As a very courteous driver of 25+ years or so and also a very careful cyclist of approximately the same amount of time. I'm really very sorry to see a thread of this caliber on this here otherwise excellent forum. If drivers respected cyclists and cyclists respected drivers, it would be lovely.
In the meanwhile, just be aware that drivers kill cyclists and not the other eay round. All that reports like the (the topic of the) Guardian article and threads like this do is dehumanised cyclists even more and make it fair game to abuse a certain part of the population.
If anyone genuinely doesn't know how to overtake a cyclist or two, then maybe reach out to your local driving instructor school and get some more lessons. If we cannot afford that then just imagine you're overtaking a horse drawn carriage. I can assure you that none of this is intended in a condescending manner.
Lastly, I do acknowledge that there are unsavoury characters in both the cyclists and motoring world. Let's not be one of those and keep our standards high please. If all cyclists that commute to work got a car, there would be alot more cars on the road.
With all due respect, just think (and be considerate)!