Blair's government once again losing the plot...

[Provost Harrison]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4075490.stm

Oh deary me. Now the intend to fit our cars with little black boxes to be able to record where we are going and on what roads. Now public transport in this country is pretty crap on the whole, so now the government has devised another way to use this to extract more money from us (up to a rate of £1.20 a mile!!!) and penalises the poor. An utterly atrocious system - it is not like the already exorbitant price of petrol is put back into dealing with improving public transport! Another cash cow that will penalise those who can least afford it!

And then there is the whole infringement of civil liberties where they can monitor the speed you drive, where you are going and your travel habits. This in addition to the national identity card that they are trying to force on us. The ID card scheme will cost us many billions of pounds, I dread to think how much this folly would set us all back!

You know, I really wish I had voted against this government now if they are going to go for stupid ideas to rip people off like this. The worrying this is that the Tories will probably nod with this and agree with it like the other unpopular Labour policies such as the war in Iraq and ID card scheme! So much for this so called 'democracy'...

[MikeH]

"Now public transport in this country is pretty crap on the whole"

Not if you live in London (which you do) it isn't. It's absolutely excellent.

[chequita guevara]

Your government sucks.

[C0ckney]

wow a plan that is both iliberal AND robs people of their money, this is like a wet dream for new labour :/

[Provost Harrison]

Yeah Mike, I could just about avoid driving altogether although it costs several times more to catch a train to work than to drive, which is stupid!

Live in Hull, however, and you'll find that public transport is hopeless. There are only buses and on some routes there weren't buses before 9am for Christ's sake! What good is that in alleviating congestion? So naturally, everybody drives!

[Agathon]

lib dems anyone?

[MikeH]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Yeah Mike, I could just about avoid driving altogether although it costs several times more to catch a train to work than to drive, which is stupid!

It doesn't when you take into account depreciation, insurance, tax etc.

Private car ownership is evil.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by MikeH


It doesn't when you take into account depreciation, insurance, tax etc.

Private car ownership is evil.

And there is the issue of shopping and lugging larger amounts of things around, and as some of my business is not necessarily within Greater London is does start to get more difficult to access.

And then there is getting to Hull...one return journey alone can nearly cover a year's car tax!

[reds4ever]

Suffer evil motorist!!!

[Provost Harrison]

Oh another one of the non-car owning nuts. It's just envy, that's all

[chequita guevara]

I do not envy car owners. I prefer not to have a car, though I will likely be forced to get one.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by reds4ever
Suffer evil motorist!!!

Yeah it is a smart move to hunt down polluters

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Oh another one of the non-car owning nuts. It's just envy, that's all

The way I look at is that theis counrty needs 'x' amount a year to run, the more they can get off motorists towards that x, the less 'y' is going to be (y is my taxes)

[Adam Smith]

Variable per mile taxes help control both fuel use and congestion, so are a MUCH better idea than gas taxes. (Though UK should drop the gas tax by about half to offset the per mile tax.)

And props to "Red Ken" for his London congestion tax.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/04/AR2005060401388.html

We have the beginnings of some of these two taxes in the US, but need a lot more.

[Verres]

Originally posted by Agathon
lib dems anyone?

It's Britain. People are dumb. Many vote for New Labour because they think it's still left wing and they want to rebel against the 'stuffy' Tories and show they are different from their parents.

As the UK election thread showed, sadly people believe tactical voting is the only way to go. Apparently there are only 2 parties in the UK, voting in accordance with your beliefs is 'stupid'.

Still, I'm just smug because I disagreed with New Labour from the very beginning.