Writing an anti-cycling column? Read this first | Peter Walker

Are you about to make sweeping generalisations about a mass of people? Have you mistaken north London for the whole of the UK? We're here to help

Maybe it's just the end-of-year effect, with ideas running low and a couple more commissions to fulfil. Or perhaps it's just the traditional news lull over the festive period, obliging newspaper columnists to dig into their own experiences and prejudices. Whatever the reason, we've been somewhat spoiled recently with slightly silly opinion pieces about cycling.

The two that come most immediately to mind include one from this very website, a Boxing Day offering by journalist-turned author Linda Grant. Something of a classic of the "cyclists are the number one road peril!" genre, it prompted a number of complaints to me, as if somehow I get to edit or veto every Guardian article about the subject (I don't).