Bicycling has historically been an egalitarian practice, despite occasionally being pressed into service by fascist armies. On Saturday - which is the 229th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and therefore the beginning of the notion of universal human rights in Europe - there will be an opportunity for anyone who wishes to express their support for these rights on the day that the Secretary of State for Scotland welcomes the President of the United States to Scotland on our behalf.
I can only imagine that Mr Mundell finds this task every bit as distasteful as I would, possibly more so. He is a gay man and a democrat after all and his party leader described the President as a 'clay-brained guts, knotty-pated fool, whoreson obscene greasy tallow-catch'. There is a demonstration to make sure that the opinions Mr Mundell surely holds but cannot voice himself are broadcast loud and clear. I would feel that I was letting him and my grandparents - who fought fascism with shovels, spanners, guns and knitting needles - down if I did not attend. Appeasement has a poor track record.
People will gather at the Scottish Parliament from noon on Saturday 14 July, and then in The Meadows from 2.30pm.
I've never felt the need to make a placard before, so I suppose that means writing a suitably melancholy haiku.
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