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It never fails to amaze me how governments, of whatever political persuasion, live in an unreal world.
Do the policy makers live with their heads permanently buried in the sand or where the sun simply doesn't shine?
Whether it's health care reform, encouraging all primary school children to have read one Charles Dickens book or plug-in car grants, the proposals put forward or enacted are invariably impractical, costly or plain hare-brained.
Take plug-in car grants. The CO2 based vehicle tax regime is undoubtedly one approach the Government has got right, as is its technology-neutral approach to reducing vehicle emissions.
However, the plug-in car grant can hardly have been described as a hit. At the end of last year 1,052 vehicles eligible for the grant were registered according to the SMMT, while bizarrely only 892 claims for the plug-in grant, entitling owners up to 25 per cent off the total car cost or a maximum £5,000 contribution, had been submitted. This figure is surprising to say the least.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out that 892 successful plug-in car grant claims in year one is hardly a decent return on investment.
Indeed, it would be good for some Whitehall watchdog to investigate precisely how much this PR stunt, before it backfired, has cost the UK taxpayer. Whatever the final figure, I'm sure voters would be none too impressed.
And if you look at what's on offer, they will be even less bowled over. Currently, any vehicle with CO2 emissions of 75g/km or less, whether it's electric, a plug-in hybrid or hydrogen-fuelled, qualifies for the grant. The eligible list has, hold your breath, increased from nine to ten vehicles for 2012.
The plug-in grant choice list is hardly extensive and, of the five so far on sale in the UK, the standout car is the 2011 European Car of the Year, the Nissan Leaf.
But however good a car to drive, it still seems to worry testers when it comes to reaching their destination.
Range, or lack of it, continues to be the Achilles heel of all electric vehicles. Despite EV recharging points having more than doubled in the last six months, the fact remains that the availability of over 2,500 points is hardly going to make the worries go away until technology comes up with a cost-effective solution to double current ranges.
And when you look at the fact that the Government has only installed 765 EV recharging points out of the total available, one has to ask what it is up to in not paving the way for a national EV recharging infrastructure.
The plugged-in places programme appears even less successful than its plug-in car grant at 765 vs. 892. As for a national charge point register, that has to still to make a long overdue appearance. At least Nissan Leaf owners can breathe easy, as their satnavs, direct them to the nearest EV charging point before expiry.
Once more I keep banging on about the lack of joined-up thinking. At least former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott recognised the need for an integrated transport policy.
We're still waiting for one and the plug-in car grant and plugged-in places programme, reliant once more on private initiative and investment, is yet another example of a cobbled together approach.
And don't imagine for one minute that the hike in eligible grant for vans, from £5,000 to £8,000, will turn the plug-in grant idea into an overnight sensation.
Any increase in contribution to whole life costs is to be welcomed, especially by van operators, but realistically will they go for a package with a limited 'drop-off' range?
It seems to me that the majority of the £300m set aside for plug-in grants to the end of 2015 will be welcomed by future governments as they countenance tackling the £200bn bill they face by the 'spend now, pay later' culture!
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