Our beloved Queen, possibly inspired by his nephew, will feature the bicycle prominently in her Christmas message. Velorution has had an exclusive preview. Here is the relevant extract:

The certainties of the past are vanishing: we have a nuclear North Korea, a soon to be nuclear Iran, Baghdad collapsing in an orgy of violence, radiation poisoning around the corner from my own home; arctic ice disappearing fast; the largest producer of gas holding customers to ransom; central banks moving out of the dollar.

This is my advice: don’t try to predict what will happen; we are in a period of flux and forecasts are fruitless. For example, will our blessed Kingdom be hotter or is it facing an Ice Age, as the North Atlantic oscillator switches direction? We don’t know and both scenarios are plausible.

What we can do is become more self-reliant. It’s up to us restructure our lives in a way that we can survive strongly any of the shocks that will hit our country.

The bicycle can transport you everywhere, free from dependance from petrol, rails, pilots, etc. This is probably why so many people have started riding bicycles in London.

Let me paraphrase our great writer H G Wells:”When I look out of my window and I see all the people riding their bicycles, I do not despair for the future of the human race.

UPDATE: We hear that Tony “still spinning” Bliar has vetoed the speech (”Madam, talking about orgies will upset the Shiites”) and advised HM to read a soppy copy on the need of generations to talk to each other.

Well, at least Velorution readers know what is in the Queen’s mind.