In spite of the relatively high price of petroleum for cars and the economies of carrying large numbers of people on a train, car travel is in general much cheaper than rail travel.

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Each year on behalf of the ruling Government, the Chancellor of the Exchequer lays out for Parliament’s consideration his proposed budget for the coming year.

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Prospects are grim if only lip-service is paid to our overriding responsibility to act as current stewards of the planet and to seek to ensure that the quality of life of the generations succeeding us is enhanced rather than diminished as a result of what we do.

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Central and local government reach decisions, for instance on planning matters following public inquiries, which in due course of time may be seen to have been ill-advised and therefore to vindicate opponents who had presented counter arguments.

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Overcome your initial fears and take up cycling. It is a unique way of keeping fit and healthy, feeling good, and getting about conveniently on far more of your journeys than you realise. Statistics show that, on average, for every ‘life year’ lost in cyclists’ fatalities on the roads, about 20 life years are gained from cyclists’ improved health leading to their greater longevity.

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A review of successive governments’ policies directly or indirectly affecting the attractions of walking as a means of transport would be likely to conclude that there must have been a malign and ingenious spirit masterminding a strategy to make it an unpleasant and unsafe way of getting about in daily life.

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The month of the year in which we are born can result in up to an extra 11 months of education in primary school, thereby providing undue advantage to those whose birthdays fall in the calendar year after rather than before August.

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What is the most important lesson we can learn from looking back over the last two millennia that we can apply in the early part of the new one? Could it be that although every country in the world is seeking to promote economic growth, it is both unsustainable and fundamentally flawed as a concept?

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One of government’s primary functions is to intervene when the expression of too much freedom of choice by individuals can be seen to be prejudicial to the public interest.

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In my contribution to last year’s Compendium, I referred to the obvious need to pay more attention to the implications of our personal decisions from a public interest perspective.

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Spending on public transport is a conspicuous and attractive way to tackle the problems caused by the growth in car use. But the cost per person mile for public transport provision is far higher than that for cycling and walking.

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'At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the national interest' (John Major in a recent House of Commons debate on Europe).

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In order to contain inflationary pressures in the economy and to facilitate the process of pay-round bargaining to that end, each year Government has been determining a percentage target increase for earnings in the public sector for the following year.

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For the last ten years, a total of over 50,000 people have been killed on the roads of Britain. Yet the carnage continues, like ritual Aztec sacrifices, on the altar of the motor car, albeit geographically-random rather than site-specific.

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In spite of the effort invested in lowering fuel consumption in the last two decades, the total amount used to provide heating, hot water, and light and power in the home has continued to rise.

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Rather than the vehicle being uninterrupted at each road intersection, what is required is an uninterrupted pedestrian network consisting of linked pavements.

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The UK government has now given way to pressure from other member states of the European Community on action to resolve perhaps the most awesome problem ever posed for mankind - the natural limits on greenhouse gas emissions that the earth can support.

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It has been obvious for many years that the policies of many governments and related institutions, including the medical establishment, have failed to reflect the major role that cycling could play in meeting their objectives.

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The Policy Studies Institute has issued my report on the costs and benefits of moving the clock one hour ahead of its current setting throughout the year. That would mean British Standard Time (BST) in the winter and Double British Summer Time (DBST) in the summer.

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