Cars might fly

Elon Musk demonstrated a flying car.

– The concept goes back further than most people imagine. The first flying car, the Curtiss Autoplane, was shown at the Pan American Aeronautical Exposition in 1917: a basic three-seater car which could be converted into a triplane by bolting on wings. However, it only ever achieved a short hop. One of the first serious attempts to market a flying plane came in 1971, when Henry Smolinski and Harold Blake produced a vehicle they called the AVE Mizar, which combined a Ford Pinto and the rear half of a Cessna Skymaster. They planned to start taking orders in 1974 but were both killed when their prototype crashed in California the previous year.

Gauche rioting

France was gripped by riots which President Macron blamed on the ‘ultra-right’. Do we take left-wing extremism seriously enough? Referrals to the Prevent programme in the year ending September 2025:

No ideology 5,770

Extreme right-wing 2,103

Islamist extremism 860

Fascination with extreme violence 818

Multiple ideologies 353

Incel 95

Extreme left-wing 32

Anarchist 18

Source: Home Office

Budget busters

Which were the biggest tax-raising Budgets (as defined by the taxes which would take effect by the end of the parliamentary term)?

Percentage of GDP

1993   Norman Lamont 1.45%

2024   Rachel Reeves 1.21%

2021   Rishi Sunak 1.05%

1975   Denis Healey 1.00%

2002   Gordon Brown 0.89%

1974   Denis Healey 0.87%

1981   Geoffrey Howe 0.83%

Source: IFS

Fine mess

The Department for Transport threatened people who play loud music on public transport with fines of £1,000. For what else can you (theoretically) be fined £1,000?

– Driving a vehicle without an MOT

– Obscuring your car’s registration plate

– Driving an untaxed vehicle

– Fly-tipping

– Dog fouling

– Not responding to an electoral roll form

– Refusing to fill in a census form

– Failing to ensure your child attends school

– Being drunk and disorderly in a public space.