter us from riding bicycles. And riding bicycles is good for people and Earth.

Admonishing a teenager for smoking is commonplace. Reprimanding people for taking antibiotics when they don’t really need them is the next big thing. And giving people a hard time about biking without a helmet is still entirely in vogue. It’s because we care. But as we learned from the original food pyramid, sometimes good intentions pave the road to adult-onset diabetes. Read more