Knowing and Making

The latest twist in this stupid saga is that my Barclays Cycle Hire key has stopped working altogether. Seems to be a physical failure - the docking stations do not respond at all to the key being inserted. Previously they at least showed a yellow then a red light when I tried. Now it just does nothing. 12 minutes on the phone with TFL did not improve matters: first they claimed that one of the docking stations might be faulty, then that the problem was with the auto-renew feature (same as last time). Then she claimed that I had made a journey already today (not true). Finally she charged my credit card for another day and then, as I fully expected, the key still did not work. The new access period has been confirmed to me by email - twice - so perhaps they've charged me for two. The web interface has no record of anything that's happened today, which makes sense if it's a physical failure. They're sending out a replacement - which will take three working days,...

I've been a fan of the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme ("Boris bikes") since it launched, and have been using it regularly. It is quicker and cheaper than public transport, and has been getting me fitter too. I did hear of a couple of anomalies from friends and media - but if I'm honest, I thought they were probably the fault of the user and not of the system. Clearly some people were not returning the bikes to the docking stations correctly - TFL has been reminding us incessantly to make sure the green light goes on  when you take the bike back - and this was the reason for the extra charges. However, when it happens to me , then clearly it is a fault with the scheme. And in the last couple of days I've had some very annoying experiences. The first was just a bit strange. I logged onto my account and saw the following screen: I can say with complete confidence that I did not cycle in Kensington, Hyde Park or the Strand during those days. The Milroy Walk/Abbey...

Boris is, as always, the most entertaining man on the political circuit. This morning he contradicted official Tory policy by saying that the "citizen service" scheme for 16-year-olds should be compulsory and not voluntary. Presumably he's been slapped down by Conservative Central Office, so he has now clarified the position : London Mayor Boris Johnson has clarified his earlier comment, in which he said the National Citizen Service for teenagers should be compulsory - at odds with his party's plan for a voluntary scheme. He told me he believes the National Citizen Service should be as compulsory as you can possibly make it without "cheesing people off", the BBC's Carole Walker says. I hope the Conservatives are going to take this approach with all their new laws. If they do raise VAT, freeze public sector pay or restrict welfare benefits, I look forward to being able to exempt myself from the rules by getting "cheesed off".

There's a cute article in the Evening Standard today about the Conservative plans to bring in US-style elected police chiefs. Whatever the merits of the idea, there's a very odd statement from shadow home secretary Chris Grayling. "We envisage the Mayor of London being the elected police commissioner." Now this could mean that they expect the current Mayor of London (Boris Johnson) to also run for the post of police commissioner, and just happen to win. But it doesn't mean that. It might even mean that they expect the Mayor of London to be the temporary holder of the police commissioner role until an election can be held - though it would be a very strange way to say it. But it doesn't mean that, either. What it means is that the Mayor of London has at some point in the past been elected ; and that he will become police commissioner by virtue of his position . I don't really think that is what anyone thinks they meant by "elected police com...