Transport

Why HS2 doesn’t stand up to the test of time

2 February 2019 9:00 am

In past years, I have been a critic of HS2. I might now change my mind. One simple tweak might…

The defeat of Boudica is believed to have been fought on Watling Street

The Roman road that came to define Britain

17 November 2018 9:00 am

All roads lead to Rome, the saying goes. Well, all roads except for the Roman road of Watling Street, which…

Portrait of the week

29 July 2017 9:00 am

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, invited the media to take a photograph of her beginning a holiday with her…

Don’t believe the Tory grumbling: HS2 is on the way

21 May 2016 9:00 am

There’s a lot of negativity around HS2, and I sniff a Brexit connection. You might think Leave campaigners whose aim…

How they tried (and failed) to make ‘La Marseillaise’ nicer

21 November 2015 9:00 am

Friendly words England football fans sang ‘La Marseillaise’ in a friendly match at Wembley. The anthem has not always been…

The most important test that HS2 doesn’t pass

21 November 2015 9:00 am

Despite my opposition to High Speed 2, I am quite a big fan of HS1, the line which runs from…

Should the first modern Olympic drug cheat get to keep his gold?

14 November 2015 9:00 am

A marathon of cheats Russian athletes may be stripped of the medals they won at the 2012 Olympics, but what…

Justin Trudeau and four more hereditary prime ministers

7 November 2015 9:00 am

Family business Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre Trudeau, was elected to his father’s old job as Prime Minister of Canada.…

Unions vs workers – this is David Cameron’s chance to strike back

11 July 2015 9:00 am

Trade unions have ceased to serve working people. It’s time to act against them

One-way streets are a surprisingly old (and dangerous) idea

2 May 2015 9:00 am

One-way stretch A study at Louisville University in Kentucky concluded that collisions are twice as likely in one-way streets as…

The mobility scooter plague

11 April 2015 9:00 am

The mobility scooter plague

'I will call the police!': My close encounter with 'revenue protection'

4 April 2015 9:00 am

Conversations with a ticket inspector on the Norwich train

A censored hymn to motorway misery

28 March 2015 9:00 am

Service record The government is to form a design panel to improve motorway services stations. These have not always charmed…

A lesson in decision-making from the world’s worst road sign

28 March 2015 9:00 am

Driving from Dover on the M20 a year ago I missed the turning for the M25. A month later I…

The perils of planespotting

7 March 2015 9:00 am

A dangerous hobby Three men from Greater Manchester were arrested and held in the UAE after being seen writing down…

What Samsung’s new TVs owe to Jeremy Bentham

14 February 2015 9:00 am

Watching brief Samsung warned users of its voice-activated televisions that what they said in front of the TV could be…

Female bishops are very, very old news

31 January 2015 9:00 am

Female bishops The Reverend Libby Lane was ordained as Bishop of Stockport, the Church of England’s first female bishop. —…

How HS2 has blighted my parents’ lives

6 December 2014 9:00 am

Whether the high-speed rail line is built or not, it is destroying the retirements of people like my parents

Perhaps the most formative years in our history were when ‘every second person suddenly died in agony — and no one knew why.’ Above, plague victims are blessed by a priest in the 14th-century ‘Omne Bonum’ by James le Palmer

Why the most important years in history were from 1347 to 1352

1 November 2014 9:00 am

A group of retired Somerset farmers were sitting about in the early 1960s, so Ian Mortimer’s story goes, debating which…

The best navigation idea I’ve seen since the Tube map

25 October 2014 9:00 am

I stopped using London buses when some coward put doors on them. Twenty years ago, you could board any bus…

Dear Mary: Show me the tactful way to pay for a lift

23 August 2014 9:00 am

Q. My neighbour is really lovely and always helps me chainsaw trees. He used to be the herdsman at the…

Sorry, but trains can’t really replace welfare lines

9 August 2014 9:00 am

George Osborne proposed an attractive idea this week: that spending on state benefits should be diverted into new infrastructure in…

All this airport security is utterly useless

12 July 2014 9:00 am

Added security flummery at airports does nothing to make us safer. In fact, it may do the opposite

Very bad poems on the Underground

8 March 2014 9:00 am

My husband was surprised by quite a bit when we travelled by Underground in London the other day. Although he…

Will self-driving cars know what to do in the middle lane?

15 February 2014 9:00 am

I am convinced that when I took my driving test in 1983 I was asked by the examiner, ‘What lane…