One of the worst part about trying to use the rail network in the UK is that at the weekend parts of it are invariably shut and the service is replaced with buses. There's a number of downsides to this:

• the buses are far slower than the trains having to take a roundabout route from station to station
• the drivers frequently don't know the area and have to ask passengers for directions (I kid you not!)
• buses are nowhere near as safe as rail travel
• the inconvenience of moving luggage from train to bus and back again repeatedly can be considerable on a longer journey

The picture on the right graphically illustrates both the danger - 8 people injured - and that the driver didn't know the area. I live less than a couple of miles from the bridge in question, interesting facts about it are that the bridge is routinely hit by a double decker buses every few years, and that the road is actually below sea level, which is rather interesting for drainage given that it's less than a mile from the coast...

Yet more Nanny State nonsense. It's now illegal to sell a new bicycle in the UK without a bell.

"If passed on to the consumer, the total cost, including fitment, is expected to be £2.7m - £9.6m," said the Department for Transport, optimistically.

Now I can see the pssible benefits of a bike bell, a delicate tinkling being somewhat more polite than yelling "get out of the fucking way!", but is it any more efficient or effective? I doubt it.

Given that very few serious cylists will retain these bells, preferring the tried and tested shouting approach, this is surely just another example of New Labour's ever increasing wall of red tape and taxes.