Government by Fad. (The Danger of Slavishly Following Focus Groups).

 For decades now, probably even before the Blair Government, we had Government policy influenced by Focus Groups.

The John Major Government really started it, but Blair really went to town using focus groups to influence Government policy. Successive governments have followed suit, slavishly following fads as suggested by focus groups.

For instance, take Diesel cars.

Focus groups insisted that if Diesel cars were more economical and used less fuel, shouldn't government promote their use?

So in the Nineties and Noughties, we got incentives through reduced taxation to move to Diesel cars. If you try and buy a car from the noughties, then it's hard to find a Petrol-powered car, most are Dirty Diesels.

And it wasn't long for focus groups to class Diesels as dirty, once there were so many of them the problems with Diesel engined vehicles became a serious enough issue. So government policy went hard on cleaning up the engines with particulate filters. 

But then the engines and emissions system became so complex, they started to become unreliable.

The particulate filters did nothing to reduce Nitrogen Oxide (NOX) emissions. So we then went to adding extra stuff into the exhaust to reduce NOX. Hence the rise of "Adblue" tanks on cars. Some easily filled, some tucked away and essentially unfillable. 

This adblue additive was so important that manufacturers made it impossible to start the car if the tank was empty. A tank on some cars you can't fill yourself without dismantling the car or getting it up on a ramp. Hardly a good idea on something that is a normal consumable like washer fluid.

Then the Diesel cars got older and dirtier as they wore out and focus groups really, really didn't like the amount of black smoke they chucked out. Focus groups wanted government to protect the lungs of the little ones. so now Diesel engined vehicles are fined if they enter our cities and their Ultra Low Emission Zones. 

Now we are in the strange situation that Diesel cars attract less vehicle excise duty, because the old incentives are still in place, but will be fined if they enter a city because they're not welcome.

This is how governments making policy based on focus groups and fads can seriously fuck up things for people. 

Governments should not be social engineering. They should not be flip-flopping according to the latest fads. 

The same goes for current fads like gender ideology, so-called climate change, net zero and the rest.

Stop following fads and start governing. Government should be above fads, above public expressions of fashion. 

Government should govern, which means consistency, reliability, steering a steady ship, so that there are no shocks to the system. There are no u-turns. The country has a long-term strategy rather than the short-termism we see these days.

The Conservative government has been in power now for 13 years. The last three with a 80-seat majority. You'd think there would be consistency across those 13 years, but no, there hasn't been any consistency in policy as the Conservatives have bickered constantly, we've had several Prime Ministers as their approval waxes and wanes according to public opinion. We've had policies and u-turns on policy.

This flip-flopping on policy based on public opinion really has to stop. Government's are not in place to be likeable, they are in place to govern. 

The Radicalisation of the Poor.

It seems to me talking to various friends, that there is a rising radicalisation amongst the poor.

It's been several decades now since the poor were really, truly represented in politics and in Parliament.

That was bad enough, but now Parliament is actively enacting policies that directly impact the lives of the poor.

Whether it's climate change legislation, the piss-poor energy policy in this country or  whole host of things, they directly make the lives of the working poor worse. The plight of the poor doesn't matter any more. We are effectively invisible from a political perspective. 

Lets start with local government. Local Ultra Low Emission Zones are springing up in various towns and cities across the country. Directly impacting those too poor to buy a car that complies with the legislation.

A decent car is at least 3-4 thousand pounds these days. Not an insubstantial sum for someone earning just over minimum wage.

The introduction of ULEZ across the country has artificially inflated the cost of cars that comply

Then I mentioned last week, there is the cost of Vehicle Excise Duty or Road Tax as most people call it. £700 a year for a car costing £1500. 

Now the poor are being kettled into 15 minute cities with fines if they step above their station and try to move anywhere in the car they can barely afford.

It seems the personal freedoms of the poor are under attack. 

Thanks to globalism the poor compete with people in China, India and Malaysia for wages, so the wages of the poor have been under attack for decades. The Brexit vote was a vote against globalism and the rise of corporate government. 

Even if the poor want to better themselves the cost to start a business is increasing as the rules are ever more restrictive and ant-competitive. The corporate government works to cement the big corporations in power and prevents any competition.

I just wonder how long the poor will continue to withstand this onslaught?

However, time is slim: the rise of AI and robots threatens unskilled manual labour. If the poor want to show their disapproval then the time is now.

We are not represented politically, so there is only one course of action: a general strike.

Even middle-class jobs are threatened by AI. It would be good if they joined in as well. The middle classes should join a General Strike because they are threatened by AI as much as the working classes have been hit by globalism,

This is an assault on the working population by global corporations. The working classes have suffered reductions in wages, the ignominy of zero hours contracts, loss of job security. 

The middle classes will be next, as AI starts to make inroads into the law, education, the arts, etc. It will not be long before a full length photo-realistic film is created by AI, from writing the screenplay to creating the photo-realistic visuals, AI will pitch an idea, write the screenplay and create the film itself. Once it understands what sells, then the process will become almost automatic.

AI will be able to scan the law and create new legislation. It will be able to scan millions of documents and create cases for the defence. Currently it's not quite real-time, but there may come a time when a pair of computers both prosecute and defend cases. Human lawyers will be out of a job, because who will rely on a fallible human up against an AI that can instantly scan all the documents ever created to make case law? There will be no contest, the AI will always win.

AI wins in education too. It will be able to assess the child's abilities and then teach them in the most appropriate manner. There will be no "one-size-fits-all" education system. Instead each child will have an education tailored to their needs. And no doubt the needs of the corporate sponsors, who will eventually be running the country. 

That's the future the corporation want for us, the workers. Them in charge, making maximum profits for those that can afford shares, whilst the former workers become the under-class. 

Example of Road Tax Idiocy.

 Okay, here's a car, it's £1500 currently on eBay, and I doubt anyone will touch it:

Why, you ask? Well, because government legislation actually make this car impossible to justify. 

First off, local government in London i imposing the wider ULEZ zone, which this diesel car falls foul of. If it were petrol it probably would be ULEZ compliant, but Diesels have to be Euro 6 compliant which means realistically they have to be made after 2016 and have all the Euro 6 complications like DPFs that clog and use adblue which needs refilling, not always easily. Also being a newer car they are a lot more expensive. 

Second, if you pay the road tax on this car monthly, as most of us cash-strapped people do, then it's over £700 a year. That's £60 a month just to keep the car on the road. That's an unjustifiable expense when you're on close to minimum wage.

It actually costs more to tax than it does to insure. 

It really can't be right that the road tax on a car is half the car's value, let alone more expensive that the insurance.

It get the fact that when it was new and the car was worth a significant amount of money, then the owner of the car would probably figure that £700 a year is a minor price to pay. Anyone that can buy a twenty or thirty thousand pound car probably sees that sum as justifiable.

But to me £675 (the price of a one-off payment) is around half a month's wages. I have other bills like council tax and energy bills to pay.

I resent that the government is restricting my choices by their interference. As it is they are forcing me into a teeny hatchback, which unfortunately doesn't suit my needs. I resent that the government are backing me into a corner, for what exactly?

Just because it's a great way of raising tax.