Gordon Brown, the man who has forgotten that he is a Fifer, last week doubled the air passenger duty as an "environmental" measure. Maybe I am just thick, but I just don't see how this will help save the planet. It is just yet another not so stealthy task, so that he does not have to raise income tax, which he knows is a vote loser. Using the environment as an excuse at this point in time is an easy option, as so many people are falling for the climate change hoodwinking.
Doubling the rate of tax on flights is not going to help the environment, because he has set it at a level where it is not quite enough to put many people off flying, although there will no doubt be some people who stretched themselves before who will be unable to fly as much now. So, we may end up with the crazy situation of planes flying with less passengers, therefore making them less fuel-efficient (passengers carried per gallon of fuel). Unless the money from APD is ring-fenced for some new trees or cleaning up rivers (aye right) then I will just not swallow the line that this is for the environment.
From a personal point of view, this APD thing stinks because he has based it on when you fly, and not when you booked. I have had flights booked to fly to the US for seven months now, yet I will have to pay this tax. The airlines are currently saying that this situation could mean that people who have pre-booked like me will have to pay the extra tax when we arrive at the airport, and since check-in staff cannot accept money, then we will have to pay by credit card at the check-in desk (£160 in my case, bollox). What on earth is that going to do to the already nightmarish British airport queues and experience? You couldn't make it up!!
Tuesday 12 December 2006
Thursday 7 December 2006
Wow, a second Moan
Seems the biggest issue today was the environment, and the way that it is to be fixed is to tax motorists until they cannot afford to use their cars any more.
Great idea, until you realise that there is absolutely no public transport structure that could handle all the people who would have to give up their cars if the squeeze got too much,
My sister lives three miles from us, and looks after our children before and after school. The public transport system is so bad that two buses are required to come the "three miles", actually taking in total about six to eight miles. And one day last week, one of the buses just didn't turn up.
So we don't rely on that system. I have to go and get her every day to ensure that she can get here in time so that wifie and i can get to work. So, i say bollox to driving us out of our cars. It is fine for Tavish Scott, the Scottish Transport Minister to say that we need to get people out of their cars by adding more speed cameras to get them to slow down, which was the latest proposal in the tabloids today. Means that his big ministerial Volvo will have much more space on the road and get to where he needs to get to much quicker, while the rest of us taxpayers, i.e. his employers, are left to squeeze onto crowded buses and trains if they turn up, and fight for spaces at railway stations to park our cars because there is no decent integrated bus/train network to replace driving to the station, and train stations just don't have the space (wow, that was a big sentence!!). Again, great planning. Lets force everyone to use a system that is already at breaking point!!!!
Don't really want to get started on the old environment front anyway, will save that for a rainy day(!).
I think we will see more on the environment/transport thing over the coming weeks so no doubt I will be able to rant some more about this.
Mind how you go.
Great idea, until you realise that there is absolutely no public transport structure that could handle all the people who would have to give up their cars if the squeeze got too much,
My sister lives three miles from us, and looks after our children before and after school. The public transport system is so bad that two buses are required to come the "three miles", actually taking in total about six to eight miles. And one day last week, one of the buses just didn't turn up.
So we don't rely on that system. I have to go and get her every day to ensure that she can get here in time so that wifie and i can get to work. So, i say bollox to driving us out of our cars. It is fine for Tavish Scott, the Scottish Transport Minister to say that we need to get people out of their cars by adding more speed cameras to get them to slow down, which was the latest proposal in the tabloids today. Means that his big ministerial Volvo will have much more space on the road and get to where he needs to get to much quicker, while the rest of us taxpayers, i.e. his employers, are left to squeeze onto crowded buses and trains if they turn up, and fight for spaces at railway stations to park our cars because there is no decent integrated bus/train network to replace driving to the station, and train stations just don't have the space (wow, that was a big sentence!!). Again, great planning. Lets force everyone to use a system that is already at breaking point!!!!
Don't really want to get started on the old environment front anyway, will save that for a rainy day(!).
I think we will see more on the environment/transport thing over the coming weeks so no doubt I will be able to rant some more about this.
Mind how you go.
Wednesday 6 December 2006
My first moan
The good thing about blogging and the internet is it allows self-righteous opinionated people like me have a voice and a place to vent our spleens. No one may ever read this, but we can fool ourselves each day that we are being read by thousands of people and our words are enriching their lives.
More than likely, someone may actually see this as it is my first post, and Blogger may stick it somewhere for that very reason. So if so, and that is why you are here, then welcome and thank you very much.
Todays rant is about the selling of UK companies to foreign companies. Scottish Power may be sold to a Spanish company this week, meaning that we will pretty much be at the mercy of the Spanish for electric power in Scotland, and at the mercy of the Russians for our gas. Woo Hoo, lets hope there is never another European war, because we are toast, or we would be if we had anything to make toast with at that point.
Not only that but we sold our airport authority to another Spanish company Ferrovial. So we are not allowed to take a bottle of coke onto a plane, but we can let a company from another country run our airport security operations. Hmm, seems like nae common sense to me!
More than likely, someone may actually see this as it is my first post, and Blogger may stick it somewhere for that very reason. So if so, and that is why you are here, then welcome and thank you very much.
Todays rant is about the selling of UK companies to foreign companies. Scottish Power may be sold to a Spanish company this week, meaning that we will pretty much be at the mercy of the Spanish for electric power in Scotland, and at the mercy of the Russians for our gas. Woo Hoo, lets hope there is never another European war, because we are toast, or we would be if we had anything to make toast with at that point.
Not only that but we sold our airport authority to another Spanish company Ferrovial. So we are not allowed to take a bottle of coke onto a plane, but we can let a company from another country run our airport security operations. Hmm, seems like nae common sense to me!
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