Except There's No Such Rush...

The rush to electric cars will blow a £9billion black hole in the public purse by 2030, ministers were warned yesterday.

What rush? Private buyers aren't convinced! 

Experts said fuel duty receipts would fall by around this much because of the Government's 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. Electric cars are also currently exempt from road tax, which is projected to cost the public finances hundreds of millions of pounds more.

Did anyone really believe the government would give that up? Really? 

It will pile pressure on ministers to come clean about whether they will introduce new road taxes to plug the hole and about the true cost of going electric.

Why? We know whatever they say will be a lie... 

Peers were also told that the 2030 cliff-edge could be counter-productive in terms of reducing carbon emissions because drivers may buy fossil fuel cars ahead of the deadline and hold onto them.

Incentives matter! They drive behaviour. How many times do we need to learn this lesson? 

No, I Think You'll Find It's The General Public's Buying Power...

The “gigantic” power of the meat and dairy industries in the EU and US is blocking the development of the greener alternatives needed to tackle the climate crisis, a study has found.

...they don't want your meat alternatives or your vegan food that's not as healthy and twice as expensive.

Cutting meat consumption in rich nations is vital to tackling the climate crisis. Livestock production causes 15% of all global greenhouse emissions.

And India and China's fossil fuel industry? And their livestock industry? How much is that? 

The researchers also highlighted restrictive labelling rules. Terms such as “milk” and “cheese” have been banned since 2017 in the EU for most alternative milk and dairy products.

A US proposal would prohibit the sale of alternative meats unless the product label included the word “imitation”.

Remember when scientists demanded accuracy in labelling? I do... 

“It’s not a level playing field at all at the moment,” Lambin said. “The new sector needs to be given its chance to expand and gain efficiency. After that, consumers will judge whether they like it or not...”

Well, going purely on the regular appearance of these foodstuffs in the 'yellow sticker' shelf of all my local supermarkets, they've already judged. 

So What? That's What They Always Do...

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) claims a nationwide DRS could cost £1.8billion a year, plus the expense of establishing the required recycling infrastructure, and it suggested the industry will pass on these costs to customers through higher prices.

That doesn't make it a bad idea, or mean that the scheme shouldn't go ahead, if we are really serious about pollution in the enviroment.  

Scotland has already been forced to delay the introduction of its scheme until 2025 under pressure from businesses and a dispute with the UK government on how it should operate.

I took a walk along a canal a week or so ago, and the unsightly plastic bottles floating around in the water or discarded in the grass of the local park really showed up our throwaway society. It wasn't for lack of rubbish bins, either. Since we can't seem to educate people to not do this, then this makes sense, no matter how much the supermarkets whine. 

It worked years ago - surely we can make it work now? 

Lessons In Economic Reality In 'The Guardian'...

In 2014, I started a petition to end the unfair and sexist “luxury” tax on period products.

Oh, and how did that go? 

...in December 2020, Rishi Sunak, then chancellor, announced he was “proud” to finally end the 5% tax rate applied to period products.

Hurrah! Right? 

Due to a simple administrative error, period pants (a reusable and environmentally friendly menstrual product) were wrongly categorised by HMRC as clothing rather than menstrual products. As a result, period pants are still being taxed today at 20%.

Ah. The government screwing things up. Gosh. What a shock. Still, everything else is cheaper, right? 

It has been two and a half years since Sunak announced the end of the tampon tax (on all products except period pants). You would expect products to be cheaper as a result.

You might. I'm not sure I would... 

Yet a report by the not-for-profit advisory firm Tax Policy Associates found they are hardly any cheaper today than they were in 2020, even after adjusting for inflation. This is for a simple and extremely disappointing reason: retailers have kept prices the same and pocketed the reduction in tax as profits, amounting to an estimated £15m every year.

Wow! Who could have forseen that? Except, maybe, everyone..? 

It’s time to stop weaponising periods. The point of ending tax on sanitary products is to make them more accessible, not to make retailers richer.

As soon as you figure out how to do that, let us all know, eh? 

This Should Not Be A Surprise, Should It?

The ban on buying new petrol cars after 2030 will not be enough to meet green targets because polluting vehicles bought today are 'very likely' to still be in use, the RAC Foundation has said.

Well, of course they will! And why? Because we're making better cars: 

Vehicles have become less prone to corrosion and serious mechanical failure, while the cost-of-living crisis has made buying a car less affordable, even preowned.

What does the RAC suggest? Scrapping the ridiculous green targets, perhaps? 

That would be sensible, wouldn't it? That would be what your members surely want, wouldn't it?

The RAC Foundation has urged the government to encourage new car buyers to go electric, or at least choose a vehicle with low emissions.

Oh. 'More of the same'. So much for representing your members interests...

Electric cars can cost less to run and most experts agree that they are better for the planet.

 And where do they find these 'experts'..? 

Why Is The Answer Never 'I'll Start Up My Own!'..?

Kemi Alemoru on a controvery that had, admittedly, passed me by...

To understand the viral outrage and fierce gatekeeping over what at first appears to be an innocuous beauty tip, you need to understand some crucial context​...

Oh, you'll never guess..! 

...the beauty industry is a notoriously inequitable space for black women.

*sighs* 

Being able to walk into a high-street beauty store such as Boots or Superdrug and find products that cater to darker skin tones and afro hair textures is only a very recent phenomenon.

As commenters at Tim Worstall's take on this point out there's good reason for this, and the impression she gives is a false one anyway...

This lack of availability doesn’t reflect a lack of demand.

If there's a demand, why don't you fill it? 

Black hair shops are rarely black-owned, and their products often aren’t either (an irony highlighted in the new ITV drama Riches).

So the complaint has changed from 'Not enough!' to 'Not us!'..? 

Black women’s frustration (Ed: ah, the Royal 'We' here?) with the beauty industry is about far more than the inconvenience of having to travel further for the right product and paying a premium for it.

I think that's your frustration. Or did 'black women' elect you to speak for them? 

Black women are just tired: tired of being mistreated, and tired of being undervalued by the retailers and brands that market to and profit from them.

I'll echo Tim. Sod off. And when you get there, sod off again! 

And They're Right To Be...

The Guardian can reveal that the government’s upcoming land use strategy will not include a reduction in area used for animal agriculture in England.

Thus annoying all the right people. So, it seems the Tories can do something right after all! 

Climate groups have long been urging the government to take steps to reduce meat consumption, and are now accusing ministers of “worsening the cost of living crisis and continuing to lead us towards climate and ecological catastrophe”.

We aren't going to eat the bugs. Or your 'plant based' crap, either. Tough luck. 

Speaking at the Oxford farming conference, the agriculture minister, Mark Spencer, defended the government’s decision to have a hands-off approach when it came to telling landowners what to do.

...

He said meat produced in the UK was more sustainable than that from other countries, and said that, for example, beef from the UK would be better for the environment than imported beef from Mexico.

You frequently see eco-nutters pointing at carrots flown in from other countries on their hectoring Twitter feeds as 'utter nonsense!', so isn't it strange they don't take the same view about meat?  

Nostalgia Is Overrated...

A wave of 1970s-style economic unrest is threatening to spread from the railways across the public services, as unions representing teachers and NHS workers warn of potential industrial action over pay.

OK, well, at least the music was great in the Seventies. We don't even have that!

...the National Education Union (NEU), told the Observer that unless it receives a pay offer much closer to inflation by Wednesday, it will be informing education secretary Nadhim Zahawi of its plan to ballot its 450,000 members. The move could lead to strikes in schools in England in the autumn, the union said.

The country’s biggest union, Unison, representing NHS staff, said the government now faced a choice between offering a deal close to inflation or triggering a mass exodus of staff coupled with possible industrial action in hospitals, at a time when they are already hugely overburdened.

Will we even notice? We've had two years without a service thanks to covid (with needs to be paid for, of course) and I think we can bear another, if it crushes the unions for good. 

It's Not 'A War On Motorists'...

Sadiq Khan could hike fares for London commuters by as much as 10 per cent from next year, it emerged today - as he was blasted for plans to expand the £12.50-a-day Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) and introduce pay-per-mile charges for motorists.

...it's the inevitable consequences of the Covid measures on all public finances.

TfL, which Mr Khan oversees, saw its revenues collapse by as much as 95 per cent during the pandemic, and another bailout is needed to cover next April after which the organisation is expected to become 'financially sustainable'.

But almost certainly won't, after the consequences of the inevitable surrender to the rail unions which is surely next on the cards. We know they'll surrender, because it's what everyone in authority seems to do when faced with opposition, these days. 

'It almost feels like the Mayor of London is launching a war against commuters,' Commons Leader Mark Spencer said.

I hate to sound like I'm defending the useless Mayor of London on anything, but if it's a war, your government ordered us all over the top into the range of the enemy's artillery, didn't it? 

No, Not Everything Is 'Racist'...

Yes, I'm broadly in favour of working from home, not least because it's annoying all the right people, could save money and is giving it to the transport unions good and hard without benefit of lube... 

But that doesn't mean I'm bound to agree with this nonsense:

A group of Apple employees have accused the big-tech giant of racism over its push for corporate workers to return to the office, saying that the shift back to an in-person model will make the company 'younger, whiter, [and] more male-dominated.'

Errr, what..? 

Although Apple will 'likely always find people willing to work here,' the group wrote, the shift back to working in the office will 'change the makeup of [the company's workforce].'

It's already changed once, what you seem to be worried about is it might change back.  

'It will lead to privileges deciding who can work for Apple, not who’d be the best fit,' the group wrote. 'Privileges like “being born in the the right place so you don’t have to relocate”, or “being young enough to start a new life in a new city/country” or “having a stay-at-home spouse who will move with you."'

All things that apply to any job, anywhere. 

'And privileges like being born into a gender that society doesn’t expect the majority of care-work from, so it’s easy to disappear into an office all day, without doing your fair share of unpaid work in society. Or being rich enough to pay others to do your care-work for you.'

Wait, what the hell is 'your fair share of unpaid work in society' supposed to mean? Didn't anyone else notice what they slipped in there?

"Won't Someone Think Of The Children Our Profits...?"

Before Brexit, groups of children could travel using identity cards under the List of Travellers scheme.

Now, every child must have a passport, and children with non-EU passports – including refugees – also need a £95 visa. Schools are opting to go to Ireland or Malta for English language trips, or not travelling at all.

Oh noes, 40,000 jobs at risk (according to the increasingly-hysterical 'Guardian'). Whatever shall we do? 

Kurt Janson, the director of the Tourism Alliance, said the passport requirement was having “a devastating impact on a large number of small businesses and local communities”.

“The collapse in the school group market is unnecessary as schoolchildren present no security risk, will not disappear into the black economy and start driving minicabs....”

Well, I dunno, I guess it depends on the 'children', doesn't it? 

Does The 'Guardian' Realise What It's Inadvertently Published Here?

Sunita Ghosh Dastidar - a journalist and filmmaker, apparently - on the terrible injustice of foodbanks:

I grew up in Whinney Banks in Middlesbrough, one of the most deprived areas in England, with almost a third of children living in income-deprived households. My mum is a first-generation immigrant, and my parents had to start from nothing here. For a while, we were homeless – when my mum was heavily pregnant with my brother – and I took my first steps in a hostel for families.

Hmmm, OK. But since you grew up to be a journalist, it clearly worked. I guess you must be one of those hard working immigrants who triumphed without handouts and...

Wait! 

We were eventually moved from the homeless hostel into a brand-new council house a few streets away from the corner shop where my parents used to work.

Immigrants getting council houses? I thought that was 'a myth spread by the far Right' according to the progressive press? 

Such housing is available to far fewer people now.

Well, yes, and it's no wonder, isn't it? We ran out of supply! 

People like Mark and Kath are doing what they can and their resolve to help their local community by filling people’s stomachs should be commended. But we need political intervention rather than community intervention. I was partly lifted out of poverty because of the help I received through government funding for community services, and that’s what we need now.

You mean, you want the government to stick its hand even deeper into my pocket for people who come here for a free ride? No! We're not putting up with that any longer.

Let's Spin The Wheel Of Racism Once More...

...ooooh, car insurance!

Citizens Advice said it found that in some areas “the difference in price was more than 100%,” and that common risk factors such as crime rates and deprivation levels could not account for this.

“We’re concerned this suggests that areas with large communities of colour may be identified as more risky, even when objective risk factors are controlled,” it said. It found that quotes in areas with large proportions of black or south Asian people came in at least £280 higher than quotes in largely white postcodes, but that the ethnicity penalty was “up to £950 in some places”.

Well, cars and certain races don't seem to go well together, it really has to be said. 

For the “customers” the researchers picked names often associated with certain ethnic groups, though Citizens Advice said these ended up not having much impact on the prices being quoted.

“This suggests this penalty is paid by everyone who lives in an area, regardless of their ethnicity.” it added.

QED. Because in areas of large ethnic 'minorities', everyone's at risk of being involved in a collision, if not causing one...   

Be Careful What You Wish For, Henry...

Worried children at a primary school in the most polluted area of a community have appealed to parents and carers to help them cut damaging fumes by walking and biking and not keeping vehicles running.

Out of the blue? They all just decided this off their own bat? 

Head boy Henry King said: “Year six students at Bedale Primary School have been getting increasingly worried. This issue is going to get bigger if we don’t act now. We can’t do it alone, we need your help.

“Our concern over this problem was created during a scientific lesson with Dr Matt Sawyer about the human body. He told us about the effect air pollution has on our bodies and we were really shocked. Health problems like asthma, heart and lung problems.”

Ah! Of course not. Yet more indoctrination.  

“We want none of this to happen to our students. We were shown a map colour coded to the worst areas of air pollution in Bedale. Firby Road and Benkhill Drive were a deep red; our school was surrounded by pollution. This is not good for our students' health. Here is how you can help.

“When you are in your car, don’t have it running, all of the exhaust fumes go into one place. Also, by not using your car, money on fuel and possibly someone's life could be saved. Walking, scooting and biking places is healthier for you and the environment. We can save the environment, one step at a time.”

OK, Henry. No more being driven to after school activities in Mummy's Volvo. No more crisps and yoghurt in the larder and fridge when you get back, either, Mummy's not allowed to go to the shops to replenish supplies.  

Oh, your Playstation isn't working? Well, on your bike with you to the repair shop!

You're a bit chilly up in your bedroom? Sorry, can't turn up the heating. That's polluting. 

What's that, your favourite rugby shirt is dirty and the other players are making fun of you? Oh, well, that eco-setting on the washing machine doesn't really work so well, I guess. Never mind. It's for the good of the planet, isn't it?

*Shrugs*

Fewer workers returning to the office and a shift to hybrid working have caused the owners of Pret A Manger to warn it could go bust.

Oh well, shame.  

The coffee shop chain said there were 'uncertainties' that may cast 'significant doubt' over its ability to continue trading in accounts filed earlier this month.

Among these was the 'unpredictability of consumer behaviour' as well as the possibility of new pandemic restrictions and the ability to keep paying its debts.

They've realised that the government can shut their business whenever it wants. Perhaps they shouldn't have slavishly allowed them to think that, then? 

Pret, which has nearly 470 branches, relies heavily on office workers and commuters.

As I've said before, if the customers' habits change, then the business must too. Or die.  

Good!

Of course, in the crazy world of the 'Guardian', this is bad!

The government’s New Plan for Immigration aims to restrict family reunion rights for refugees who travelled through a safe third country before reaching the UK. This applies to the thousands who travelled to the UK in small boats.

Many of them have, in fact, travelled through multiple safe countries. Can the 'Guardian' find one that deserves to be here this time?

Reader, they cannot: 

One Syrian asylum seeker, who fled war, imprisonment and torture in his homeland before travelling through several countries and reaching the UK, said he was “horrified” by the government plans.

“We did not leave our country in search of happiness,” he told the Guardian. “I am talking here as the head of a family deserted. Rather, we went out to save our family from a war that does not know the young or the old and does not differentiate between the strong or the weak, in which no one can survive.”

“We walked in the most dangerous country, crossed the desert and crossed the English Channel in a rubber boat, knowing we may die in the sea. Has any official asked themselves what motivated us to risk ourselves … I was ready to die in order to save my family. What Priti Patel is thinking now is to eliminate our families by depriving us of family reunion.”

No, she's seeking to implement the will of the British people who have voted in a party that promised a crackdown on this sort of 'asylum shopping'.  

I Guess You Don't Need To Be Well-Read To Be A Literary Agent...

...at the height of last year’s Black Lives Matter protests I was sent a list, with accompanying photographs, of the top editors working across the major publishing houses in the UK. When I read it I burst into tears. It showed a sea of almost totally white faces...

So whines Natalie Jerome, who clearly never published any history books, or she'd surely have noticed she's living in a majority white country.

...for years, loud and growing calls to diversify its teams have been pretty much ignored. No wonder the industry today finds itself in a complete mess on race.

Does it? According to whom?  

There is a crippling and toxic silence around everyday racism and how it manifests in the media: erasure, sidelining, stunting of careers, the sheer mental exhaustion of operating daily in a predominantly white space and the routine grind of being marginalised.

Surely there must be countries where you'd feel more at home, then? I'm sure they have publishing houses in Africa, and I've no doubt they don't fret over seeing a sea of black faces around the board table... 

Meanwhile, I’ve observed within publishing the increasing mention and use of “sensitivity readers”. What on earth are they, you might ask.

No, I've no need to - I suspect I already know.  

Essentially a little freelance cottage industry of marginalised folk has sprung up, post-Clanchy, to check that books aren’t racist, disablist or any other -ist before they’re sent to print.

Who is stupid enough to voluntarily employ a group of censors and allow th...

Oh. Of course. 

What this means is that the predominantly white editors commissioning and publishing books featuring characters from diverse backgrounds are now checking these books with readers from these backgrounds in order to ensure publication does not cause accidental offence.

Which is an impossible task, because as soon as they've appeased one group, another will spring up, or the existing groups will move the goalposts. 

It's the fallacy of identity politics, and anyone giving people like this woman and her fellow activists a foot in the door deserves to be held hostage to their demands forever. 

Maybe This Doesn't Say What You Think It Says, Gary...

Perennial race-baiter Gary Younge opines once more:

We were not protesting against some new manifestation of racism in Britain, but the enduring nature of it. The YouGov poll from June revealed the percentage of non-white people who think racism was present in society 30 years ago is virtually identical to the proportion who think it is present today.

Maybe that does tell us something, Gary, but I suspect a lot of people - myself included - draw a rather different conclusion from it. 

And wonder why our government and all its agents seem hell-bent on appeasing people who can't, by this evidence, ever be appeased. Whose dissatisfaction with their lot in life isn't based on objective reality. And never will be. 

Here is my proposal. We should do this again; only without the Home Office. We could hold a series of themed public meetings, independent of political parties, across England, on a range of issues, at which a few experts and practitioners in each field could lay out the challenges and then open the floor for people to bear witness (race in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has its own dynamics, and will need specific proposals).

Didn't Russia try this sort of public denunciation once? I'm sure it did. How'd that turn out, Gary?  

As Threats Go, It's Not One I'm Bothered About...

Britain could be flooded with...

Oh no, what now? 

We've endured illegal immigrants, chlorinated chicken, Covid and rap music. What existential horrors await us now? 

...books using US spellings and words if ministers push ahead with changes to copyright rules, say publishers.

Oh... 

Book rights are currently sold in a way that allows them to sell titles at different prices in different territories. This supports the British book industry and authors.

But the Government is looking at an ‘international exhaustion regime’ which could open the way for internet retailers to flood the market with cheap imported editions.

So a cozy protection racket is coming to an end? Usually that's a good thing, unless it might unleash calamities undreamed of, of course. 

Might we get an example? 

The Publishers Association fears this would lead to the Americanisation of books in Britain. ‘We will see an influx of cookies, sweaters and sidewalks instead of biscuits, jumpers and pavements – as well as the missing u’s and z’s instead of s’s that drive Brits bonkers,’ said Stephen Lotinga, chief executive of the Publishers Association.

 I think I'll survive. Now, I need to sort out a packet of Maryland biscuits to go with my morning cuppa...

The Perils Of Multinational Chains...

Co-op boss Steve Murrells has worked in the retail sector for decades, so when he says shortages are 'at a worse level than any time I have seen', he has to be taken seriously.

But bare shelves at his supermarkets are not the only sign that something's up. McDonald's stopped serving milkshakes and bottled drinks this week after becoming the latest victim of a nationwide shortage of delivery drivers. Chicken chain Nando's shut 50 outlets last week after its suppliers struggled to deliver enough peri-peri wings. And at Marks & Spencer stores, signs were put up warning customers that some bakeries have run out of fresh pastries due to 'delivery issues'.

These aren't 'shortages' as we normally understand them. 

The country's not running out of flour and eggs, and there hasn't been an outbreak of bird flu that has wiped out the supply of chicken, or another foot and mouth disease outbreak that has loosed DEFRA kill squads on our dairy herds...

But restaurant and fast food chains insist on control of supply. If Mrs Miggins running the corner shop cafe finds she's short of flour at the local cash and carry, she can nip to Tesco. The manager at the local McDonald's branch can't pop into Sainsbury and buy up all their milk, because he's not allowed to - McDonald's milkshakes can only be made with milk supplied by their own delivery service.

The haulage industry is labouring under a shortfall of around 100,000 truckers. The problem is so acute that the Government is considering increasing the maximum allowable length of an HGV by 6.5 ft.

So, is this the dreaded effects of Brexit that the Remainers warned about? No. It's government interference accompanied by market forces.  

Take the length of the average trucker's working week. HGV drivers are restricted to driving ten hours a day (up from nine pre-Covid), but factor in waiting times and they can be out of the house for 12-15 hours a day. The impact this has on family life has driven many younger drivers out, with the result that 62 per cent of the workforce is over 45.

But doesn't it pay well? 

Meanwhile, driver pay has slipped to the point that they get little more than supermarket shelf-stackers, partly due to the Government blocking a loophole that allowed them to operate as limited companies.To make matters worse, the number of drivers entering the industry for the first time has been badly hit by the Driver And Vehicle Standards Agency cancelling 'at least' 30,000 HGV driving tests last year due to Covid.

Oops!