The stupidity of the British public

Never underestimate the stupidity of the Great British public, NL don't >:

Exactly. The same as when surveyed people are quoted as favouring higher public spending. The real answer is "I am in favour of (somebody else's) taxes being increased to fund higher public spending".

It would be nice to see the survey questions and the population profile they questioned.

Suggest this question was not asked: "Would you like to pay lots more tax after we fit a black box in your car?"

Here's a good example.

networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39131207,00.htm

Almost half the UK public support a road-user charging scheme and nearly three-quarters would be happy having a 'black box' in their car to track their road usage, according to a new survey.


The findings contrast sharply with the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the government's car-tracking road charging plans last week by silicon.com readers but the MORI survey was undertaken before Transport Secretary Alistair Darling's announcement.

The MORI survey of 1,000 UK adults found 47 per cent support the idea of charging for road use to help reduce congestion at peak times providing some of the revenues raised are put back into lower road taxes.

A third said charging should be based on the size of the vehicle's engine, while 29 per cent favoured using the level of emissions and 26 per cent opted for mileage driven as the ideal metric to use.

But support for blanket and not just peak-time road user charging dropped dramatically to 24 per cent, with 64 per cent opting for improved public transport as the best option.

Almost three-quarters of respondents also said they are happy for plans to fit every vehicle in the UK with a black box that can be tracked by satellite.

Those in favour said the black boxes would help the emergency services to locate vehicles in an accident and a quarter backed ideas such as insurers discounting premiums based on data collected by the boxes.


So 75% of Brits think it's a great idea to have the government know every journey you make and what speed you were travelling along every road. Are these people mad? :rolleyes

Have they bottomless pits of money and a license that can take 10,000 penalty points?