SELF DRIVING CARS - ANOTHER HORROR COMING DOWN THE ROAD.

Not very long ago, our country was introduced to so-called "Smart Motorways", a system in which the previous hard shoulders are automatically changed to 'running lanes' at times of congestion. It was claimed that this would ease the congestion and was entirely safe for road users. Today, we know that there have been numerous accidents and deaths arising directly from the lack of a safe refuge for drivers whose vehicles have broken down. The system is being reviewed further deployments are, I believe, suspended.

Despite this  serious failure of technology it's now proposed to allow so-called self driving vehicles onto our motorways. Why anyone would want a self-driving vehicle is a question that that has yet to be asked, let alone answered, but the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, simply claims that we cannot be left behind and must employ such technological advances. One wonders how many accidents and deaths there will have to be before this nonsense will also be dumped back where it belongs, on the rubbish heap with all the other failed "if it can be, it must be" projects.

However, there is another aspect to this latest suggestion which might just keep it going. By introducing 'self-driving' vehicles, governments may be taking us down a road that leads to total control of our movements. For a vehicle to be truly 'self driving' it has to be controlled; what better way to ensure this than to have some form of enhanced GPS doing the job ? All the driver would need to do would be to tell the vehicle where he, or she, wanted to go and the vehicle would do the rest, all under the control of some unseen hand. Speeding and jumping traffic lights would no longer be a problem; if any driver or passenger had the tiniest whiff of alcohol about them, the vehicle would refuse to move. 

In time, such technology could even be deployed to decide that our journey was not necessary, was inappropriate or would add to already unacceptable levels of congestion or crowding somewhere along our route or at our destination. Our trip to Blackpool might be turned into one to Southend at the whim of a soul-less but all powerful computer and all in the cause of safety. Personal wants and desires, self will even the right to be wrong sometimes would be lost; the serendipitous finding of some unknown wonder while trying desperately to get back to the 'right road', would be a thing of the past.

There are things that technology can achieve that should be firmly rejected, and self-driving cars are right there at the top of my list of such horrors. In the words of Mrs Thatcher "no, No, NO !!".

LABOUR SLEAZE AND CORRUPTION - WHO CAN FORGET IT ?

Does anyone know what the Labour Party's policies are ahead of next week's elections for local councillors, mayors and police commissioners ? 

I've certainly heard very little in the media about the subject, Labour's entire electioneering campaign seemingly being focused on trying to demonise Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Allegations of 'sleaze' abound, although whether there is any real truth or relevance in them is, to say the least, unclear. 

Who paid for the redecoration of the Prime Minister's Downing Street flat ? In truth, does anyone care so long as whatever it cost did not come out of the public purse. Labour seems to have forgotten about the grotesque expenditure of Lord 'Derry' Irvine when his former pupil, Tony Blair, appointed him to the role of Lord Chancellor. Irvine splashed a reported £650,000 (more than 20 years ago and substantially more in today's terms), including around £60,000 on wallpaper alone, on redecorating his residence at Westminster, every penny being paid for out of public funds. 

While England's Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, holds shares in a company which gained a contract from the Welsh government can this really be considered 'sleaze' ? In Liverpool, the Labour mayor and several of his cronies have been arrested on charges of corruption; Joe Anderson, the now former mayor, wants the city council to pay for his legal costs. Who is the real crook here - Tory Matt Hancock or Labour's Joe Anderson ?

When he was Prime Minister, Tony Blair clearly misled Parliament and the country with his 'dodgy dossier' and claims that Iraq had to be invaded due to its supposed stockpiles of "weapons of mass destruction". Again, Keir Starmer's Labour Party seems to have forgotten all about Blair's duplicity and. instead, trots out the egregious Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves and John Ashworth to voice their unsubstantiated and fanatical diatribes against Mr Johnson and others in the Cabinet. Interestingly, Starmer himself seems to stay fairly clear of the fray, except fro his appearances at Prime Minister's questions when, regardless of how clever he may be, he comes across as a grey man in a grey suit.

Have we all so quickly forgotten about Keith Vaz, rent boys and cocaine in 2017, or about Labour's Fiona Onasanya, imprisoned for perverting the course of justice in 2018 and then refusing to resign her parliamentary seat ? Further back there was "Jowellgate" a financial scandal that involved Tessa Jowell, her husband, David Mills and had links to the highly suspect Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. There was also the little matter of Ron Davies, 'cottaging' on Clapham Common and a later resignation due to allegations of illicit sexual activity. 

Of course, sleaze, corruption and downright 'naughtiness' have never been the property of just one party. In 2010, the Liberal Democrat David Laws was caught wrongly claiming expenses of £40,000 and in 2012, Chris Huhne and his wife were both sent to prison for perverting the course of justice over a speeding offence.

None of the above absolves current political figures from responsibility for their actions and there have been plenty of Conservatives who went every bit as wrong as their Labour and Liberal opponents, but Labour's current strategy appears to be to throw as much mud as possible in an effort to discredit a popular Prime Minister, rather than to put forward much in the way of alternative policies.  Is this really what is needed ? Does the Labour Party have any actual policies ?

The people will make clear, on Thursday 6th May, what they think of Labour's approach as set against dramatic Conservative success in tackling the real issue of a viral epidemic.

H.R.H. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH

HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was a man who experienced great difficulties and even serious danger during his long life and yet he never wavered. Not for him trips to counsellors, psychologists, therapists and the like; no, he took what life threw at him shrugged his shoulders and got on with things.

An old fashioned attitude, full of the 'stiff upper lip' mentality of his generation, and one that is so absent amongst today's frail and cosseted little darlings. At the same time, he was a moderniser and a man who believed passionately in moving forward at all times through innovation and invention. 

The Duke also truly understood duty and service, fulfilling his role as the Queen's consort for almost 70 years, gaining a reputation for being 'his own man' while also supporting his wife unreservedly.

His contributions to his family, his country and the world are immeasurable. He will be missed.