Air of uncertainty

Lots of squirming in the House of Lords as Baroness Gardner got air quality minister Lord Hunt to admit that the government has completely failed to meet a deadline set by the European Commission to notify a request for an extension to comply with air quality laws, which are being broken regularly in London. "It is not simply a matter of writing on two sides of A4," huffed Lord Hunt. "We need a public consultation about measures that will have to be undertaken . . . and we need to take care over that." Indeed, m'lud. The point is, you have had at least two years to sort it out, and have done nothing.