IT is 30 years since Philip Larkin’s untimely death from cancer in 1985 at the age of 63, a death he had long predicted.

In Amsterdam, I was gratified to see the streets and tram-tracks thronged with cyclists, young, middle-aged and very old, along with motor-scooter riders, male and female, all wearing no helmets.

HMV was today frustrated in its efforts for a quick ruling on whether its £96.4m (€142.7m) offer for Ottakar’s damages competition in the market for books.