MORE roundabouts to help elderly drivers? No, please no… I’ve never forgotten the nightmare of going round Scotch Corner while an elderly driver on the roundabout started reversing towards me, completely oblivious of me, other cars, blaring horns and the basic rules of roundabouts. Or common sense.

I managed to skip out of his way, a lorry driver blocked traffic behind us and finally, without even a wave of apology, the backwards driver crept down the slip road he’d presumably missed the first time round. So, no, more roundabouts aren’t going to help the job.

It’s one of the ideas of the Older Drivers’ Task Force. Their aim, with far more older drivers on the road for longer, is to make roads more “pensioner friendly”. In the next 20 years there could be 8.5 million drivers aged over 70. I sincerely hope to still be one of them.

One of their other suggestions is for segregated slip roads when joining motorways. Great idea. Not just because elderly drivers are often too hesitant but because too many drivers are too rude to pull over to let people in. The Task Force could look at signs too. Very confusing. The problem with many directional signs, especially in big cities, is that they are planned by people who know the way – unlike many of the people who’ll be using them, especially in the middle of four lanes of traffic at up to 70mph.

Every sign-planner should take a test run with a teenage daughter or an elderly dad, then they’d have a much better idea of exactly what signs were needed and where. The task force also wants all drivers over 60 to have eye tests. Quite right. I’ve been to too many inquests where an older driver’s bad eyesight has contributed to a death. We shouldn’t need a law for that. Any older driver with any sense of responsibility should be organising that themselves.

If you’re too smug or selfish to do so then frankly, you shouldn’t be on the road at all.

AS an 81st birthday present from her daughter Finty, Dame Judi Dench now sports her first ever tattoo. “Carpe diem” it says on her wrist. Well yes. No one can argue with the sentiment.

But wouldn’t it have been easier – not to say less painful – if Finty had just bought it for her mum emblazoned on a nice tea towel?

AH well. It was good while it lasted…. Being Welsh in the last few weeks has been even better than normal. For the first time in my life I’ve watched football matches. And for the first time in my life, thousands of people have been interested in Wales. It’s been wonderful.

Being Welsh, we know we come from God’s Own Country and that Welsh is the language of Heaven. But we still have to put up with a lot of stick from our English neighbours. After centuries of being mocked for our language, our accents and our love of toasted cheese and singing, it’s great to have had our glorious moment in the sun.

When I was in school, even our teachers – most of whom were Welsh speakers – used to try and make us flatten out our Welsh accents. They thought we’d get on better in the world if we sounded more English. No wonder we get chippy.

My pet grumble has always been the way educated English take great pains to pronounce French or Italian properly, but think it’s hilarious to get Welsh wrong. How rude is that? But this week the papers and websites were even full of phonetic versions of the Welsh national anthem so everyone could join in. Brilliant.

Anyway, the Welsh team didn’t just go further in the Euros than any other British team, they also made people take notice of a different way of doing things. A team that was really a team, whose fans behaved themselves and were actually praised by the French police instead of arrested or attacked with tear gas.

And, of course, the Welsh fans with their dragons and daffodils and leeks and proud red shirts out-sang everyone else in France. Some cliches are still true.

Well done Wales. Here’s to the next time…

EVEN in the rain on Wednesday afternoon the gardens at Thornton Hall near Darlington were stunning. Less than 20 years old, the gardens are interesting, immaculate and a mass of colour. They’re also open only eight days a year. Last two openings for 2016 are next Wednesday (July 13) and Sunday, July 17. Otherwise it’s a long wait until next year…

Brooklyn Beckham has just passed his driving test and has a £37,000 Mercedes to call his own. He’s also won a £100,000 modelling contract with the Chinese.

He’s no doubt a lovely lad. But it clearly helps in this world if you manage to pick the right parents.

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When he didn’t realise the cameras were rolling, veteran Tory Ken Clarke admitted that would-be leader Theresa May is “a bloody difficult woman.” What’s more, he clearly meant it as a compliment.

Excellent.

When times are tricky, who better to have in charge than a bloody difficult woman?