A wee while ago Nottingham was found to be just this. Since I read the article I've been quietly and not so quietly observing whether Nottingham is as cycle friendly as it's been rated.

I've been cycling to work for over 2 years, along the A60 between Mansfield and Nottingham, so I've observed plenty of cyclist and driver behavior. Often it's the driver's fault, but certainly not always.

I've seen a lot of very bad driving:

1) pushing against a white van so that I didn't go under its wheels, when the driver cut across me on a round about.

2) a crazed looking man in a red corsa stopping his car at a junction, in traffic, attempting to hold me up and using abusive language because I dared to pass him - he failed to observe that as I was on a smaller piece of machinery, I could, again, maneuvre around him with ease.

3) a truck driver who decided that I was taking up too much of the road and tried to run me off it.

4) a mondeo driver who clipped my elbow and looked back but didn't bother to stop. He was surprised I could chase him to the lights (cyclists can certainly go faster than 10 mph, 30 on a good day, downhill).

5) a woman in a merc, who had just driven round me, swiftly cutting in front of me into the cycle lane, forcing me to slam on my brakes to stop me smacking into her car.

And the list goes on (and I take reg numbers every time, in case you were wondering - yes, the police do take these incidents very seriously). This is just a gentle scraping of the surface. It's safe to say that there are some very bad, aggressive and just plain stupid drivers out there, even in the least car-dependent city in England.

What all of the above just don't seem to comprehend is that regardless of how a cyclist is cycling - they have nothing around their body to protect them - no metal cage to cushion the blow. If you hit me in your 4x4, estate, artic or super-mini you're making pretty much direct contact between the metal of your car and my flesh & bone. The only thing between us is my shorts or my jacket. Please understand and respect this. I don't want to be killed or seriously injured and I don't want you having to go home to the family to tell them you're facing manslaughter charges. What would you tell my Mum in court? Is you getting to work 0.5 seconds earlier worth more than my life? Is that what your barrister would tell my Dad? That's what it would come down to if you hit me.

If I hit you, you might get a scrape or a small dent at very most.

I'm sure you can see the difference now you're in front of a computer and not behind the wheel.

What about the cyclists? I've become a better road user through being a cyclist. I'm a safer driver, because I'm looking out for more nuances in the way people drive. I give way to more people and they do the the same for me, but I also drive and cycle defensively - meaning that I make myself seen and presence felt, it's the best way to stop anyone hitting you. Unfortunately, I see less of that in action on the road.

The most disturbing elements of bad cycling are the lack of ability to cycle defensively - which often has to come with plain old experience or a little reading - and the lack of visibility or any idea of personal safety. I can't help myself from wondering "Do these people hate themselves? Do they care nothing for their own lives or others? Is it self-esteem or ignorance? What on earth is making them do the things they do?"

As autumn puts on its show and the nights draw in, there are hundreds of cyclists in the city without lights, without reflective clothing, without helmets, cycling along in the dark. If there is bad driver fodder it's these people. No one can see them and they don't seem to care. The only thing keeping them safe on their bike is luck or guardian angels or their nine lives. I pity the driver who runs into one of them, it won't be their fault, but they will get the blame.

To some I might be the most annoying road user they will ever come across. As long as they can see and avoid me, I couldn't care less. Lights flash from my bike for the whole 20 mile trip encouraging one bloke to shout "Bright enough?!", had I stopped to respond it would have been "If it stops you walking out in front of me, it's perfect." (I won't go into pedestrians in more detail just now...). I cycle approx 75-100cm from the curb, so that drivers aren't tempted to squeeze past me, but have to go round me. And this is one for the 6th sense sceptics, the unspoken communication: never underestimate the power of the human gaze - I look over my shoulder at every opportunity and because I do so, drivers see me - they look up when I look round. There is a head teacher in Birmingham who is still alive thanks to this advice - he's been knocked off his bike 6 times, but after being bullied to try a few of these by myself and another bike lover, he's still with us, looking after his primary school full of kids and clocking up 85 miles a week on the roads of Brum.

So just think for a moment, driver or cyclist, what are your responsibilities to each other? It's easy to prevent accidents and easy to get along with other road users. The road can be a pleasure, not a pain. Don't shy away from the challenge, don't become complacent in your driving and cycling. We're all people using the road and we'll all be fine, as long as we truly respect each other and ourselves.

If you’ve ever wondered how the other half live, it’s never clearer than it is here, in the way their children are educated.    

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As the coalition begins to meddle with the types of school available across England, is the gap between rich and poor being closed or widened? Will the new idependent schools be more like the Eton and Harrow that so many members of the Houses of Parliament know well? As Toby Young gets his free school, will the students get a glimpse of how the other half live, through their pushy parents? Or will no matter of badgering make up for the advantages the few have access to.

Every state school must be inspected by Ofsted under their framework. This used to be every 3 years, but now it can be 5 years for a full report, depending on the judgement made at the last inspection.

Every independent school is inspected approximately every 3 years, either by Ofsted or by the Independent School’s Inspectorate (ISI). It’s in these reports that you can start to see the different worlds that a child from inner-city Liverpool and one from, well either the South East, London or possibly Monaco, inhabit, if you’re not familiar with either.

An independent school, including an academy or a free school will be judged under the same framework as the top fee paying schools in the land. There are advantages and disadvantages in this. However, choosing one framework against which all were judged would inform the playing field.

I’m probably ‘middle-class’, but that would depend entirely on your definition of that term. My point of view is from a person who was educated in the state system at what may be known as a comprehensive, in a town where there was also a private boarding school and a private prep school. The students mixed, but their lives seemed both vastly different and at times exactly the same.

The private school boys were just as good and bad as the comp kids. A favourite hiding place for a small bottle of whisky or a hip flask, was a space carved out between the pages of an Oxford English Dictionary carried from lesson to lesson across town. Maybe the private school boys simply had more ingenious ways of disguising their foibles, instead of just pouring it into a Coke bottle and slinging this in their bag. They did seem to get away with a lot more and had very different opportunities ahead of them. What was so different?

It was a boarding school. Mum and Dad weren’t there. You didn’t spend the school day with your mates, you spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with them. This became your family during term. Those bonds last a lifetime and they may be worth quite a lot, ‘in the right circles’.

Are those links fostered in any state school? Do you need them when you’re going home to Mum and Dad, Mum & Mum, Dad & Dad, Mum, Dad, your foster parents? Who should provide these? Should they be provided?

The range of subjects taught and the extra curricular activities at an independent fee paying school are phenomenal in comparison to the choices at a state school. One of the top 100 schools offers sailing, shooting, kit car club, russian, chinese, german, greek, french, italian, arabic, golf practice fields, horse riding as well as a specialist dyslexia unit, to give a tiny snapshot of what's on offer. Understanding Industry is a subject taught here, whereas at a possibly comparable comp childcare skills are on offer. What are the opportunities? Captain of Industry or Nursery Worker? Both admirable, but one slightly more likely than the other to ensure the individual is lifted well away from poverty.

Do we need to level the playing field? Or just sell it off to developers to raise money for ICT equipment?

This blog is inspired by political angst, anger, infuriation and wonderment. Wonderment at what? How the UK in the 21st century still seems to bear more resemblance to a Pitt or Fox, Tory or Whig government of centuries gone by.

Inequalities, inaccuracies and down right lies seem to be pervading politics more than ever and the impact it is having on ordinary people is extraordinary.

It is increasingly clear that the general public, or erm, the masses, have little control over their country and their lives. Plenty of other forces are at work; whether it's business or the ice age of aristocracy returning in one form or another. The people with the money are out of touch, making decisions about the lives of people without money, in an incredulous manner that bears more resemblance to the Gods of Ancient Greece, than it does to a society where there are a profusion of laws and regulations on diversity and therefore, equality.

You can make your own mind what party I'm from, if any. And you're welcome to tell me more about my politics if there is anything you'd like to add. As long as more people who have never had a say can join in. Please help them to do so in whatever way you can and not just here.