Female Liberation: Saudi women are now allowed to cycle?

I am keenly interested in these Arab countries and the way their women are treated. Take Saudi Arabia for instance, the country's religious police are now said to be encouraging women to get on their bikes – even motorised versions.

 Riyadh paper Al-Yawm reports the news of their two-wheeled liberation as if it were some kind of enlightened breakthrough in the social order of a notoriously misogynist state. The deceit is that women, who were always banned from bicycles and motorbikes, are now going places – alone and even under their self-generated power.

In fact, the "unnamed official" who made the announcement added that women will be allowed to pedal only around parks and other "recreational areas". They will also have to be dressed in full Islamic body coverings, and – in a darkly comic stipulation that evokes images of tandems – they will have to be accompanied by a male relative.

So cycling alone, and indeed towards possible gainful employment, will remain illegal, along with voting, many sports, and a host of other basic activities many would consider a human right.

For how long can this continue?