Transport
The unsayable case for cars
Rob Henderson is justly famous for coining the phrase ‘luxury beliefs’. These are opinions which are unshakeably held irrespective of…
Who first classified ‘working people’?
Working people Government ministers may have had trouble defining what was meant by ‘working people’ in the Labour manifesto, but…
How much do we spend on workwear?
The first nimby Who coined the term ‘nimby’? — The expression, from ‘Not In My Backyard’, entered the political sphere…
Why being anti-car is a luxury belief
It happened six years ago on a flight back from the United States. ‘Sir, I’m pleased to say you’ve been…
Train wreck
The countryside where I grew up has been destroyed by HS2
Stop HS2 – I want to get off
I have two suggestions for HS2. Either stop it or make it stop. The spiralling cost and delays are reason enough…
‘There is no plan! You’re on your own!’
The first LNER train I booked on Sunday from Durham to London was cancelled due to ‘action short of a…
Station to station
Exiting Peckham Rye station, you’re not aware of it, but standing on the platform you can see a mansard roof…
Hasty assumptions
In 2015, Holborn Underground station was suffering from serious overcrowding at peak hours, with a bottleneck forming in the space…
The authoritarianism of British Transport Police
When our freedoms are being taken away we are like the proverbial frog boiled alive in water where the temperature…
All’s calm on my morning train — but it won’t be by autumn
Here I go again, in my occasional role as your intrepid transport correspondent. Last week I reported on airport chaos,…
End of the road
When my daughters learned to drive, I suggested they take their tests in automatics as driving manual cars would soon…
Mind your language: Stations
In Kyiv they have voted to changethe names of some metro stations. Heroes of the Dnieper is to become Heroes…
A moving experience from Paddington to Liverpool Street
It’s 8.16 on Tuesday morning and I’m actually writing this on a moving Elizabeth line train. Moving in the sense…
Voice of concern
The creep of nannying announcements
Signs of the times
My driveway now lies in the middle of an ‘Average Speed Check Zone’. It’s a wonderful arrangement – for me…
Barometer
Stone me Boris Johnson threatened to unleash the ‘terrors of the Earth’ on an unidentified Tory MP who claimed that…
Barometer
Facing the music Police in New Zealand played Barry Manilow records to truck drivers in an attempt to persuade them…
Real life
The horse lorry arrived and lowered its ramp — and I stood in front of it knowing that my thoroughbred…
E-everything is heading your way
Trends in New York City tend to foretell trends in London, whose fashions in turn set the pace for smaller…
Barometer
Whole-life sentences How many prisoners are serving whole-life sentences? — There are currently 74 prisoners in prison with whole-life tariffs;…
Taking charge
As a wise colleague once said: ‘Yesterday is a great time to buy a computer, because you have already enjoyed…
Barometer
French lessons France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in jail, with two of them suspended, for…
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…
