I have recently returned from a trip to the Netherlands, with its magnificent cycling infrastructure. If only Reading had as many bike lanes - and was flatter.
The only thing that gives me hope for the UK is knowing that even in Amsterdam, things haven't always been this way. And even there, change is an ongoing process.
Overcoming car culture is difficult, but it is not impossible. After all, motor vehicles are the reason someone is killed or injured on UK roads every 16 minutes. This wasn't happening a century ago because then we hadn't reordered our towns and cities to prioritise the needs of cars over those of pedestrians and cyclists.
It is for this reason that the 15-minute city controversy seems so strange. "15-minute cities" is just modern parlance for every human community that ever existed before the dawn of the twentieth century.
What could be better than scenes like those below in every neighbourhood in Britain?
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