In what was, in the first instance, presumably a bid to
demonstrate that, unlike so much other seasonal fare
in the media, his column was written for publication
rather more recently than the early days of advent,
Times columnist Matthew Parris' column last Thursday
included an account of a seasonal stroll along the local
highways near his home, and a sense of wondrous
amazement at the sheer amount of rubbish in the
hedgerows, which must have been thrown there by
cyclists, presumably because air conditioning in motor
vehicles tends not to work with the windows open.

As a result he suggested, with his tongue firmly in his
cheek, that local conservation-minded volunteers, such
as himself, might wish to take some steps to encourage
cyclists to think more about their detrimental effect on
the environment--safe in the assumption that few of the
techniques he outlined would be put into practice by
the average Times reader, albeit they are known to have
result in fatality.

Apparently the critical response has been phenomenal
and, as such, he's taken the step of clarifying it was meant
as a joke, is disappointed readers don't appear to have
understood this, retracted, and apologised--not something
one would expect from most columnists, beit Jeremy Clarkson,
Richard Littlejohn, Bernard Ingham, Keith Hellawell, or the
award-winning Alice Miles.

Doesn't it warm the cockles of your heart?

G DAEB
COPYRIGHT (C) 2007 SIPSTON
--