For the third day, Londoners are coming to terms with two words: Congestion Charge. If you want to drive into a big chunk of central London you are now required to pay a £5 a day entry tax (just over $8 at today’s exchange rate). It is enforced via your licence plate by means of linked cameras and computers, and a series of escalating fines that peak with having your car taken away. It is the brainchild of the mayor, Ken Livingstone, who makes a hobby of keeping newts and has been reported as saying that he hates cars and if he had the power would ban the lot. I believe a similar scheme operates in Singapore and one or two other places, but this is the most ambitious to date.

Fortunately I don’t usually have to drive through the affected zone, but the word is that the scheme will be extended if it is seen to “work”. Not sure what the criteria are here. Of course, a high proportion of the money raised goes on administering the scheme and no doubt it provides employment for many new bureaucrats, which can only be good.