A few years ago, the UK’s Department for Transport started a new campaign to silence pointless announcements on trains. It was almost the end of the Boris Johnson ministry, so the negative reactions wrote themselves: a floundering prime minister rushing out a silly-sounding initiative, seeking to micro-manage a trivial annoyance instead of tackling the big questions. Eye-catching rigmarole from a chaotic and rudderless government.
Many older voters were irresistibly reminded of the Cones Hotline, of blessed memory, which was set up by John Major to enable motorists to complain about unnecessary road furniture left over after roadworks. The Cones Hotline at least functioned for a while, whereas the so-called “bonfire of banalities” (a good slogan, sadly wasted) sank without trace.
