Peter Rhodes on that second referendum, David Attenborough's footprint and Xmas presents for dogs and grandads

IT may be a little early for New Year's resolutions but here's a tip from an Essex fire fighter after rescuing 16 drivers and passengers from a causeway swamped by the tide: "Driving into floodwater and hoping for the best is not a sensible option."

THIS comes dangerously close to high treason but a Daily Mail reader says continent-trotting, plastic-hunting, global treasure David Attenborough must have created an enormous carbon footprint. I dare say he has. The crucial question is whether the good message he spreads outweighs all the fuel emissions he has caused. It may be kinder not to ask.

STILL on big footprints, I recall when David Miliband was Environment Secretary in 2006 he launched the "carbon calculator" to measure an individual's carbon footprint. He boasted that his own footprint of 2.76 tonnes was below the national average of four tonnes. Then he became Foreign Secretary and the subject was quietly dropped.

ON Channel 4's The Real Brexit Debate, the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas stressed how much she trusted the people. Although not enough, it seems, to let the people decide what questions her proposed second referendum might ask. That, she smiled firmly, was a matter for MPs. Like so many politicians, Lucas has her own take on Abraham Lincoln's famous definition of democracy: Government of the people, for the people, by Caroline.

IMAGINE what we might hear in the Brexit debates if someone slipped a truth drug into the House of Commons water supply. English MPs, who seem to be contractually obliged to pretend they cherish the Celtic fringe (even if the Celtic fringe seems to despise England) could speak their minds and we'd hear something like: "Look, I don't care about Scotland; they're conspiring to leave us anyway. Nor do I give a flying fig for Northern Ireland which has been nothing but trouble for the past 300 years. And I'm not mad about Wales, either. What? Have I said something wrong?"

BORIS Johnson's new haircut? That's the PM-in-waiting trim. See how sensible I can look with my golden locks tamed? Trust me in Downing Street. Oh, please, trust me . . .

AS the row over a "hugging culture" at the fashion chain Ted Baker under boss Ray Kelvin continues, his loyal former wife Georgia Stowe asks: "Has the whole world gone stark raving mad? Since when is hugging bad?" Simple. It is bad when someone in power is doing the hugging and someone without power objects but can do nothing. It is not about madness, it's about human dignity.

A SURVEY by Barclays suggests that in many homes the family dog gets more Christmas presents than Grandad. On the other hand, the family dog can do back-flips, beg for Smarties and fetch a stick. But the crucial difference between them is that after the Xmas meal, the dog does not break wind and blame Grandad.