Cars
World gone lazy
‘Where’s the car?’ said my wife Alice, interrupting my Zoom meeting on Saturday morning. ‘It’s where you left it,’ I…
Why shouldn’t the City pick an Irish Lord Mayor?
The Financial Times carried a curious story at the weekend about ‘the secretive process to elect the Lord Mayor of…
Why has the EU let German car manufacturers off the hook?
Two billion? Five billion? Perhaps ten billion to make it a nice round number? For colluding on diesel emissions you…
Why I won’t buy a Tesla
I loved the Ford Mustang Mach-E which I had on loan for four days. It was gorgeous to drive, and…
G7 is right: business should pay tax wherever it make profits
Companies should willingly pay tax wherever they generate profits — this column has long argued — because it’s fair they…
Letters
Spinning plates Sir: Kate Andrews is right to highlight the looming risk of inflation (‘Rishi’s nightmare’, 6 March), but to…
Reinventing the wheel
For most London-based politicians, there’s a threat that’s worse than Covid. You’ll begin to notice it as we ease out…
Life in the fast lane
DeLorean: Back from the Future was one of those documentaries — for me at least — that takes a story…
‘Smart’ motorways are an accident waiting to happen
If I could wave a wand and reverse just one government policy it would be the expansion of so-called ‘smart…
Letters
Cancelled procedures Sir: Your leader (‘A lockdown too far’, 7 November) suggests that the Prime Minister should have shown ‘leadership’…
Driven mad
Why is buying a car such an ordeal?
Barometer
It’s electrifying! Who invented the circuit-breaker? Thomas Edison patented it in 1879, realising what damage could be caused to electrical…
Public art
On his lockdown rambles, Christopher Howse finds beauty and solace in London’s street furniture
Patently wrong
In the past 30 years, I have driven about 8,000 miles in France in right-hand-drive cars. And I would be…
Reels on wheels
Tanya Gold on the rise and fall of drive-in cinema
Creative destruction
For three months art lovers have had nothing but screens to look at. As one New York dealer complained to…
Speed talking
When I first heard Abba’s magnificent 1982 swansong ‘The Day Before You Came’, I’d never come across the Americanised use…
A museum-quality car-boot sale: V&A’s Cars reviewed
We were looking at a 1956 Fiat Multipla, a charming ergonomic marvel that predicted today’s popular MPVs. Rather grandly, I…
What I learned on my speed awareness course
Speed is in my blood. My father, grandfather and great-grandfather all used to race cars in their youth. We even…
The consequences of the new EU car speed limit
A once famous question posed to job-seekers at Microsoft was ‘Why are manhole covers round?’ The question was revealing not…
Female unemployment has just hit an all-time low. So yes, Britain is working
At any other time, news that Honda intends to close its Swindon plant in two years’ time with the loss…
Portrait of the week: Resignations galore, Honda’s announcement and Islamic State’s brides
Home Seven MPs resigned from the Labour party and sat in the Commons (next to the DUP) as the Independent…
The UK car industry is reversing back to the 1970s
When I wrote a fortnight ago, in the context of Nissan’s decision not to build its new X-Trail model at…
Why have I bought a car I don’t actually like?
I am currently in Brittany with the family, having made the 11-hour drive from London on Monday. It sounds like…
Ferrari – heavy, expensive, wasteful, dangerous and addictive
Has a more beautiful machine in all of mankind’s fretful material endeavours ever been made than a ’60 Ferrari 250…
