Road pricing bill before Commons

[threaded]

If the roads are congested then build more or widen the existing ones. It ain't rocket science!

[BoredBloke]

The village isn't isolated at all. It is simply that the public transport on offer is not up to the job.

[DodgyAgent]

. I'm not telling anyone what to do. .

No ???? seems to me that unless we do as you tell us this is how we are branded!!

and I quote your words again:

I'm not really clear why 1.8m blinkered idiots going onto a website and clicking a button should have earned any sort right to force the other 60 million of us to put up with their noise, smell, speed, psychopathic behaviour, obesity and general destruction of the countryside and clogging of towns.

[wendigo100]

If I was you then I would find a different way, or I simply wouldn't take that contract, or I wouldn't live in an isolated village in the first place.

We believe in freedom in this country.

You are talking about nothing more than punishing people for exercising their freedom to use a car.

You can't even claim it interferes with your freedom either, you having such a utopian journey to work and all!

[OwlHoot]

How many more times?

Road pricing, HIPs (the energy certificate part), ID cards, DNA databases, etc, are all EU initiatives. That means the UK government, and us, have no say in the matter. It would make no difference if there were 60 million signatories!

Any time the government persist, with lunatic obstinacy, in some unpopular and probably hugely expensive policy (which even they may have qualms about) you can be absolutely sure the EU is behind it, and it will go ahead come what may.

Oops, silly me - I forgot the EU landfill directive (which is the reason for all this fortnightly rubbish collection and rubbish tax bollox). You could probably add dozens more daft, unworkable projects to the list.

What beats me is why they are making such a ridiculous fuss about landfill when the rubbish could all be packed in decommissioned oil tankers and shipped to China for disposal. The Chinese would love it, as soil erosion over the centuries means their major rivers are now practically standing up on stilts.

[dang65]

No ???? seems to me that unless we do as you tell us this is how we are branded!!

and I quote your words again:

"I'm not really clear why 1.8m blinkered idiots going onto a website and clicking a button should have earned any sort right to force the other 60 million of us to put up with their noise, smell, speed, psychopathic behaviour, obesity and general destruction of the countryside and clogging of towns."

Er, how is that me telling you what to do? The original reason I posted on this thread was because people were suggesting that the government should be dictated to by 1.8m people's views when there are actually 60m people in the country.

[Ardesco]

Er, how is that me telling you what to do? The original reason I posted on this thread was because people were suggesting that the government should be dictated to by 1.8m people's views when there are actually 60m people in the country.

If 1.8 million people actually got of thier arse to sign a petition is is a pretty good indication that the whole idea is stupid and there should be a referendum. Do you really think that all 60million people in this country have:

• Internet Access
• Knew about the poll
• Did not ignore the poll because they knew the government would too and didn't see the point in adding thier name to it even though they don't agree with it
• Could work out how to vote (There are still a huge amount of IT illiterate people in this country)
• Could actually be bothered

There wasn't a Poll signed by more than 1.8 million people saying that the scheme should go ahead, surely this means that all 60Million people in the country are against the scheme....

The only democratic way to deal with this issue is put a vote out and let everybody in the country vote yes or no. but then that's not going to happen because Liebour don't want the public to have a say in how thier stupid little social experiment is run do they....

[swamp]

If 1.8 million people actually got of thier arse to sign a petition is is a pretty good indication that the whole idea is stupid and there should be a referendum. Do you really think that all 60million people in this country have:

• Internet Access
• Knew about the poll
• Did not ignore the poll because they knew the government would too and didn't see the point in adding thier name to it even though they don't agree with it
• Could work out how to vote (There are still a huge amount of IT illiterate people in this country)
• Could actually be bothered

There wasn't a Poll signed by more than 1.8 million people saying that the scheme should go ahead, surely this means that all 60Million people in the country are against the scheme....

The only democratic way to deal with this issue is put a vote out and let everybody in the country vote yes or no. but then that's not going to happen because Liebour don't want the public to have a say in how thier stupid little social experiment is run do they....

Referendums are not really very democratic. People follow the herd and are often motivated by giving the authorities a bloody nose.

Look what happened to Iran when they voted out the Shah.

Anyway just because nobody want it, it doesn't mean it's a bad idea. The seatbelt law wasn't popular either...

[dang65]

If 1.8 million people actually got off their arse to sign a petition it is a pretty good indication that the whole idea is stupid and there should be a referendum.

1.8m people clicked a button on a website. That's less than 3% of the population that could even be bothered to move their mouse a few centimetres. It's less people than actually did get off their arses to physically take part in the huge anti-war demonstrations prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

I think you might be slightly overestimating the number of people who give a flying f**k whether the rich get charged a load of extra money for clogging up the public highway day after day.

[dang65]

We believe in freedom in this country.

You are talking about nothing more than punishing people for exercising their freedom to use a car.

You can't even claim it interferes with your freedom either, you having such a utopian journey to work and all!

People are free to live in big houses if they have the money. They get a much bigger council tax bill if they do so though. People are free to have a heated swimming pool in their garden. But their water rates go up. They aren't being "punished" for having a big house or a heated swimming pool. They're being made to pay a fair contribution to reflect their use of resources.

Choose what you want. As you say, you have the freedom to do so. (As long as you have the money.)