Nick Gibb may quibble – the schools minister was reported to have described attempts to develop classroom speaking as "encouraging idle chatter [pdf]" – but evidence of the link between oracy and higher attainment is firmly established.
Concerns that a citizen's income would encourage the idle to sit at home all day watching daytime TV do not appear to be supported by evidence from pilot schemes in other countries.
The walkways, rimmed with wild grasses planted by the Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf, who helped create the High Line in New York, encourage hours of idle wandering.
As you increase your ability to enforce these regulations, I call on you to encourage owners of idle structures to hire Gulf workers to remove them as soon as possible.
An article by Winnie Hu in this paper last month described what schools in the region are doing, like encouraging parents not to idle their cars in parking lots while waiting to pick up their children.
In recent years, US federal and state regulators have developed policies and programs designed to encourage tractor trailer drivers to reduce engine idling as a way to cut down on diesel emissions and fuel consumption.
"I go down every few months and visit them and encourage them, but I couldn't do that anymore," Mr. Idle said.
Some analysts worry that emissions standards would encourage companies to keep inventories low and to import more refined fuels, contributing to idle capacity in U.S. refineries.
