Letters: Cyclists reply to Rod Liddle, and an MP replies to Hugo Rifkind

Rod rage

Sir: Like most cyclists, who also own a car and pay road tax, I enjoy a pedal along the lanes where I act with consideration for other road users, and the vast majority of them treat me likewise. Cycling in traffic is quite scary but now I know that Rod Liddle could be behind the wheel of an approaching car it becomes positively terrifying (‘Off your bike!’, 9 November). Anyone who can express such road rage on a keyboard is hardly fit to drive. How fortunate that he is part of a minority. Oh, and I wear Lycra for comfort, a helmet for safety and am 71 years old. David Mitchell Llangorse, Brecon Sir: I am indebted to Rod Liddle for his entertainingly intemperate piece on the scourge of the roads. In Surrey our roads are awash with self-righteous cyclists, particularly at the weekend when they flaunt their vulnerability by sometimes riding three or four abreast on the wider roads, secure in the knowledge that in the case of an accident the motorist will be blamed. The situation is not helped by small cars apparently driven by headrests, so small are the drivers, who are quite incapable of overtaking a cyclist even when preceded by a 40-ton articulated lorry. Until some way is found to make cyclists identifiable, I see no chance of them improving their attitudes and road behaviour. Anthony Hussey Esher, Surrey

Life in the ring

Sir: I enjoyed Hugo Rifkind’s disarmingly candid ‘Why I’d never be a Tory princeling’ (9 November) enormously. Whereas he could not ‘be arsed’, I could. He invited a lecture from someone who had tried to be different and crashed back to earth. Here it is. When you are an MP with a solid majority, people tend to assume you spent ten to 20 years crawling over broken glass to get there. I did not.