Nanny state sneer used as smokescreen by diehards

CAN’T offer you a lift today. Sorry. My car is out of commission. It has to go through its National Car Test later in the week.

So, this morning, it went into the garage, where the mechanics will do a search-and-fix in order to identify and rectify any flaws before the Government mechanics get to do their search-and-fail.

Like the smoking ban in pubs, the NCT is inconvenient, puts me out in the cold and takes away a long-cherished entitlement. God be with the good old days when we had the right to drive a clunker if we wanted to drive a clunker, just as we used to have the right to force other people to inhale our leftover cigarette smoke. Life is getting very tough.