Is anyone out there listening?
Lat week we saw the return of the fuel protesters, first in London and Wales and last Saturday on the A30 in Devon and Cornwall. However, it would appear that no matter how many people protest……after all more that one million walked the streets of London against the Iraq war to no avail….there doesn’t seem to be anyone actually taking much notice.
Many are calling for a reduction in tax for commercial users, however it isn’t just commercial users that are being badly hit in the pocket by the rising costs of fuel. Particularly in rural areas, many jobs are practically impossible without personal transport i.e. the car. Nurses, doctors, carers, teachers and the vast majority of our essential services are staffed by people relying on personal transport. It would be impossible to provide care in the community without the use of cars.
Cannot all politicians, national and local, actually take these basic facts on board? How long do they expect people to continue to work in an industry where they are facing increasing costs just by actually going to work? Many young workers are facing the double wammy of loosing the 10% tax band, which for them has not been replaced. It would appear that no politicians care about the young people working to-day, all their interests are focused on the young who are buying alchohol and standing around on the streets.
Politicians, hear this, there are many hard working young people, who should not be penalised for going to work. They are under 25 and do not claim tax credit, they are happy to work for their money….please accept these people are playing a valuable roll in our society and should be treated as equals not discriminated against because they are young.
It would seem that everytime we visit the shops, something in the shopping basket has risen in price. Whilst waiting in the supermarket que on Saturday, several of us had quite a discussion about the price of items in our shopping baskets. Buying bacon for my elderly neighbour, I noticed this was 50p more a pack than the last time I bought some, three weeks ago. Bread had risen some 14p a loaf and so on. We question whether or not we’re being taken for a ride on the back of increasing world costs of food……all the people around me were of the opinion that this is the case………we await the next food companies proffit announcements with interest, and the oil companies, well they must be suffering mustn’t they!!!
No, somehow all the costs are being born by those who can ill afford it, those on fixed incomes and low wages who will feel the rising costs hit them the most. Mr. Brown and Darling should look very carefully at how they treat the vast army of Pensioners and lower paid. We all have votes, and the Pensioners vote is very important indeed, after all we keep being told by government how many of us there are…..the synic in me is suspicious that this is an excuse for reducing services, however, Pensioners vote, and their vote will be very inportant in the next election.