On the day we discover how empty the public purse really is, Boris Johnson – somehow elected as Mayor of London – unveils his new shiny.



A "Routemaster" in name only it will move fewer people than the buses it will replace; has no rear window to check what the bus following is for when you need to change routes; has no front seats upstairs – thus missing the whole point of a double decker – and is longer and wider than the original so won't deal with City streets and junctions so well (which was, indeed, the whole reason for the design features of the original Routemaster).

It is also massively more expensive than the alternatives at £300,000 per bus after the initial development costs of £1,200,000 per bus for the first five.