I like E-scooters.Saturday 4th July 2020 has been chosen as the day when E-scooters will be allowed on the road for a trial period. This is doomed to failure.

There’s a lot of stuff going on at the moment. Now is the chance to change the world for the better. We could have a green economy with a four day week, where people become important and a country’s wealth isn’t measured solely on GDP. Or, we could use the old solutions from the mid 20th Century that older people understand.

At first glance, allowing electric scooters on the road is a step in the right direction. The air has be clean for months now and fewer cars on the roads makes cycling a better option too. But my feeling is that this idea is set up to fail. For a start, this only applies to people with driving licences – I’m assuming full and not provisional – and unless there’s a rush to the shops on Saturday I doubt this will be many people at all. Instead, what will happen is many miserable old people complaining about young people without helmets scooting on the road.

There have been concerns raised by the Deaf Society that these silent killing machines can travel at 15.5mph and people who can’t hear them coming are in danger. I have sympathy for that view, but at the same time it’s not saving the planet. No, it must be blind people. And I have sympathy for that view as well. But that’s not the point. It’s been set up to fail.

This is just a gut feeling, but I’m expecting a move for compulsory helmets, scooting tests, registration numbers, and insurance. All of this will affect cyclists and then the government will tax the shit out of it. And as soon as an old dear has a moment of fright, it will be all over the front pages of our newspapers. And if someone gets knocked over and dies every scooter\cyclist is a potential killer.

Our reaction to how people die, who kills them, and how many die is very strange. But I think that’s for another blog.

This is the time for creativity and arts. We have roads, why do we need more? We have woods and forests, so why are we planting new ones to replace old ones? Let’s build,l build, build! Let’s spend £900k painting a plane red, white, and blue. Let’s bring back the Royal Yacht Britania. Let’s look strong when we’re not. Why not, the older people – and the young old people – love that kind of thing. Let’s stop here because you’ve hit your word limit!