new buzzword assigned to transportation concerns, this being Fumi-Gate

The local council has gone ahead with its proposals for half a dozen sets of traffic lights to be installed on a busy stretch along a busy local road. Excellent, so we will all be stopping more then, which will take longer to complete our journeys, which will create more pollution and harm the environment, which will upset the environmentalists who want cars off the road in the first place. Circular logic, isn't it?

Everyone whines about how dangerous and lethal it is to speed. Consider this scenario: Three cars on a motorway. Two drive at 80mph, the third drives at 20mph. Which car is the liability? In this instance, it should be obvious that the third car is, because of the speed differential. But nobody has actually thought that lack of speed can be just as dangerous.

Motorway regulations are an antiquated set of procedures designed to deal with the cars of 20 years ago, from the first Renault 5s to the Ford Escort. When the speed limit was set at 70mph, it took into account the design of the day and the potential the cars had for exceeding that speed limit. By most standards, it was a comfortable speed that could be usurped by a tiny minority of fast, expensive supercars. If you raced along at 100+ mph, you did so at your own risk. However, that has all changed. Modern cars are infinitely more reliable, and so are more capable of attaining higher speeds. Yet for all that, the organisations and legislators governing motoring in the country turn a blind eye. The rules governing motorway driving are not commensurate with the age we live in.

It's not that people are incapable of driving safely past 80mph - many do it all the time. Even 90mph is safe. You adapt to the conditions in which you drive - only a fool would go so fast in blinding rain or on black ice. It's pretty pathetic that the Government and police want to catch anyone doing 1mph over a certain speed limit than do vaguely constructive things with their time, like catch serial murderers and terrorists.

The other advantage of raising the speed limit is that it will logically take less time to complete a long-distance journey. Leaving Leeds at 8pm, I would be home in London by 11pm. The journey is 220 miles, so that's an average speed of 73.3mph, if you count the town roads at either end. I have taken as long as double that to do it in the middle of the day.

The main cause for motorway congestion is the three lane system. Truck 1 drives down the far left lane at 48mph. Truck 2 pulls out to overtake, in the middle lane, at 50mph. It seems like an age before truck 2 overtakes truck 1, but it will do so at the expense of holding up 7 faster moving cars behind it. In that event, the cars which have braked to accommodate truck 2 are likely going to pull out into the far right lane, possibly causing a serious accident, as the far right lane must necessarily be the fastest on the motorway.

It is no use building 4, 5 or 6 lane motorways to address this problem either: the problem is one that starts and ends with lane discipline and a disregard for speed differences. Everyone, if they have read their Highway Code, should know that the middle and far right lanes are overtaking ones, and you pull in once you have completed your manoeuvre. Why then is the majority of motorway traffic in the far right lane, with the two left lanes virtually empty? It is because people seem quite happy to discover their right indicator but far less to discover their left one. Sloppy driving causes people to be held up and therefore takes longer for everyone's journey to be completed. And once you have pulled out from the middle lane into the far right to overtake, you start to become the problem if you have not overtaken that car soon enough, because you will hold someone else up.

Better lane discipline is required, not the expansion of the motorway programme. Then suddenly all the problems are solved:
1: All the tree-hugging environmentalists will be happy because more rural areas will be saved from being built over.
2: All the motorists will be happy because they will be driving quicker.
3: The government will be happy because it is saving money on not building any more motorways.

Think, Labour - use your brain, not your wallet.

1967: new motion picture starring Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman, titled "The Graduate."

al-Jazweel, of Fulham, was detained after police found evidence of chemical mixing agents at his flat

Will the madness of the terrorists ever stop?

shrouded in mystery as the student failed to appear at the graduation ceremony

It's astonishing to think how quickly the last 3 years have gone. Analogically, I suppose the most meaningful comparison would be with a sped up tape. It has imparted a curious, mild form of depression onto me, as though I am (well, were) a bright-eyed fresher in 2002, now complete with degree certificate - just one more student on the boundless conveyor belt of higher education, a mere minion in this machine which I can never hope to change.

Curiosity impels me to think deeply about how things can change so quickly. The pubs which I and others once used to frequent will now be taken over by groups of younger students, the next batch. The nightclubs we all danced in and got drunk in will become someone else's pulling ground. It fascinates me how the places and ultimate experience remain the same, but the people are different.

Rather than be filled with joy for graduating well - although I am pleased - the hardest part in life is still to come. A certificate does not necessarily guarantee a job; a graduate does not necessarily make a successful husband, father, son. Creative arts industries are not always about the level to which you are intellectually capable, but the contacts whom you know and the positions you can get yourself into. Artistic success is one of the hardest things to capture, for a great many of us are very talented yet fail to impact upon their desired sector.

liberty diversity equality promote good race relations at all costs must have chivalry die before you sir oh yes oh yes

So, you have probably heard that London's taken a pounding yesterday, on my birthday. I was due to travel to London by train today to see the Queen/Paul Rodgers gig but obviously won't now, especially as it's been cancelled. Not to mention, that if they've taken out tubes and buses then the next thing in line is overground rail. And what line links the G8 summit in Edinburgh to London? GNER East Coast.

It's no use blaming relaxed immigration controls on this mess either - the IRA have been bombing Britain for the last 30 years. It's been said before, but if there's any relief to be had, it's that things could've been a lot worse. As a whole, London is quite densely packed together as a city. There could've been chemical or biological attacks, or even bigger explosions - so 40 is a relatively light death toll. It's a warning bell. For what?

Tens, if not hundreds of millions have been spent on national security, and there will always be the finger-pointing crowd who ask where the money have gone. It's not that the people who distribute this money aren't trying their hardest, rather that it's unfeasible to constantly monitor all potential sites at risk.

It's almost amusing to think that barely a week ago, plans to introduce compulsory ID cards were being shelved in the Commons, and that it might now become a reality. Who cares if you're part of the bleeding-heart civil liberties group? If some shrapnel tore off your pretty face, would you care that freedom was granted to all and sundry who entered the country?

MI5 also want to double their staff in the manhunt for the cell responsible. Good news, until you remember it's the same MI5 who have their 'private' headquarters outside Vauxhall station.

Most people of any given faith and colour have learnt to live harmoniously. The few exceptions - terrorists among them - should be hunted down and terminated as society clearly has no need or desire to accommodate them a minute longer.

convivial, smiling, he recorded many happy returns on his 21st year

:)

I bought myself an electric guitar for my birthday, which is very pleasing since it makes a crapload of noise, and means that there is a new weapon in the armoury to fight the noisy Stella-drinking chav neighbours. It's a Squier Stratocaster, so I think I got a great deal with a Line6 amp thrown in for £250. Score.

In the evening we went for dinner at the local Italian restaurant, which was delicious. I had minced veal suffused with red wine, garlic, and parmesan cheese.

Today has not been the most fun-packed, all-out adventurous assault which others sometimes plan on their 21st birthdays, but then again, I have warm food in my stomach, the love of my family, and a future brimming with hope. You could certainly do much less, and I remain thankful for my blessings.

students had previously been warned not to venture downtown after dark

Saturday night saw us celebrating an ex-housemate's 20th at the 'industrial' end of town. (Industrial is a word that may also be used to describe the strength of vodka consumed.)

Mysteriously, a guitar appeared in our lounge the next day, I have a splitting headache, and Bob is nowhere to be seen. There is, however, a camera, which contains on it ample video footage of Bob claiming to be Princess Diana. Now to post it off to Denis Norden for £250.

While eating breakfast, it has also just occurred to me that Bob will never again need to buy Durex - the Pepperami wrappers should do nicely.