Just when you think it can't get worse, it does

This nasty thing has raised its head again:

The Telegraph can disclose that the Government is pushing ahead with plans for a national road-pricing scheme, including testing "spy in the sky" technology.

Eight areas of the country have been selected by ministers for secret pay-per-mile trials which will begin in 2010 and are expected to pave the way for tolls on motorways.

Motorists face paying up to £1.30 a mile during peak periods on the busiest roads.

Gordon Brown was thought to be against national road pricing, a flagship policy of the Blair administration.

But the detailed level of planning now underway indicates the issue it set to become a key battleground in the next general election – which is likely to coincide with the trials beginning.

It will leave Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, particularly vulnerable as she defends her marginal Bolton West constituency.

The Daily Telegraph has learnt that eight areas - Leeds, North Yorkshire, Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire, south west London, Suffolk and Essex – have been selected for the trials.

Initially, in January 2010, one hundred cars in each area will trial the new technology – in many cases entailing placing black boxes to allow their movements to be tracked - but members of the public will be invited to join the pilots in June 2010.

The Government is close to signing contracts with four companies who will run the national trials, testing not only the technology which will be fitted to the cars, but also the bureaucracy needed to run a system including sending out bills.

In most cases, the trials will involve a satellite tracking a vehicle's movements. Motorists will then receive a monthly or weekly bill which will vary depending on when and where they drove.

Three more companies will be paid to double check the system, ensuring that the charging machinery is legal and that the trials are properly monitored.

I'm sorry ... do you really, really think that this is only about road charging, even if you assume that road charging is a good idea?

Do you really, really think that this isn't going to up the number of speeding fines issued a million-fold?

Do you really, really think that people aren't going to be criminalised by all these fines?

Do you really, really think the police aren't going to be sniffing through your travel records?

Do you really, really think that they aren't going to make the usual Mongolian clusterfuck out of this and that people aren't going to be overbilled and then criminalised for not being able to pay?

Do you really, really think that people will not be given incorrect speeding fines for that matter?

Do you really, really think that it's going to stop at £1.30 per mile?

Do you really, really think that it's going to be cheaper than or the same price as VED?

Enough, really, is enough.

Do not let this pass into law, folks. You will regret it forever.

Conflict of Interest - Tim Yeo works for "green" car company

Via Ian PJ:

Tim Yeo used his casting vote as chairman of the all-party Environmental Audit Select Committee to push through a report, published last week, which backed the decision by Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, that new, higher rates of vehicle excise duty (VED) rates should apply to previously-purchased cars.

But. He is paid £40,000 a year as non-executive chairman of Eco City Vehicles Plc, a company which plans to market a hybrid car which would qualify for low rates of VED under the new tax regime, due to its low carbon emissions.

Under Commons rules, select committee members are required to step aside if their role conflicts with their remunerated interests.

As well as preparing to launch a greener hybrid electric/petrol car, Eco City Vehicles last month launched a new taxi through its subsidiary, KPM, which it hopes will qualify for lower VED rates because of its reduced emissions.

Roger Lawson, of the Association of British Drivers, said: "He should have withdrawn from the discussion on principle. The proposed changes to VED are totally excessive and unfair. How was someone who bought their car six or more years ago supposed to know they would end up paying more tax?"

This is CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Lining his own pockets at the expense of taxpayers, or in this case, screw the taxpayer.

You can read the full article in the Telegraph here.


Tim Yeo is yet another MP that should be stripped of the whip, deselected and voted out.



There is no left or right in politics any more.
This battle is about one thing, Authority versus Liberty.



There IS another way!




Your Life, Your Country, Your Choice.

Holy Moly!

(The missus read my blog and promptly gave me a clip round the ear for excessive use of the words "fuck" and "cunt", so I thought I'd at least try to keep this one clean.)

It's pay review time at the BBC, and I don't mind telling you that I'm somewhere beyond stunned.

Some of the BBC's most senior executives have been awarded pay rises of more than £100,000 in a year when the corporation has been dogged by fakery scandals and job cuts.

I'm sorry? Who's paying for this again? Oh yeah, me. Kind of. Still, at least the people getting the rewards deserve it:

Jana Bennett, the Director of Vision, who was heavily criticised for her role in the "Crowngate affair" where footage of a documentary about the Queen was wrongly edited for a trailer of the programme, saw her salary rise from £433,000 to £536,000 last year, an increase of 24 per cent.

I'm beyond speechless. A hundred grand PAY RISE?!?!???!!? I wouldn't even pay the useless cretins a hundred grand between them, let alone a hundred grand per person increase.

Dave: sell the whole thing off. Reith is already spinning in his grave.