Transforming the nation was the then Prime Minister John Major’s launch cry

“Transforming the nation,” was the then Prime Minister, John Major’s, launch cry.Within a year, the lottery had become part of the national fabric: pounds 5bn poured into its coffers in the first 12 months from the sales of low-tech tickets and scratch cards, pounds 30m a week was distributed in grants, 150 millionaires were created. A survey commissioned six months after the lottery began revealed that planning how to spend your winnings had become the nation’s favourite way of passing the time.Certainly, lottery fixation became newspaper editors’ favourite way of filling pages. It is hard to imagine now what life was like before all public spending was financed by lottery, but back then (in the days when Dame Margaret of Blackpool North Pier was known simply as Mystic Meg) the idea was that the profits should top up, rather than fill, the public purse. “At the very least,” he said, “I’m hoping to cover the wife’s mobile phone bill.”By coincidence, Royalott was launched on the 21st anniversary of the start of the first National Lottery.

“If they’re paying for us, it’s proof they want us,” he said. “How much more democratic can you get?”The King added that he was anticipating profits in the region of 20m ecus a year, which, in addition to corporate sponsorship and the cash- for-honours system, should meet the financial needs of the Royal Household well into the next decade. Not only is the prize money in the Government’s higher band, but players will know that by purchasing a ticket they will be helping to stage all those smashing formal occasions which we used to know and love before the civil list was abolished.”Half of the money raised would go towards royal expenses, he added, so players would be directly supporting the work of the monarchy. “The 14th of November 2015 will go down as the day the monarchy finally became publicly accountable.”

The King was speaking from Labatt’s Buckingham Palace, at the launch of Royalott (“Your chance to live like a King”), the hundredth lottery to be launched this year.
“I know there are plenty of other lotteries out there,” said the King, “but we feel ours is a wee bit special. “Today is a historic occasion,” said King William, clicking the mouse on his computer which dispatched a personal e-mail message to the worldwide Net.

Threats had previously been made against road protesters living in tree houses at the camp established there last month.. The incendiary attack took place on Sunday morning as Jeremy Middleton, 34, his pregnant girlfriend, Amanda Rothwell, 25, and their six-year-old son slept in their bus in a lay-by at Reddings Copse, a small woodland on the route of the planned A34 bypass. They have been bailed and are due to appear before magistrates in Newbury on 12 December. Two men were charged yesterday with arson offences in connection with the firebombing of a bus used as a home by road protesters in Newbury, Berkshire. Little assessment of the environmental damage of road schemes is currently taken account of in the cost-benefit analysis, which environmentalists have argued skews the equation in favour of building schemes.Stephen Joseph, of Transport 2000, the group supporting public transport, said the timing of the research was interesting: “The Government is just about to make massive cuts in the roads programme and these sort of calculations will make roadbuilding look even less attractive from an economic point of view.”.

Annual average levels in the United Kingdom are of 20-30 micrograms per cubic metre in large urban areas.Other factors which it might be possible to assess range from global warming and use of land for roadbuilding to potential risks of oil spillage, aesthetic damage to landscape and even the killing of wild animals.Sir George endorsed the approach of the work but said he could not, as yet, agree with the precise amounts ascribed to particular aspects of damage. This is worked out from calculations of house prices on noisy streets compared with those on quiet streets nearby, which have suggested that there might be a 0.74 per cent fall in price per decibel increase in noise. Estate agents already use a rule-of-thumb system in subtracting a percentage of their price estimate for homes on busy roads.The use of such information could have a substantial impact on road schemes, and might make the difference between schemes proceeding or being scrapped.Another survey suggests that a reduction in particulates, the tiny specks of dust emitted by engines, especially diesels, by one microgram per cubic metre should be costed at between pounds 5.75 and pounds 17.25 per year. Previously, the department has shied away from such work knowing that it would be a major weapon for opponents of road schemes at public inquiries.In a review of existing work in this field, the department found that some values had already been suggested for certain aspects of pollution.For example, researchers suggested that an extra decibel of noise in a year should be costed at between pounds 5.50 and pounds 10 per year. The study will try to calculate, for example, what an extra decibel of noise or a measurable increase in air pollution is worth. CHRISTIAN WOLMAR

Transport Correspondent
What is the value of fresh air or the price of peace and quiet? For the first time, research is being undertaken to try to assess the value of the elusive concept of quality of life.Until now, no attempt has been made to assess the value of the environmental impact of transport but yesterday the Secretary of State for Transport, Sir George Young, launched research to try for the first time to put a precise price on environmental damage as it affects people near road schemes.