Change of tune
Newsnight had a very good report last night on the idea of removing traffic lights to boost safety and ease congestion.
They say there's nothing new in this world. The late, great Nick Ridley used to advocate precisely that, and was dismissed as a nutter for so doing. Now it's the green and cuddly stance.
My father worked for a while with Nick Ridley. Civil servants used to swap stories of his eccentricities. My favourite was when, as Transport Secretary, he was taken to Piccadily Circus to have a look at the underground. He paced up and down the platform looking rather concerned, so his civil servant asked him if anything was wrong. "I'm just wondering where the buffet car is".
Previous
Blogs: Clive Davis | Melanie Phillips | Americano | Coffee House | Trading Floor
Actions: Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (1)
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
Stephen Pollard's Blog Roll
Oliver Kamm
Politics, economics and culture from the master. Unmissable.
Daniel Finkelstein's Times Comment Central
A daily must-read.
Tim Worstall
Lots of interesting nibbles - and a ruthless swatter of economic gibberish.
Marginal Revolution
Tyler Cowen's riveting economic blog.
Harry's Place
Must-read left of centre blog from writers who understand the threat to the West.
Thought Experiments
The peerless Bryan Appleyard's blog.
Opera Chic
An American in Milan, on opera.
Intermezzo
A London-based classical music enthusiast.
Jessica Duchen's classical music blog
Does what it says on the tin.
Samizdata
Libertarian blog, packed every day.
Norm's blog
The thoroughly sensible thoughts of renowned left-wing academic Norman Geras, Professor of Government at Manchester. And cricket, too.
Public Interest
Peter Briffa's inimitable take on The Yazzmonster and other assorted demons.
Reform
The public sector reform group; their website is an invaluable source of data and ideas.
Centre for the New Europe
The leading European public policy think tank.
Latest blog posts
sponsored links
Test Drive a Land Rover
Great choice of versatile vehicles for the drive of your life..
Sky - Official Site
Build your own Sky package online. Sky TV, Broadband & Talk only £16.
Sky TV, Broadband & Talk from £16 a Month
Sky TV & free broadband packages available from £16 a month. Choose from a standard free sky box, sky plus or sky hd.
Test Drive a Land Rover
Great choice of versatile vehicles for the drive of your life..
Sky - Official Site
Build your own Sky package online. Sky TV, Broadband & Talk only £16.
ROME CENTRE
PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique
City Breaks. ROME and PARIS
ROME and PARIS: over 350 holiday rentals apartments listed: visit www.romanreference.com and www.parisreference.com or call +39 0648 903612.
Jewellery. RUFFS (Estd. 1904).
Goldsmiths by Design Welcome to Ruffs! You have found a company of Goldsmiths that specialises in the manufacture, amongst other
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
wonderer
January 16th, 2008 12:11pmOne could be forgiven for supposing that your father was a certain senior distinguished Inland Revenue official in the second half of C20.