The introduction of Oxford’s very own ‘Boris Bike’ scheme is another green initiative launched this week.

Some readers may blink at the £150,000 cost of the Oxonbike scheme, being piloted by County Hall, given that we are talking about providing 30 bicycles — which are hardly going to transform the traffic congestion around Headington’s hospitals.

The cost will also include various path and road upgrades and if successful it could yet be rolled out far wider. The scheme in London certainly began modestly, before being extended by huge demand.

It should be successful here too, for you would be very hard pressed to find better cycling guinea-pigs than the city’s health and environmentally-conscious legion of health workers and university researchers moving around Headington.