Peter Rhodes on the end of plastics, the essence of a good scandal and the car that thinks it's a plane

They never give up, do they? The idea of a car that turns into an aircraft has been around ever since aircraft and cars first shared this planet. The plane/car hybrid was a staple of boys' comics in the 1950s but the idea rarely came to anything because, depending on the mode selected, you either had a car that drove like a turkey or a plane that flew like a pig.

The latest incarnation of the plane/car thing is called AirCar. It has completed a 35-minute test flight and been acclaimed, probably by people who don't remember 1950s comics. If only for sentimental reasons, I wish it every success. And I bet Dan Dare would, too.

A pundit on the radio was seriously suggesting that, after the Matt Hancock incident, any politician who publicly supported social distancing but privately broke the rules would face the sack for hypocrisy. I'm not convinced. For a scandal to turn lethal it needs one vital ingredient. It must grab the public's attention. And nothing does the job quite like that old devil, sex.