When it’s hot, it’s a good idea to carry some water when you are travelling. It is, however, not a good idea to tell us to do this every time we catch a Tube train. Agromenes likes a bit of a nap on a train journey from his home in the country to London. He does not need to be woken every 20 minutes in order to be instructed: ‘See it, say it, sorted.’

Nor, when we are trying to restrain public expenditure, does he require a new warning notice on the steps to the exit from the Underground platform he uses. It’s a station in central London where, for 168 years, the steps have been successfully managed without any instruction. Now, in case you hadn’t thought of it, you are ordered to ‘Hold on to the handrail’.

This determination to treat the public as if they are incapable of looking after

See Full Page