I was flicking through the Daily Mail today DuskBreeze and teenagers do need to get off there behinds and do more activity... The 'youth' being the future , they DO need to be prioritised. I think we all should 'panic buy' [though i think its a bit late now ?] because before anybody actually did , the same newspaper told me people where.. I was very glad to get pre-warned about events that where not occuring [Thanks Daily Mail]. I passed on the news to a friend and we got too the 'pumps' early and we did not have to wait that long . :& I do apologise for not keeping you upto date...thanks for all your help.
I have no idea where all that came from? Have I referred to whatever it is you're saying before then? Sorry I'm confused. Doesn't help that I've been feeling really ill today. And someone fails to keep me informed of events that I should know about
I do believe i will confuse all..if i expalin. Take my little tale for what it is worth .. poingnant or pointless , who is too know. PM ON ITS WAY
smug adj. "Exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one's situation; self-righteously complacent"
I think you mean.. miscommunication noun {C or U} failure to communicate ideas or intentions successfully: Bad habit of mine.
well, right here in the middle of dorset, no one gives a damn anymore. popped down to tesco so mum could do her shopping and she was still getting a bit worried that i wouldnt be able to get to uni next week so we filled up coz it was less busy than normal,it was like filling up at 9pm!! this whole business is just stupid. so come to dorset, coz there will always be a plentiful supply coz noone really cares we're all too easy going and dont give a shit about anything. we probably wouldnt notice if all the stations vanished one night
Since the VAT we pay on almost everything never has and never will be graded like income tax according to age and wealth, this kind of objection is a bit of a blind alley. Young and poor people have no more or less need to drive than anyone else; therefore targeting taxation at the kinds of uses of private transport which are the most damaging is the best way of making the burden of tax on fuel more fair for everyone, while making those responsible for the problem pay for the privelege... it's about discouraging irresponsible behaviours; I can't see how this can have anything to do with a person's ability to pay within our current system.
It's just like every other system set up by capitalists, for a wealthy few. I'm sad to read that people think that "this is how life is now" It can be different if enough people want it to be. Why should our food travel hundereds (if not thousands) of miles? How many of us drive to the out of town supermarket for NZ lamb? How many support your local farmers and markets? Ok, I know that there has to be transport involved along the chain, but why are we letting Wal Mart and Tesco make our buying decisions for us? I can get everything I need from my local market. The traders live locally and most of the produce is produced locally. I agree that taxation isn't the way to get people to change their ways. Adding 10p extra to a litre of fuel won't stop the planes and boats bringing us strawberries in the middle of winter. Our not wanting strawberries in the middle of winter might though. We might (for now) have to travel long distances to work, but if we could shift our attitudes towards the things that are within our control (like buying local produce, recycling at home, walking the kids to school, etc) then that would be a start. Then the next step (working locally) becomes an obvious next step. Our whole attitudes to consumerism needs to change. Why do we work at that job 2hrs away? Why do we need £xx salary? Why do we need that bigger TV or 5 bedroom house? If we start living more simply with less things then our spare time and money increase. Then we can take a drop in salary (or even better, work for ourselves), take a lower paid job, or do less overtime. This gives us even more spare time, so that extra few minutes you "saved" by using the car/buying ready-meals etc is irrelevant because you have plenty of time now. And if you think this means a drop in your standard of living, ask yourself who's standards are you really living? Keeping up with the Jones's? Or fu*k the Jones's? Sounds idealistic doesn't it? Well I live in an ideal world then - I've done it and I'm happier than ever in myself. Truely happy that is )
hey-everyone....petrol-is-THE-most-important-issue-of-our-time... forget-poverty-war-or-civil-liberties.....OIL-OIL-OIL
A lot of silliness is done by multinationals in the name of their bottom line, but the answer doesn't have to be to get rid of international trade and an increasingly interconnected world ... globalisation is a fact and many of us enjoy its benefits. Regressing to the point where we lived and worked locally with only locally produced products is unrealistic. There's a great discussion of some of the issues this raises in this article by George Monbiot: The myth of localism There are progressive ways of managing globalisation, and we have to find progressive and practicable solutions to the oil crisis and climate change... reducing the tax on fuel is not one of them
Since our society depends so heavily on oil, it is an issue with direct links to at least two if not all three of those others...
i actualy agree with your entire post.... for an ideal world that is... and yes we can make the start to change things... but for me my job 2hrs away for a better salary than i can get round here isnt about having a bigger TV ( I dont possess one at all ) its about paying the bills and just surviving... there are no 'Jones's' where i am.... just a bunch of country folk all trying to survive in the middle of nowhere and away from the chaos and trappings of city life... if i dropped my standard of living i'd be backpacking... i earn a good salary yes.... but rent, bill and taxes take the LOT.... I lost my home when my marriage broke up and i'm not one of the lucky few entitled to government (council)housing.. so.... i'm happy that you have found your ideal world.....but excuse me if i have a different take on this...
I speak as I find... when i was at school those that passed their tests drove to school every day when they most could either walk, cycle or get a bus. These are not necessary journeys...Im not speaking for every teenager but from what I've noticed most journeys made by people my age are unnecessary...
Firstly I shall admit that I am not a fan of Monbiot, after reading "Age of Consent", but I shalln't let that get in the way of this discussion, and he makes some very valid points in the article that you linked to. I'm not suggesting that we get rid of international trade completely. From the days of our ancient ancestors, even tribes used to trade with neighbouring tribes goods and crafts. But they also had a respect for the earth in doing so, they had a ritual for everything which helped them appreciate their environment and life spirit. For example, they may bless the earth in which they plant a seedling, and then thank the heavens for watering it. When they finally get to pick and eat the fruits of their labour it was done with thanks and understanding of how it came to be, how the sun energy has become fuel for themselves. WAIT - I know that we are not in a perfect world, but let me continue... The point is that because we have such a distance from such things now, we don't realise the impact that such small actions have on our environment and the planet. We can have rituals in our daily lives that bring us back to mother nature and help give us a daily respect for life, the planet and all within it. This isn't something that takes any time or effort but that once started really does progress quickly and effortlesly. Work with me here.... It's an old one, but start by finding something beutiful every day, be it a plant on the roadside, a bird on your fence, whatever. Then when you fill up your car with fuel think about where that fuel came from, how long it took to get there and the methods employed to get it to the pumps. And be grateful, not to Shell or BP, but to the sun and the earth for providing that resource. It sounds crazy? But it's easy and can't hurt to try. I'm not asking you to shout out loud. Just conciously think about it. The this progresses to many other things. When buying food I do the same, I think how wonderful it is that it is here for me to buy, and I think a little about the steps taken for that to happen. Before you know it not only are you thinking about those steps you are conciously trying to reduce them realsing that there are limited resources and that we are using them quicker than they can be replenished. And if it doesn't actually make a difference then at least your finding teh world a more beautiful place every day, which makes you happier, which makes the people around you a little happier, which eventually comes full-circle and makes the world a happier place. There are a few other points relevant to the ideas of poverty and global trade that will continue in the reply below.
I see your point, and it is a valid one for "this" world. But the whole reason that you need the salary that you do is to survive in this world. This world is where it is now because of a greedy, rich minority who have decided that you should pay for the earths resources, fuel, water, gas, etc. fair enough, getting them to you wasn't free. But those few also decided that they wanted an extortionate salary and that the company should be making £xx millions in profit each year, hence why your bills are so high and you have to travel 2 hours to work (lining their pockets in doing so may I add) to pay for their wages and profits whilst earning them yet even more profits. It is an awful situation that many of us are or have been in, and there is no quick and easy fix. But Capitalism has had a reltaivley short lifespan as far as economic and social models go. So why can't it end in as short a time? Perhaps not in our generation but for future generations? I am sympathetic to your views, I've been there. I also know how lucky I am not to be there now. If we want to focus on just the fuel prices for thsi discussion then we still need to wake-up and smell the coffee. It's a limited resource and supplies are on the decline. It will become more expensive and it will one day run out. Alternative fuels will delay this but eventually our reliance on oil will have to come to an end. And then we will have to learn to return to "localisation". That or we will use our final gallons to send each other A-bombs. Anyway, enough for tonight, I'm tired )
So as I understand it - the price of petrol has shot up to practically a pound per litre simply because of Hurricane Catriona. Suddenly the yanks can't refine any petrol for themselves so our buying up ours. Only instead of them paying for it, we're only charging them for the petrol and not for the fact that our own supply has dropped, so the british taxpayer has to now pay an extra 20p per litre overnight because we've suddenly got a lot less petrol since the yanks refuse to touch their own oil supplies until the oil in the rest of the world is exhausted. Come on Tony - charge THEM, not us, you know it makes sense!
Our current level of scientific, technological, medical and agricultural knowhow and advance is impossible to maintain without vast amounts of global trade and movement... much can be improved but I still think regression to localism is not necessarily that desirable. I think we can agree to disagree there. I think our way of life is unlikely to change until our society comes to a crashing end ... the alternative is unlikely to be regression to localism but a movement towards other fuel sources ... we are more likely to invest in more nuclear power than to allow our way of life to come to an end ... until our society does.
