Automotive Journal

China is so desperate to look good in the eyes of the world with the Beijing Olympics that it's almost painful to see the PR problems being dealt with in a rather ham-fisted manner (why does the world not understand us?). After the clumsy spectacle of the Chinese secret service goons accompanying the Olympic torch and being outwitted by determined Tibet protesters, there's now the small matter of air quality in Beijing. 

Well, you wouldn't want to work your lungs hard through a smog of particulates would you?

I understand that some emergency measures are being contemplated to get some improvement before the Games commence, but there have now been enough media stories about poor air quality to engender unfavourable comparisons with the pea-soupers that gripped London in the 1950s before smoke-free zones came in.

Ironically though, if you go the Olympics, you may find yourself in a hybrid cab. Good stuff, bravo - every little helps. However, 'greenest ever' Olympics might be pushing it a bit if the athletes need lamps attached to their foreheads lest they get lost in the sooty fug.