Work to widen a 2km stretch of the M1 to four lanes between J31-J32 began today. The contractors are Jacksons Civil Engineering. Work is likely to last for a year. There are other plans which would mean widening the motorway all the way from Luton to Leeds. (Work on a stretch around Nottingham is due to start in the summer).

Why is the government wasting millions of pounds on a road which will help to generate traffic, at a time when we are staring into the abyss of runaway climate change and peak oil?