With the unfortunate news that Boris Johnson is to be the next prime minister, I thought it a good opportunity to highlight a post from 2007. Johnson had written in his Telegraph column how bad he considered the bus network in London to be, suggesting that London should adopt the system common throughout the rest […]
Over 700 health experts have urged MPs to vote in favour of a ban on smoking in cars where children are present. The debate is notable for the fact that everyone agrees that smoking in a car when accompanied by a child is wrong, and shouldn’t be done under any circumstances. Yet some people still […]
Finally, some common sense when it comes to taxing foreign lorries. They are a common sight on British roads, yet do not have to pay UK Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). British-registered trucks have to pay up to or over £1000 per year, which puts them at a competitive disadvantage, leading to claims that foreign drivers […]
The BBC News website carried an ariticle today on growing dissatisfaction with rail fares. Now fair enough, the article makes some valid points. No-one likes the above-inflation rises in ticket costs that we see each year, and it is undoubtedly cheaper to travel by train in many other European countries. However, what made me laugh […]
Imagine you are on an airliner and due to land shortly, and you have the window seat for the view. But there is no being held in a stack, no seemingly endless circling while below you see houses of all the people whose lives are blighted by aircraft noise, no seeing all sorts of famous […]
Last week it was reported that a review of drink-driving laws in the UK has recommended a reduction in the allowed blood alcohol level for drivers. The government must now decide whether to act on the report. Over at Lords of the Blog, Baroness Deech asks for comments, suggesting that a balance has to be […]
I am actually against the expansion of air travel, including new runways at Stansted and Heathrow Airports. Yet I was furious today to read about the disruption caused to air travellers by protesters at Stansted. People have the right to protest peacefully. But they do not and should not have the right to disrupt other […]
Travellers hoping to use the Channel Tunnel face huge disruption again today following a serious fire in the tunnel yesterday. This is the third major fire in the Channel Tunnel’s history, the others occurring in 1996 and 2006. In all three instances, the fire started on board a train carrying lorries. Four types of train […]
TheTrainLine.com is a website that allows UK rail passengers to buy their tickets online. It has just introduced booking fees, meaning that a ticket booked with TheTrainLine now costs more than buying the same ticket at the station. Fortunately, there are alternatives. The slippery slope to booking fees started some years ago, when TheTrainLine introduced […]
The announcement that a new bridge is to be built across the Forth Estuary barely received a mention in the London-based UK press. I only managed to find an article in the Guardian. There was also an article tucked away on BBC News. This is quite disgraceful, considering that it will be one of the […]
