Piano Wire

Parris has since published a backhanded apology, which, while ostensibly saying
sorry, succeeds in blaming cyclists for being too humourless and dim to get the
joke. The heaving inbox of his editor, combined with several hundred reports to
the Press Complaints Commission, may have hastened this act of contrition. Which
just goes to show the efficiency of the cycling lobby when roused: web forums
and email groups were humming with exhortations to write in. It could be said
that such an "organised" response gives the widespread sense of revulsion felt
among cyclists a slightly synthetic quality - that is how lobbies operate and
although there is nothing wrong with concerted voluntary action, I can't help
wondering whether we took a sledgehammer to this particular nut.

Matt Seaton weighs in on the Parris issue.