The biggest threat to stalking?

[caorach]

I've discussed this previously, and quite reasonably most people thought it was some mad conspiracy theory, however for the first time today a government minister has publicly called for an end to access to private transport. For someone like myself who lives in one place, works in another place, fishes in another place, stalks in yet another place, this is, effectively, an end to personal freedom of any sort.

In 1992 John Major, then the PM, signed an international declaration that the UK would ban access to private transport because it was "socially divisive." At the time I was of the view that this was probably the biggest ever threat to personal freedom we'd seen but the government didn't exactly put up posters announcing that they'd just done us right over. The document he signed used to be on the web if you really knew what you were searching for but, of late, I've been unable to find it. Since then there has been a steady "anti-motorist" movement connecting motorists to death, pollution, and even the weather.

Today, when the media are generally busy with covid, vaccines, last year's Christmas parties, and some other stuff this appears:

Transport ministers look to end private car ownership

GOVERNMENT transport ministers have backed calls to end private ownership of vehicles in a major overhaul.

www.express.co.uk

Clearly this is a long term strategy, it has taken us 30 years to get this far with it, but with electric cars and smart meters the government can control where you are allowed to go, where you can charge up, and when you can charge up. I haven't looked into it myself but have heard from some who modify their cars that there is to be new legislation that makes it a crime to modify a car, useful if the computer in your car was there to ensure that you were doing your bit to reduce climate change by sitting at home and not being allowed to drive to your stalking ground. It is only a matter of time before you will need to provide "good reason" to charge your car and I'm sure permission will come with "conditions." Following that we will reach a point where you won't have a car but will, in the interests of reducing social division, have to apply for permission to use the communal car. I've no idea how any of this will work in rural communities, you've got to guess there will be exemptions for agricultural vehicles for example, but there is no question that for many of us this is going to have a drastic impact upon our quality of life.

 

[bobthedug]

It's not going to happen. Certainly not in our lifetime. In the past 21 years, the number of cars registered in the UK has risen from 27.2 million in 2000 to 32.7 today. Every year an increase except 2010-2012 when it remained at 30.3.
Our entire economy and social structure is dependant on "the car".
There are certainly systems in ace to reduce the number of cars in certain urban areas but these schemes are supposedly due to congeststion and pollution.
Cars will evolve and perhaps even reduce in number due to imposed restrictions but will never be removed from private ownership.

 

[Pedro]

I don't think transport considerations would sound the death knell of stalking, even in the outrageously unlikely chance that personal transport became a thing of the past. It would still be carried out, but (to paraphrase) it would be local stalking for local people.

Far more likely if we are to consider the end of stalking would be a ban on all recreational/hobby stalking and all necessary culling and deer control would be carried out by people employed for the purpose by the government departments responsible (whatever they might be called this month). And although this is likely more probable in bonny Scotland under Wee Krankie, it's not something that's going to happen (if it does) tomorrow.

Anyway, I don't spend too much time thinking about "end of days" scenarios. After a few more decades (hopefully) I'll die. Eventually the world will stop turning, blow up or we will poison it completely. Or maybe we'll all be killed by some pandemic sometime. Or a meteor will do the job. Or aliens perhaps. But frankly, I don't think little old me will be able to do a damned thing about any of it.

So, as the song says: "There may be trouble ahead, But while there's music and moonlight, And love and romance, Let's face the music and dance."

 

[Jimbob39]

Jag Land Rovers vision for the future is a fully autonomous vehicle, that you summon when required and is basically a taxi. There was huge investment and research into it when I was there 3 years ago. Can see it happening as the road network is not really fit for purpose and overcrowded.

 

[Donkey Basher]

Jag Land Rovers vision for the future is a fully autonomous vehicle, that you summon when required and is basically a taxi. There was huge investment and research into it when I was there 3 years ago. Can see it happening as the road network is not really fit for purpose and overcrowded.

I can just imagine that...

JLR: "hello thank you for calling JLR automated vehicle line can you please use your keypad to enter your account number & PIN"
Me: beep beep beep beep etc.
JLR: "thank you Mr DB can you now please confirm where you would like the vehicle & the approximate journey length?"
Me: "can you please send a vehicle to the big oak tree on the west corner of crab wood, grid SU236739 - I've got three fallow does to recover to the chiller 4 miles away"
JLR: click - burrrrrrr

 

[Bavarianbrit]

Jag Land Rovers vision for the future is a fully autonomous vehicle, that you summon when required and is basically a taxi. There was huge investment and research into it when I was there 3 years ago. Can see it happening as the road network is not really fit for purpose and overcrowded.

Were you at the Whitley tech centre? I ended my apprenticeship in 1970 there when it was the Chrysler Europe engineering centre. It started off as an airfield then an Armstrong Whitworth factory

 

[Apthorpe]

Jag Land Rovers vision for the future is a fully autonomous vehicle, that you summon when required and is basically a taxi. There was huge investment and research into it when I was there 3 years ago. Can see it happening as the road network is not really fit for purpose and overcrowded.

This sort of thinking is a nightmare and ought to be stamped on as hard as possible. It's a bureaucrat's wet dream, but catastrophic in effect. It either does nothing to solve overcrowding and will probably make it worse, or it reduces overcrowding and most people don't get to make their journey.

 

[gixer1]

I can just imagine that...

JLR: "hello thank you for calling JLR automated vehicle line can you please use your keypad to enter your account number & PIN"
Me: beep beep beep beep etc.
JLR: "thank you Mr DB can you now please confirm where you would like the vehicle & the approximate journey length?"
Me: "can you please send a vehicle to the big oak tree on the west corner of crab wood, grid SU236739 - I've got three fallow does to recover to the chiller 4 miles away"
JLR: click - burrrrrrr

The response would be “sorry Mr. DB the JLR you requested is currently broken down as we have never figured out how to manufacture a simple multi plug, never mind a fully autonomous vehicle….and that’s why we are still at the bottom of the manufacturers reliability index”…..we’ll send along a German vehicle to collect you as soon as the backlog is cleared”….

 

[Woodsmoke]

It may never happen, but regardless it's a frightening insight as to how some government ministers view their position as a means to impose ever more draconian restrictions on we mere plebians

 

[NullMac]

Most people don't own a car now anyway they lease one or buy it on hp. So kind of there already.

Don't worry it's just another scam by the Tories to make more money for the themselves at our expense. I am sure there would have to be a licensing scheme like Singapore with a limited number of slots that you have to bid for so they can make more money for nothing. If 3/4 of cars are leased/hp's there is limited room for more financial gain from ownership anyway.

Desperately trying to think of ways to replace fuel duty

 

[gixer1]

Most people don't own a car now anyway they lease one or buy it on hp. So kind of there already.

Don't worry it's just another scam by the Tories to make more money for the themselves at our expense. I am sure there would have to be a licensing scheme like Singapore with a limited number of slots that you have to bid for so they can make more money for nothing. If 3/4 of cars are leased/hp's there is limited room for more financial gain from ownership anyway.

Desperately trying to think of ways to replace fuel duty

I think it’s more likely going to be the useless SNP/greens up here trying to virtue signal to the masses that will try and kill off vehicles….wee nippy doesn’t really care about transport issues when she’s flying round in a helicopter, inviting all her mates for ridiculous climate summits…

Regards,
Gixer

 

[Rasputin]

Wasn’t this part or some pledge when we were in the EU to remove private transport by x date? I’m fine with getting a horse

 

[slider]

The Minister obviously lives in an urban area with ample public transport options. This simply demonstrate the complete lack of understanding of how a large part of the population lives.

 

[Feugh]

….wee nippy doesn’t really care about transport issues when she’s flying round in a helicopter, inviting all her mates for ridiculous climate summits…

I suspect that she has no mates, but really desperately wants some. Disciples, hangers-on and sycophants but no good mates.

 

[Apthorpe]

Most people don't own a car now anyway they lease one or buy it on hp. So kind of there already.

We do, however, have possession and control of a car. We're nowhere near there, although all cars built since around 2015 and sold in the EU can be immobilised by the governments at will.

Don't worry it's just another scam by the Tories to make more money for the themselves at our expense. I am sure there would have to be a licensing scheme like Singapore with a limited number of slots that you have to bid for so they can make more money for nothing. If 3/4 of cars are leased/hp's there is limited room for more financial gain from ownership anyway.

Desperately trying to think of ways to replace fuel duty

 

[gixer1]

The Minister obviously lives in an urban area with ample public transport options. This simply demonstrate the complete lack of understanding of how a large part of the population lives.

Completely agree…where I live we get a bus a total of zero times per day!

 

[Hornet 6]

Waste of time discussing and end to stalking due to lack of personal transport, you will stop shooting them due to the removal of your guns long long before there are no cars.

Neil.

 

[Apthorpe]

The Minister obviously lives in an urban area with ample public transport options. This simply demonstrate the complete lack of understanding of how a large part of the population lives.

Even in London, in most of the area, the public transport options are very limited, inefficient, too expensive and too slow, and they restrict people to only being able to act economically (work and spend) in very limited areas.
Public transport has existed in its modern form for well over a century and been showered with hundreds of billions of pounds of taxpayers money (obviously a lavatory cleaner from Barrow-in-Furness ought to be subsidising millionaire bankers' journeys) with the result that the best that can be achieved is so poor as to be unattractive, even when the alternative is taxed at over 200%.

The first thing that needs to happen to improve transport is that everyone in the Civil Service and all MPs and council employees must be banned from using any goods or services that have benefitted from the use of private transport. Once they've all starved, we'll be in a much better position to deal with the real issues.

As a softer approach, their continued employment should be dependent on achieving improvements in travel journey times, speeds and quantity. At the moment, they all think their job is to impede transport.

 

[FISH BOY]

We do, however, have possession and control of a car. We're nowhere near there, although all cars built since around 2015 and sold in the EU can be immobilised by the governments at will.

Interested to hear more pls.

 

[Dunwaters]

You are a wee bit late waking up to this particular threat, its already official Green policy and so far there hasn’t been a whimper of protest. The prioritisation of bicycle and pedestrian traffic and the reduced speed limits and access to urban areas being mandated for motorised traffic will have our city centres resembling 1970’s Beijing within less than 10 years.
The safety argument is almost total nonsense, the pollution argument has some merit, but are you sure you want to revert to 1920’s transport options, feet, bike, bus, train or stay where you are?