This column is called Fast Lane but I spent last week in New York, where it was anything but. The combination of the UN World Summit, the launch of the Clinton Initiative and New York Fashion Week created a total transport meltdown that brought most of Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs to a halt for days on end.

Taxis were impossible to hail, every Town car and S-Class had been booked for weeks and temperatures in the high 80s ruled out the possibility of striding to meetings for fear of sweat patches. With some persuasion I was able to coax the concierge at the Lowell to find me something other than a stretch Hummer, and from Tuesday to Thursday evening I pretty much moved into the back seat.