Stop wasting food, Brown Urging Britons

OK is it Aprils fools day or is he just having a laugh, saying Britons need to stop wasting food to  in an effort to help combat the rising living costs. This must be one of those Homer Simpson moments Duh..

Now I don’t know if Mr Brown or even Darling has noticed but the cost of Fuel seems to be the major contributor of the rise in cost of living, as the more fuel costs in the UK the more costly it is to deliver food thus the price of food goes up and its likely we will be buying less and looking for cheaper options.

It has to make you laugh though that our government would say such a stupid thing when we are suffering the rip of TAX DUTY and VAT they put on our Fuel, at over 71 pence now its more than half the cost of the fuel per ltr. As we recently have seen the haulage companies are up in arms as its destroying their business and they are trying to get a discount on fuel costs. However surely it cannot just be them, if a discount is to be made it is only fair its for everyone, we all have to travel and get to work.

Food glorious food, a big issue here is that, is it really the consumer wasting food or is it the supermarkets who throw tons away daily as they can no longer legally display it on their shelves. What do you think?

So is this food story just another distraction for the government to hide the real truth about the increasing rise in fuel prices, as with governments they do tend to put the blame elsewhere than what is actually starring them in the face.

Just out of interest I heard somewhere that the government replied to a question regarding reducing fuel duty and their reply was “but that will reduce our total income of over 1-2 billion pounds a year” more Homer please Duh, as they already are taking over 35 Billion.

Come on UK Government do the honourable thing cut the full tax in these difficult times than blaming wasting food as a cause to rises in cost of living.

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85 pence/ltr - WILL WE EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!!!

it was not that long ago when petrol was only 85 pence a litre, will we ever see that price again. It’s a price of myth and legend that you will be telling your grand children, “in the good old days when beer was and petrol was” alas those days have gone and its unlikely that we will ever see petrol below a pound again..

As the British public continue to accept and pay high prices the government just carries on taking our hard earned cash and lets face it the current government is doing a pretty bad job with the economy, and as a result hey are 20% down in electron polls. Now I’m no expert but hey does this not send alarm bells ringing in the PM head. Ok I would like ask the 64 million dollar question but its been asked so many times where is all the duty and tax money going, certainly not back to making roads better, safer, and improved public transport. Its probably going to support the second homes of the ministers.

Would it not make sense that as so  much revenue has been collected during to the high prices the government give the motorist a reward at the pumps which as we have all been suffering it is certainly long over due. With the price of petrol a few pence short of £1.20 this government certainly is not going to get my vote and as we can all see everyone is thinking the same.

So come on government use the clever people you have and come up with a solution to solve the burden on the motorist, as there are millions of us who certainly could come up with a few ideas, as did Guy Fawkes.

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PETROL @ 108.9: Government is destroying the UK economy

Although the national average is still around 106.9 most stations this weekend have increased their prices some up to 109 pence and this price still looks set to increase. For all you diesel lovers it’s even worst. The Question is how high is the British public willing to let this go..

Many people say the oil is running out, we have reached our peak of production, the green people say its good as there is less pollution as less cars can go to the roads, the government want to reduce cars on roads, and appeal to the green lobbyist.  Alternative fuels lobbies want to see more people use fuel other than Petrol.

However there are several flaws in this thinking, firstly the UK motorist are being stretched in funding and these are people who need to go to work to keep the economy going people who do the school runs, people who deliver the goods to the shops. The outcome is higher food and product costs, as they have to claim back their losses from the public, so we all suffer including those who do no drive. People going to work run the risk of not going, as they cannot afford it, we don’t all have a job on our doorstep.

Now for these people who say the price of fuel is not the Governments fault and they support the price, what they don’t seem to be thinking is that although the price of barrel of oil has gone up to about $110 and around the world we all pay the same price on the stock market, the end product like Petrol is still very cheap in other countries, for example the USA which remains half the price compared to UK.

For you Green people our fuel prices being high is not going stop Global Warming you are not winning anything from the UK high price stopping cars on our roads, you need to think about the USA, China and India. The UK’s contribution to global warming is tiny percent compared to these large countries.

 The Fuel price in the UK is the Governments fault; they could easily reduce the greedy fuel duty price to bring fuel down to support its citizens. Is this not why we have a government to support its people.

Plus from the fuel duty they take how many green projects are really developed out of the 33 Billion pounds a year. By now with the earnings the government has made, they could have converted all our cars in this country to LPG and improved the infrastructure for LPG delivery, but do you see this happening anywhere?

If you are a green campaigner or one of these people that think the fuel is at a peak and we all have to switch to green fuel then are you not just a bit foolish to believe the hype. Oil is still plentiful and other countries are using this oil to build their economies by allowing their citizens mobility.

The UK government needs to seriously think what they are doing which so far is clearly destroying the UK economy.

To everyone, Green, Alternative Fuels, and the motorist you know that the price of fuel has to come down in the UK, so its now time to take action and work with the many people trying to reduce the price, speak to your MP’s, join a campaign, and please open your eyes as to what is happening before we hit a economical disaster.

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BRAVO!!

Like many people I drive many miles be it to work, to visit friends and as I do I drive pass many petrol stations, and of course I am checking the prices.
So tonight was no different as I drove to meet my friend near Gatwick Airport I passed over 10 petrol stations of various brands, and tonight I thought its not much different than the past few days watching the price of Petrol going up slightly, but soon to be shocked!!..

As I passed Petrol station after petrol station I noted the price as £1.06.9 as usual always the sneaky .9 of a pence at the end just for the petrol station to grab that extra, why they don’t just say £1.07 I do not know do they really think we would no notice the .9 pushing that extra penny.

So as driving along I started think the after the Budget the price is still going up and it is set to increase most like in a few weeks Petrol will reach over £1.10 and mid year pushing towards the £1.50 barrier, with Diesel leading the way.

So why the BRAVO!! Well its Bravo to the Texaco station just outside Gatwick airport close to a hotel which today has their price set at £108.9. NO that’s not a typo yes it is £108.9 lets just say £1.09

I think people have to start thinking now that is this acceptable, the problem is the car owners are stuck to what they can do, you need petrol in your cars to go from A to B, you cannot earn money unless you can get to work,

It all leads to a simple conclusion the British people are being taken for Suckers as the petrol stations milk the public and the Government just sit back and do nothing as the higher fuel prices go the higher the TAX is that the government collect and of course the higher the profit is for the Petrol companies owning the stations.

The big question to ask yourselves do you sit back and take it like British or do you bring the greatness back into the British and join us to campaign against this robbery of the Great British Public

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Mindset

Darling presented the budget and as expected more taxes on everything But Fuel he has delayed the duty for 6 months, so lets all party, everything is great again. STOP!! Don’t fall into a Mindset that this is good, its very very bad for all of us, because Fuel is still expensive and hitting the motorist harder than ever..

Is Darling playing with the motorist, the delay of 6 months in adding the 2 pence duty could be a clever plan to spin the election for Labour, which is predicted to be in June 2009. Is he holding out as he said the economy will get better after a short difficult time, which may cause oil prices to lower. If they do not however will he delay the fuel increase again or maybe reduce duty in favour for an election. The motorist make are a huge voting population who must be kept sweet.

However this could backfire as if the industry can see that motorist can get by with paying over a pound for a litre they certainly are not going to lower the cost, no-one is a friend of the motorist yet they all think they can get your vote by playing clever tactics and making you feel you have won. It’s a Mindset the government would like to see you have.

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“NO THANKS” GORDON

Stress and more stress as Labours Government push the fuel price higher and higher and it’s only them to blame having been in power over a decade. As we all know it was suggested that an additional 2 pence per litre would be added this March in the Budget, however as reported on the BBC 10pm news Darling will not go ahead with this as he does not want to see in the newspapers tomorrow the 5 pound gallon headlines, and as a barrel of crude has hit $110 he will easily cover the 2 pence cost in the VAT charged on the duty. However you look at it, this is just another slap in the face for the motorist..

We all thought Car Fuel was expensive when it reached the 86 pence per litre; yes those were the good old days, when you could still enjoy driving without counting the pennies per mile.

Now it’s a worry driving as you see your fuel indicator going down and you try to find a petrol station, which has a penny cheaper than the one, you have just passed. Then when you do fill up our tank you look at the Pounds going up faster than the litres and you simply cannot do anything about it.

Yes its true, Labour is ‘anti motorist’ and they always go for the easy target to bring the money in which is estimated each day at around 92 million pounds, and to add insult to injury they TAX their own duty.

Then on top of this they increase Road Tax and if you cannot afford to pay a whole year in one payment they make you pay an addition 20 Pounds by having to make 2 payments for the six month Road Tax.

So much for New Labour, what happened to the Old Labour who supported the poorer of our society? Would they have created a stealth method of Road Tax just because you cannot pay it all in one go.

Now we are looking at the Budget with great worry as the Labour Government work out clever new ways to TAX the motorist. Maybe we will not get the extra 2 pence promised on fuel but somewhere in the depths of the budget case is a TAX that will certainly recover this cost, like more Green Taxes. Why are we worrying about Green issues when China and America are the worst offenders in pollution, yet look at their Road Fuel Duty, it’s so low.

The worst thing about the high Fuel Prices which Labour have forced onto us is that they are damaging our economical society, as they gain more money for the Duty and Tax on the Duty, they are also forcing up travel costs across the whole board, Eggs, bread, and many of the essentials have also gone up in price, you see it everywhere costs are going up and in turn this is also forcing inflation up.

But people are not being paid more or above inflation to cover the additional cost, so as a knock on effect they start to borrow more, maybe an extra 5-10 pounds on a credit card a week to cover the additional fuel costs and food.

Are we heading towards a society crash, as those who can afford the high fuel economy are the ones being paid high and let’s not forget those politicians who claim expenses and pay their own families out of our Taxes.

This in turn is causing the working population who earn fewer than 30,000 a year to suffer more and more and find themselves in debt struggling to make ends meet. It may even cause people to loose their jobs as they are finding it to expensive to travel to work, and lets face it if you are out in the country in a small village or town, you have to travel by using your car, as public transport simply does not exist.

So what’s good about the high fuel price economy and all the Duty/Tax being earned by the Labour Government, well we can pay more to NHS to create better health services, improve the roads or even public transport. Was that not the dream of the New Labour? Instead we have greater poverty, greater Debt, a struggling NHS, and a government who cannot seem to get its act together and is constantly making mistakes.

Maybe during the 2008 Budget the Government will pay thanks to the entire struggling motorist community, who daily give but do not receive.

Of course that is a fantasy world and all that we will get back from Gordon’s Government is “NO THANKS” from them.

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Welcome to the great debate

Welcome to the great Petrol Debate! Having looked at our fuel costs these last few months we felt it time to open up a space where people can come together and start raising the issues around fuel, how it is charged for, what are the alternatives coming through and where oh where is the money going..

This site is currently at acorn stage but we have high hopes.

Petrol Debate is a place where we can pool our collective knowledge, look at the facts and consider the options. Let’s provide an element of honesty, which is just so evasive in the world of politics, let’s look at what is going on and let’s get our voices heard.

Over the coming weeks we will be asking for your views on what petition we should raise to the government. Not exactly a private members bill, more a chance to get our voices behind what we would like to see changed. It could be as simple as insisting that all road taxes/duties go in back transportation, or better still go into transport and fighting climate change, counter balancing the impact of our basic needs of mobility on the environment until we have a suitable alternative.

Whatever the result, as they say on “The Mighty Ducks”, let’s have some fun out there.

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Inflation

Inflation, caused by rising fuel costs, surely not..

The Chancellor, our good friend A.Darling, recently came onto the radio to advise us that we were suffering from inflationary pressures and it was starting to have an impact on the economy. One big factor he sited was the rising costs of fuel, something that impacted nearly every commodity due to transport costs.

What somehow he failed to mention, was the fact that currently out of every litre of fuel dropped into the economy, just under 70p drops into the Chancellors pocket. So the Chancellor has direct control of around 65% of those inflationary fuel costs. It is no wonder OPEC post up a graph of the top fuel taxers. Now can you guess who ranks as the top taxer? You guessed it….

Perhaps our Chancellor isn’t A Darling after all. http://www.opec.org/home/

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Mellow Yellow

Spring is in the air and I am looking forward to summer. Why, well for a start, with school holidays I know I can remove around 45 minutes from my daily commute saving both time and fuel costs. Great!..

So why the big impact, well the school run puts over TWO MILLION extra cars on the road at peak times, accounting for over 20% of traffic on the road. Now let’s be honest, this is a necessity given the lack of alternatives. Many of us, especially those outside of the big towns and cities, simply cannot walk or safely cycle our children to school so the car is the only option. But should it be the only option? What about yellow school buses?

A study into yellow buses by the Sutton Trust estimated that introducing the scheme would save primary school parents around £350m per year, plus saving us all a further 100 million per year, by reducing time wasted, fuel costs and getting us to work on time! It also scores green points with an estimated reduction of two million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. All this for an estimated cost to the government of around £125m per year or 1.2 days worth of fuel duty.

Most importantly, these buses have been shown to be the safest form of ground transportation available in the US, statistically they are 40 times safer than family cars. No more the need for a 4×4 to safely get the kids to and from school in and no need to pay the government through the nose for the pleasure of keeping your kids safe by having such a vehicle.

A little closer to home, one trail in Yorkshire saw a single bus cut 25,000 car journeys a year in the Hebden Bridge area. Meanwhile, the extra traffic caused by the lack a yellow bus scheme across the UK is leading to around 40 deaths and 900 serious injuries each and every year.

Surely keeping our kids safe, reducing congestion by up to 20% and fighting climate change has got to be a good thing. All this for only 1.2 days of fuel duty.

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Green tax or just lip service?

Let’s face it, it is never a good start to the day when you hear someone on the radio supposed to represent your best interests, making a case for increasing fuel duty as a green tax..

Now I am happy for climate change to be a top priority but why is it the standard answer for any of these issues is simply to raise more tax? and if this is such a successful formula why aren’t our behaviours changing and where are the results of this vast amount of money being raised from each and everyone of us through this green tax called fuel duty?

To get an independent view I thought I would see what Friends of the Earth had to say about our Governments drive and funding for Solar power as a good example.

“The UK lags behind many countries in Europe and rest of the world when it comes to using solar power technologies - despite UK Government promises to champion renewable energy. On 12 separate occasions since 1999, the German programme has delivered the equivalent of the UK’s three year target in one month.”

So where is this money going? Is it being spent wisely and if so on what. The UK is one of the most highly taxed driving communities in Europe so you would think we would also rank as having either the best transport infrastructure or be at the forefront of fighting climate change through Government funded initiatives (it is after all a green tax).

As I carried on my journey to work I couldn’t help but wonder if I was missing something or if my gut feeling was right that “green tax” is perhaps just a good banner from which to keep topping up the government coffers.

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