absolutely free of noxious emissions: nothing comes out of the motor except water vapour.

The £50,000 Honda - which will be derived from the FCX concept car they have previously exhibited - will be capable of up to 100mph and will travel almost 300 miles on a tank of hydrogen.

That should allow anybody in Tokyo or California to fill up easily but, in Britain, 300 miles is the approximate distance between the two filling stations presently pumping that gas.

As it was, therefore, with the bullet train (and, earlier, the autobahn or freeway), the hydrogen car will have arrived before Britain is remotely ready to benefit from it.

We favour the past, not the future - even if it's poisonous.