Andrew Davis's blog

We have quite a car industry in this country. The Japanese companies: Nissan, Honda and Toyota make around a million vehicles a year; the Indian, German and American companies make around 280,000 vehicles a year each. Including the smaller companies we make a shade under two million cars a year.

I welcome The Times campaign for cyclist safety for the single reason that it raises the debate to a wider public.

It was reported today that some in the entertainment and tourism industry wanted a reduction on the VAT paid for their services. They cited that there would be a special boost to the economy if this were done.

Borgen, the new political drama from Denmark, shows how different life can be. Denmark appears to be a society that is more at ease with itself than our own.

When I was at school my town gave me a free pass to get there by bus and train. This was my right, apparently, because I lived over three miles from my school.

I thought that such a gift was overindulgence – it was not as if I lived in a rural area and that I was travelling to my nearest school. I chose to go to the school and I passed many other schools along the way.

Last century I thought, and I still think, that Britain should join the euro. The weakness of the euro today is because we did not join it. Had we joined it would have been set up in a different way and we would not have been in this mess.

Similarly, I think Britain should build a high speed rail system as part of a European network: the reasons for not doing so are weak.