The government has a thing about the mediaeval period. Charles Clarke complains that universities ‘have governance systems that stretch back to mediaeval times’. David Blunkett complains that the law takes ‘a mediaeval view of marriage’. The Ministry of Agriculture apologises for using ‘mediaeval’ pyres during the foot-and-mouth outbreak. The implication, one presumes, is that mediaeval times were coarse, cruel and elitist – the very anti-
thesis of the enlightened age that is Britain under New Labour.
But, from Monday, those driving into central London will suffer an inconvenience and indignity that would never have been tolerated in mediaeval times: being charged to use the Queen’s Highway. Drive up Cheapside between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. and you will be forced to pay a tax equivalent to 300 groats. Fail to pay and your motor carriage will be seized and auctioned to the highest bidder. One can only imagine the riots that would have ensued had Richard II dreamed up such a repressive measure.
Should the congestion charge turn out to be a failure – as with Mrs Thatcher’s poll tax there is widespread talk of popular revolution – it is certain that the government will wash its hands of any blame, secretly revelling in the discomfort of Ken Livingstone.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in