The Observer view on curbing air pollution | Observer editorial

The government has been dilatory in the extreme in dealing with one of the most pernicious health hazards afflicting this countryPollution has long blighted the air that we breathe. Complaints about fumes generated by coal-burning in London were recorded as early at the 13th century. The heavy smogs that descended on the capital in the 1950s killed thousands. Governments have long attempted to regulate the pollution of our cities: in 1273, authorities introduced a prohibition on burning coal in