Human nature abhors a vacuum cleaner. Or at least, when given the choice, it vastly prefers a bagless rotary cleaning device of the kind purveyed to 37 countries by Malmesbury’s own James Dyson. Yesterday the Bill Gates of dust management claimed to have conquered the US. He said his eponymous cleaners, the ones with see-through cylinders for owners who accept nothing less than visual confirmation of trapped dirt, had knocked Hoover into second place in terms of market share in the unending battle for mastery of America’s carpets. Hoover still sells more machines, but Dysons cost more and it seems that Americans are increasingly willing to pay for a design icon with domestic functionality.

Having cleaned up in America and Japan, it is now incumbent on the inventor to return to the mean streets of Britain and confront a new and arguably even more feckless foe.

For as Mr Dyson celebrated yesterday, Westminster City Council was hosting a formal conference on removing chewing gum from public places.

British authorities spend £150 million a year doing this, but still have not decided between melting, freeze-drying and blasting with high-pressure hoses as the best method. What about suction? Rumours reach The Times of ever-more-powerful impressive motors being built at Mr Dyson’s R&D facility in Wiltshire. The Wrigley gum company might even consider the idea of an investment. Its 2004 results have also been impressive, with global sales worth nearly £2 billion. Chewing gum is a stain on British society. Mr Dyson should aspire to making it safe for us all to walk the streets without coming to a sticky end.