Forgive me if you’ve never experienced the delights of Uber, but this little app has changed my life. Once I thought of taxis as expensive, only to be taken to the airport for early flights. Now I take them everywhere.

Why? Through Uber, taxis are cheap, certainly compared to black cabs. And rather than arrange a minicab in advance, I can book an Uber last minute with a few clicks on my mobile. It’s paid for automatically by credit card, there’s no need to risk a night bus , and you often get excellent conversation. I was once driven home by a Kosovan who had been stranded in London while on holiday as the Kosovo war broke out; he never left. We set the world to rights and I arrived home safely for under a tenner.