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@chameleon
oliver, what's your evidence base here?
cycle-bus interaction is a big problem - maybe not for you, but for many other less experienced or confident cyclists, certainly. it has resulted, as you know, in several recent deaths and injuries in central london.
protected space for cycling isn't a blunt, non-specific remedy. it's a very specific remedy where cyclists interact with heavy bus and hgv traffic (which is many places in central london). car/cycle accidents at 20mph or less tend to be less serious - and cars have better visibility. cycle/hgv/bus accidents, even at low speeds, often kill and maim. it's just true that safety here, where traffic is mixed, depends mostly on the competence and alertness of the driver of the large vehicle, and to some degree on the competence of the cyclist, and neither of those can be guaranteed. it's better to rely on safety by design.
the majority of cyclists (and those who would like to cycle) feel safer (and, in most cases, it appears, are safer) when not mixing with buses/hgvs
http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2011/02/02/ip.2010.028696.full.pdf?sid=a2ed422a-9dbe-409a-b762-40e0ffbcedc6
have you been to manhattan recently? many miles of new protected space for cyclists - often on avenues with plenty of frontage activity and side streets - appear to have resulted in a significant increase in cycling.
http://transportationnation.org/2011/07/28/breaking-new-york-city-biking-is-up-14-percent-from-2010/
what is needed, certainly, is a degree of imagination in terms of the re-thinking of roads and junctions, and a political willingness to take space away from private cars.
(and, obviously, you're right - it's way better to remove a gyratory entirely than try to fit it out with cycle lanes.... but that doesn't mean that protected space shouldn't be part of the redesign..)