...a phalanx of cars across 3 lanes all doing 80 mph separated by sometimes less than one car length.

Fine the bastards for speeding, ban them for for dangerous driving, and make it much safer for the rest of us.

Nothing unrealistic about driving at a sensible and safe speed, and taking people who refuse to do that off the road.

.......................

To get back to the "debates". They aren't really about politics, they're about image. The political talk is part of the image being presented, and the purpose is to encourage viewers (and non-viewers reading the media verdict on who won) to buy the image. That's why my post about David Cameron as Iggle Piggle wasn't wholly frivolous. It refers to aspects of the image he presented to me at any rate - bland, smooth and somehow appearing out of touch - which help explain why he did so badly compared with Nick Clegg.

Anyway the effect of the beauty parade appears to be that it is now more likely the outcome of the election will be a hung parliament. This could mean the possibility of a government which had been backed by over sixty per cent of voters (unlike the more traditional pattern where maybe just over one in three of voters voted for the government that comes to power), under which people will be given the option of a referendum on whether they want a reformed voting system which will make possible a far more representative line of of political options in the future.