Clare Balding goes Dutch

Idly glancing through ES Magazine on Friday I was surprised and delighted to read this, in a profile of Clare Balding.

What would you do as Mayor for a day?

Build cycle-only roads. It would make for a completely different London. 

Ms. Balding’s lucidly expressed aspiration is in stark contrast to all those lukewarm enthusiasts for ‘Go Dutch’ who water it down and come up instead with slippery and equivocal formulations such as “give clear, dedicated and safe space to cyclists on main roads”. Which could mean something as useless as an Advanced Stop Line and a crap cycle lane supposedly” protected” by a continuous white line. It also sharply contrasts with cycling groups whose aspirations are identified as being something as bland and meaningless as “Improve cycling infrastructure”. Which could mean just about anything.