Traffic Jam

Well, Traffic Marmite actually.

Love it or hate it, I'm quite ambivalent about it really - in fact I can't remember the last time I tried it. I also feel the same about the M1. And this story combines them both. It brings a new meaning to "being stuck in traffic." It's only 8:20 in the morning so I'm sure some pictures will emerge during the day but I've got to go to work so I'll not be publishing them.

There have to be some jokes here though and some marketing opportunities - like the last time this happened...Cadburys took out adverts saying how "Nothing Fills a Hole like a Double-Decker"

Plump My Ride

I might as well use that title - everyone else has. To be fair, it is the name of a BMW scheme to design their cars to cater for lots of very different sized people with the emphasis on the fact that, as a species, we are getting huge.

Caradvice.com.au went with this version of the story today which would have been quite interesting except I remember reading exactly the same item a couple of weeks ago. Even down to Ford and Nissan developing fat suits to test out their innovations.

I couldn't remember where though so I did a bit of digging. I failed to find the original article I had read but I did find this story on the Daily Mail site and this virtually identical one on the Telegraph site. They were both dated October 24th and both used this photo...I don't know if Nick McDermott of The Mail copied it off Andrew Hough of the Telegraph or not but there's only 9 minutes between the publication times of the articles so maybe they both copied it off someone else.

It wasn't The Huffington Post though. They didn't carry the story until November 4th but they still used that same photo.

It's taken a further 19 days for Tim Beissmann to get the story in Australia but he's definitely picked up the best picture:

The Mayor of London is a Buffoon

But a very likeable one.

Again, I can't agree with his politics but the people of London seem to appreciate them - unless they have just fallen for his personality - but that's their business.

He was always very funny on Have I Got News For You? and suitably amusing as the celebrity guest on Top Gear and he is always good value for money when interviewed by Jeremy Paxman - but then Jeremy Paxman loves to interview an idiot.

The reason I am discussing Boris today, after discussing his old school-chum yesterday, is this story about him using glue to catch pollution on the streets of London. It seems a bit expensive and far-fetched to me but they claim it is producing results. I'm not scientifically qualified to comment (not that that usually stops me) so read the article and draw your own conclusions.

I suppose that I'm only really mentioning it at all because it is a good excuse to print a picture of Boris. That can be a bit of a problem choosing because there is never a picture of Boris that doesn't make you smile - check these out.

Sometimes you just see a picture and want to publish it...which relates to this story. Check out the video on that too - it is brilliant!

The Prime Minister is a Liar

I do like a good, controversial post title.

I object to David Cameron on many fronts - mostly his politics and partly the fact that he is about a month younger than me - it's not nice being older than the Prime Minister.

Anyway, he tells his lie at the McLaren factory in the video attached to this brief news item. He says that apart from a golf-buggy and an electric Range-Rover, he has not "sat behind the wheel of a car" in the last 18 months. These pictures beg to differ...That was a Mini Cooper in June this year. This is a similarly decorated Qashqai in the same month......and this is another Mini from August...
I'll let him off with this one though......on three counts:

+It was in 2005 so well before 18 months ago.
+He isn't actually behind the wheel.
+You can't actually call a G-Wiz a car.

I've decided I actually feel a bit sorry for old (make that "young") Dave though - HE ISN'T ALLOWED TO DRIVE!

Enough to make you not want to be Prime Minister.

Going Back to Hippier Times

Car & Driver have improved their site recently. They've turned their news section into a Blog, very much like my favourite site, Autoguide.com. They had this story today which tells Americans something that we've known for ages...

...that you can still buy the old-style VW Camper vans here in Europe.In fact, the hippy in this picture looks remarkably like (because it probably is) Tom Ford - ex-of Fifth Gear, and still of Top Gear Magazine, fame. Fifth Gear did an item on this vehicle a few years back.

These vans are still being built in Brazil by Volkswagen. They call it a Kombi and they look a bit different...But it is still basically the same old van from the '60s.

A company here in the UK ship over the Brazilian models (be careful if you type those two words into Google), customise them and sell them on at a premium price.

Everyone is happy apart now from some Americans who feel they are missing out.

Judging by some comments on the Blog, they blame their Government - do we have Republicans and Hippies sharing common ground?

Anyway, to placate any miffed Americans, here's an expensive version that will be on open sale over there:

Time to do something about the stolen V5s?

I can't believe it was as long ago as 2006 that a huge number of blank V5 documents were stolen from the DVLA.

But it was.

It was so long ago, I can't find the story online now - although I haven't looked particularly hard.


There are plenty of related stories though...

This one from July 2008...

this one from January 2010...

and this one from October of that year.


In all that time, nothing constructive seems to have been done about it.

Until now?

I received today a brown envelope.

I opened it with trepidation, fully expecting something from Her Majesty's Inland Revenue...

But inside was a shiny new V5 document.

I was so excited, I took a photo of it (with added Lego Bricks to hide the identity of my beloved Jag)...It came with this explanatory note...
Helpful eh?

Lord knows how much this will be costing - but I do know it should have been done back in 2006 when there was still some money left in the Western world...

...and before a lot of innocent people were ripped off.