Transport
Vital signs
Laura Gascoigne meets Margaret Calvert, the designer who dragged British signposting into the modern era
The road to new realities
Here’s the quandary. How in future can we make the kind of rapid advances we have made during the Covid…
Taxi cabs are New York’s right-wing safe spaces on wheels
Conservatives in a place like New York — squirming daily beneath the iron heel of a newly hawkish progressive minority…
Should we all be alarmed by Boris?
Back when Boris Johnson was editor of this magazine and MP for Henley, I was with him at a Tory…
Why HS2 doesn’t stand up to the test of time
In past years, I have been a critic of HS2. I might now change my mind. One simple tweak might…
The Roman road that came to define Britain
All roads lead to Rome, the saying goes. Well, all roads except for the Roman road of Watling Street, which…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, invited the media to take a photograph of her beginning a holiday with her…
Despite rumours to the contrary, the high-speed loco has left the drawing board
There’s a lot of negativity around HS2, and I sniff a Brexit connection. You might think Leave campaigners whose aim…
How they tried (and failed) to make ‘La Marseillaise’ nicer
Friendly words England football fans sang ‘La Marseillaise’ in a friendly match at Wembley. The anthem has not always been…
Does HS2 pass the Butterfield test?
Despite my opposition to High Speed 2, I am quite a big fan of HS1, the line which runs from…
Barometer
A marathon of cheats Russian athletes may be stripped of the medals they won at the 2012 Olympics, but what…
Barometer
Family business Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre Trudeau, was elected to his father’s old job as Prime Minister of Canada.…
Counter-strike
Trade unions have ceased to serve working people. It’s time to act against them
Barometer
One-way stretch A study at Louisville University in Kentucky concluded that collisions are twice as likely in one-way streets as…
Hell on wheels
The mobility scooter plague
Cross rail
Conversations with a ticket inspector on the Norwich train
Barometer
Service record The government is to form a design panel to improve motorway services stations. These have not always charmed…
Looking for answers you can’t see
Driving from Dover on the M20 a year ago I missed the turning for the M25. A month later I…
Barometer
A dangerous hobby Three men from Greater Manchester were arrested and held in the UAE after being seen writing down…
Barometer
Watching brief Samsung warned users of its voice-activated televisions that what they said in front of the TV could be…
Barometer
Female bishops The Reverend Libby Lane was ordained as Bishop of Stockport, the Church of England’s first female bishop. —…
How HS2 blights lives
Whether the high-speed rail line is built or not, it is destroying the retirements of people like my parents
The parlour-game approach
A group of retired Somerset farmers were sitting about in the early 1960s, so Ian Mortimer’s story goes, debating which…
Putting words on the map
I stopped using London buses when some coward put doors on them. Twenty years ago, you could board any bus…
Dear Mary
Q. My neighbour is really lovely and always helps me chainsaw trees. He used to be the herdsman at the…
