I disagree with your propostions that if you’re a seasoned urban cyclist you a).. regard every vehicle on the road as a potential hazard, b).. adjust your riding style appropriately, and c)… you wear a helmet.
It is entirely possible to meet conditions a and b and ignore proposition c. The inference here is that one cannot be a seasoned urban cyclist if one declines to wear a helmet, which is nonsense.
There are literally millions of people all over the world who ignore, will not, or cannot afford, a cycling helmet, who ride everyday to work or to shop.

For the life of me (written advisedly) I cannot understand this persistent gentrification of cycling. I do not accept that helmets are about safety. It seems to me the push towards helmets comes principally from people who are in their late twenties to mid thirties (an age when independence, a degree of power or influence and a touch of of ambition – supposedly for others’ good – lends itself to dogmatism and self-righteousness); also from interested parties, like the sellers of helmets and ’safety’ schemes and finally lawyers who do not cycle.

I’ve been falling off bicycles since 1953; I’ve fallen off bikes on three continents, been clipped by cars at intersections more than once; landed softly on snow when cycling to work after Colorado blizzards, jumped off a (brakeless) fixed gear that got away from me descending a hill – continuing downhill on my knees in prayer – until friction stopped us both.

At a CBS school in Ireland in the ’50s we learned gymnastics. We learned how to fall: over the wooden horse, roll, land on safety mats, forward roll and walk away. What is the problem?

I’m light for my age; I feel at home on a bike but I’m also alert. I ’sense’ things and listen to what’s going on around me. I don’t wear a helmet. The one thing I almost always wear on a bike (after pants) is gloves. Prevents road-rash. Modern society is compelled to be specialised. The bicycle is general. In the ’50s everybody rode bikes. Speeds were moderate, traffic light. No special clothes, little ’specialisation.’ In summer when warm, girls wore sleeveless dresses, which danced in the wind. C’est chic, non? People adapted to cars and traffic. They were not nervous. They didn’t need to learn ’skills’ to observe the obvious.
They wheeled in out of the rain under shop awnings and talked to one another. In the public space one might see a besuited gentleman slide to the ground, alcoholically ‘challenged,’ or schoolboys clatter to the ground to settle an argument, their bicycles lying at their feet. People were tougher, more realistic and paradoxically, less anxious.

If today I want to be nervous on a bicycle I think about some careless person ploughing into me from behind. A helmet would do little for me; some researchers contends it would make matters worse.
Milo Hurley.

Hope the facilities will start improving…..

I think wider kerb-side traffic lanes is the best option, so that cyclist can be overtaken by motorised vehicles without the motorised vehicles having to change lane. Similarly, cyclists can overtake parked or loading vehicles without changing lane.

…that’s unfair since the main site you named, Copenhagen Cycle Chic, does not do this. They say the majority of cyclists in the world wear normal clothes and the ‘gear’ crazy is limited to a number of countries.

“you have got to dress badly in order to stave off the elements”… I’m guessing I don’t have to mention the cities I’ve named before on this subject. And, yes, I looked at one and one have similar rain fall to Dublin, and a now Green Party minister is known for saying another has more rain then us.

“And don’t get me started on its belief that one can cycle safely in very high heels”… my knowledge of heels is limited, but if you’re cycling correctly you’re using the top of your foot. And most people when they put one foot down they will also use the top of their foot.

Tbh I’d question heals safely full stop — but I’m an man who has seen too many Irish woman wearing heals that they can’t handle or don’t fit them or whatever.

“Cycle to work scheme

From 1 January 2009, the provision of bicycles and associated safety equipment by employers to employees who agree to use the bicycles to cycle to work will be treated as a tax exempt benefit-in-kind. The exemption may only apply once in any five year period in respect of any employee. There will be a limit on the value of such purchases of €1,000 for each employee. The scheme may also be implemented via salary sacrifice arrangements, whereby an employee agrees to forego part of his/her salary to cover the costs associated with the purchase of the bicycle and associated safety equipment. Where such salary sacrifice arrangements are implemented, they must be completed over a maximum period of twelve months.

The estimated cost of this scheme is €0.2 million in 2009 and €0.4 million in a full year.”