What about airports, Danny?

Danny Alexander has delivered his eagerly anticipated infrastructure statement to the Commons. He described the package as ‘the most comprehensive, ambitious and long-lasting capital investment plans this country has ever known.’ That’s quite a claim, Danny. To judge the truth of it, the public can examine the speech below, the Treasury’s interactive guides and the full document here.

Major upgrades are planned to the road and rail networks in certain places. And substantial investment has been earmarked for schools, high-speed broadband and scientific research. This is all well and good. There are, however, a couple of notable gaps. There’s very, very little on airports (which is no surprise, given the government’s policy not to have an aviation policy). But I wonder how Britain will compete in the “global race” if, figuratively speaking, the globe can’t fly here. And, despite several pages of verbiage in the full plan, details about short-term energy policy remain patchy. Superfast broadband is not much use if, again figuratively speaking, you can’t afford to turn it on.