Yes, I dare to say it: buses are a miserable waste of space.(traffic congestion in London)

Publication: Spectator

Publication Date: 30-SEP-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 The Spectator Ltd. (UK)

One of the lovely things about writing for The Spectator is that we have an extremely knowledgeable and well-read audience, so there is no need to explain the sort of stuff that one would need to explain were one writing for the Sun, say, or the New Statesman. An article about humorous verse of the mid-19th century, for example, would not require a preamble making it clear that Edward Lear did not, in his spare time, make jet aeroplanes.

You know that already. This holds true for an agreeably diverse range of subjects; however, there is always an exception to test the rule. Occasionally a subject crops up which lies some way beyond the horizon of even - perhaps especially - the most wellinformed of our readers; little details one would be slightly disappointed to discover were known to the average Spectator reader. And on these rare occasions, remedial explanation is required.

So, then: buses are those big red things full of poor people you see clogging up the traffic in the middle...

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