Every cloud

Every cloud has a silver lining…or so the saying goes. This morning it appears that there is a glimmer of good news for the environment at least against the gloom of soaring fuel costs. This morning’s Financial Times reports that UK sales of 4x4s plummeted by more than 18 per cent in May as Europeans feel the pinch from £90-a-tank petrol and are tightening their spending. And City boys aren’t buying as many sports cars as they used to with May year-on-year sales down almost 15 per cent. And with the European situation mirroring that of the US where Ford Motor and General Motors have seen sales of pick-up trucks and sports utility vehicles fall by 30 per cent, it looks like the green lot finally have something to smile about.