Flying carpet is not only a tale

The welcome news from Professor Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan of Harvard University that flying carpets could one day become a reality is not a wholly unalloyed source of joy.
Delightful though it would be to emulate Sabu in the Thief of Baghdad and take a trip on one's very own rug, life is never that simple.
For, as we report today, plans are afoot to "get tough" with motorists who make mobile telephone calls or programme their satnavs while driving their cars.

Such behaviour is, naturally, to be deplored; evidence is plentiful that such driver distraction is dangerous.
Yet we cannot help fearing that, if carpets are the cars of the future, the thrill of the journey would be diluted by the need for seat-belts, airbags and crash helmets - and how would we find our way without matnav?

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