Jeremy Warner: Back to the future with auto industry rescues

Outlook In the TV series Life on Mars, the main character wakes up to find himself back in the 1970s. It only needs the Americans to rescue their automotive industry with government money, which is expected any day now, for this back-to-the-future world to have become a reality. For those of us brought up to believe state subsidy of industry anathema, it's a deeply dispiriting spectacle.