OK, maybe we should try to shorten our commutes but in practice it is hard to do so, particularly for dual-income families with jobs in different places.But if good decisions about infrastructure greatly benefit a society, bad ones impose a huge burden Often we don’t see that burden. The cost of Britain’s nuclear power programme was carried in the form of higher bills for millions of consumers. But just because we could not see the few pounds a month that we were missing that does not mean that we did not have to pay.I saw a suggestion that it would not really make much of a difference to electricity bills if wind farms only accounted for 15 per cent of production. But that is a truly stupid way of approaching big investment decisions Every investment matters. There is no pot of gold, no automatic right to a higher standard of living In the past we have been able to get away with some waste We could rely on growth to pull us through. But increasingly as the populations of developed countries get older this is no longer so.

Make bad decisions and you don’t get richer a bit more slowly; you get poorer. One of the reasons, of course not the only one, why Japanese living standards have hardly risen for a decade is that the country is making such bad investment decisions.So we have to hold the Government’s feet to the fire. Does it really, really want to go down as having wasted billions of other people’s money? Sure, the ministers will be retired when we know for sure whether they had been wise or foolish – or in the Lords if they kept their noses clean. But governments should care about their reputation and we should remember their judgements.Meanwhile we should praise them when they decide to invest in wise projects, like CrossRail. And we should kick them when they invest in potty ones, like wind farms
More from Hamish McRae. I wrote a piece not long ago about the kind of stray people you get calling at your door in the country Not in the city.

I lived in London for 20 years and the only people who ever rang my doorbell were those I was expecting or who had pressed the wrong doorbell. But in the supposedly deserted countryside I get a constant stream of pedlars, Jehovah’s Witnesses, frozen fish salesmen, tree surgeons etc etc, all with their well-honed spiel.
Well, it breaks up the day and gives me a chance to practise my debating skills (“Would you like to come in and see the world’s largest collection of unused gardening gloves and ironing board covers?” usually deters all but the most persistent pedlar), but it is clearly not the sort of thing that appeals to Mr Walker of Chester. I know this, because Mr Walker of Chester wrote to me and said that there was an ideal way of deterring callers and that was to place a notice at one’s gate saying:”A POLITE REQUESTThank you for calling but we do not want:- double glazing- replacement windows- kitchens- insurance of any kind- religious instruction- or any other kind of goods for sale.Please don’t knock or ring the bell.”Mr Walker says that it works, except with those who can’t read, and I am sure it does. The only reason I don’t rush out and put such a notice on my gate – apart from not wanting to reinforce my neighours’ view of me as a misanthrope – is that most of the people who offer me things such as redesigned kitchens and windows and time shares and investment advice, do not knock at my door. They ring my telephone or send me junk mail.The telephoners I can almost always identify because of their habit of asking if I am Mr Maynard.

I am not Mr Maynard, but my wife’s first husband was called Maynard, and she still uses that name professionally, and people assume that the name Maynard must belong to a man. So when they ring up and ask for Mr Maynard, there takes place the following exchange:”Mr Maynard?”"You want to speak to my wife’s first husband? I’m afraid he doesn’t live here, but I’ll gladly give you his number.”That shuts up all but the most thick-skinned, who do occasionally take his number. I have never found out if they actually ring him, but I wouldn’t be surprised.But what I really need is a handy answer to all the letters I get that offer me unwanted services, bargains, holidays etc This is not a new problem. I remember reading about some once-famous writer who was, for some reason, always getting long, involved letters from students in India, to whom he would always answer politely that they would be far better off writing to Edith Sitwell, and helpfully gave them her address.None of the junk letters I get is even as interesting as that. On the other hand, I do sometimes feel a bit cavalier in throwing them away unacknowledged And I think Mr Walker has unwittingly provided the answer.