No Quentin, EVs are not Better Than Hybrids.

 I see professional smug-face and ex-Top Gear presenter Quentin Wilson is in the news espousing the benefits of Electric Vehicles over Hybrids.

Of course the first thing he mentions is range: Hybrids only have about 30 miles of range compared to the 100-200 miles of an EV.

But hang on. How much more expensive is your EV compared to the Hybrid? Because the battery is the item that costs the most. To be fair 30 miles range is quite useful for a Hybrid, it covers most in-town journeys and then when you hit the bigger roads, the petrol engine takes over. You also can "recharge" with petrol; a lot quicker than recharging a 200-mile-range EV from flat. 

EVs are not at the stage where I'd buy one. The cheaper (and therefore smaller capacity battery) EVs like the Nissan leaf don't have the range to fully replace a Hybrid. 120 miles from new quire quickly reduces to 80 miles or less in a Leaf. So you're very close to Hybrid territory anyway.

To get the 200 mile plus range EV, you're talking about a car that costs close to 100K to buy. 

I'm sure the cost isn't a consideration when money is no object, or you're getting the car provided for free, but I think most ordinary and skintish people do the cost/benefit analysis and opt for a hybrid as the best compromise between emissions, practicality and cost.

How to Identify Marxist/Socialist Ideology in the Wild

 I've been thinking of late of how Marxist/Socialist policy has pervaded life in the past few years. Where it wouldn't have even been considered, we are now hearing the ideology of "Oppression", "Levelling up", "Equity", and the like.

I've already pointed out the new rules in the Highway Code of all things is pure Marxist Oppressor/Oppressed ideology, where the more oppressed road users require some leg-up in the rules to make things more even. Where in reality the original rules of taking responsibility for your and other's safety on an equal basis worked for over a century.

The new rules have begun a chain of chaotic events as pedestrians think they can walk out in front of cars with impunity, or that cyclists can now ride three and four abreast in the road holding up traffic because they now have rights, rather than riding with care and consideration for other road users. 

The "Levelling Up" nonsense regarding areas outside of London are supposed to foster an impression that the government are doing something to help the read wall areas that went blue in the last election. Where in reality there is no extra money for the regions, it's just rhetoric.

Of course the Marxist/Socialist ideology has fully pervaded the Tech giants, with censorship, shadow bans and proper bans for people oppressing others with hurty words. But it only ever seems to be hurty words from the Right, whereas deaths threats or threats of violence from the left are somehow justified as "punching up".

Marxist/Socialist ideology is everywhere. It's up to the general public to spot it and call it out whenever it raises it's head. It has no place in life and especially somewhere like the highway code. It's just a recipe for disaster. It has no country that has prided itself on it's ability to play fair and give everyone a fair crack as long as they're willing to have a go. Giving someone a leg-up especially the feckless is just a waste of resources. 

Let's stop giving people who are not willing to use the leg-up responsibly a leg-up. Let's stop providing extra rights to people that then abuse them. Let's treat everyone equal. Let's play fair. Let's be British. 

UK Government: Painted into a Corner. No Immediate Relief for the Poor.

If you are poor and struggling, don't expect any help from government. 

I know you're used to an almost instantaneous response when the left start clamouring for support and "windfall Taxes", but alas, this time you won't get it.

You will have to sort out the situation yourself.

The reason being is the problems are unfixable. A windfall tax on energy companies is an idiotic move considering they themselves are struggling to survive, because thanks to the energy cap introduced by the government, the energy companies are selling energy cheaper than they are buying it in. They are losing vast amounts on money. Adding a windfall tax would add insult to injury. The proponents of the windfall tax on the left must have very short memories. They've conveniently already forgotten the energy companies going to the wall around Christmas.

What about the oil companies? I her you shout. Well, they are only selling at the current wholesale price. 

Thanks to Globalism we do very little refining of retail oil products in the UK. We buy in ready-refined products like Diesel. 

Annnnd... guess where the bulk of the Diesel comes from? Go to the top of the class if you said Mother Russia...or just .. Russia. So any sanctions we put on Russian products just shoots ourselves in the foot. We cut off our main supply of Diesel. That's why the price of small, economical PETROL cars continues to rise. The upwards pressure was already there thanks to various ULEZ schemes across the country that require newer Diesel cars compared to Petrol, but also the impending loss of Diesel in the New Year. 

Yes, I said loss of Diesel. Along with the countries of the EU we've given ourselves until the end of December to completely cut off supplies of energy from Russia. Ostensibly this is to give us time to find alternative sources of supply, but realistically the West hops the war is resolved by then and everything can go back to normal. But what it means in practice as every country in the West scrabbles for the same sources of supply is a huge increase in price and limited supplies. 

So if you run a diesel vehicle, either put up with not being able to source fuel in the New Year, or pray the war in Ukraine is over, or buy a petrol engine car. 

Anyway, again there is nothing the government can do to provide instant relief. Taxing the fuel companies more will only reduce profits and investment in alternative sources of supply.

How about borrowing the money to tide us over this rocky period? Er, unfortunately the government ran up huge amounts of debt during the pandemic, to pay for all those furlough workers. So any further borrowing will be at a higher rate of interest. Servicing that debt will put pressure on the government to raise taxes to pay back the debt at a time when increased taxes just adds to the misery.

So the government are really in a tricky situation. They are very limited on the options available. 

You are just going to have to ride it out as best you can using your own resources. The government really aren't joking when they say take a second job.

Of course there are options: I've long advocated ending the ability of corporations to pay corporation tax offshore. I maintain that if they earned the money here in the UK, then they should pay it in the UK at the UK rate. I don't see any reason why money earned in this country shouldn't be taxed in this country. We are now outside the EU and are autonomous. We have the ability to set legislation however we want. So why don't we end the offshoring of tax liabilities?

The big tech companies that set up shop in Luxembourg, or Ireland (traditional low corporation tax countries) should be forced to pay their corporation tax here. End the legislative loophole that allows it. Earn the money here, pay the tax here should be the mantra of any UK government.

That should bring more money into the treasury without affecting punters. Yes, Amazon may earn a few billions less, but it doesn't affect the poor. And if they put up their charges and fewer people use them and rely on the high street instead, well that's another plus.

Oh, and before anyone starts bleating about "Brexit dunnit", unfortunately that's not the case. America have exactly the same inflationary pressures caused by the end of cheap Chinese imports alone. We've had the cheap labour tap turned off, but the bright sparks in the government are fast tracking Ukrainian refugees as fast as they can and are giving them work permits so we'll have a supply of cheap workers to try and dodge that bullet. Just in case you wondered why the Ukrainians were getting special treatment and being allowed to work while being refugees.