Following front page article in today's issue of THE TIMES,via the internet PLEASE SEARCH FOR: 10 downing street, then click on "Petition the Prime Minister", then click "View Petitions", then click the petition category "Transport and Infrastructure", then click "Scrap the planned vehicle tracking policy"
After you have carefully completed the on-line petition await the acknowledgement to your e-mail site.
Then click on that e-mail acknowledgement to validate your protest
I ASK THAT THOSE THAT CAN DO SO PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMATION TO OTHER NOTICE BOARD SITES, PASS TO ALL ON YOUR E-MAIL LISTS, ETC ETC ETC
MY THANKS

It all depends if you trust this goverment with the information, what else would they do with it , pass it on to the Americans ? how do we know giving the past record of this goverment that info on opposition partys & MP's won't be leaked to the press.

Again it all depends if you have anything to hide. So what if they pass it to the Americans, I am sure they are not really interested in Saturday trips to Tesco, Monday to Friday to work and back etc........

They might be interested in some strange movements though, ones that could point to organised crime, drug dealing, drug trafficing etc...

Its all a case of what you want, if you want to live in a society where you do not worry about your kids playing outside, where you feel safe to leave the doors unlocked, open even during the daytime, you have to accept that controls are necessary.

Everyone mocks Singapore, but ask any expat if they are happy with their kids growing up there, and they will say YES YES YES........

You lose more liberties by allowing the wrongdoers free passage, than you lose by accepting a little bit of intrusive government/police action.

intrusive police action, like being shot in the head on the way to work.

PP - I thought you lived outside of the UK?

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/B3FI6aAcJo2tDxeycsAGhyH

The petition was created by Peter Roberts and reads:

'We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Scrap the
planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy.'

As far as to what they will with the information you give them, don't worry, they already have all they need to know on all of you so relax.

seawall, I do :) However often back in the UK, and each time I am back the place just gets worse and worse.

When you live somewhere a long time, you never notice the decline, but going away and coming back, you notice just how quickly its all going down the pan.


However, talking of government regulation, can anyone remember when life was good...........

In your 30'S, 40'S, 50'S, 60'S & 70'S

We've made it!

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were
kids in the 30's, 40's 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint
which was promptly chewed and licked.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or
cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and
fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the front passenger seat was a treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle - tasted the
same.

We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy
pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were
always outside playing and being active.

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no
one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top
speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After
running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the
problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one
minded or worried.

We did not have Playstations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99
channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile
phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms. We had friends -
we went outside and found them.

We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really
hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were
no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same thing
again.

We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue - we
learned to get over it.

We walked to friend's homes.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and
although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes
out, nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

Our actions were our own, we were responsible for what we did.
Consequences were expected.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem
solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of
innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and
responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

I'm one of them and if you're one of them. Congratulations!

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real
kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own
good.

PP - LOL

You have brought back a lot of forgotten memories there, and that was a real pleasure to read.

I'll save that to word to read now and then

Thank you.

Now I realise why you live abroad, I would too if I could, and judging by what you say, likely for the same reasons.

Same here,,, that took me back to the 60's and 70's , i enjoyed reading that ,,,those days are long gone for todays kids.

Interesting the the petition service is currently unavailable! One way of keeping the numbers of signers down.

PP - I don't think the intention of the original petitioner was to highlight the potential onset of a Big Brother society but more to point out the unfairness of using vehicle tracking to charge for road use.

If the intention is to punish those that pollute, then why should a small engine capacity eco-freindlier car or hybrid car be charged the same duty per mile traveled as a large 4x4 gas guzzler?

On a side note, I am actually of the opinion that all of these latest PC initiatives to reduce global warming etc are such a pile of crap that there is a real danger that the methane produced by said pile will cause more damage to the ozone layer than .....

There is one point of view that if we all become vegetarians, we could cut the methane and prevent the cutting down of the rain forests for cattle and the growing of crops to feed live stock.

Also how many of todays teenages will still be rocking around the world like Keith Richards & co.

Not sure times past is to the point..we took instruction from our parents and if told not to chew the paint - we didn't. The removal of lead had more to do with paint-workers and it still kills people that sand old paint when restoring properties.
The ability to track people is an invasion of privacy, as there is no limit to where this info might end up. The Gov will sell your car-registration details for 2.50 , I understand- to benefit cowboy clampers. Recently a Gov Department managed to send Bank details and all manner of other info. "We'll get it back" they say, but if they don't have the info that would be far better. Even if you trust one Government, what happens when they change, or a disgruntled insider sells your travel details (through mistaken identity) and you end up in prison over the weekend? Are you so sure your spouce would stand by you?

There is no doubt we need better Public transport and shorter journeys to work, +fewer long-haul deliveries. But we also need trains/buses that will take your weekly shopping without charging an arm/leg to park in the station car-park - for that money you can go to Tesco and park for free.

Until we have a joined-up policy on Public transport (like spending money on it, rather than the London rip-off "Olympics" which will end up being 4x the original statement..IMHO..)...Those that will benefit should pay - =those properties near the East-End which have risen in value would be a good start. I live about as far as London is from the Olympic site so it's unlikely I shall go (not that I'm interested and can see endless replays on TV)...so why should I be expected to fund it (through Council Tax) when folk in Essex are likely to benefit far more and don't have to cross London to get there bright and early.
Even if we start now, do you think we shall achieve sufficient "Golds" to justify the fiasco - and today we hear there is a need for yet another Football stadium - why did we bother wasting money on the Dome..eh?

The black-box will add about 200 to the cost of a car/van and then about 2p/--1 a mile (or km!) adding 1000's to motoring costs. The charge will have little impact on those that need to travel to get to work (-and then on to an appointment) -it's true, pen-pushers may be tempted; - until they try to find a seat on the train. Where I live the rail network can't get the platform and trains at the same level - yet the station was built in the 1890's - you'd think getting the levels right was easy enough...but No! So the elderly and children have to jump the gap and risk falling.
Where is the logic in taking the train?
Most of us know the money is needed to bolster wasteful projects and endless Expert consultants - something that will continue to grow as long as there is another group of people able to be taxed for doing something that was free.
I don't buy the "..nothing to hide,.." arguement either, our forebears fought long and hard for our rights...let's at lest keep them intact.
The terrorist angle is too simple - terrorists don't register cars in their cell-name - they hire, or steel identity so no-one is the wiser, until too late. The most recent outrages were on Public Transport and I suspect those watching them on CCTV hadn't a clue what was unfolding....why would they?
Grrr!