Comment
Sean O'Grady: Honda hybrid passes test with flying colours
Published: 03 April 2007
We've just had to say goodbye to The Independent's long-term Honda Civic Hybrid test car. It has been with us for a year, done 9,000 miles, and nothing has gone wrong with it. Which isn't that surprising - it's a Honda, after all. They always were reliable, and nowadays, I reckon that Hondas have caught up with the German brands on build quality, too. I would also guess that the likes of Honda and Toyota are ahead of BMW and Mercedes-Benz when it comes to integrating electronics in their cars, but I can't prove that.
Alexei Sayle: 'T' is for traffic, 'M' is for mess
Published: 03 April 2007
The other day, driving through London's seedy King's Cross district, I saw somebody on the street talking to himseIf. This is not an unusual sight in that area - indeed, there are often more individuals shouting about squirrels than not around there - except that this person was wearing a fluorescent jacket. I thought at first that they might be giving a high-visibility jacket away with every can of Tennants Special Brew, but on closer inspection I saw that the young person held a small recording device in their hand. Then I spotted another doing the same, and I knew they were counting traffic.
James Daley: The Cycling Column
Published: 27 March 2007
Jools Townsend: The quickest way to save the life of a child
Published: 27 March 2007
A Unicef report recently claimed that UK children have the poorest quality of life out of 21 industrialised countries, judged on issues such as health and social relationships. Our Government aims for every child to "be healthy" and "stay safe" through its Every Child Matters strategy. Yet we are failing to effectively protect our children's safety on roads.
Jonathan Nash: Budget short on green carrots
Published: 27 March 2007
The nation had high hopes that last week's Budget would be a Green one. Perhaps it was the Chancellor's comments to David Cameron after the Conservative leader suggested that penal tax measures should be introduced to curb air travel that caused this optimism. After all, as Gordon Brown pointed out, all the evidence is that consumers respond better to carrots than sticks, and Brown's preference in changing consumer behaviour was "information and incentives", rather than the Tories' punishing taxes.
Alexei Sayle: Brakes? What a lot of namby pamby nonsense
Published: 20 March 2007
Truly, as LP Hartley says in his novel The Go-Between: "the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there". He might have added that shoes were much cheaper, but apart from that I can't say I disagree. They also say that history is written by the winners (though that doesn't include race horses and greyhounds).
James Daley: The Cycling Column
Published: 20 March 2007
James Daley: The Cycling Column
Published: 13 March 2007
Sean O'Grady: It's all hands to the pumps, guys
Published: 13 March 2007
Even before the great contamination scandal, I always tried to avoid buying fuel at supermarkets, as I was never sure the stuff was as good as the "branded" petrols and diesels, which contain detergents to keep your engine clean and efficient.
Alexei Sayle: Only the mad go carless in LA
Published: 06 March 2007
Watching the Oscar awards ceremony last week and seeing Helen Mirren get her award for The Queen, I was reminded of the time I walked to her house in the Hollywood Hills. This happened on my very first visit to LA, when I was staying with my wife at the famous Chateau Marmont Hotel, on Sunset Boulevard, and I did not appreciate how mad it was to walk anywhere.
Steve Stradling: Cameras help spot risky drivers before they crash
Published: 06 March 2007
Higher speeds increase crash severity and frequency. Those who drive fast are likely to cause and suffer more injury. A 1 per cent increase in speed is associated with a 2 per cent increase in the injury crash rate, a 3 per cent increase in the severe crash rate and a 4 per cent increase in the fatal crash rate. From 30mph to 35mph is a 17 per cent increase.
Vince Yearley: Switch off before you drive off
Published: 27 February 2007
I blame multitasking. These days we are all meant to be able to do loads of things at the same time. The problem is, of course, we can't. Not effectively.
Paul Smith: Cameras trigger poor driving... but there is hope
Published: 20 February 2007
Speed cameras make drivers worse and that makes our roads more dangerous. Government statistics fully support the conclusions. Official research supports - but does not draw - the conclusion. All we need now is an official admission that speed cameras have been an epic failure and the consequent scrapping of the speed camera programme.
Alexei Sayle: Show your real personality - write it on a van
Published: 20 February 2007
I was writing something about my family's involvement with trade union politics and their membership of the Communist Party and it suddenly struck me that revolution was our family business: if we'd had a van, it would have said on the side, "Joseph Henry Sayle & Son - Revolution, Mayhem and Disorder".
James Daley: The Cycling Column
Published: 13 February 2007
Sean O'Grady: Well done, Ken. there, i've said it
Published: 13 February 2007
It isn't often that I take the time to praise Transport for London, but here goes. (I offer the usual apologies for being London-centric. It's just that it's about to widen the Congestion Charge zone, and other plans to change the scheme radically are gathering pace. One day every city will have a scheme, so if you live in Leicester or Liverpool, it's worth noting what they're up to in the capital.)
James Daley: The Cycling Column
Published: 06 February 2007
Alexei Sayle: My shameful need for a mighty boy
Published: 06 February 2007
THERE'S A programme coming soon to BBC4 about soul music, and a preview for it that I read quoted Eric Burdon, lead singer with The Animals, as saying that although he isn't black, he sees British miners of that time as "slaves". He adds that he was already comfortable with black faces because they were the faces of men after a day down the mine, their lips whitened by foam from the Guinness. Well, not really, Eric. His experiences with black-coloured miners' faces might have made him feel at ease in the midst of The Black and White Minstrel Show, or possibly at an Al Jolson-impersonators' convention, but has nothing to do with his relationship with people whose skin colour doesn't wash off or his ability to sing the blues.
Sean O'Grady: Who will rid us of these greedy highway hyenas?
Published: 06 February 2007
You might have thought that those cowboy clampers had gone away. Well, you're wrong. They're still with us, only now they've been issued with a licence to extort. I discovered this at my cost.
Alistair Carmichael: Mobiles and cars just don't mix
Published: 30 January 2007
When Barbara Castle introduced the breathalyser for testing drink drivers in 1967, she did so in the teeth of fierce opposition. Drinking and driving was considered acceptable. Today it is regarded as one of the most dangerously self-indulgent and socially unacceptable activities.
James Daley: The Cycling Column
Published: 30 January 2007
