In fact, cars are almost the only example I can think of where being LESS economical is seen as desirable. Surely saving energy is a good idea whether you believe in global warming or not? You know, reduced demand reduces prices and all that?

It seems people’s minds just switch to defensive mode ‘no… not taking big car… nice big car…’ – instead of thinking along the lines of ‘smaller car – less petrol – more money to spend on food, clothes, CDs, houses, *everything else other than running a car* in fact’. I know I’d rather have the latter – am I mad?

It’s crazy – now I’ll admit I commute by train (mainly because it’s cheaper than parking) but I don’t lobby First Great Western for a wider, taller train with higher fares, do I? People *choose* to fly easyjet because it’s cheaper than – but kind of does the same overall A-to-B job as – a full service airline, and it’s a great success. But somehow all normal sane ideas of market forces just doesn’t seem to apply to cars.