I read with interest an article in the FT yesterday that said the general election may well be won by the changing vote of "motorway man" a shorthand marketing speak for people who live in constituencies in the Midlands and the North now with alot of infill new housing estates who drive alot, for work and for leisure, who take or use alot of carbon intensive resources to fly and move about....
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0283fcbe-06f5-11df-b058-00144fe...l
If so (and trying to keep this motoring related) it looks interesting. How is any government going to appeal to them when they're defined by their high consumption of something the government wants to cut back on - excessive car use and a car dependency culture plus one taking alot of flights...
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Surely nobody with the intelligence to hold down good jobs these days would be short sighted enough to be hoodwinked by a quick bribe of relatively inexpensive travel for their vote.
I'd have hoped the events and untruths of recent years from all parties would have proved to thinking *man* that todays quick fix or headline grab will have to be paid back in the future.
Whoever gets in (and i care not a jot for any of 'em) will have to claw £billions in to pay back the shambles that is the UK's debt, anyone who doesn't think middle income *man* and motorist isn't going to be doing the paying through the nose is deluded.
**No offence to our good lady posters here, it's only a figure of speech following the Motorway 'Man' article.
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>>>How is any government going to appeal to them when they're defined by their high consumption of something the government wants to cut back on - excessive car use and a car dependency culture
...by demonising people with high CO2 cars, even if they are low miles and therefore low impact drivers, and hitting them very much harder. Motorway man will think he's got off lightly when he "only" gets stung for another £1000 a year.
I suppose that's why HMG hasn't done the obvious thing and put the tax increases on fuel alone instead of VED and showroom tax - if you're trying to cut emissions, tax the cause.
I work with many people who commute more than 50 miles each way, some of them very much further. They're the real problem motorists in terms of CO2 and traffic volumes, not low miles drivers of Range Rovers.
The fact that Range Rover man gets so much persecution here and elsewhere is evidence of the government's success with this approach. While Motorway Man's attention is elsewhere, he'll be soaked as well.
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How about a tax on commute miles, that should sort things out, best option for us pensioners, more tax on fuel, (use) is too unpopular. Can't have the great unwashed rioting, as they did over the poll tax. The politicians must be aware that they must tread carefully or end up with marches on Westminster.
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The politicians must be aware that theymust tread carefully or end up with marches on Westminster.
Didn't think you could do that anymore in our free country Navy.;)
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Lots of things are not allowed, but.........:-)
Edited by Old Navy on 23/01/2010 at 12:47
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