Gear change

Is it a bus or a punt?

Meanwhile, as I focus on intellectually non-existent questions of the non-existent species of ‘furniture designer-maker’, and over here our politicians and electorate are engrossed in Mr Murdoch’s achievement of turning the Sunday Times into a semi-literate version of the News of the World, the European banking bus double-declutches and shifts down with a loud crash of gears and a squeal of ratings agencies.

I used to think governments were the mechanics of the bus depot, tightening up the wheel nuts from time to time, but now I see they are mostly in the driver’s cab, grappling with the steering wheel alongside the bank chief executives.

So I am off to Oxford, land of punts, buttered crumpets, real philosophy and bookcases, to pose as a furniture maker for a while.