Radio 4 Drama: Fare – Why is it that the BBC, with all its money and employees with first-class educations, conflate a cab with private hire? Take the aforementioned afternoon drama. When it plays on BBC Sounds an image appears of a London cab’s hire light even though the excellent drama by first-time writer Tony Schumacher is about a private hire driver in the North-East.

If your neighbour had a pile of asbestos and, instead of disposing of it legally, given the job to a scruffy guy who just happened to knock on his door, promising “to get rid of it cheap”, you’d be rightly appalled. So why do we trust water companies who promise to dispose of our sewage responsibly only to dump the effluent in our rivers?

We just learned a new word: Effluvia: ‘an unpleasant or harmful odour or discharge’. Homes across London remain at risk of being flooded by effluvia as a result of the capital’s Victorian sewage system and heavy rainfall. The London Flood Review concluded current infrastructure is unfit for purpose, especially in extreme weather. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Sadiq Khan has defended his recent 7,000-mile flight to a climate change conference in Argentina stating that “his commercial flight to Buenos Aires, via São Paulo, was powered by sustainable aviation fuel”. It is calculated that he has flown the equivalent of twice around the world during his tenure, whilst lecturing us to avoid driving in London.

On 1st October 2021, Transport for London changed how they assess London PHV drivers’ English language skills and introduced a requirement for drivers to show an understanding of safety, equality and regulatory matters. Drivers have to satisfy the English Language Requirement by taking and passing a new speaking and listening test. It is proposed that these requirements are to be extended to cabbies. Throughout The Knowledge of London, the applicant must sit more than TEN face-to-face oral exams to display their knowledge of the road network. It is preposterous that London cabbies are required to undertake the English Language test. By completing the KoL Taxi Drivers have demonstrated they have a topographical knowledge of London and a command of the English Language.