Politics; “the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies” – Groucho Marx.
Here at PetrolPrices, we try and stay clear of politics, but very occasionally we need to dare to tread that path, to have a say, to inform you, and to take a stand. From a personal point of view, I’m very apolitical, certainly in a professional capacity, but occasionally, I read something that I feel should be discussed.
With talk such as “ownership models”, “the relentless subjugation of the public realm to the exigencies of the private motor car”, “rapid de-carbonisation” and “isolate and atomise society” being used to describe owning a car, I for one feel that there are some pretty powerful words being used, all with the intent of further demonising the ‘motor car’, you could even perhaps call it propaganda, for that is really what it is.
But they’ve saved the most powerful sentence until last – “inside armoured shells that protect those inside by endangering everyone else”.
Away with all cars
Would you be overly surprised if I told you that this came from a radical left-wing pro-Corbyn supporting think tank? That the white paper (unashamedly called ‘Away with All Cars’) has been written in conjunction with Greenpeace UK and a group called ‘Common Wealth’.
Before you accuse me of being a climate-change denier, you should understand that the group want to ban all cars; fossil-fuelled, EVs, PHEVs … ALL privately owned vehicles. The reasons given are ‘emissions’ and ‘air pollution’. But it begs the questions; do we all just accept being herded on to mass transit solutions? Like some form of communist state?
If this was a regular government ‘think’ tank, we’d be calling it nonsense, passing it off as some sort of buffoonery, and complaining that it’s the motorist being punished again, but it isn’t, the whole tone of the white paper, its sponsors and their values are driven by the radical left-wing; they’re sharing their political values, it isn’t about the motor car, it’s about a political ideology.
The impact of road pollution
No one is denying, including myself that road pollution is a massive killer. The statistics are very clear, according to COMEAP, road pollution leads to between 28,000-36,000 premature deaths a year. London is one of the worst cities in the world for deaths caused by road pollution.
The Mayor of London is trying to discourage drivers from bringing in high polluting vehicles and encouraging lower emission petrol and diesels that meet tough EU standards, EV or hybrid cars into the new ULEZ zone. This is a sensible and pragmatic approach. But this think tank just wants to ban vehicle ownership outright, is there is something bigger at play beyond zero carbon emissions?
The banning of cars
We’ve become used to being the scapegoat for all things climate related, it seems that the answer to any questions relating to air pollution end with ‘make the (private) motorist pay’. Just last year, the Government came under attack for their policy with the ministerial cars – from the 84 vehicles run by the Government Car Service, there are just six electric cars and one hydrogen fuel powered vehicle in the fleet.
The Prime Minister’s runaround is a supercharged 5.0 litre V8 Jaguar, and that’s followed around by a fleet of Land Rovers. None of those shout ‘economical’ as they drive past. Isn’t it time that our ‘leaders’ started doing just that, and lead by example?
Currently, electric buses in London account for just 2.6% of Transport for London’s fleet, and Sadiq Khan has been accused of misleading the public with some of his claims; “London will soon have the largest double-decker electric bus fleet in Europe” is a prime example.
Technically, what he said wasn’t wrong, but the reality of the situation is that Dublin is the only other city in Western Europe that uses double-decker buses in significant numbers.
Car-free days
Plans are already in place for the first car-free day to be held in London, and the transport research manager for the Centre for London has already stated that we need to think about ‘locking in car-free lifestyles for good’.
When all’s said and done, the reality of banning privately owned cars, or banning them from London permanently is quite frankly, ridiculous. While it could be argued that there are many other great cities in the UK, it’s London that’s the hub of the country, and with no reliable means of cheap transportation available to those that are less fortunate, the city will grind to a halt.
We’re already seeing on a smaller scale, that when a city makes life difficult for a motorist, they vote with their wheels and park, shop or eat out of town. It’s unlikely that London will ever become a ghost town, but financial losses only need to be small for someone to take issue.
And that’s why the ‘Away with All Cars’ white paper is a non-event, with nothing more substantial behind it than pushing a weak political agenda. With that said, similar to what we see with certain other world leaders, quite often the rhetoric isn’t designed to convert new people, rather than reinforce the message to the already converted, you could even say, to radicalise them.
What do you think to the plans to ban all private owned cars by 2030? Is it as ridiculous as it sounds? Or should we sit up and take notice? Let us know in the comments.
I have a 40 minute commute to work I live in the countryside and there is no public transport wonder what they would suggest for that?
They’d expect you to either move home, job or cycle. They are such hypocrites and really dont live in the ‘real’ world.
They live in a marxist utopia. mental illness!
No they live in a big City, and the rest of us in the Labour movement don’t agree with them!
If you don’t agree with them, stop paying the political levy in your union sub ( which you are legally entitled to do), become an individual member of your local party and vote against Momentum members for committee posts.
I already am an SNP member.
That’s right !! Those living in London get the benefits of alternative transport such as the underground or polluting buses for next to nothing. Everywhere out of London we have infrequent bus services and trains at exorbitant cost
But Londoners have to put up with a lot of naff tourists though.
And they replaced the GLC with even worse.
Once centre of a global trading empire, now dying by the day.
And yet if you are out of work the job centres insist you have to look for work up to an hour away, thus ending up with a two hour round trip each day. so moving, having to find new work and disrupting your whole family with schools, their own jobs etc wont solve the problem, it will just cause more.
They already blame the lack of local family generations supporting each other, as in the old days where grandparents and extended family helped with grandchildren etc, on the fact that people have moved away from the family area, and why did that happen because the government told everyone to ‘get on your bike’ and find work further afield. This distanced family units and created more problems for society. Normal people just cannot win.
It’s called the class system and until they rid us of that from our miserable lives of exploitation we’ll just carry on suffering for the sake of a few greedy wealth generators!
They are feeding us a load of bull….Volcanoes have been emitting CO since the beginning of time, in amounts we could never generate. It’s just the same as the bull story that immigration is the cause of all the UK problems…no it isn’t, it’s the greedy wealthy, elite, corrupt minority!!! The middle class deluded and the uneducated lower class believe every rotten word!!
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the world’s volcanoes, both on land and undersea, generate about 200 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually, while our automotive and industrial activities cause some 24 billion tons of CO2 emissions every year worldwide.
There goes that utter bulls**t comment.
There is no “system” – it’s just the natural order.
Yes, but do remember that THEY equals the people who want you to write off Corbyn. The current uncaring party that want to crash you out of a viable economy like a brick through the bottom of a wet paper bag. The ones who want to set decent working people against each other to drive conditions and wages down, while the richest !000 people have increased their wealth by more than 2 1/2 times!
A properly integrated transport system and a fair society would create meaningful work and help you find work and support you while you did.
Tosh. I’d rather have Johnson, Mogadishu, Leadsom or a monkey leading the country than Cordim the Commie.
I’ll await the ‘integrated transport system’ with interest. When it doesn’t happen it will be replaced by the sad old ‘you need to either move home or move jobs’ argument. Unless the next part of the plan is to ban privately-owned homes?
I live 21 miles away from work to get there by public transport would take over 2 hours to get home would almost be impossible as I finish at 2230 or 1030 at night therefore making a trip home by taxi too expensive and public transport is shut down so come up with a solution
21 miles is the shortest route using 2 motorways the next shortest without motorways is 41 miles so using a bike is out of the question
Read the real article then see what you think.
No they don’t, but the vast majority of the Labour movement do, so don’t worry, it wouldn’t get through Congress!
Congress!?
This is a made up story just to wind up readers.
Look up the report on google. It makes for 1984 type reading!
The UNs no private vehicles by 2050 policy is real, and all govermnments have signed up to it. First no petrol, diesel or hybrid vehicles – electric only. Then by the time the Lithium and Cobalt has run out, no electric vehicles either.
I suppose you will be allowed a pedal cycle.
What’s wrong with that ?
It could be a problem if your fat ….
If your fat what, Dave? If your fat butt couldn’t fit in to a ‘bus?
ΠΞ
Same here……and thousands and thousands more do the same!
On yer bike!
Lol judging by the downvotes we have some people who, despite being in Britain, don’t seem to have a sense of humor.
Having a sense of humour is vital to living in in Britain, it’s the only way of surviving the day to day tripe we have to deal with. I always say “Smile it’s already happend” Helps me through the day anyway!
Humour is also to be banned by 2030 say the radical left-wing pro-Corbyn supporting think tank (allegedly).
Where’s the humour in drivers to day out of they cars they do have a sense of humour, in they cars they ignorant and and your a nob head and selfish, drivers to day they a DR jekyill and MR Hyde.
please translate?
My translation follows: They be nob they be, they be Dr Jerkin and they be Mr Hump! How’s that for British humor lol!
Don’t worry Rob the use of the English language will also be banned by 2030, if Mr Corbyn has his way .
Commie Corbyn lives in Londonistan, there aren’t many that speak English
Grumpole – oh dear, what has life done to you? Stay on page 3, you’re safer that way.
You fascists are getting brave.What has brought you all out of the closet ?
But only after truth has been completely eradicated by journalists first. 🤔😅
Those who live in London lost their sense of humor years ago. Over crowded dump.
I found one lying on the street and have kept it for years, no one came looking for it. Perhaps it had belonged to a journalist or s politician 😂
Have you not heard Dr Jerkin and Mr Hump is still at large in the 21st Century!
London is mostly populated by people with a less than fair complexion. Will this comment, though true, pass the censor?
The question is, why did you make the comment? It makes you look non too bright.
David, that is on the face of it a racist comment
Petrol Prices.Hope you are monitoring and policing racists on your site.
Because sometimes views you find rattle your cage can’t be shut down because you call them racist or fascist
PM Blair said he would rub our noses in multiculturalism as long as he does not have to live next door to one of them.
Oh that must be the government effect of a lack of police, it’s already happened, just another fatality, we’ll sort it later when it’s toooooooo late! Thank you humorous GB!
British humor? The only humor I hear now is bickering MP’s and perverted online weirdos!
I’m in my seventies. With the best will in the world it’s not a solution for me.
Those living in the country will be moved to the towns and cities just as they are trying to do in France.
Correct. This is already in the planning according to Debra Taveres who has the paper work to prove it. Check her out on you tube or StopTheCrime.net.
What a load of tosh she puts out, scaring the uneducated like all god fearing Americans do ….
absolutely spot on – Please read United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Human Development for the 21st Century – just google it, its there for all to see – We will ALL be moved into ‘smart’ cities. it was decided and signed off by UN members in 1992!!! Everything that has been happening over the last 10 years or so is in preparation and in 2016 they decided to ramp it up to have all frameworks in place by 2030!!!
OMG: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld
This is the New World Order and Open Borders Foundation project supported by the EU. Its pure marxism and is a leftard utopia which can never happen. None of it can happen while there are 1.6 billion muslims who violently oppose such a project. Does the UN propose a eugenics war?
I think you’ll find they oppose most things.
You should talk to some sometime. Quite the opposite. Very open people inclusive and considerate bunch, with a strong ideology that appears to oppose much of what the ‘west’ thinks it stands for but very open too. Beware the oddball sects, IS and journalistic descriptions none of which represent the wider group.
Tiddler – Spot the Daily Mail reader
As we are due to LEAVE the EU on 31st October does not apply to us!!!! lol
Its also known as Agenda 21.
People now dont want the societal changes so they use the fear of climate change to nibble away till they get there..
A21 is why we have congestion, green lanes, trams and windmills.. and a lot more.
When they talk of eradicting poverty they dont say its cos the poor will be bumped off.. all to save the planet..
Google agenda21.. the depopulation plans are staggering
They’re not moving people into cities : they’re expanding the cities to engulf those living in the country, thereby destroying a way of life and all other forms of nature in the process.
This is why organisations such as CPRE are vital and need as much of our support as possible.
very true. They are also making people live in tiny houses with nowhere for kids to play
Who decided to “ramp it up”, and when was it discussed by any politicians in parliament?
Towns and villages will cease to exist, the Country will be renamed London (as that’s all these so called think tanks ever consider)
It already is called london any misplaced American tourist will confirm that (conversation goes like this) where am I
You’re in Birmingham
Do you know how to get to marble arch
Yup go to London and ask someone there
Oh isn’t Birmingham in london then
There won’t be any countryside by then as the new housing developments will had covered it all?
Absolute rubbish !!!!!! I used to live in rural France (moved back for family reasons – dad ill)
I’m thinking of moving back ASAP BREXIT or not
Had a lovely drive through parts of southwestern France earlier this year: countryside superb. roads excellent, towns and villages almost ghost towns – and many abandoned ruins that had been roadside inns / hotels and working farms – probably not that long ago…
Don’t worry, I’ve read the paper, it appears that it’s some fantasy writers idea of a London without cars or privately owned cars. I would like to think there would be a riot if they tried to stop how many million motorists from driving? Stupid idea from a green eco warrior type idiot. In an office of specialist idiots that don’t live in the same world as everyone else.
Problem is these ideas are gaining more snd more publicity and representation in many political discussions and are thereby gaining traction
Well said, Anne. Look at all the publicity this dumb young Swedish girl is getting. I hope she takes some books on astrophysics and geology with her on what she expects to be a nauseating passage: she might learn something about climate change and what gives rise to it.
ΠΞ
not to mention the amount of revenue that would be lost due to the loss of all the ‘rip off’ taxes placed on the motorist!
The report is specifically about Greater London
Then, where else after that ?
we could use the cows that we will be no longer allowed to eat, oh perhaps not they trump! methane, so they will be banned as well.
Did someone mention Trump?????
I haven’t read the report, and I suspect you haven’t either. I’m guessing they expect people to have switched to collective car clubs by then; they’d also expect public transport to be much improved under a Labour government. I don’t think this is demonising the motorist so much as a comment on the fact that the current ownership model is not sustainable and will have to shift.
Yes, car sharing schemes are part of the envisaged scenario along with improved public transport.
The report is actually quite interesting, even for a keen motorist like myself.
https://common-wealth.co.uk/away-with-all-cars.html
Yes do the car sharing but remember you have to have the right insurance for it which is more money yet again this country is getting worse these so good do-gooder’s think it’s best to get rid of everything that harms the planet what about them with the s@#t that they talk about cause they talk enough of it
Car sharing included in a “Ban All Cars” scheme? Now I am convinced we need a new education system long before 2030. Bring back the horse and cart we could grow more roses, plant more trees instead of building Park and Ride facilities. There you go. How do I put this to the Eco Warriors that are going to ban all cars? Give them 10 years to consider the benefits.
Car sharing, public transport, in the middle of the countryside???, or will small villages also be banned, moving everyone into large towns and cities? And what happens when more than 1 person needs the shared car? Do you have enough cars for everyone to share, i.e. 1 each?
I missed the leap in the article, the one you appear to have made, where it says Greater London includes all the countryside.
You don’t really expect the kneejerk reaction keyboard warriors who infest this site to actually read the background material, surely?
I think this absolute rubbish typical left wing green ideological rubbish, for a moment think of the amount of taxation that is generated by the motorist everything from vehicle excise duty, VAT, petrol tax, insurance tax. Then there is the loss of employment for the people who make cars, those who work in garages, petrol stations, the insurance industry, traffic wardens, as and other company patrol men to workers at out of town supermarket workers, what about disabled blue badge drivers and others where there is not any public transport.. Typical green, left wing rubbish
Some good points John
Their proposal is for London only. Not for the countryside.
…and later coming to a city near you…
Maybe, but not the countryside. Though self drive cars to order would work there too.
The Loony Lefties would probably suggest “Buy a horse and leave for work 3 hours earlier”. IDIOTS!!!
What farty horses! That won’t be allowed Why did so many people die in the name of freedom when we seem to be heading very quickly to a communist state
Sounds a good idea, 3 hours to work, do a couple of hours work and then go home again, at least I won’t be at work so long lol! Mind you they’ll want you to do work while riding your horse just to catch up with the schedule. Better still no work at all just ride around the M25 all day that will be well worth it for all the confusion it would cause! It could even replace the Grand National with a more challenging course lol!
But they banned horses because they didn’t have enough people to shovel the s**t off the streets
This is a click bait article, not to be taken seriously. Your situation would have to be addressed, as would mine – needing to ferry round a disabled daughter and her wheelchair.
Don’t start looking at houses nearer work just yet.
The great advantage of Labour policy is that a lot of people have input – so simple stupid solutions get modified and rationalised.
Live in the city, town, village, Hamlet, you work and while they are about it have a company house too
Private cars or not we properly supported public transportation. Then we need to think about the future of the private car
Get a job in the countryside, work from home, live near your work?
Live in East Anglia, work in S Wales 2-3 days/week, visit my elderly mother in the Midlands on the way to/from work. No car!! really!!
Apparently there is something wrong in living in the place you work
Obviously, there aren’t any beds in the place I work 😉
Looks like you’ll have to reach for the scoot along scooter lol, at least you’ll lose weight! Another ridiculous idea from Labour!
No problem, work will be a thing of the past and we’ll all be on their payroll!
That is my point. No thought or foresight.
Simple, the state’s ultimate aim is to have the population in large cities where they can be controlled, checked, monitored, total surveillance 24/7. All privately own transport will be banned. Bolshevik Stazi State.
No, they can do it very easily when you’re in the countryside too. And it’s called a “Corporate Consumer Junkie Controlled Sate”, nothing to do with communism, everything to do with control by the few, including those from Eton. Wise up or you’ll be swallowed as the aperitif.
Walk for the good of the State comrade…
So many suckers here thinking the Eton toffs aren’t about to get ya! Be paranoid, very paranoid.
They are idealists. Like perfectionists you do not want them anywhere near power!!
In Romania they were forcing people living in the countryside to live in towns.. before communism was overthrown! People in this country need to wake up to just how extreme a Jeremy Corbyn government could be.
You’re very confused sir. Corbyn is anything but extreme. No one is forcing anyone to live in towns. Go get a massage, and pay for it by dropping the Daily Mail subscription – happiness is so easy!
There’s nothing like the Daily Mail to provide inaccurate and biased information – content created for click-bait or to sell more copies – and this is straight from their pages, albeit via FleetPoint.
1) The title is a quote, not an instruction
“Things all got too much for author Kudno Mojesic. He was arrested in the street outside his Belgrade home attacking cars with an axe, yelling ‘Away with all cars, they are the devil’s work!’”
Sunday Mirror, London, 11th January 1976
2) It’s not a “white paper” it’s a report. For anyone interested in reading it here’s the link
common(hyphen)wealth(dot)co(dot)uk(slash)css(slash)pdfs(slash)Common(hyphen)Wealth(hyphen)Infrastructure(dot)pdf
“Unless we radically decarbonise our transport system, we cannot build a just post-carbon society. But rapid decarbonisation won’t be achieved without re-imagining how we move and connect. The future will be different.
This report sets out the contours of an alternative vision for transport: public focused, multi-modal, and zero carbon. It sets out how London could become a private car free-zone by 2030 and the multiple benefits that would generate, alongside a strategy for rapidly improving connectivity, affordability, and quality of low carbon travel across the rest of the UK, including new powers and funding to deliver a better, net-zero transport system.
This release is included in a series on infrastructure, as part of Common Wealth’s Green New Deal project.”
Sadly like you we are not on their radar !
Maybe, I don’t know, if a politician adopted this as policy, they might also be in a position to provide public transport there. In isolation, this would be a terrible idea, but think tanks are not known for looking at the big picture – and, even when they do, your average Joe doesn’t tend to react to the big picture – exactly as has happened here, they latch on to one little bit of the story that they either love or hate and then they completely lose their s**t about it, forgetting all else.
agenda 2030
Alex Fenn – whilst I’m not at all in favour of banning cars nor on the side of this so called think tank. Its people like you who, without realising it, act like snowflakes and prevent any type of meaningful change from ever taking place. Your comment shows that you are full of self importance. No doubt you’d block a development site because it may disadvantage a family of rare newts.
We should all look after our fast disappearing wildlife. Who wants more concrete?
The transition to driverless cars will massively increase safety, reduce congestion and reduce the need for parking. The idea would be to make it cheaper and more convenient to dial up one of these than it would be to own your own car (which unless you drive it for a living, is sat somewhere motionless over 90% of the time.) Less congestion means greater economy, less CO2 and less lung damaging pollution. Common ownership means it is more affordable to produce, maintain and run low or zero CO2 vehicles. A fully integrated transport system means anyone can get from anywhere to anywhere else in the quickest most relaxing way for the least outlay.
Yes, we will miss our large, gas guzzling, metal status symbols. We will miss the thrill of that Grand Prix start at the traffic lights (which would be mostly redundant.) We will miss the thrill of cutting up other drivers on the road, but we will have a cleaner, more efficient, fairer and above all happier society.
I just think 10 years is rather optimistic.
Move
They being the leftie think tank, would encourage you to leave your commuter dependant job and go on the dole!
The new Corbyn Socialist Order would make you work in the fields next door for a pittance. And if you complained it would be off to the Gulag.
An unrealistic comment by townies, there’s no bus service in many parts of Norfolk so what are we supposed to do… drive tractors? Or let’s ban them too and import our food shall we. It’ll never happen, Corbyn isn’t PM material he is killing the Labour Party.
I don’t think that this is actually Corbyn’s idea. As the article states “this came from a radical left-wing pro-Corbyn supporting think tank”.
That it’s even being proposed is a matter of concern. Car sharing – improved Public Transport. Really?
With supporters like that, who need enemies?
This is an idea only for London. The article is misleading.
Thin end of the wedge. Give an inch, and they’ll take a mile. The loony left are failing to get their ecomentalism believed, so are taking another tack to get rid of the private car (secretly, they know EVs are a fantasy). It’ll be private ownership of our houses next.
The Conservatives are killing themselves also.
Slightly off topic. I read something interesting today that the Conservatives are dead if they carry on with the direction of travel which is the small state, individual freedom one or as the article put it “rampant individualism”
Quite an interesting read and no it wasn’t a leftist article (I think) while no one is the same or has the same beliefs I think it shows at least to some degree that the Moggs and his ilks love for American neoliberalism is at odds with what many in this country and wider Europe want in comparison. Personal and national security, well funded public services, strong community etc.
So by handing all these decisions to un-elected foreign politicians who care about their own countries more than any other, we are going to be safer and better off? Are you sure we will be better protected by the EU army with German soldiers equipped with black painted broom handles?
Razachas – both your questions show misunderstanding of the situation. Let me try to help.
We all take orders from un-elected people in senior positions all the time and that doesn’t seem to bother anyone too much. Having said that whilst the UK remain an EU member we get to have a say on how it’s run, our representatives (the most important ones are directly elected to sit in the European Parliament and the European Council the others are made up of member nations ministers, are sent by our elected politicians or represent us in a similar way to how they do in the UK) aren’t just sitting at the back of the room twiddling their thumbs letting ‘foreign politician’s’ make all the decisions. You could do worse than read this article on the BBC newsround website
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/21168839
As for your EU army question; you and others seem under the impression that Brussels would take control of our military which is an incorrect understanding of any proposal. Whilst the term ‘EU army’ has been used it is really no more than member nations militaries working together in a similar way to NATO.
Hopefully that’s given you a slightly better understanding.
Hopefully it won’t matter to us how the EU is run by October 31st. Have to say, take everything the BBC says with a bucketful of salt…
Foreign affairs should always matter, it’s in the national interest.
“How the EU operates” should have been covered before 2006 but instead a load of people who would struggle to name their local councillor thought they were knowledgeable enough to vote without understanding it at all.
It’s voters who vote without thinking that’s the real problem. So many vote the same way all their lives without ever engaging their brains. They should ask themselves is this candidate really intelligent enough to make sensible decisions that good for the country?
No it’s Labour voters killing Labour, by voting for Corbyn, McDonnell, and their ilk.
I live in Kidderminster can you tell me what bus service is. We might have a bus but it is not a service. The public transport in our area is a joke.
Unworkable nonsense, I am disabled, live in a village, where the unbelievably expensive bus service has been reduced once again, what do these cretins suggest, that I buy a bicycle, walk more? Do they seriously believe that they can create a fully functional public service in a decade, delusional at best. Idiots like this do politics a disservice.
This is an idea only for London. The article is misleading.
Even if it only does apply to London now, it’s so obvious it would spread to all other large cities. It’s crazy communist planning, and when it starts there no way of stopping it.
The report is specifically about Greater London.
Tory propaganda .If you can’t see this you are blind .
You are Jeremy Corbyn, and I claim my £5 prize.
So now “the facts” are “Tory Propaganda”>
Here is a link to the original document. You can read this “propaganda” at your leisure:
https://common-wealth.co.uk/away-with-all-cars.html
For “propaganda”, read “anything I don’t agree with or that embarrasses me..”
please note: I have now read this report, and it is NOT about banning private cars, it is about increasing public transport, particularly in central London. To reduce the unacceptable level of pollution, they suggest massive improvements to public transport, all of which seem pretty sensible.
This headline in PetrolPrices’ email is highly political (whatever they claim) and quite misleading in linking Corbyn’s name to the banning of cars. Can it be coincidence that it appears just as an election seems imminent?
Thank heavens for people like Stacy Marking who has taken the time to actually read the content of the paper and point out the glaringly obvious point that we are on the cusp of a General Election and this article is an obvious pitch for the Conservative party by an equally obvious apolitical author. It is obvious that the combustion engine will go the same way as the coal mines – regardless of who is in power – so stick to telling us where the cheapest fuel is, for now at least!
Stacy marking – this should be the top comment
I agree propaganda, not necessarily tory though, just anti-climate change and pro industrial capitalism (which IS destroying our planet before our very eyes! – there is no mention of corbyn on the common-wealth.co.uk site at all, no need for the headline of the article to mention corbyn at all. also no links to the think tank to investigate the headlines claim. I live in rural area, have to commute to a city and have requirement to travel to other cities so I need a vehicle as most locations are nowhere near train stations. It is a conundrum that must be solved for very large number of citizens and workers.
Yes, read the actual report they’re talking about, and it is about congestion in the heart of cities and how to improve public transport to lessen pollution. It’s quite sensible stuff, and does not suggest the wholesale ‘banning privately owned cars’.
Not yet… it will come
What world do you live in,
obviously a Labour supporter
Jeremy Corbyn is an idiot at the best of times. The idea is ridiculous and d out it will even happen. I understand pollution emissions are a big problem and we all need to change at sometime in the future, but electric cars should be the way forward, not banning cars completely. That Will lead to thousands more job losses!!!
Only small problem, where does all that electricity come from to charge your car?
That’s a great point
The National Grid, the people who look after the UK networks, have already stated on several occasions that electrifying our cars is NOT a problem. Too many amateurs in the press speculating it’ll be a problem and spreading FUD.
https://theenergyst.com/millions-electric-vehicles-sooner-predicted-no-sweat-says-national-grid/
No problem for National Grid – they will simply place another interconnector across the Channel. Cheap imported electricity??
It was a problem for National Grid on Friday… Strangely BBC radio weather was giving out on Thursday that:- the “windy weather” would (not may) cause “power outages”. Was that just a “guess” or did they know in advance that National Grid had a problem already and was not openly letting-on.?
Increased investment in green production – tide, wind, waves etc.
This is an idea only for London and it is not a Corbin idea, but an idea written by a pro-Corbin think thank. The article is highly misleading. The original paper contemplates the use of several types of electrical vehicles.
It is not written by Corbyn, it has nothing to do with Corbyn, and it’s about big Cities…
I’ve given up at this point. This article was written to kick off debate. as you say, it has nothing to do with Corbyn but already people have jumped in calling him an idiot etc and conflated Green politics with Labour policy, Greater London issues with national ones. It was ever thus on Social Media.
There are many derogatory names for Corbyn and all are suitable, he has spent his whole career being a professional whinger with a huge amount of fence sitting when he is unsure what will win him the most votes. I cite two of the more obvious and pathetic attempts to claim easy votes: sitting on the floor of a train with seats and promising students he will wipe out their fees knowing full well there is not enough public cash available; the irony being that it was his party that turned education into a business! However, the best example is the anti Semitic issue he has still failed to deal with. Imagine his indecisive weasel like behaviour in a national crisis…a scary prospect!!
… and people living in blocks of flats with double yellow lines outside will charge their cars where?
Charging cars at home is a stupid notion. A significant number of apartment dwellers couldn’t achieve that. We don’t have petrol/diesel pumps outside our houses. We got to FILLING STATIONS. The onus must be on the industry to develop fast charging, large capacity batteries AND reuse the redundant roadside sites.
ANYONE HEARD OF TESLA ELECTRIC SCIENTIST =FREE ENERGY FOR ALL CONFINED TO HISTORY, BECAUSE NO PROFIT FOR ANY ONE.
Anyone remember the story of “The kings new clothes”? In 200 years this present “the end of the world is coming if you don’t pay” generation will be laughed at. What would our forefathers and previous generations who built a new world for us say.?
What are you rambling about?
No I would be lost without our car as my husband is disabled and using public transport is out of the question.
Use taxis. The report suggests these will be plentiful in the imagined future.
So I just re-register my private car as a taxi and reserve it for my sole use then…
If you are a licensed and registered taxi driver, get the ‘Knowledge’ and obey the ‘cab rank’ rules…
So idea is absolutely nothing to do with Corbyn at all is it? If PetrolPrices are just going to promote pathetic Tory propaganda and lies count me out.
Try reading the article before posting – it will help to ensure you don’t look completely stupid. This is about a hard left think tank that support our Jezzer!
Try reading the paper before leaping on the anti Labour bandwagon.
Yes go and read the report rather than just the article, that way you won’t look like a complete foolish idiotic piece of floating detritous.
I was informed that the Tory Lies & Propaganda machine was copied from the Liebour party as they are considered to be the best at it. So if you want to be the best!!!!!! copy the best. Weapons of mass destruction springs to mind.
Typical Londoncentric twaddle.
The report is about London, but you wouldn’t dream of reading it, would you.
In principle it sounds ok but there is no chance of public transport either physically or logistically being able to cope with the numbers .many areas already lack transport so a car is mandatory. Whats next ? Bring back horses ?
When we relied on horses there was a big pollution problem then But it could be shovelled up and moved whereas exhaust fumes hide in the air and poisons us.
The report is about London.
” and with no reliable means of cheap transportation available to those that are less fortunate, the city will grind to a halt.” With that comment, you demonstrate the narrowness of your biased argument. The days of the internal combustion engine are numbered. With a Corbyn government, emphasis will swing back to true public transport in public ownership. Whilst we are all held to ransom by privatised transport, we will continue to be hooked on using these machines that are quickly poisoning our planet.
100% this.
“there is no public transport where I live” at if this is done kind of gotcha.
Simply put, only governments will be able to run any form of vehicle that’s not human powered in the next few decades.
Changes need to be made now, whilst we still can.
Yes, I remember when the railways were in public ownership, in fact I was alive when they were taken out of private ownership just after the war. Rolling stock & locos were worn out through lack of maintenance because materials were short & having to run 24/7 for the war effort. Things didn’t improve much, & before they were privatised, they barely ran to time, rolling stock was old, shabby & dirty. These days Network Rail is in public hands & when there are delays, it usually rests with them. Put the railways back into public ownership & watch it go downhill again.
Just shows what a load of crack pots we have in our government.
Join the discussion…Us tax paying crackpots pay for this
Did you actually read the article? If you did not let me enlighten you it was a left wing think tank! Not the government and certainly no one with any common sense!
They are not in government, nor will they ever if this is the best that they can conjure up.
Banning all private cars can’t work. People need to get to work and the public transport sector would need more than just a major overhaul to cope with the demand. Apart from the loss of N billion in revenue from fuel duty, road tax, loss of jobs in the motor industry, etc ad nauseum.
EV is not the answer either as it’s probably less green than fossil fuel vehicles. The real way forward is hydrogen cells. However, the fuel companies have stifled progress in this area in the name of profit.
The problem with hydrogen that is never mentioned is it is made from gas … still a carbon based energy (google hydrogen production). It has the same issues than EV’s have, good at point of use but causes issues to produce
Garbage statement about EVs. A car battery will need to be recycled in a decade or two. How do we recycle the tens of thousands of gallons of fossil fuels burnt and polluting our air in the same amount of time? The national grid is now nearly 50% zero carbon and coal amounts to single digit percentage of our energy mix. The UK’s production of electricity is getting greener every single year.
https://www.nationalgrid.com/group/news/britains-clean-energy-system-achieves-historic-milestone-2019
Wake up and stop pandering to the fake news spread by research funded by middle east oil companies!
How about if we had a co-owned fleet of driverless low emission cars that each of us could summon to our door when required? No privately owned cars but everyone can share transport as required.
A car hire cooperative scheme is envisaged in the report (it does not mention driverless, I doubt if the technology would be perfected by 2030)
Carrot or stick?
Oh yeh, and how clean and tidy would it be when it arrived. There are plenty of selfish people who would leave it in an awful state inside and damaged outside, it’s not theirs so they don’t care. So who would clean it up, you?
This is typical of the labour think tank. These people should try living in the real world. The country would grind to a halt in no time at all. God help us if labour ever get back in power
https://youtu.be/NYoOcaqCzxo
Another view – watch before you comment.
A sign of what’s to come if you vote Labour…….At least you’ve been warned!
Jamie Rogers,,Dimwitted Tory troll.
Just because the think tank may be pro Corbyn does not mean their views are supported by him, or indeed, by the Labour Party.
You brought politics into it when there was no need. It is just a think tank recommendation. There is no need to mention it’s political leanings. It’s just a think tank.
This article is click bait, and you, are an idiot.
This comment is just unnecessary and rude. The think-tank advises Jezza, who runs the Labour party. If they came up with a suitable idea on how to fix the NHS you can bet your bottom dollar that you’d attribute it to Jezza and how wonderful he is.
Maybe if they didn’t rip up the majority of our nationwide Victorian railway network of which I do not buy the argument that it was un-economical for the public and removed the tram systems from our towns and cities and made the use of the car unavoidable for the majority of the time.
Also, add the extra amounts of people in the country with extra cars needed now.
More Marxist ideology that kills nations. If anyone really likes this sort of stuff, may I suggest moving to North Korea (plenty of roads but no cars) or Venezuela (plenty of crude oil but industry left to extract it). All of this is just extreme leftism.
Nonsense. Capitalism has already ruined nations, such as Britain.
Wrong!. Corporatism has done that, not Capitalism.
Maybe you should post a link to the article rather than choose sections to wind up your subscribers. Also, don’t pretend that you stay clear of politics when you are scaremongering people into believing that the ‘left’ are out to get them when in most cases the ‘left’ are the ones looking out for the majority of us
Strange how “the majority” repeatedly vote AGAINST them, in elections, don’t you think? Can you explain this contradiction in your statement?
Actually, more people vote for left wing parties. That doesn’t really matter though, because that wasn’t the original poster’s argument and you instead made one up yourself as a strawman.
You suppose that people need looking after. A common misconception of the left is that people need to be told what to think and do. Apparently the “Left” are moraly and intellectually superior. I think differently.
How do they think that they will generate the amounts of revenue that are currently raised. Fuel taxation, road tax etc, losing this revenue would create a large void in budget spending
Bus fares will rise exponentially
As usual NO joined up thinking. how will a Party explain to those Workers, it claims to represent, who are in the Automotive, and associated Industries, their Jobs will go?
Brexit is taking care of that, what’s currently left of the UK based (not owned!) auto industry is on it’s way abroad.
I think people are missing the point, Tory or Labour propaganda is smoke and mirrors. Look at the first part of the article ‘Pro Corbyn support think tank’ let’s not make the assumption we no nothing about, its a thinktank with an agenda it’s not politics
This is the way to get a small-minded minority the air to spread fear…
73 years old and live 3 miles from the nearest town. Do they think I should just starve to death?
I think private car ownership will gradually come to be a thing of the past, but not for the reasons in the article. Rather, the ever spiralling cost of ownership such as purchase price, daily running costs and rocketing repair bills as cars become laden with more & more unnecessary tech, will make ownership (of a new vehicle) a thing of the past.
I agree, I suggest that leasing or renting as and when required may be the future.
Many private cars spend long periods parked.
What is going on, banning cars is so stupid. We have on of the worst buses and trains in the world. I qualify for a free bus pass but my bus service is rubbish. I live in a village in Kent my nearest main town is 10 miles away. The bus service is 2 hourly it can take up to one and a half hours to get there by bus and last one I can get home leaves town at 6.30pm. There are no trains.
The report is about London specifically.
Unfortunately folks, this is the future.
The planet is dying, and we are killing it.
Resources are becoming scarcer and scarcer. In all liklihood that by 2030 it’ll have become prohibitively expensive and damaging to run, let alone own a private vehicle.
Even electrics require oil for their construction (rubber, plastics, foams, etc, as do roads)
Your looking at this with a 20th, if not 19th century mindset.
What do you suggest, we all go back to living in caves and dress in leaves. Homes, IT, everything we have has a degree of carbon energy involved.
There is a direct link between standard of living and energy consumption.
Managed reduction and replacement of the current reliance on crude and inefficient systems.
We will find ways around this, but the work and effort needs to be done now.
People need to stop being so myopic.
I like the leaves idea, although I feel some initial chaffing might occur, we can grunt at each other as well kind of like teenagers do now and chuck spears at things…… BUT you mark my words in 10/20 years some idiot will invent a round thing and call it a wheel before you know it we’ve tired some logs together and made a “cart” to pull, further more catch two large animals and they can pull it WOW next will be the horseless carriage….. AND IT ALL STARTS AGAIN.
Oh the circle of life!
Rory even if we reduce our carbon footprint to Zero it will just be a tiny answer to the problem. Perhaps all the ECO warriers need to go to India, Russia or China first. They are the worst polluters. Dropping their Carbon footprint by 10% would make a huge difference.
this is the auto-response from folk parroting lines they’ve read elsewhere.
we in the west have been responsible for the vast majority of green house gas production, and on a per person basis outstrip everyone else in the amount of resources we use.
this has to change.
Besides, are we not supposed to lead the world? so why not lead by reducing our pollution levels and upping the amount of active measures we take to improve things.
Britain could be at the front of all these new areas of development: technology and infrastructure wise.
we have plenty of renewable sources: wind, wave and even solar power.
papers like this are part of that push: we can’t continue as we have been.
saying “But the Chinese!!” is incredibly unhelpful and wrong.
Dont know about Russia or India, but China is the largest producer of solar energy, and solar panels. This present government for reasons known to itself have gone out of their way to cripple alternative energy. It has a long term major cost and positive environment impact. Of course it has a co 2 element, everything has, but insignificant compared to fossil fuel, and the majority of lubricants have been synthetic and largely plant based. Whatever our opinion of car ownership the present model has to change. I should really have looked a little closer at its authorship and their interests when I read this article. No particular politician should have been named, or the acclaimed political affiliation. Politics will kill us not the planet, we need to change or become the victims of self inflicted evolution.
It’s ridiculous, on so many levels.
As a community carer, I use my own car. I couldn’t give a figure of how many community carers there are like myself, or who many care companies rely on people like myself, and most importantly how many services users are able to remain in their own homes because of us.
Had this article said that by 2030 we should all be driving cars with no emissions then I might have given it some credit.
The Labour Party are idiots, even if we could afford electric cars the waste from Ion Batteries and the recycling of such is worse for the environment than any petrol car.
Also one eruption of a Volcano puts paid to all of the savings being done to protect the environment all over the world for a year, and that’s nature for you.
Calling people idiots for things they haven’t done makes you just look a bit daft. The Labour Party did not write this paper. The article above also doesn’t even represent the paper correctly.
1. The paper (which refers only to London) is nothing to do with the Labour party other than in the fevered imagination of Petrol Prices.
2. Humanity’s contribution to the climate emergency is an unnecessary addition to the natural emissions, why would you be happy to do nothing about it? Do you have no grandchildren, no relatives under 20? Seriously, we’re fu*#ing up their futures.
Vehicles aren’t just a means to move people, they also move things too large to carry. I’ve often for example purchased large items on eBay then collected them in my people carrier which doubles well as a van. Any suggestion of shared vehicles would require a monumental shift in lifestyle, we’ve all become used to the do it / have it now lifestyle. Ten years is nowhere near long enough to change this. My politics tend to the right but I do believe public transport should be public and subsidised to be affordable and available for all wherever you live if you want to reduce reliance on private vehicles. When my children were at school between 2000 and 2010 the bus service they needed deteriorated markedly and their (only 4 mile) journey became longer in time and more unreliable. Only in the London area and a few city centres is widespread regular public transport currently a reality. A 2030 deadline to show any significant reduction in private vehicles is wholly unrealistic.
This is about Londistan where over half the population are not British and where Labour would gather its support. It stands to reason that Labour dont want the masses to have cars or in fact anything that makes their life easier while at the same time they would be swanning around in the state owned Rolls
London is about 45% White British according to the 2011 census. However many non-Whites are also British.
This of course has nothing to do with the article.
You do realise, Mr. Racist Old Bat, that all that means is ‘city of Londoners’?
Everyone in London apart from tourists are British, you strange little person, because they live in Britain. See how that works?
Oh no watch out the Corbynistas race flag wavers are out Thomas.
Surpised they never mentioned fascit, nazi or far right whenever they want to try and shut down intelligent discussions this is what they do!
No wonder Trump got in and the far right are on the rise its these people who fuel it!
You are of course correct Thomas!
Make the streets safe again, stop all the muggings, the stabbings, the shootings, everything. Make it so I feel my family is safe jumping on public transport and then maybe we can consider something as radical as this, but it’s a ridiculous idea nonetheless.
Wasn’t there a report a year or so back that much of London Air pollution was in fact due to the increased use of log burners and open fires and more specifically that much of the fuel being used was waste wood contaminated with paint etc and then not burnt properly? It resulted I believe in certain less efficient log burners being banned and stove sellers being required to issue proper operating instructions by law. Air pollution is not all about vehicles
So they ban cars. How are they going to replace the revenue that the car owner generates through road tax and fuel duty. It will never happen.
The report is about London, but you wouldn’t dream of reading it, would you.
Did you only dream about reading this article?? The opening few paragraphs state that the basis is to ban ALL private vehicles, not just London.
Normal working cannot not poss afford new electric cars. How about all these ministers and even the royal use electric vehicles
Maybe carbon levels in the atmosphere would be significantly less if corporations were not cutting down large swathes of the Rain forests to grow palm oil. These forests uses to absorb tons of carbon and were referred to as the lungs of the world.
It’s no good the UK banning everything that produces emissions if the test of the world won’t change as well.
I’m permanently in a wheelchair I’d like to give these morons my spare wheelchair for a day and let them loose on public transport in this country
They’re literally talking about the need to improve infrastructure.
The report is about London, but you wouldn’t dream of reading it, would you.
I believe the article high lights exactly my thoughts, the government should lead by example and have all their vehicles powered by electricity in one form or other.
I also live in the country side and the bus service is very sparse to say the least.
There are all sorts of implications about the ownership of vehicles which I am sure the writers of the report are aware but have conventionally not mentioned.
Anyway one could keep on writing on this subject but I feel I have said enough.
Perhaps they would be better off focusing on improving transportation links and letting people decide.
I car share to work to save money and the environment.
Public transportation links are so poor I would spend 4hrs a day commuting. it’s not realistic
The report is about London, and is about improved infrastructure, but you wouldn’t dream of reading it, would you.
I’m a dog fosterer and walker .. they’ve not taken the many dog walkers into consideration. Or, tbh anyone else with particular needs. How typical.
I note that the hook is a ‘Pro Corbyn left wing think tank’ with the other collaborators, i.e. Greenpeace UK and a group called ‘Common Wealth’ conveniently tucked away in the text. Therefore, you are doing politics and behaving no better than the politicians and corporate media
A Corbyn think tank what an oxymoron
No, an oxymoron would be a thinking Tory. Or a ‘compassionate Conservative.’ Or a ‘not addicted to some substance or another Trump.’
Is this the same politicians that are riding around London in the biggest, heaviest, thirstiest vehicles made in the motor industry.
No. It’s a think tank, not a political party.
It’s absolutely ridiculous as a disabled person i need my car to get about not that i go out everyday in my car some days i don’t go out towns are going to become ghost towns how are people with small business going to survive this if they rely on customers from all over especially those who travel distances it’s the daftest thought ever
The most ridiculous idea I have ever heard
You state you are not political but this article mentions ‘lefty’ ‘communist’ etc etc. YOU SOUND LIKE THE BBC having a dig at corbyn.
You also provide no name of this apparently ‘pro-corbyn thinktank’, no links to the white paper.
You mention greanpeace so it actually sounds like a cross party think tank to address the issue.
So actually you ARE coming across as a VERY political, climate denying pro-industrial capitalism supporter.
I am a car driver and require a large vehicle for my job and something needs to be done, just from the point of view that we have been told diesels are bad but petrol is bad for CO2 and CO and CO is on the rise again as more people shun diesel for petrol as electric cars are still useless if you need to travel further than the next local town or city centre.
So this is more of an anti-corbyn article than anything to do with fuel pricing and concern for UK car drivers.
So I live in the sticks, I also have severe asthma so any heavy cardio causes me issues, currently my commute is 1hr10mins.
So of they expect me to cycle or walk what time should I leave? Maybe I should allow time for a hospital visit in the commute time? While the government pushed for diesel cars, while the government drive round in supercharged V8s both land rover and jaguar, what is the point….. Electric cars are not there for normal travel now…. We completed 700mile trip this weekend, with a people carrier and full with kids and luggage….. I haven’t seen an affordable electric or hybrid option to complete the drives we do…….. Going to be alot of people at home and not working because they can’t get to work
The report is about London, but you wouldn’t dream of reading it, would you.
“While it could be argued that there are many other great cities in the UK, it’s London that’s the hub of the country, and with no reliable means of cheap transportation available to those that are less fortunate, the city will grind to a halt.” London is not the whole country, and what happens there is not even representative of the rest of the country at all. Yet another London-centric view like most of political chat. Other places exist you know?! Also, have you seen the state of public transport outside of London? If you think London’s bad wait until you see the North!!
The North? I’m less than 60 miles from London (well Trafalgar Square to be precise) and we have no buses, no pavements, no street lights past 10pm, the nearest shop is 4 miles away and the nearest train station over 7 miles.
Everywhere outside of a large city, or even decent sized town, might as well be on the moon for public transport. North or South it makes no difference we are all scuppered.
The report is about London, but you wouldn’t dream of reading it, would you.
That is alright If you live in a city and have 24 hour access to public transport. If this is the case then all the railways that Beecham cut in the 60s must be rebuilt immediately and public transport accessible to all in the countryside starting now with national service reinstated to provide the labour for this
The report is about London, but you wouldn’t dream of reading it, would you.