WE are going to go out on a limb today and say that we broadly, more or less – in this one very specific instance – back Boris Johnson.

We haven't often rode to the Prime Minister's defence, but this is about cycling, and if there's one thing we know about in Oxford it's cycling.

We are not clear what the guidance on exercise is: it doesn't feel like anyone is clear – even the Government themselves – but as Dr Alison Hill of Cyclox says on page 3 today, going for a bike ride is not only really good exercise, but it's not very likely to raise the risk of transmission.

If you go out for a bike ride in the countryside (and we've got plenty of it in Oxfordshire), you could go for miles without seeing a soul, and you'd actually massively reduce the transmission risk compared to riding around and around the local town or city centre where there are dozens and dozens of people.

The Government hasn't set a distance limit on how far people can exercise – and nor should they: this is a matter of applying the guidance intelligently.

Dare we say it, the criticism of the PM might have had more to do with who he is than what he did...