How miraculous. Britain is full of people with devastating afflictions, with millions apparently unable to walk a few yards from the nearest car park. And yet these mysterious disabling conditions rarely seem to affect people’s ability to drive a car. Put them behind the wheel and they are transformed as if the Messiah had just waved His hand and raised them from the ground. They can manage just like the rest of us.

The alternative interpretation to the news that 3.07 million Britons are now in possession of a blue badge – around 5.2 per cent of the population and an increase of 8 per cent over the past year alone – is that this is yet one more facility which has become a symbol for Britain’s booming shyster culture. Could it possibly be that a good number of these badges have been obtained by people who are suffering from little more than laziness or an aversion to........

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