A cyclist gets thumped

LABOUR is pressing for the law to be changed to ban people smoking in cars containing children. They were in power for 13 years. Why didn't they do it then?

DO WE even need a new law? The English legal system has been evolving for 1,000 years and covers most things. The 1861 Offences Against the Person Act has a section on "administering a noxious thing." It would take only one successful prosecution to create a precedent and convince smokers that asphyxiating your kids in public is not acceptable.

MIND you, way back in the old, ignorant days, my father smoked with five little boys in the car. I am happy to report it did us no lasting, er, thingy, what's the name? Harm.

THE Somerset Levels are those dank, misty, low-lying bits of the South West you drive over on the M5 on your way to Devon. In legend this area was the lake over which the dying King Arthur was ferried to Avalon. In 1607 the Levels were devastated by the great tidal surge or tsunami which drowned 2,000 people. The Levels lie below sea level and have flooded throughout history, whether the rivers are dredged or not. The name of Somerset is said to refer to a place fit for settlement only in the summer. Today the Levels are under water yet again. If the climate really is changing and inundation becomes the norm, how many millions of pounds do we spend keeping a little bit of England dry when it so clearly wants to be wet? The south of England has no big lakes to compare with the Lake District, Kielder Water or Scotland. A new inland lake excavated at the Levels would soak up all the water surges, prevent further flooding and become a huge attraction for tourists and wildlife. It could also be very profitable. Why struggle to make a living on a doomed, flood-prone farm when you could be running a successful marina?

IN 2011-12, drivers in the UK were hit with fines totalling £135 million after being caught on CCTV committing minor motoring offences. As an RAC spokeswoman puts it: "It really does look as though motorists are being used to raise revenue for cash-strapped councils." A favourite trap is the yellow box junction. I don't have much sympathy for box-hoggers but a few days ago I found myself venturing into one which was so badly maintained and faded that it was little more than a yellow smudge on the asphalt. You can't see it – but the CCTV can see you.

NO SUCH confusion in London's Farringdon Road on a driver-v-cyclist video which went viral this week. It clearly shows a white Audi edging into the cycle-only box. A cyclist remonstrates with the driver. The Audi sets off, the cyclist in hot, indignant pursuit. At the next lights, the cyclist puts his angry face against the driver's window and rages: "You ****ing p****!" At this point someone gets out of the Audi and thumps the cyclist. Judging from the comments to the video, how you react to this incident depends entirely on your mode of transport. Cyclists see it as a shocking assault on one of their clan. Drivers see an obscenity-yelling cyclist getting his comeuppance. (Seriously, if you stick your face a few inches from a stranger's face and call him a "****ing p****!" what do you expect?) A visitor from Mars would study the scene, with bikes, cars and lorries whizzing everywhere and wonder why in the name of sanity they are all sharing the same roads.

THE suggestion by Ukip leader Nigel Farage that handgun law might be relaxed reminds me of the senior police officer describing how he judged whether an applicant was "a fit person" to own a handgun, as the law required. He took the view that anyone who wanted a handgun was exactly the sort of person who shouldn't have one.