Sunak, king of the rat runs

 As a CO (clerk) in the Roads division of the old Ministry of Transport in the early 1960s, I picked up expressions thrown about by the civil engineers in the office. One such was "rat-run", applied to a suburban street or streets parallel to a major road and thus used by commuting motorists to avoid traffic congestion. The phenomenon turned from a casual observation to a feature of most urban areas as vehicle ownership boomed and successive governments presided over a rundown of public transport. At the same time, increased vehicle speeds presented a greater danger to children and other vulnerable people.

Now prime minister Sunak, as part of a pre-election campaign to brand opposition parties as "anti-motorist", has announced a review of traffic-calming measures. These increased during the Covid-19 pandemic as local authorities throughout the British Isles rushed to protect cyclists and pedestrians. The London Borough of Hackney was typical. The government will not be forgiven if it overrides local democracy in forcing councils to rip up their bollards to the detriment of the safety of their citizens. All for the support of the Jagworths on his back benches.