The soaring cost of petrol and diesel has made many of us take a fresh look at the relationship we have with our cars and perhaps that’s not a bad thing.

Given the cost of filling the tank, I’m certainly thinking twice before jumping in it, especially for short journeys.

But do we need more drastic action? I was intrigued to see a report from The International Energy Agency which has proposed a 10-point plan to reduce global demand for fuel by 2.7 million barrels a day.

Some of the suggestions I can really get behind, working from home three days a week, and using high-speed night trains instead of planes where possible. Although I would go a stage further and say use online conferencing instead of trains.

If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us it is business can continue without the need for meetings to always be in-person.

And yes, the suggestions to increase car sharing practices to reduce fuel use and make public transport cheaper are eminently sensible and something I can get behind.

I’d even go along with the idea of reducing the speed limit on motorways by six miles an hour, although I can’t see that one being particularly popular with all the BMW and Audi drivers (yes you, you know who you are).

But I do struggle with one of the more radical suggestions – banning driving cars in cities on Sundays. I really don’t see how that one is going to work without massive investment in cheap and reliable public transport and massive park-and-ride schemes.

But the fact remains, we do need to do something. Doing nothing is not an option.

On another topic, I don’t usually respond to comments about my columns for the simple reason that I firmly believe everyone is entitled to their opinion and it would be counter-productive for me to get into a row with someone who didn’t share my views.

But every now and then, I feel I have to correct the record when people make assumptions about me. I refer to the letter which accused me of failing to accept the ‘democratic result’ of the Brexit referendum, says I am politically left wing and queries who I will be voting for now Labour’s stance is to ‘make Brexit work’.

For the record, I am not – and never have been – a member of any political party. My voting record is between me and the ballot box but if you were to insist on my political stance, it is firmly centrist and how I have voted over the years has reflected this.

But here’s the problem, my political position hasn’t changed but as the Tories have lurched to the right ­– as evidenced by Boris Johnson’s purge of One Nation Conservatives – so my long-standing centrist position is now seen by some as being left wing.

In reality, what I really want from my politicians of any party is competence, truth, transparency, integrity, honesty, and I want to believe that however flawed they may be, no matter what their politics, they are doing what they genuinely believe is in the best interests of the country.

My centrist sensibilities tell me those qualities have been lacking over the past three or more years and given what has subsequently happened to Boris Johnson, it looks like the majority of Conservative MPs agree with me.

And so on to Brexit. We could get into the whole row about just how truly democratic the referendum was but we are where we are and I have to live with it.

I am a realist and what I hope for and what I expect to happen are two completely different things. So if leaving the European Union can truly be made to work for everyone, so be it.

But given there is very little evidence of a Brexit bonus either at a national or individual level, the question has to be asked just how long do we have to wait?

And finally, I noted with interest the Cheshire East Council report that footfall in Knutsford has fallen by five per cent while in ‘half-demolished’ Crewe it has increased by 32 per cent.

The somewhat surprising statistics were presented at the council’s economy and growth committee, prompting Cllr Andrew Kolker to question the reliability of the figures.

I find the use of the word footfall an interesting one because let’s face it, Knutsford isn’t the most user-friendly place for putting down your feet when you on dangerously narrow pavements and taking your life into hands are competing for space with all the flash cars.