The Streatham stabbing is being investigated at pace. But what does that mean?

In Arnold Bennett’s Tales of the Five Towns, a young dog called Ellis Carter takes a girl for a drive in a dogcart (a little open carriage pulled by a horse, not a dog, the use of which for traction was made illegal in 1854) on a Sunday afternoon, until the spirited mare he is driving pulls to the left, bringing them into collision with a lamp post, which is bent in half. The respectable folk of Bursley are scandalised, though as news spreads, Ellis’s fellow young dogs regard him with an expression that says: ‘Well, you have been going the pace!’

Today, preparations for the climate jamboree in Glasgow are continuing at pace, the government says, just as the Streatham stabbing was investigated at pace. This useful phrase suggests urgency but supplies no hostage by way of a deadline.