Ideological, vindictive and effective, Ken Livingstone has made the lives of motorists in London almost impossible. Cars are being taxed out of existence. My son, who is firmly in the 10p tax-band economic category, was almost bankrupted by his introduction to working in London; a combination of petrol prices, congestion charges, tax, insurance and parking fines. It is an entire Inland Revenue system devoted to wheels within wheels.

Anyone who can manage to get out of chauffeuring the school run is now looking for alternative transport. The age of the scooter is here. It is not exactly Quadrophenia but we are now a three-scooter household. Mine is a brand new arrival. I have had conflicting impulses about acquiring it. On one hand, La Dolce Vita. On the other, there are no fountains round my way, and the hail was bouncing off my forehead at 40 miles per hour the other week.