In an address to Parliament earlier this week, the Member of Parliament for Ealing Central and Acton, Rupa Huq, asked a question of her peers. Dialing in over Zoom from her home, Huq raised the issue of women’s safety on the UK’s streets, which in light of the recent kidnap…

Back in my pre-pandemic life, and before I was a cyclist, I would often find myself sat on the top deck of the bus, staring out the window, admiring the daredevil cyclists ducking and weaving between traffic below. Often I would watch them whizz past me, disappearing out of sight…

A few months back I had a bad ride. I wasn’t injured or abused. I didn’t crash, fall off, or get an ill-timed puncture. It just felt…bad. It was one of those rides where it felt like every single car was trying to intimidate me as they passed. As if…

Before I finally worked up the courage to start cycling, I spent a lot of time thinking about what parts of my life might have already prepared me for getting on the road. Driving was the obvious one. I’d never enjoyed it. An anxious daughter of anxious parents, learning to…

This weekend, Keir Starmer made a decision that million of other British people make every day. He probably didn’t even think twice about it. But that decision had consequences — for his neighbourhood, for the air, for the climate and for one stranger who, because of this decision, would end…

Hey, it’s me. Do you remember? Maybe you don’t. I’m the girl you overtook so closely in Wimbledon that I could have tapped on your window if I was brave enough to let go of my handlebars. I’m the girl you veered into the kerb as you rushed to overtake…

For the first 18 years of my life, my predominant means of moving around the world was in a car. I lived in the outer suburbs of Sydney, a place I now recognise as the kind of car-dominated neighbourhood I never want to live in again. It was a 20…

Long before I’d started riding my bike around the backstreets of London, long before I’d even bought a bike, I was steeling myself for the criticisms that I was sure I’d get from experienced cyclists. “Ride faster!” I imagined them hollering at me as they overtook my glacial crawl up…

For the five years that I’ve been commuting in London, I’ve been missing out — and I didn’t realise until today. Catching the bus from Elephant and Castle, the tube from Manor House, the overground from Hammersmith, the Thameslink from Herne Hill. Every commuting choice I’ve made up until today…