Posts filed under 'politics'
I must admit that I have never liked politics much. I hated it at school and haven’t taken a huge amount of interest in it over the years, other then when there has been the odd dodgy photo - like when Cherie got snapped accepting a bouquet of flowers one morning looking rather worse for wear.
However, over the past couple of weeks I have been becoming increasingly more interested in who is going to be our next Mayor of London. Would I vote for someone who admitted that he ‘deliberately trapped the Government into bidding for the 2012 Olympics to attract fund for developing the city’s run down East End area’ as reported in The Telegraph or do I vote for someone who says that ‘If you vote for the Conservatives, your wife will get bigger breasts and your chances of driving a BMW M3 will increase.’ Mmmm a close call.
A few key policies are:
Ken’s policies are to improve London transport, reduce crime by adding more police to our streets and having dedicated teams in our neighbourhoods, affordable housing, more fines for gas guzzlers and rewards for green car drivers and also reintroducing youth centres (a £78million programme).
Boris’s policies are to reduce crime by working with police and communities, improve London transport both safety and regularity, improve air quality, keep our streets clean and have affordable housing.
So really there isn’t much in it and it may simply come down to the individual personalities and who you can trust to work in the best interests of our capital.
Other than the problem of finding a differentiating factor between the two main candidates, the other problem expected to hit voters is the voting system. The Telegraph is reporting that the system is far too complex and fear that there may be a lot of forms that are discounted due to them being filled in incorrectly.
So if you are voting, make sure you read the instructions and complete the forms really carefully to ensure that your vote counts.
April 29th, 2008
I read an article on The London Stock Exchange website which identifies the rising cost of car insurance as a contributing factor to people not being able to afford to run a car any longer.
A poll carried out by MoneyExpert.com says that 25% of motorists who completed the poll are using their cars less as a result of increased costs. 8% of these people said increased car insurance premiums was the main reason. However, a substantial 76% said that it was the rising petrol prices that effected how much they use their car.
These people won’t be happy to hear that petrol prices could hit £1.50 per litre by late summer according to a report in The Guardian. The increase is due to the price of a barrel of crude oil hitting almost $114 and the sharp fall in the value of the dollar.
Gordon Brown in visiting the United States at the moment to discuss the Credit Crunch and has called on Opec to increase production in a bid to drive costs down. It looks like it is a simple supply and demand situation. However Opec appears to be standing firm.
So with all these costs rising it looks like we all need to tighten our belts a little. Spring is officially here so now would be a good time to Spring Cleaning your finances. Make sure you are getting the best deals for your loans, car insurance, mortgages and shop around for the cheapest petrol prices.
April 17th, 2008
Alastair Darling’s first budget tomorrow is being referred to as their ‘green budget’. He is expected to increase the price of petrol by 2p a litre, impose a ‘showroom tax’ and a higher vehicle excise duty on those cars deemed to be gas guzzlers.
However, The Independent reports today that the ‘green taxes’ are to be delayed due to the concern that Britain is heading for a recession. However, the usual increase of taxes on alcohol is expected to take immediate effect.
An interactive survey by The Times Online confirms that people are very concerned about the economy with many people citing the main concerns as the soaring gas and petrol prices, higher council tax and bigger supermarket bills. Sadly, pensioners are struggling to cope with the rising costs of essential basic items like bread and eggs according to this report.
Although Mr Darling may decide to delay some of his tax increases tomorrow, I am sure that they will be introduced at some stage. The important issue to me is that the revenue generated from these increased and newly introduced taxes, imposed in the name of improving the environment, needs to be visibly seen to be being used to help our environment, support green schemes and encourage people to use public transport. The congestion charge, although hated by most people, is an example of where we can clearly see that money generated is being ploughed back into improving the bus network in London. And the same needs to be seen with the governments increased revenue.
People need to be encouraged to make their homes and cars more environmentally-friendly by being offered subsidies, for example installing and using solar power panels and by buying hybrid cars (although I’m not sure anyone would want to buy a new car if the ‘showroom tax’ comes in). Some car insurance companies like Swiftcover offer a discount for those who purchase more environmentally-friendly hybrid cars like the Honda Civic, Honda Insight or Lexus RX. Many other companies also encourage customers to buy green. You can now buy solar powered lights, sheeps wool bedding and even solar powered bricks that can light up a path at night.
Rather than seeing red, let’s hope the budget tomorrow encourages us to be a little more green.
March 11th, 2008
