Sadiq Khan is splashing out on a TfL fare freeze to buy voters’ favour – it looks like even that can’t convince civil servants to stop using their favourite form of transport: the humble taxi. A Freedom of Information request has revealed that the FCDO, in the last three years alone, has spaffed £5,495,000 of taxpayer cash on taxis. The £2.4 million spent by the department last year is a whopping 208% increase on 2021’s bill. Of that, £232,611 has been spent carting ministers around. It is a long trek from King Charles Street to the Red Lion…

Meanwhile PCS, the civil service union, has announced it will again ballot for strike action imminently, including in their demands “a significant shortening of the working week with no loss of pay.” Can their working week get much shorter?