The pervasive nature of photo radar/speed cameras in British society has had a terribly adverse effect on the quality of life in the UK.
It harms traffic flow, not only in London, but in all provincial cities, and even many villages across the UK. Photo radar has led to constant gridlock and higher pollution levels from crawling traffic, which includes public transport belching out heavy diesel fumes. The UK public transport system is dirty, dangerous and expensive, and in all cities but the central areas of London, it is inconveniently situated. Photo radar also leads to many accidents because drivers slam their brakes on at the last second to avoid breaching the archaic artificially low limits.
There are myriad stories in the UK of people receiving multiple tickets several weeks after the time of the alleged crimes for travelling back and forth on the same stretch of road in good conditions and which they know well. Often the reports involve being a mere 4 mph over the speed limits which are in effect but which were mandated in the 1950s, when cars had less adequate brakes, control, vision and protection than today. These “crimes” have led to immediate bans from driving, and with the tickets being received several weeks after the alleged crimes, the drivers have had no opportunity to adjust their habits to avoid penalty. Increased insurance premiums then go in the pockets of insurance companies for these victimized drivers. It
A large percentage of the police force in the UK have retreated to being bureaucrats sending out paperwork from offices, rather than being out on the streets. Thus, stolen car crime, drink driving and joy riding continue unabated. Never mind all the other crime which cannot be adequately policed.
It is simply wrong to say that speed alone kills. Bad driving kills, and there are campaigns that governments would be better advised to mount, such as teaching drivers to signal before turning, leave a bigger space between moving vehicles and absolutely no alcohol or drugs permitted. A zero tolerance response to ancient speed limits is a cash grab.
Until you have experienced the grind of taking at least 45 minutes to travel 3 miles every day, and the impact it has on all society and terms of lost time, stress and road rage, you cannot begin to realize the decline in lifestyle that accompanies photo radar.
Once again, all drivers and environmentalists should act to prevent the implementation of these pernicious machines.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
May Saab rest in pieces. And a warning to Spyker.
Although this blog may not be a formal consumer bashing forum, when the spectre of government ownership of GM first arose, I felt that it had become a politicial issue. GM entered the political arena by its search for direct government funding. So, now I feel free to explain why I hope Saab rests in pieces.
I will be delighted if the manufacturer of the worst car that I have ever owned goes out of business. In fact, the Saab was the worst car that I have ever experienced, whether owning, renting or taking rides from others, and it was also the worst car experience of one of my friends. I say this, even as one who had the misfortune to own a British Leyland monstrosity that a GM built Saab was my worst ever. I have vowed never to buy a GM again and to spread the word. Please note that I have also owned a Talbot Horizon which is equivalent to a Dodge Omni, and the aforementioned Austin Maestro, so it had some unhealthy competition.
The Saab that I owned was shockingly dreadful and things broke simply by people looking at the car. I hope Saab go back to concentrating on fighter planes, although I hope that Sweden never have to rely on them in battle. They will lose. It is a good job that the Saab 900 SE convertible that I unfortunately owned did not have an ejector seat, otherwise I would have used it.
My Saab had all sorts of failures which cost me thousands of dollars just to keep it on the road. The final straw came when it suddenly stopped working altogether, and I had it towed to a GM dealership. After 2 weeks of the dealership promising me everyday it would be ready and was being fixed as we spoke, I called a lovely lady called Heather at GM's HQ. She tried to find out from the dealer what was taking so long but also had no joy. In the end, she reported to me that my car was old because it was nearly 7 years of age and therefore I should replace it with the new model. I said that the car had cost over $60,000 when new, and she was telling me that it will not last 7 years. Heather confirmed that this was correct and I could not expect it to last forever. I replied that I hoped GM go out of business, because I had a 17 year old Toyota MR2 that was running just fine, and which cost me a pittance to keep running. Heather told me "fat chance, we are bigger than Toyota". Hmm, today I think, fat chance indeed, even though Heather is probably having the last laugh as my taxes are keeping her in a job.
As soon as possible after that conversation, I got rid of the GM car in a trade in and I must truly apologize to Mazda at this point.
Car reporters neglect to tell us when a car is an absolute waste of time and money because of their need for relationships with manufacturers. Well, I am here to tell you now that such terrible cars are primarily made by GM now. Not only Saab, but the whole of GM deserves to be out of business. And their cars are and for that reason alone, I still hope that they ultimately collapse. The Aztec even "out-uglied" the Ford Granada Frog Face, which is a monstrous sight that I never thought I would live to see.
Instead of buying GM and Chrsyler, it would have been cheaper for governments to set up a single new car maufacturer with appropriate union contracts, and a clean slate when designing for the future. $100 Billion would go a good way to this new project. We should save our tax dollars, and not support a company that produces shoddy inferior goods, and one which will just need another handout in a few months.
Good riddance to Saab.
Spyker, don't do it!!!
I will be delighted if the manufacturer of the worst car that I have ever owned goes out of business. In fact, the Saab was the worst car that I have ever experienced, whether owning, renting or taking rides from others, and it was also the worst car experience of one of my friends. I say this, even as one who had the misfortune to own a British Leyland monstrosity that a GM built Saab was my worst ever. I have vowed never to buy a GM again and to spread the word. Please note that I have also owned a Talbot Horizon which is equivalent to a Dodge Omni, and the aforementioned Austin Maestro, so it had some unhealthy competition.
The Saab that I owned was shockingly dreadful and things broke simply by people looking at the car. I hope Saab go back to concentrating on fighter planes, although I hope that Sweden never have to rely on them in battle. They will lose. It is a good job that the Saab 900 SE convertible that I unfortunately owned did not have an ejector seat, otherwise I would have used it.
My Saab had all sorts of failures which cost me thousands of dollars just to keep it on the road. The final straw came when it suddenly stopped working altogether, and I had it towed to a GM dealership. After 2 weeks of the dealership promising me everyday it would be ready and was being fixed as we spoke, I called a lovely lady called Heather at GM's HQ. She tried to find out from the dealer what was taking so long but also had no joy. In the end, she reported to me that my car was old because it was nearly 7 years of age and therefore I should replace it with the new model. I said that the car had cost over $60,000 when new, and she was telling me that it will not last 7 years. Heather confirmed that this was correct and I could not expect it to last forever. I replied that I hoped GM go out of business, because I had a 17 year old Toyota MR2 that was running just fine, and which cost me a pittance to keep running. Heather told me "fat chance, we are bigger than Toyota". Hmm, today I think, fat chance indeed, even though Heather is probably having the last laugh as my taxes are keeping her in a job.
As soon as possible after that conversation, I got rid of the GM car in a trade in and I must truly apologize to Mazda at this point.
Car reporters neglect to tell us when a car is an absolute waste of time and money because of their need for relationships with manufacturers. Well, I am here to tell you now that such terrible cars are primarily made by GM now. Not only Saab, but the whole of GM deserves to be out of business. And their cars are and for that reason alone, I still hope that they ultimately collapse. The Aztec even "out-uglied" the Ford Granada Frog Face, which is a monstrous sight that I never thought I would live to see.
Instead of buying GM and Chrsyler, it would have been cheaper for governments to set up a single new car maufacturer with appropriate union contracts, and a clean slate when designing for the future. $100 Billion would go a good way to this new project. We should save our tax dollars, and not support a company that produces shoddy inferior goods, and one which will just need another handout in a few months.
Good riddance to Saab.
Spyker, don't do it!!!
Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi lives long and prospers
When that Libyan terrorist who blew up the PanAm flight over Lockerbie, Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, was released by Scotland on August 20, 2009, was it not because he had less than 3 months to live?
The 270 murdered innocents had no such luxury of dying at home with their loved ones, merely moments of abject terror as they were blown from the sky and fell to earth from five miles high. He is an unrepentant terrorist, who failed to divulge full knowledge of his heinous act in order to protect the Libyan government. To cap it all, the Libyan dictator, Colonel Gadaffi, sent his luxury private jet to pick up this murderer and then threw him a party. Kenny MacAskill should henceforth be known as the Scottish Injustice Secretary.
Well, it is now nearly 4 months on. When is he going to die? Does he have to go back to Scotland now? You just can’t trust terrorists to live up to their promises.
The 270 murdered innocents had no such luxury of dying at home with their loved ones, merely moments of abject terror as they were blown from the sky and fell to earth from five miles high. He is an unrepentant terrorist, who failed to divulge full knowledge of his heinous act in order to protect the Libyan government. To cap it all, the Libyan dictator, Colonel Gadaffi, sent his luxury private jet to pick up this murderer and then threw him a party. Kenny MacAskill should henceforth be known as the Scottish Injustice Secretary.
Well, it is now nearly 4 months on. When is he going to die? Does he have to go back to Scotland now? You just can’t trust terrorists to live up to their promises.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Broken Britain #2
Several stories have defined the demise of Britain in the past week. Two men were jailed for defending their family against masked intruders who had threatened the lives of the family. This was accompanied by the story of a 30 year old single mother of 8 children who refuses to work, because her earnings would only repay the welfare funds she has leached from taxpayers. Meanwhile, she and her brood are housed in a 2.5 million pound mansion. Yet, she is not alone, as similar social welfare abuse occurs throughout the whole country.
We also had further evidence of the crumbling of the morality of the UK. The British judicial system was usurped by terrorist enablers and an arrest warrant was issued versus the erstwhile Foreign Minister of Israel, because Israel finally responded to 8 years of missile attacks on its civilians by a terrorist theocracy, even though, as Colonel Richard Kemp said, no “army has made more efforts to reduce civilian casualties and deaths of innocent people than the IDF … in Gaza”. Meanwhile, wannabe terrorists were caught scouting out locations for attack in London. Obviously, siding with terrorists does not exempt one from their aim, it just demonstrates moral deficiency.
We also had further evidence of the crumbling of the morality of the UK. The British judicial system was usurped by terrorist enablers and an arrest warrant was issued versus the erstwhile Foreign Minister of Israel, because Israel finally responded to 8 years of missile attacks on its civilians by a terrorist theocracy, even though, as Colonel Richard Kemp said, no “army has made more efforts to reduce civilian casualties and deaths of innocent people than the IDF … in Gaza”. Meanwhile, wannabe terrorists were caught scouting out locations for attack in London. Obviously, siding with terrorists does not exempt one from their aim, it just demonstrates moral deficiency.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Why Iran should not have nukes
Why shouldn't Iran have nukes seems to be a question being asked by NGOs today? Is nuclear technology not a given right of every society?
Actually, that's not a hard question to answer and I pose a few questions in response.
Why should democratic societies be opposed to a theocratic jihadi supporting tyranny whose leaders ascribe to a doomsday ideology in order to bring about the return of a long dead prophet? Clearly, even with its huge oil reserves, the death loving muftis of Iran that comprise their leaders must only want nukes for peaceful purposes.
Surely, it has never crossed their minds to develop nuclear weapons and stick them on the end of their missiles, or hand them out to terrorist groups for plausible deniability?
By the way, although those missiles are now pointed at Israel, they are going to be pointed at Europe and the USA after the first launches.
Actually, that's not a hard question to answer and I pose a few questions in response.
Why should democratic societies be opposed to a theocratic jihadi supporting tyranny whose leaders ascribe to a doomsday ideology in order to bring about the return of a long dead prophet? Clearly, even with its huge oil reserves, the death loving muftis of Iran that comprise their leaders must only want nukes for peaceful purposes.
Surely, it has never crossed their minds to develop nuclear weapons and stick them on the end of their missiles, or hand them out to terrorist groups for plausible deniability?
By the way, although those missiles are now pointed at Israel, they are going to be pointed at Europe and the USA after the first launches.
The unqualified
I found it amusing that the media continue to throw fits about the qualifications of Sarah Palin whilst she is promoting her book. Well, if she is unqualified, then Obama is even less qualified. His only experience of anything is promoting his political career, and he is in the #1 spot.
The choice of Palin was not to appeal to liberals , or to the media, it was to solidify the support from regular families in middle America for John McCain. Given the Bush factor overshadowing the election, McCain gambled and it failed.
The true farce is that the leader of the free world is a man with no experience of anything other than self promotion, who was lobbied for incessantly by the media. Could the Democrats really not come up with someone better than Jiminy Carter Mark II? Don't they remember how bad the first one was? We are still suffering today from that deluded administration.
Experience and qualifications do give pointers as to the candidates' ultimate actions. But the best indicators are actually their friends and the stated policies. That's what we should vote on.
The choice of Palin was not to appeal to liberals , or to the media, it was to solidify the support from regular families in middle America for John McCain. Given the Bush factor overshadowing the election, McCain gambled and it failed.
The true farce is that the leader of the free world is a man with no experience of anything other than self promotion, who was lobbied for incessantly by the media. Could the Democrats really not come up with someone better than Jiminy Carter Mark II? Don't they remember how bad the first one was? We are still suffering today from that deluded administration.
Experience and qualifications do give pointers as to the candidates' ultimate actions. But the best indicators are actually their friends and the stated policies. That's what we should vote on.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Sorry Saab Partitioners
The EU under Swedish leadership has demanded the partition of Jerusalem into Jewish and Arab zones. On the same basis, perhaps the French and Dutch would like to return Paris and Amsterdam to German control. After all, Germany conquered those entire cities, amongst many others, in the. 1940's. Although Germany did not make either its capital city, they were important to them as symbols of conquest and power. Perhaps half of Washington, DC should be returned to the UK, they even speak similar languages and it would be a nice conciliatory gesture on July 4. Russia may also be interested in some of the more alluring suburbs of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
In the same way, Jerusalem has never been designated as a capital of an Arab or Islamic country throughout history. There has been a Jewish connection to Jerusalem extending over 3,000 years, and whenever there was a Jewish state, Jerusalem was its capital city. There are no moral or legal grounds to rip asunder the capital of a democracy in order to achieve a political expediency to help establish what would undoubtably be a totalitarian theocracy. We have been bombarded with the phrase, "Arab East Jerusalem" as justification for this heinous act. However, the reduced Jewish presence in certain neighbourhoods is due only to the ethnic cleansing of Jews in 1948 and the destruction of 68 sysnagogues and their communities by the invading Arab Legion of Jordan.
It was the capital of a Jewish state before Sweden, Great Britain or France were ever conceived of, never mind the recent artificial creations of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan.
As for Sweden, a country that makes as terrible a car as a Saab, it should not be trusted to be doing anyone any good.
In the same way, Jerusalem has never been designated as a capital of an Arab or Islamic country throughout history. There has been a Jewish connection to Jerusalem extending over 3,000 years, and whenever there was a Jewish state, Jerusalem was its capital city. There are no moral or legal grounds to rip asunder the capital of a democracy in order to achieve a political expediency to help establish what would undoubtably be a totalitarian theocracy. We have been bombarded with the phrase, "Arab East Jerusalem" as justification for this heinous act. However, the reduced Jewish presence in certain neighbourhoods is due only to the ethnic cleansing of Jews in 1948 and the destruction of 68 sysnagogues and their communities by the invading Arab Legion of Jordan.
It was the capital of a Jewish state before Sweden, Great Britain or France were ever conceived of, never mind the recent artificial creations of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan.
As for Sweden, a country that makes as terrible a car as a Saab, it should not be trusted to be doing anyone any good.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Prayers with Jamie Carragher
Jamie Carrager has been praying for Liverpoo's 2010 season to turn around.
I am afraid that his prayers will be in vain. The Lord is a little busy at the moment dealing with global warming, Iran’s nuclear weapons, X Factor #1 for Xmas, etc. to worry about the lack of footballing prowess on Miseryside. In any event, we all know who the Lord supports and even though He wears a red and white scarf, it is not Liverpoo.
I am afraid that his prayers will be in vain. The Lord is a little busy at the moment dealing with global warming, Iran’s nuclear weapons, X Factor #1 for Xmas, etc. to worry about the lack of footballing prowess on Miseryside. In any event, we all know who the Lord supports and even though He wears a red and white scarf, it is not Liverpoo.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Introducing The Great Appeaser - Mr. Obama
December 1, 2009 will be remembered as a day of celebration for terrorists everywhere. They have won in Afghanistan. As foretold by the conduct and content of Obama’s presidential campaign and tenure, he has surrendered to terrorism and given the Taliban and their ilk a great victory by issuing NATO's surrender. The Great Appeaser has shown that he will even betray defence of his own democracy. He has already back-stabbed the democratic defenders in Honduras, the Czech Republic, Poland, Israel, China, Iran so it was only a matter of time before he crumbled for the US.
It is militarily indefensible to state a retreat date to an enemy, whether a war is over or not. The Taliban will just hold on now until 2011 and promise violence at that time upon any who deal with NATO forces in the intervening period. What a waste of effort in a war that has not been fought as a war, merely a competition for hearts and minds of tribal warlords. The Taliban have given up nothing and they have forced the US and NATO to depart from Afghanistan without waging the real war that needed to be fought. The short term surge is merely to cover the retreat.
The Great Appeaser is competing with Jimmy Carter for the position of being the best friend that terrorists have ever had in the White House.
It is militarily indefensible to state a retreat date to an enemy, whether a war is over or not. The Taliban will just hold on now until 2011 and promise violence at that time upon any who deal with NATO forces in the intervening period. What a waste of effort in a war that has not been fought as a war, merely a competition for hearts and minds of tribal warlords. The Taliban have given up nothing and they have forced the US and NATO to depart from Afghanistan without waging the real war that needed to be fought. The short term surge is merely to cover the retreat.
The Great Appeaser is competing with Jimmy Carter for the position of being the best friend that terrorists have ever had in the White House.
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