Seeing Red

Well, today I am going to have a rant for a change.  Yes, I am behind the petrol price protestors and hope they go ahead.  Yes, it will cause disruption but how much longer are we going to sit back and do nothing?  Other countries vent their feelings and let their governments know their views.  We seem to sit back and take everything. If petrol prices continue to rise, hauliers will charge more, food prices will rise, all prices will rise because of the knock-on effect.

For years we have been ripped off over prices.  We pay more here for our cars, we pay more here for a cd, televisions, all white goods, we pay more here for just about everything! Gas and electric prices continue to rise, community charge spirals ever upwards (for our American friends community charge is the tax we pay on our homes, it used to be called "rates").  Just last week a 71 year old man was sent to prison because he did not pay his community charge.  He rightly said he could not afford it on his pension.  There are thousands in his position but no concession is made for people who are old and retired. If they change the banding system for community charge as is being talked about, the prices will go even higher. Wages and pensions do not keep pace. Money is not like a piece of elastic that you can keep stretching, it only goes so far.

We pay high road tax and car tax and the highest petrol tax of any other country.

For the benefit of our American friends.  In our money, you pay 37 pence per litre for your gas and 7.4 percent of that is tax.  Over here we pay 95.5 pence per litre for petrol, as we call it,  and 61.1 percent is tax!

There are many who have had enough and are planning action this week unless the Government steps in and does something.  Knowing this Government, that is unlikely. I say good luck to them.

As for Tony Blair, when is he going to stop jetting off around the world to one destination after another and tackle the problems in this country.  Is he just biding time until he steps down because he really does not have a clue what to do about things here?

Our roads arecongested and the answer seems to be to build evermore roads which they intend eventually to charge us to use.  What countryside we have is fast disappearing.  Well, I have an answer that would cut congestion, cut pollution, cut the number of accidents at a stroke but, of course, it would be very unpopular.  My idea?  To change the age at which a person can drive a car from 17 to 21 and to limit each household to two cars. That would do far more good than building endless roads.  In my own street, we have a family of five and each of them has their own transport. As there is not sufficient parking space at the front of their property they often leave vehicles in the road, quite often blocking access to our own driveway (we have one small car that Mike only uses when he has to). As three of them work really locally, there is absolutely no need to drive to their employment.  We have a good bus service that runs at the end of our road and a railway station close by. This is not a unique situation, we see it all over the local area where the front of multi-car owners houses look more like garages and I am sure it goes for the whole country.

I appreciate that people who live in isolated communities with little access to public transport have to have cars.  It is not them I am writing about.  This does not apply to the majority of people.  And, more money needs to go into improving our public transport system instead of into the hands of share-holders!

My idea would never be adopted  though because people would be screaming about their rights.  These are the same people that moan about traffic jams, the change in climate etc. etc. but they cannot see that they are contributing.

Britain is still a good place to live but it is about time we stood together and said enough is enough, protest as strongly as we can and try to get something done.  Nothing was ever achieved by saying and doing nothing.

Well, I have had my little rant and I do not intend to make this journal political, just wanted to get it off my chest.

Now for a nice cup of tea.