Why The Salt Saga Drives Me Crazy

摘要

Local government is always keen to increase its profile in the national media. So February must count as a bumper month. The Local Government Association was never off the TV and radio, although I'm not sure how its new chief executive, John Ransford, felt about being in the spotlight on that less-than-glamorous topic of salt. Discussing the minutiae of the 'salt stocks audit' or the formation of the 'Salt cell' group was never likely to be rivetting. But then gritting salt became a media obsession, and for a very good reason. Without it, we discovered, heavy snowfalls could stop Britain moving. One of the positive things about the great salt debate was that it made so many people realise how important mobility is. Not being able to drive to work or drop the kids off at school was rightly seen as a serious problem and a political priority. London mayor Boris Johnson's generous 'stay-at-home' day for Londoners might have seemed like fun for 24 hours, but most of us found snowmen and bobsleighs no substitute for getting on with grown-up life and getting to work.