The Green Party on Motorcycles

[Fried Egg Sandwich]

.. the population of Manchester (Britain’s second city, let’s not forget) is only a bit over 1.5 million.

Although Mancunians would love that title, Manchester is not Britains second city, it's Birmingham.

And Birmingham is deserving of the title it holds. :woohoo:

26 Reasons Never To Go To Birmingham

[Trev]

[quote
MAG has recruited Farage because MAG sees 'Brussels' as a 'Threat to biking': remember those motorway protests of a few years ago?[/quote]

Anyone who 'recruits' Farage for their cause must be either stark raving crazy or truly, truly out of options. If that bloke and his bunch of local busybody loons get anywhere near having a say in the running of the country then god (or whatever deity you think might be able to) help us. I wouldn't want him on my local village hall committee let alone having anything to say about how my kids are educated, what taxes I pay or representing my country on the world stage. I feel so strongly about UKIP not getting in it may even prompt me to vote Tory for the first time in my life!

............. and breathe :whistle:

[Angel]

I have talked about this on facebook, but here is my view.

And here in lies the entire problem with the Green Party. They only ever care about the "in use"pollutants quoted by big money lobbyists whos job it is to ensure the future profits of the car industry.. They never look at the environmental cost of production of new machines. At it's very simplest I would suggest that a very fast high performance bike weighing 200 kg would do less damage to the environment than even the smallest lowest powered car weighing 1000 kg. It's simple maths. The car has 5 times more raw materials in it than the bike. These raw materials have to be mined, processed or produced. Then there is use. A tiny 1000 kg car will spend a great deal of the time with one person in it, sitting in a traffic jam doing zero mpg, whatever the manufacturers figures say, it will be close to zero mpg in a town. Any bike small enough to filter will always manage better mpg in a congested city simply because it will be moving. Then there is average mileage. due to our weather, most bike do less annual mileage than most cars. Even when it is the sole means of transport most bike riders will try to combine trips so they pick things up from multiple points either on the way home or in a single journey. Most car drivers will make multiple journeys to several places because it's just so easy to jump in the car whatever the weather, compared with dressing up to ride a bike. So bike (of all sizes) use less raw materials, use less fuel in congested areas, and cover less annual average mileage. But the green fascists don't get this because the people with money that make hybrids lobby them constantly with utopian predictions of the future and the greens would rather believe this than do a modicum of actual research or apply a brain cell to the situation. In case you are in any doubt at all, I will not be voting green.

[Richard Simpson]

[quote
MAG has recruited Farage because MAG sees 'Brussels' as a 'Threat to biking': remember those motorway protests of a few years ago?

Anyone who 'recruits' Farage for their cause must be either stark raving crazy or truly, truly out of options. If that bloke and his bunch of local busybody loons get anywhere near having a say in the running of the country then god (or whatever deity you think might be able to) help us. I wouldn't want him on my local village hall committee let alone having anything to say about how my kids are educated, what taxes I pay or representing my country on the world stage. I feel so strongly about UKIP not getting in it may even prompt me to vote Tory for the first time in my life!

............. and breathe :whistle:[/quote]


I'm not a UKIP supporter...yet.

But forget about their portrayal in the media and have a look at their actual, published policies:

http://www.ukip.org/policies_for_people


Whether you agree with them or not, they are at least clear, rational and mostly deliverable.

Where can I find a similar sensible document produced by any other political party?

[Wapping]

.. the population of Manchester (Britain’s second city, let’s not forget) is only a bit over 1.5 million.

Although Mancunians would love that title, Manchester is not Britains second city, it's Birmingham.

And Birmingham is deserving of the title it holds. :woohoo:

26 Reasons Never To Go To Birmingham

Quite right. Why I put second I cannot imagine.

[Rust]

it may even prompt me to vote Tory for the first time in my life!

I understand what you mean, I cannont vote for Labour any more as they ceased being anything but a bunch of centrist career politicions when Bliar took over,

The Conservatives are probably the party that has stuck closest to its core principles



Protection of the wealthy and defense of privilege

[AndyB]

Just look up political triangulation and you'll see exactly where both the Tories & Labour have been moving for the last 20 years. The LibDems aren't as bad as them when it comes to sliding away from their core beliefs but after the way they abandoned their voters to get a taste of power after the last election I'll be surprised if they win even half as many seats in the coming election.

[Zappa]

For me, and now I have had time to read the entire manifesto (which I have just read in the media they are re-writing in March) I generally think their hearts are in the right place.

BUT
The execution is terrible. People need to choose to want to do something about green policies. If any of you have read the full document, all I see is restrictions, higher taxation, increase in cost of goods, etc etc. All dressed up under the illusion that we will be saving the planet and working towards some greater good. Sounds like religion not politics.

The amount of living restrictions they want to place on us is borderline dictatorship which will just repel the county against the green ideal, which in turn will take decades to rebuild.

Yes we all need to do more for sustainability, but education and choice is the answer over a period of time allowing us to choose to do it. To just slap taxation against the things people enjoy is potentially more damaging (one bitten twice shy.)then the situation will not be recoverable.

Sorry greens but I don't want to live in your nanny state of restriction, and its a shame because I do feel we could all do more to help sustainability, but its about us the people choosing to do so, not being forced.

Off to find out more about the current coalitions Green Deal, sounds like a better plan to me.

[Mike101]

Green policies will never work until people understand one simple fact. Saving the planet will cost more in our pockets than killing it.

So the live today and pay later culture we have simply does not fit into a model where we have to pay a lot more to do the same thing we have always done and the rewards will be delivered long after we are dead.

If the govt said petrol would be £100 per ltr but public transport is free would you use it....of course not. I could not get to work on public transport in under 4 hours each way..but a bike is 1hr each way.

There is a middle ground...do what we are doing but use less to do it. Within the next 50 years we will see travel by ship getting more popular...aircraft will fly at half the speed they do now saving a lot of fuel.

Small 2 seat cars will become the norm with bigger cars being saved for weekends as they will be taxed a lot more.

Small 250cc etc bikes will become the norm and the 1000cc bikes will become the domain of the super rich.

If the green party want to win a thing they must understand that they take with one hand yet must give with the other...so far they are take take take and give in 100 years time.

Mike

[Barftone]

How about a limit on number of car licences (30 million?) Younguns can,t have a car licence till 21 however they get free bus and rail travel or can have a bike (rural options)? Come to think of it how about free public transport for all paid for via taxation (be proud to pay your taxes...shock horror). Massive joined up thinking of public transport and links. Only then will a lot lot of town and city folk might start not bothering with the car? No cash or waiting around bus stops while the driver deals with the passengers. Bikes of course are part of the solution!