This discussion is raging on. Cyclists seem pretty evenly divided between those who think it's no biggie to jump a red light (as long as it's carefully done) and those who think it's always wrong, e.g.:

Cycling home a few weeks back, waiting at the Duke Street/Oxford Street junction, a gentleman - American, clearly only recently arrived here - came up to me and said: "Back home, all the cyclists jump the lights." I imagine that very shortly afterwards, his naive belief that he arrived in a land of law abiding cyclists was shattered.

My problem with people jumping lights is twofold - first of all, it creates a bad impression which makes it harder to campaign for cyclists. Secondly, it encourages others to do the same - I now regularly see motorcyclists jump lights, probably as a direct result of cyclists' behaviour.

B-)