Traffic Congestion

You'd have to add some beach-front condo's though.

Oh we already got THOSE. Tower of London Windsor Castle

Hi Denver, Interesting thread, 'small mom and pop stores' don't stand a chance in hell in London anymore. The city has been too heavily conjested for years now, and the tax is on vehicles not the commuters. To encourage shared driving and discourage people from bringing their vehicles in. I recently was in London and getting in and out was sheer hell. Terrifying for a middle aged country pumkin like me. I completely got lost and paniced in the middle of four lanes of high speed trafic. My 12 year old son took control and directed me the 60 miles back that I had inadvertently taken. Next time, I hug the coast all the way. Bollocks to the M25!! All the best drivers, take their time! Tai

>> ...the tax is on vehicles not the commuters.. << That's the biggest heap of crap I've heard in ages. Whilst the tax IS levied against the motor, it hits the poorest the hardest. Therefore the result is to keep out those that can't afford to pay, whilst the rich drive around half-empty roads that are maintained with the taxes of EVERYONE. King Ken Canewt is a ******.

Yea, I heard that point made. I thought England rid itself of the class system.

HAHAHAHAHAHA Denver me old mucker, the class system IS England. It ALWAYS has been and it ALWAYS will be. Don't believe those rumours of egalitarianism, they're all lies. And what's more, the 'landed gentry' will defend the wanky windsors to the death, because as long as England has an aristpoxcracy to take the flak, they are all safe.

I think Britain's become a lot more like America in that money now counts more than lineage; pop stars and footballers have joined the "upper class", at least in popular perception. At the lower end of the scale, there's a much larger middle class as the "blue-collar" jobs have disappeared and "white-collar" jobs burgeoned. That's one reason Tony Blair is so chummy with Bush, the "working class" is much diminished and can't be relied upon to even vote, so Labour now have to court the middle classes to stay in power. One good outcome is that there are much larger numbers of mixed-race relationships (at least in the cities) than when I was young, when blacks and Asians were seen as a kind of sub-class, and overseas visitors have expressed surprise at this. But, yes, there's still the hideous royals and their appalling retinue spoiling the scenery.

Neil, if you think that 'blacks and asians' as you call them are NOT considered a sub-class I suggest you're way out of touch with grass roots racialism in Britain. Are you not aware of the inherent racism in politics, the judiciary, parliament, TV (apart from 'Britaians favourite newscaster!what crap THAT is.) and the police? Mixed race marriages are a separate issue in some ways.

i agree with the congestion charge and would be happy with the proposed extension westward, i rarely drive through central london anyway, and if i go in there, public transport gets me there very easily, within the zone, buses whizz around getting you to places more quickly, and i've neer understood why people want to drive into london to go shopping, it's always been difficult to park there, involved a lot of hassle, paying big parking fees etc, if it encourages people to leave their cars at home, that's a good thing the system hasn't worked smoothly though, there have been examples of cloning reported in the press, someone copies a number plate of someone else, and then drives in and out of the zone, knowing that the luckless punter with the real plate is going to get the bill and then have to prove they weren't in london, i have seen people with number plates that are obscured slightly with mud or something, making it impossible for the camera to read them and thus charge them... i don't agree with ken wanting to increase the charge, a fiver is sufficient, i think the income from the charge isn't as much as they had predicted...doesn't take a genuis to work out that they should have made lower predictions since the point of it was to deter traffic not to encourage it...

yer i agree

Whichever way you look at it, Martin, it's STILL divisive.

urm ...

i get your point missi, but i can't think of a many better ways to control congestion in central london... i would be well in favour of upping the road tax on 4x4, to get some of them off the roads, and cheaper public transport in london to further encourage people away from their cars

Ok, ban ALL cars and make Richard Branson get the bus along with yourself. He'd probably buy his own fucking bus though come to think of it!

Why don't you just tear down parts of the city, close off and rebuild all the roads and add some new ones? It'll chase off a bunch of people, you won't be able to drive anywhere anyway and when it's done, you can start a new project with more taxpayer money. In the meantime, it'll give a bunch of construction workers a job and help cut down on polution. It works in Denver.

Well the problem with that is it could end up like LA, 75% freeway and 25% access roads!