Last week Jere­my Cor­byn was elect­ed the new leader of the British Labour Par­ty. This elec­tion has occu­pied the nation for months. It is of course an inter­nal mat­ter, but Labour is the largest oppo­si­tion par­ty, so the out­come deter­mines who will be the leader of the oppo­si­tion. It turned out to be Cor­byn, a vet­er­an left­winger who makes no secret of his social­ist ideals.

But how­ev­er good his ideas about the dis­tri­b­u­tion of wealth, how­ev­er heart­en­ing his speech about refugees, I only became a fan when I saw him strap­ping on his hel­met after an inter­view and then cycle away on a patchy asphalt road with faint traces of a bicy­cle lane. It turns out that Cor­byn has no car, but two bicycles.

In Dutch pol­i­tics, you often see men in suits bik­ing towards Par­lia­ment. That is not remark­able in a coun­try where you can find two-lane bicy­cle paths, spe­cial traf­fic lights and most impor­tant­ly social accep­tance of cycling. When I cycle to work, I have the choice between annoy­ing car dri­vers and run­ning over pedes­tri­ans. Peo­ple step­ping out of their cars only watch out for cars, so before you know it you are fold­ed around a car door.

I recent­ly received an email about the Cycle to Work Day where you could pledge to cycle to work on that day. This solem­ni­ty is very appro­pri­ate, because cycling should not be tak­en light­ly here in Eng­land. When you get on your bike, there is no telling in what state you will ever get off it.

Dai­ly using a bike in these cir­cum­stances is noth­ing less than hero­ic. It shows ded­i­ca­tion to the good cause; improv­ing the world regard­less of per­son­al risk. So I can only say: Go Cor­byn. And if he makes it until 2020 and wins the elec­tion, my hopes are on a bicy­cle path in Gillingham!