Merriam-Webster has been defining words since 1828 and is, in the main, a dictionary of American-English. Although aimed squarely at our Colonial Cousins it contains a range of words rarely heard outside Britain. I’m pleased to report that whinge, although rarely heard outside Britain is featured:

Definition – to complain fretfully: whine

Intransitive verb – British

Whinge and whine may look like simple variants, but the two words are fairly distinct, with meanings and histories that are independent. Whinge comes from an Old English word, hwinsian, meaning “to wail or moan discontentedly,” whereas whine comes from the Old English hwinan (“to make a humming or whirring sound”). Whinge, in use since the 12th century, has always had a meaning related to complaining; whine, on the other hand, did not begin to have its now-familiar meaning until the 16th century.

O it is a sweet thing ay to be whinging, and crying, and seeking about Christ’s Pantry Doors, and to hold ay an Eye upon Christ when he goes into the House of Wine, into His Fathers fair Luckie Wine-Celler where there are many Wines, and bout in at Christ’s back.
— Samuel Rutherford, Christs Napkin, 1660

Many who decided to miss celebrating our good fortune at living in a constitutional democracy by leaving the country, ended up waiting hours at the airport. Some slept on the concourse floor, so anxious were they to avoid missing their flight to a country where women’s rights are severely restricted, or a slight indiscretion might put you in jail awaiting trial without legal representation. Well, we all had a great time marking The Queen’s Platinum Anniversary: Trooping the Colour; a 70 aircraft fly past (it went over my house); street parties; rock stars and a pageant. Well, I hope your return was as equally traumatic, the result of greedy airline managers laying off their highly skilled staff.

According to Taxi Leaks, Sadiq Kahn again uses lies and fake statistics to increase the area of the ULEZ Zone, in the name of saving the planet.

This definitely isn’t about cleaner air, it’s solely about raising money for TfL, money that Khan has previously wasted on his personal vanity projects.

Khan is claiming that the air quality in outer London is so much worse than in central London, that he is going to have to extend the ULEZ zone to the M25.

The current air quality reading for central London using the Breezometer app states air quality at 2 on a scale of 1-10, which is classed as low.

In certain areas where traffic has been diverted into congested high streets, the figure is much higher, sometimes reaching 4-5 which is out of the yellow low pollution area, into the orange poor air quality range. The problem around Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (‘LTNs’) has been caused by Khan, local councils and residents inside the LTNs who want to see increases in the value of their properties. When you look at the huge amounts being raked in from fines issued to unsuspecting motorists, again not about cleaner air, all about money.

The current air quality for Belmont (Wealdstone) is 1, same reading (1), for Ruislip, Yeading, South Oxhey, Bushey and Southgate. All areas east from Tottenham to Ilford, all reading the same as Central London (2), making the need for an increase in the ULEZ area, completely unnecessary.

According to data from Inrix, drivers spend more time stuck on gridlocked streets in London than in any other city on the planet. Last year, motorists in the capital spent 148 hours each stuck in traffic, with the average cost of congestion at £980 per driver over the year.

Brexit, a pandemic, workers’ rights, the cost of a new electric vehicle, charging problems, congestion and ULEZ charges have all massively impacted on public hire drivers and now their prices are equal to, and sometimes, above that of a metered fare in a black cab.

Social media is awash with Uber supporters who used to wax lyrical about the ‘Wonderful Service’, and ‘Convenience’ are now complaining about the unavailability and high prices.

The irony is that it’s these same people who used to tell the world that their choice of transport was based on helping those less privileged, but now Uber’s prices have risen are all screaming, to be fair many of them are Millennials who have only ever known a time when a Prius was waiting to take them home at all hours for virtually no money, and they are struggling to comprehend why it’s changed.

Uber needs to recruit and get licensed, tens of thousands of new drivers prepared to work long hours for low pay. They also have to persuade recruits to undertake increased regulatory standards such as English language requirements, a topographical test, HMRC registration, a requirement to buy electric cars (which many PH drivers cannot home charge) and ULEZ. In short, it’s no longer cheap and easy to become a private hire driver.

It goes without saying that the last thing any of the big apps want is any more rules or requirements and are doing all they can to bring political pressure and gain support from politicians of all parties.

The Adam Smith Institute, an oh-so liberal free-market think tank, has published a report arguing for less regulation. Rather cleverly their press releases referenced ‘scrapping The Knowledge’ which secured them some great media coverage.

So if we take their hypothesis for replacing London Black Cab Drivers with numpties, we could employ long-distance lorry drivers as short-haul pilots (planes fly themselves don’t you know), and pharmacists could perform appendectomies, after all they know a thing or two about the human body.