nelson said:
sorry,but some of you haven't got a clue.
my company recently just made 400 redundancies because people ARE using their cars LESS.
theirs thousands/millions of people in this country who's livelyhoods would be lost if petrol prices went up to £10.
what jobs would they do instead ????????????.
yeah lets get cars off the roads now that motorists have paid to have them built so buses have their bus lanes and lunatic cyclists have their cycle lanes.
maybe someone could explain to cyclists what a red traffic light means !!!!!!!!!!.
i know you're talking about petrol prices,but if oil prices keep going up have you thought about what else is made from it ?.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrochemical
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/clas ... roleum.pdf
GET REAL...........................
If labour costs and work conditions hadn't been such a priority we would still be building cars in this country for our own brands. Just as I would still be working in a major diesel industrial engine manufacturer (the biggies) These are the costs of wanting loads of money, loads of luxuries whilst paying as little as possible for them. Blame ourselves and the unions we bought into always pushing for more on our behalf.
And I am not saying adding duty to fuel is the answer but at the moment parties are fumbling around for ways to get people off the roads. There is no quick and easy answer to making people get off their bumbs (in front of TV or in their cars) and I am not sure duty is the best answer at the moment either.
As for the 'lunatic cyclists not knowing what a red light is. Next time you see those of us cyclist who do know what a red light is and stop, count how many cars accelerate to get through. A red light to the majority of cyclists means stop. For the idiots it doesn't. However there is a much higher proportion of motorists that seem to think a red light is a 10 second warning!!!.
I would be quite happy to pay a proportionate road tax for using my bicycle on the road. Would be able to fund that easily by the fuel/MOT savings
It would be wonderful to not have to use my car but it is a necessary evil.
I have no problem with those that NEED to use their car. It is those that do not need to that are the problem. those who drive 2 minutes down the road to get a bit of shopping, those who drive half a mile to the school or to work etc.
My o/h had to take a job 30 miles away after being out of work for 4 months. We would never accept benefits and our savings run out fast. The journey is awful and often with traffic adds 3 hours onto the day. I work late too and we both struggle to find time to cook dinner and do the housework, let alone spend any time together.
I never accepted benefits in my younger more stubborn days however why? I paid the taxes to put into the 'fund' which is there to help me and others when times are hard. These days I fully accept it
We cannot work locally and we cannot afford to move. We don't have flash cars, (tbh they are not even reliable), we don't eat out and we are careful with money, but the cost of living is increasing beyond our means. We can't even see ourselves start a family as we both need to work.
Sorry I don't buy that. Do you live in squalour with no TV, no chairs, no nothing? I can afford to live, eat well (cooking fresh foods and fresh meats not eating out) plus pay my utilities, pay my rent, have 30mb broadband, TV licence et al and whilst living week to week on the money we make do with that squalid life. This was when one of us worked or as now where we are both out of work and £40 a week worse off. When I get back to work I will have £40 a week extra to spend or save
whilst still living in the squalid pit.
excuse the sarcasm here but I am far from a follower of the 'cost of living is so expensive compared to how it used to be. How it used to be people lived within their means and made sacrifices if they wanted something. Thats why my parents generation and their parents generation have their own houses paid up and are enjoying their savings.
Everyones situation is different. So you cannot just increase the price of fuel to force everyone to enjoy the car-less life that you are so lucky to have. I would love to live in london close to work, I would LOVE to have children and walk them to school and have the time to ride to the shops. If I could I would but if the situation that I am in now does not change, this will never happen for me.
Totally agree everyone's situation is different hence the statement above on me not knowing the answr to getting people off their bums. Maybe a tax on sitting down (I jest.) Its a tough cookie to crack.
Andy you make me so angry. It is not the 'good old days', we are is the crappy modern days where my o/h and I are on piss poor wages and possibly if we are 'lucky' enough to continue the way we are will have enough money saved to buy a house by the time we are 36. We cannot see a time when one of us can give up work and start a family. And you keep saying how great your life is out of work, with a wife and children and a home.
Indeed but should we just give up and accept this modern commercialised, materialistic world where we do not have to make choices, where we demand someone else makes up the difference, where we choose to take credit and then blame others when we can't pay it? or could we think for ourselves, prioritise, choose what is necessary and if we get into trouble accept we made the mistake? Surely we should start to be happy with what we've got and try to improve rather than always crying for what we don't have? It will be a very miserable nation if we all end up that way.
I would swap my life with you in a heartbeat. But can't. Do you really think that raising the price of fuel would help me?
Lol. You would swap for living in a beat up council estate? The only think you would swap with me is satisfaction of life however that is a mentality thing derived from acceptance of the situation I find myself in and willingnes to try and improve it. I may well have started life well looked after in what they now call the middles class family. I may have had some very good jobs prior to redundancies where I frittered away both redundancies totalling £9k. That would have been a 30% deposit on a mortgage at the age of 25 but alas foolish youthfullness saw that disappear on lifestyle choices instead.
PS. Andy I am sorry that your wife lost her job. It must be a difficult and worrying time for your family.
She worries but she is on the same line as most. Can't afford the vital things like games consoles, leather sofas, new beds, new car et al however not me. I will work again. It will be soon. It may be factory or it may be a decent office job but I will work and just as now I will continue to be happy with what I have and not cry for what I don't.
You said it all when you said 'crappy modern world' Exactly to the point and spot on however we as people have turned our country into this 'crappy' viewpoint. We as people are also the only ones who can change it for the better. Not necessarily the 'good old days' but at least some semblance of people handling their own budgets responsibly and not insisting that they need more and more material things and more and more money whilst all the time pushing more and more luxuries into what they consider the cost of living!!!
Maybe I am idealistic, maybe far too old fashioned, however I have grown into that. Believe me I bought into the materialistic viewpoint big style while I was young to the point where the only benefit is that I have a worryingly impressive credit rating (if I wanted to take on credit.) however I am 36 just like you and we are poles apart in terms of what we think is hard times and good times.
Politics is a toughy. Can't please everyone all the time and any decision will always please less people than it impresses especially if it involves money however until someone comes up with the golden nugget that solves the problem they will always take the easy 'stop gap' policy.
I should add that you are in London, I am in the grim north and so housing whether rented or mortgage is cheaper we earn a lot less (in general, not across the board) and goods (in the main) cost similar prices. Tescos and Sainsburys charge the same across the country to my knowledge.
Andy