Attempted assault by van passenger in Tooting

I didn't know that, no.
And I bet most other cyclists don't.

Too few, for sure. Spread the word. A lot of people also think that riding a bike requires no more skill than they have.

I'm very pleased there is one. I wonder how it compares to CBT? Whilst compuslory training may put people off cycling, I think the general standard of cycling in this country is so poor that maybe it should be - say as part of the national curriculum at school.

I don't know how it compares to CBT. Good quality training raises the status of any activity and definitely doesn't put people off. And if it were part of school/NC, that would be great--we've run so much cycle training in schools that we can confidently say that all kids love it even if it's part of their school day--it's such a great change from being stuck in a stuffy classroom and does wonders for behaviour management, teachers tell us.

You're right that the standard of cycling is low--in particular, we have a 'lost generation' that fell into the hole of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Many people never learned to balance a two-wheeler, and for those that did it was often in the form of cycling proficiency, which was designed to scare people off the streets. Perhaps not consciously so, but it was born out of Britain's 'road safety' culture. I constantly meet people who'd really love to cycle but were put off by their CP.

However, on the positive side, the standard of cycling here is probably actually higher than in places like the Netherlands which have a high modal share. The high modal share comes about not because people are skilled cyclists, but because average trip lengths are short and cycling is a completely normal thing. People there often wouldn't consider making particularly long trips, whereas in London people are happy to commute up to ten miles each way. Still, we can't rely on skill alone and having a high modal share and skilled cyclists would be ideal, of course.