The ubiquitous mobile phone came in for a hammering from a remote but influential outpost this week. The essential accessory in today's business world is a more common sight in the hand of a driver than a cigarette, despite the obvious perils involved.

From now on, however, using a mobile while driving in the town will land motorists with a fine of $100 plus court costs of $45 (€142.45 in total) in Brooklyn, Ohio. The move was made by a council headed by Mayor John Coyne (82), who can remember when people survived without either cars or telephones, never mind both. But why worry about a small town ordnance by what is little more than a suburb of Cleveland with a population of 11,000? No reason . . . except that, in 1966, it was this same Brooklyn that passed the first law requiring the use of seat belts, now rigidly enforced almost worldwide. Who knows where this latest initiative will end?