Scientists in California say they are on the verge of developing a device that reads minds.
Can you imagine being wired up to a machine on the dash giving you a picture of what other drivers are thinking?

Are there those who really believe they will fall off the edge of the world if they move out of the middle lane?
Imagine knowing instinctively that the regional toilet paper salesman of the year is about to overtake you on the inside. Or which of the next three turnings the taxi in front will choose without indicating.
And what is that beige man in the Micra at the mini roundabout thinking? Oh dear the screen’s gone blank.
Man’s inventiveness has set him aside from lesser monkeys since the day homo erectus picked up a dry bone and saw in it an cleverly designed kitchen implement or piece of bijou neck jewellery.
Currently in the motoring world that inventiveness is focused on the hydrogen fuel cell, an industry grail more holy than St Christopher’s sandals.
Even Her Majesty’s Morgan Motor Company has introduced the 85mph LIFECar fuel cell concept at Geneva. With the traditional whittled ash chassis.
the car that will combine advanced woodworking skills with nuclear physics.
Next, a space shuttle made from die-cast candle wax.
One day somebody will crack the code, be it hydrogen or another technology, and find a power source that gives spotlessly clean performance.
Until then it lies with the same old same old, including diesel saloons like the Mercedes C200 CDi Sport, to beat Alistair Darling’s tax nobody understands. while retaining space and comfort. Or does it?
You see on the face of things the 2.2 litre turbo diesel, albeit with a somewhat relaxed 0-60 time of 10 seconds, dodges darling Darling’s VED hike by weighing in bang on the 160gms/km threshold. That, however, is for the six-speed manual when what you really want is the more econmical, quicker, five-speed automatic paddle shift version. And that, sorry to say, has a figure of 177gms/km.
But no matter, the charges are not over big at this level and don’t come in until 2009. By which time chancellor Lovejoy may well have lost the computer disc holding his calculations.
Clearly, as the figures show, the 200 Sport is not likely to interfere with results from the Cerne accelerator. But then this is not what the CDi owner is buying into.
The Sport is an economical way to make reasonable forward progress without sacrificing life’s luxuries. Any of then to judge by a standard equipment list with 89 features.
Okay, so this is stretching things to include the front air intake and honestly, this really is listed, door handles but it also includes simple but bright ideas like heated windscreen nozzles, an AUX- IN socket in the glove box and, oh joy of joys, bag hooks in the boot. Look, I know it’s sad but milk, wine, cheese and fish all over the place really spoils a trip to the shops.
That means all the high-grade features you expect for £27,000 are already fitted, like sat-nav, all current safety programmes, electric trickery for windows, seats and mirrors and climate control. An auto gearbox costs a grand extra. Happily this addition pushes the combined consumption figure to almost 50mpg.
On the road unflustered handling and suspension that smooths out the rough, has you arriving without developing Albert Einstein’s hair. Which adds to the visual impact of stunning AMG design.
Complaints? Well Merecedes still lags behind Audi in cabin quality and ergoniomics but overall the reputation for cossetted luxury is unharmed.
There you have it smooth, comfortable economy and loads of equipment. In fact all that’s missing is one of those mind reading machines. Then you might be able to tell what goes on in a chancellor’s head.

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