snowychap Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 (edited) I brought up the points that the Greens would increase car tax.They would increase fuel duty, which is a form of tax or "The Green Party would increase road fuel tax incrementally until the revenue of fuel tax covers a high proportion of road traffic's external costs." as they put it themselves.They would reintroduce a tax on classic cars, which is currently tax free.Although I didn't bring it up, they want to raise emissions taxes on cars as well as introduce a vehicle purchasing tax, as if the price of a new car isn't enough already they want you to pay tax on top of that.A tax on SUVs is one of their policies.Well, that's all fair enough as they are policies about taxation on cars.Would these increases mean that taxation on car owners (or even just car users) would be much more burdensome than it is at the moment? In order to see, one would have to quantify what it is now and what it would be likely to be under the Green party's policies.I don't know whether it would or it wouldn't be. Do you? Do they?Edit: I accept that it might be (or even that their intention might be for it to be higher than currently whilst Labour and the Tories might want it to be the same as/lower than currently) but I do doubt, as I said earlier, that it would be hugely more than the current burden.But go ahead, ignore all of that. Maybe you're well off enough that a tax increase is meaningless to you and there for 'heavy' means nothing but for the average person, increasing and introducing many taxes would be heavy, especially when combined.I ignored getting in to a debate on the actual subject of heavy taxation on car owners because you went off on a rather scattergun rant against the Greens which, hand in hand with the vegetable rights comment, suggested you weren't being serious but were merely wanted to denigrate policies that aren't pursued by the party you support.I'm not well off at all (I'm firmly in the bottom income decile) - I can't afford a car (though I do drive occasionally): to, therefore, characterize of my argument as one of affluent lack of consideration (which was the inference I drew - apologies if that wasn't what you meant) rather than a wish for accurate comparisons (as much as possible, at least) would be mistaken.As said above, I think there's an important debate to be had on cars and car use beyond taxation on its own (and the same goes for many other areas including energy use). That debate seems largely to be limited to the direct price paid by the public (at the pump, on the forecourt, in their bills, &c.) for their own use rather than this direct price along with the indirect price paid by everyone for other people's use. Edited October 11, 2014 by snowychap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 i think milibands doing such a poor job, if you think about labour should be winning the next election if you think about how unpopular the tories are. i reckon this guy will be next labour leader, if not will be in next 10 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Is he not a bit controversial? I like the cut off his jib generally, but would you trust him with the country? Would his party? Doubtful in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 He's controversial in some of the things he has done, and very far to the right within the party, he would find it hard to win support from unions or the party membership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 what has he said have not seen anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 what has he said have not seen anything? In terms of things he has done, he accepted a paycheck from an executive at Coral while campaigning against bookies in his constituency (some people find this scandalous, I don't really understand why myself), and he may or may not have changed his own wikipedia entry to call himself 'Britain's Barack Obama' (but the change was made by a computer with an IP address in the law firm he was working in at the time, so draw your own conclusions). In terms of what he's said, he's very obviously on the absolute rightmost edge of the party. He's praised 'Blue Labour' which is a Blairite ginger group, criticises unions whenever he mentions them and was most recently seen at conference praising Manuel Valls, the Socialist French Prime Minister who recently sacked half his cabinet for being too left-wing. Basically, I just suspect that the Labour party isn't ready for the New Blair yet. He'll be completely unacceptable to the unions, and to a fair amount of the membership, but ultimately a leadership campaign would stand or fall based on who his opponents were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 He's just a well-spoken spiv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colhint Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Listening to Harriet Harman on the Radio, have Labour just made a volte-face about immigration? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted October 13, 2014 Moderator Share Posted October 13, 2014 I know the new idea from the Shadow Education Secretary about teachers having to swear an oath like doctors is a very… hilarious / idiotic / traditional vote losing / TORY * (*delete if applicable though I'd suggest not) idea.I'd suggest that most teachers are Labour voters, indeed I'd say they were the parties key middle income target demographic. So why would any politician try and piss them off for no good reason? It's not ideological, it's not going to improve anything, its just a silly notion designed to garner column inches but at what cost? If this idiot really went to Singapore to research why their kids are better educated than ours and came to the conclusion that it was because their teachers swore an oath then he's got no place in politics, I'd employ him to clean toilets, its about his level.From the shite that these parties keep spewing out, you do wonder if they are all trying to lose the next election. This idea is so out of touch and lacking in intelligence it belongs in a satirical comedy. Will it win any votes? Doubt it. Will it lose any votes? hell yes.Politicians on one hand claim our kids are better educated than ever and on the other hand seem to want to vilify teachers who at the end of the day are teaching the often silly curriculum laid down by politicians. This country has many thousands of great teachers but very few decent politicians, maybe these f**ktards should start by being taught a lesson by the people. Vote the sods out, vote for the smaller parties, they can't really cock it up anymore than the Con / Lab / Lib retarded gravy train drinkers already have can they. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I suspect the teaching is better in Singapore because the teachers aren't out on strike at the drop of the hat resulting in school closures I'm fairly sure you didn't like my proposal that government ministers in certain positions come from that background and aren't elected MP's ... i.e someone non political from a teaching background becomes Minister of education , that way it doesn't matter who wins the election the minister (if they are doing a good job) can just carry on with the role and you get some continuity of policy ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I'm fairly sure you didn't like my proposal that government ministers in certain positions come from that background and aren't elected MP's ... i.e someone non political from a teaching background becomes Minister of education , that way it doesn't matter who wins the election the minister (if they are doing a good job) can just carry on with the role and you get some continuity of policy ... I may not have much faith in politics, politicians or democracy but that sounds like a monumentally daft idea, Tony. It sounds like a sort of EU technocratic 'dream' (or nightmare). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I'm fairly sure you didn't like my proposal that government ministers in certain positions come from that background and aren't elected MP's ... i.e someone non political from a teaching background becomes Minister of education , that way it doesn't matter who wins the election the minister (if they are doing a good job) can just carry on with the role and you get some continuity of policy ... I may not have much faith in politics, politicians or democracy but that sounds like a monumentally daft idea, Tony. It sounds like a sort of EU technocratic 'dream' (or nightmare). meh .. on the basis you don't like it , that surely proves its a great idea 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Ed has a twin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 After her performance tonight safe to say Angela Eagle won't be in the running when Ed goes Guess it doesn't reflect her ability to do her job but she certainly won't be wheeled out in front of the cameras anytime soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Tough crowd, Tory Newbury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Yeah there was that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted October 17, 2014 Moderator Share Posted October 17, 2014 There's also the high probability that she's a moron, I speak from experience and as someone who knows a former aide of hers. All the female Merseyside MP's are completely loathsome, Angela Eagle isn't even the worst, that honour goes jointly to Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman for their stance on Israel. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 There's also the high probability that she's a moron, I speak from experience and as someone who knows a former aide of hers. All the female Merseyside MP's are completely loathsome, Angela Eagle isn't even the worst, that honour goes jointly to Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman for their stance on Israel. I used to live around the corner from Ruth Kelly. Absolute gibbering nutjob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mockingbird_franklin Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 There's also the high probability that she's a moron, I speak from experience and as someone who knows a former aide of hers. All the female Merseyside MP's are completely loathsome, Angela Eagle isn't even the worst, that honour goes jointly to Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman for their stance on Israel. even worse than Fester McVile 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted October 17, 2014 Moderator Share Posted October 17, 2014 There's also the high probability that she's a moron, I speak from experience and as someone who knows a former aide of hers. All the female Merseyside MP's are completely loathsome, Angela Eagle isn't even the worst, that honour goes jointly to Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman for their stance on Israel.even worse than Fester McVileOh she's in a completely different league again but she represents the inbreds over the water, so its explainable. Should have qualified it with Labour female MPs. Fester is the absolute worst, goes without saying 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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