I am born and raised in England from immigrant parents. I love England, even the weather. I also love the language and the cultural diversity of Europe. The French, so different to their neighbours, the passion of the Italians, the rugged Russians, the technical and clinical expertise of the Germans – I love it all!
What a sad place the world would be, if we all thought and acted the same.
So why, oh why, are we lethargically allowing these idealistic, faceless, un-elected, lefty-bureaucrats to change the very fabric of British life, without so much as a twinge or whimper?
Are we too rich to care anymore? Do mortgages, credit cards and the Sky Plus protect us from all ills?
What am I going on about? The European Union and the New Labour Government de-constructing our way of life, and then charging us for it, every step of the way – that’s what I’m going on about.
And, why the long, abstract intro? ‘Cos, I’ve had enough! I am no Anglo-phile or Europhile or Euro-sceptic or ‘Little Englander’ or Al Qaeda or knee-jerk liberal or New Labour-phile. I am merely, your everyday, working man, father, uncle, friend whatever you want, that has heard the news that we have had our rubbish bins computer-bugged to covertly ‘road-test’ Rubbish Tax. This computer chip in your ‘wheelie-bin’, will weigh your rubbish and charge you, if it is deemed by ‘those that know best’, that you are not ‘green’ enough. You should pay for the extra weight and burden that YOU put on the system for being so selfish and throwing so much away.
Now excuse me. I am all for the planet and everything, but is this not more to do with making money? Is this not just an excuse, legitimised by European Legislation, to introduce yet another stealth tax? Our representatives, and I use that term ever so lightly, in Europe have agreed targets for recycling that we are not going to meet.
Handing out tiny recycling bins and the odd poster on a bus stop has not gone anywhere near to getting the message across that we need to be making more efforts in this direction – but the Government, local as well as central, can point to these minor efforts as proof that they have provided us with what is required to recycle and we have not responded - so they have to fine us to get us on board.
If the UK do not meet these targets, then we are liable for fines to the EU of £150 per tonne (that’s a metric tonne and not imperial, I presume), which could total well over £200 million. So, rather than question the judgement of those that signed up to such an agreement and then failed to get the rest of us on board in time, the Government is going to make us pay the fines. Thank you.
A more cynical person, may take the view that the Government knew very well what would happen and has eagerly been anticipating yet another income stream – hence the covert ‘bin tapping’. Why else has it been so secret? As we all know, once a tax is in place, you never get rid of it. Let those that claimed victory over the Poll Tax by wrecking the streets of London, tell you the difference between that and the Council Tax. Speak to those that were willing to pay income tax after the war to help rebuild their nation.
In my part of Euro Zone 9 (London, for those that are unfamiliar with EU speak), we have a Drought Order in place, even though it has been raining heavily on and off for the last 6 weeks. We have our residential streets being turned into 24 hour restricted parking areas by our Council, so they can creep up on us and hand us yet another bill.
They have super-taxed our petrol and cars, they sold our utilities, so the cost of water is up almost 20%, gas has gone up yet again. Council Tax goes up every year, not to mention re-banding, there are more and more speed cameras and parking enforcement cameras; they are giving more powers to bailiffs to enter our homes, we are paying more now than ever for prescription medicines and dentistry and our National Health System is on it’s knees, kicking people out of their beds within 24 hours of operations, while refusing to pay for life-saving cancer drugs, on the grounds that they cannot afford it – however, if you are upset at being too fat or have a big nose or maybe even want a sex change, they will pay for counselling, liposuction or plastic surgery, as Europe deems that you may have a right. A slap in the face for all those that could be saved by Herceptin.
Do I sound annoyed? Too right! I have no time for New Labour or the Tories for that matter and the not so liberal Liberals amaze me with their blinkered, ‘anything but liberal’ thinking. These career politicians are stifling the evolution of Democracy and providing no tangible alternative while the lack of practical idealism is astounding. Where are the personalities in politics? They are all too scared to speak their mind. Who voted for political correctness that embraces all but common sense? If I vote against the Government, will it put a stop to these stealth taxes that encompass my every movement? Will the Opposition provide a suitable difference to the fairness of the tax system in this country and put a stop to Borough Councils inventing new problems that can only be solved by gleaning more pennies from our pockets? I know where my vote goes.
As always, not wishing to end on a negative, ‘green’ objectives are good, better understanding and more co-operation with our ‘foreign’ neighbours is good. What we need to stop is the gross misuse of these ideals to line Government coffers. We need tangible methods of predicting and measuring the benefits of these multi-million pound directives and their impact on the most important part of the UK – us, the ordinary man (sorry, person) on the street.
How do we achieve that? Well, that is the 64 million Euro question.
We cannot remain silent much longer. I’ve started my bit by writing this article and now need to consider my next move – any suggestions from the silent majority will be considered – just keep it clean.
No rubbish, though, I can’t afford it.
