Reply to: Victory for the Road Charging Petitioners

[hattra]

anyone remembers the Poll Tax??

Yup - we lived in Wandsworth - £146 a head - then the Government gave everyone a £150 a head rebate

I'm still waiting for my £4

[SandyDown]

There is absolutely no way this is going to be stopped.

anyone remembers the Poll Tax??

[milanbenes]

this is the best...


'Senior ministers have vented their anger at Downing Street for allowing petitions on its website.

One high-ranking member of the Government said the idea had been dreamt up by a "prat" and was proving to be a public relations disaster. ',


http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23385292-details/Ministers%20rage%20at%20'the%20prat'%20behind%20No %2010's%20Net%20petitions/article.do





fair play though, this is democracy in action

how many other regimes in the world offer such a platform for open feedback into the heart of the government ?

Milan.

[Lucy]

There is absolutely no way this is going to be stopped.

I have inside info.

The BBC reporting about this is total rubbish, they don't know what they are talking about. The technology is sorted and the date is not 2012 !

[stackpole]

Democracy in action!

Just heard on the radio that Tony Blair said as a result of the Road Charging Petition on the No 10 website he will write to every petitioner and explain why it is necessary to have road chargers,

Hmm. What do you think tony is going to say?

He is just going to spam a million people, and tell them that they are all wrong and he is going to ignore them.

Can't see any victory there, Paddy. Can't see much democracy in action either.

[Swamp Thing]

See this is democracy in action.

Petitions. Letters. It's fantastic just to think what a difference we all can make to a listening, responsive, caring government.

Yes, this is spot on. Let’s not forget everyone, we are not voters, we are increasingly rebranded ‘customers’. As ‘customers’ we are normally right, our views get taken on board. Yet the ‘Dear Customer’ letter every petitioner will get will set out in the most condescending tone possible how in fact they are wrong. I am not aware of any baseline figures from the government which determine why road-pricing is required, or the levels at which they are set.

In other words no accountability for the government’s actions, yet they make the ‘customer’ fully accountable for its errors, cock-ups, failures etc. Example: I have just read in the news that EDS charges the govt over £2,000 p.a. to lease a laptop (oh, including those oh-so-necessary support charges), whereas a £1K per head purchase would have been far more suitable (probably even cheaper if the govt sourced through a decent channel reseller).

Imagine if all the other procurement failures the govt presides over were fully brought to light, i.e. 100% accountability. Then we could better appreciate where the billions in road-related taxation get diverted to.

I hate this government. I’m climbing back into the septic tank to calm down, I’m too angry to go on.

[Board Game Geek]

Anyone here set up there own petition? I did yesterday. As soon as it is "approved" I shall expect millions to sign it.

It's got bums in it hasn't it ?

Big black bums, or purple baboon bums ?

We know you too well dear Xog.

<goes off to test whether the Search facility lets you type baboon bums)

[xoggoth]

Anyone here set up there own petition? I did yesterday. As soon as it is "approved" I shall expect millions to sign it.

[Board Game Geek]

what we need is a campaign of mass civil disobedience

Erm, that would be illegal though, and thousands would be sent to jail for not paying the charge and fines.

To make room (as our jails are full anyway), they would have to release thousands of sex-offenders, career criminals, junkies and the like.

Once in the community, these miscreants would also refuse to pay, so they would send them back to jail, and have to release the road-tax rebels (nice soundbite that...Road Tax Rebels)

Of course, the RTR's would have to be sent back to jail, etc, etc, etc.

The easiest solution would be to have County Detention Centres, which processed a constant stream of offenders, morning, noon and night to keep up with the troublemakers.

Since you are constantly in and out of a detention centre, I suppose it could follow that private housing could be seized by the government as temporary accomodation for criminals waiting to be processed.

That would also solve the not-enough-homes crisis.

Win-Win all round

[PrinceNamor]

what we need is a campaign of mass civil disobedience. No one pay the road charge. It would be great if everyone stuck togther and refused to pay it.

[Pondlife]

Apparently it will be via email so it's spam rather than junk mail.

Also the word failure is no longer allowed, it's now called 'deferred success'

HTH

[_V_]

See this is democracy in action.

Petitions. Letters. It's fantastic just to think what a difference we all can make to a listening, responsive, caring government.

[The Lone Gunman]

I signed that petition.

Should I receive a letter from Tone I will reply with my views as to why road charges are wrong, unless certain other criteria are met.

I would hope that others do the same. Tone should have fun sorting the replies.

[Spacecadet]

for all the fecking good it does they might as well ban protesting.

[Bagpuss]

Think of all those dirty vans delivering the letters.