On the hard shoulder

The Government has announced that they will be expanding their plans to allow drivers to use the hard shoulder as an extra lane on some motorways. Ten years on from John Prescott's promise to resign if he hadn't reduced car usage in a decade, which he then abruptly forgot about, using the hard shoulder seems to be the only plan in town.

Is this Gordon Brown's new vision? More cars, reduced bus usage (apart from Scotland and London) and expensive trains. Oh well!

Watching the Daily Politics on Thursday commenting on the new plan, transport minister Tom Harris mentioned 'Active Traffic Management' roughly once in every sentence. Apparently, this is traffic cameras (not more cameras) keeping a beady eye on traffic levels and changing speed limits automatically. It may even help for a few years.

Mr Harris seemed to be in some difficulty in the interview over tolls roads, though, which made me think of 'Active Minister Management'. When one minister slows down or breaks down even, the Government could wield another minister at a moments notice, a kind of ministerial substitution bench. Let's not have an extra time though!

Squiffy.