All Blog Posts (375)

No room on this site unless I delete other videos, which I might at some point. Meanwhile: The Road to Nowhere, Part 1 (7.33') - a tighter edit of an earlier piece:…

If further evidence is needed of traffic improving when motorists are free to negotiate movement without signals dictating their every move, see the story below about lights out of action in Exeter. The alarmist news reporter/ editor warns of "chaos", but to a man and a woman, the commentators report blissful freedom from congestion, aggravation and delay. See…

At 2.20pm on a day in January 2009, Victoria Johnson, 23, a trainee barrister, was crossing Mile End Road as the green man started to flash. Foysal Ali, 24, a trainee social worker, driving a Ford Ka, saw amber-flashing lights ahead, so he carried on. "She came out of nowhere", he said.…

Was the crash that killed 3 people and injured 35 on the A66 near Keswick an accident? Or was it an event contrived by the rules of the road? It happened at a T-junction. The rules tell main road drivers to ignore side roads, so they barrel along at…

In his book, Injustice,…

Just back (on foot) from Elephant & Castle. Instead of using the underpasses, I crossed the roads that fan out from the roundabout. There were plenty of gaps in traffic, and it would be fine if it weren't for some people's intolerance born of the mean-spirited rules of the road. I'd already more or less…

From Andrew O'Hagan's 4* review of The Infidel in The Standard: "The comedy is thrilling on several fronts - the joy of reason unseating prejudice; the smile of anarchy spreading mayhem into dogma; the thrill of haphazard intelligence taking a stand against well-organised…

Occasionally the idea of left turn on red is mooted (like right turn on red in the US). It means freedom to filter left, even if the red is against you. A tiny step in the right direction, I've always thought, but ultimately a lame idea. Why can't we…

Letter received from Lambeth: "Thank you for your letter in which you made informal representations about the above Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). I would like to confirm that the PCN has been cancelled. No consideration has been given and no judgement has been made with regard to the merits or otherwise of the alleged…

Utica NY is getting rid of some of its traffic lights. A month of lights flashing will be followed by a month with lights hooded over.…

Having already paid the odious con charge (odious in its operation and odious because it was imposed before deregulation was even tried), I drove to the City of London to check the new building on the skyline (the Heron Tower by Liverpool Street). I might regret the decision because of an unforced error, which I'll describe in a minute. The number of red light stops that are forced on you is farcical. One set of lights after another,…

More parallels in the New York Times/Observer. "New evidence supports the idea that altruism is hardwired into all but the most hardened sociopaths ... Babies reveal an innate inclination to help ... Frans de Waal, author of 'The Age of Empathy',…