Infrastructure sends politicians berserk. Propose more money for the health service or reopening youth clubs and frowns break out all round. Can we afford it? But shout infrastructure and cheers go up. The word suggests glamour, chest-beating and “growth”. Reason flies out of the window.

The saga of Heathrow’s third runway beggars belief. A foreign-owned private company wants to make more money out of its cramped west London investment. The airlines are sceptical and passengers will have to pay surcharges higher than any in Europe. Meanwhile fields lie empty round its rival, Gatwick, and capacity at London’s third airport, Stansted, is underused.

The third runway is a nightmare. The official price tag is now a staggering £49bn but the overall budget for Heathrow’s expansion and operating expenditure could soar beyond £100bn. An unknown proportion of this will fall on the taxpayer. The proposal has been debated for 20 years and the opening constantly postponed. A date of 2035 has now become 2039. I would not take bets on 2045.

Sixty years ago, the British government agreed it was totally inappropriate for crowded and polluted Heathrow to expand in densely populated west London. Nor could an expanded Gatwick meet demand. The debate was over where to........

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