Cars
The joy of hiring an old banger
There is always much to look forward to on a holiday with friends in France (the day one supermarket sweep,…
Highway robbery
The backlash against Ulez is only the beginning
Let’s rise up in our road rage
Whether you’re more afraid of the forces of order or the forces of chaos is generally a matter of disposition.…
The Wiki Man
Our local Sainsbury’s, though admirable in every other way, has a slightly inflated estimate of the disabled population of Seven-oaks,…
Electric dreams
A couple of years ago I thought seriously about buying an electric car. Not a hybrid, but the full monty.…
Airheads
The arrogance of the ‘Tyre Extinguishers’
Road to hell
The blight of the 20mph speed limit
A vroom of one’s own
Oh how I loved my old Mini
Why secondhand cars are first-rate
The Department for Transport recently ended a £1,500 subsidy towards the price of new, lower-priced electric cars one year earlier…
Signs of the times
My driveway now lies in the middle of an ‘Average Speed Check Zone’. It’s a wonderful arrangement – for me…
The hidden cost of parked cars
Much of the current antipathy towards the car derives from the excessive influence Londoners exert over national debates. London is…
Highway to hell
I did a speed awareness course on Monday. For the uninitiated, you have the option of doing one of these…
An idea whose time has come – at last
Thornton Wilder remarked that there are individuals who fall in love with an idea long before its appointed rendezvous with…
World gone lazy
‘Where’s the car?’ said my wife Alice, interrupting my Zoom meeting on Saturday morning. ‘It’s where you left it,’ I…
Why shouldn’t the City pick an Irish Lord Mayor?
The Financial Times carried a curious story at the weekend about ‘the secretive process to elect the Lord Mayor of…
Why has the EU let German car manufacturers off the hook?
Two billion? Five billion? Perhaps ten billion to make it a nice round number? For colluding on diesel emissions you…
Why I won’t buy a Tesla
I loved the Ford Mustang Mach-E which I had on loan for four days. It was gorgeous to drive, and…
G7 is right: business should pay tax wherever it make profits
Companies should willingly pay tax wherever they generate profits — this column has long argued — because it’s fair they…
Letters
Spinning plates Sir: Kate Andrews is right to highlight the looming risk of inflation (‘Rishi’s nightmare’, 6 March), but to…
Reinventing the wheel
For most London-based politicians, there’s a threat that’s worse than Covid. You’ll begin to notice it as we ease out…
Life in the fast lane
DeLorean: Back from the Future was one of those documentaries — for me at least — that takes a story…
‘Smart’ motorways are an accident waiting to happen
If I could wave a wand and reverse just one government policy it would be the expansion of so-called ‘smart…
Letters
Cancelled procedures Sir: Your leader (‘A lockdown too far’, 7 November) suggests that the Prime Minister should have shown ‘leadership’…
Driven mad
Why is buying a car such an ordeal?
