OUR civic team lead by example when it comes to sustainable transport.

Council overlord Steve Galloway zips about in his fuel-efficient Smart car (and, happily, qualifies for a ResPark discount as a result).

Lord Mayor Janet Looker never ducks the chance of cycling to an engagement.

And, the Diary learns, council transport supremo Ann Reid sails past the jams on her electric bike.

Our elected representatives can be a cruel lot, though. A recent meeting heard from a resident who made the point that many older and elderly people were now getting about on electric bikes.

At which, councillors all turned and pointed to our Ann...

MEANWHILE Bill Woolley has shaved off his moustache, we hear.

Is this clean-cut look designed to fit in with his elevated status as acting director of environment and development? Or is it a disguise to avoid residents distressed by the parking charges saga?

STILL on transport, a postcard arrives from J Matthews.

"Travelling to Knaresborough by Arriva train (yes I did see the sculpture, it was beautiful), a group of noisy young lads and a girl all sat with their filthy trainers on the opposite seats," writes J.

"I overheard a traveller ask the guard/ticket collector to request they remove their feet from the seats; if he did so they ignored him.

"I wish rail companies would do something about this. What if they had trodden in something nasty?"

IN the first full week of the school term, the Diary is concerned about the fate of a pioneering York educational enterprise.

Last May Jo Haywood interviewed Paul Baptie at length about his plan to open RealSchool in St Nicholas Fields Community Centre this month.

The evangelical teacher saw the institution as a place of "learning through excellence, love and happiness". But when the Diary tried to contact Mr Baptie to check out the RealSchool, we had no luck.

His website is still up and running, but his telephone number is unobtainable. Further inquiries suggest he has left York and his house is up for sale.

Mr Baptie, a former Green councillor who stood unsuccessfully for Labour at the last York council elections, had certainly embraced free market Blairism: his school was to charge £5,500 a year.

How could it have failed? Any more information welcomed.

A QUICK glance through the latest North Yorkshire Police accounts - essential summer reading for those in the know and free to boot - reveals a remarkable diversity of operation names.

From Operation Calamint to Wagon, via Oblong, Guinea and Hackbolt, our bobbies are blessed with colourful monikers for various drives against crime and disorder.

But Operation Edelweiss? We've no idea what happened, but the budget shows the eastern area operation cost £7,000 of tax payer's money. Perhaps there's a Swiss connection there somewhere.

Senior officers suggest that less than imaginative bobbies were banned from coming up with their own names after all operations were given dashing military titles such as Swordslash and Clampdown.

It's rumoured that they now have to phone a national number, where they are randomly given a name by a man with a large dictionary, a pin and a lot of time on his hands. It's only a matter of time before Operation Operation comes up.

JUNIOR Mastermind on the Beeb last week featured a precocious girl from London, who promptly informed host John Humphrys of her ambition to be Prime Minister.

During the general knowledge round she was asked "in which city will you find Jorvik and the National Railway Museum?" She didn't know.

Looks like our future PM is likely to be as well informed as the current one.

Chris Titley

Updated: 11:13 Monday, September 06, 2004