Made in ...

This is an issue that is very close to my heart Lazydog.

Unfortunately, this is happening in many African countries. One of the major drivers of this land grab is the EU diktat that says 10% of our fuel must be vegetative derived bio-fuel by 2015.

And do not be fuelled by the spiel of "job creation". This is factory farming on an enormous scale meaning that Lazydog is correct when he says ".Better for the few worse for the majority".

A good basic intro to this issue is below...............

How food and water are driving a 21st-century African land grab | Environment | The Observer

 

What really makes me :gaagh::gaagh: is that I live in, what is laughingly called, 'The Garden of England' - now don't get me started on the fact that it's becoming more like a back yard with motorways and high-speed trains which means 'they've' turned it into somewhere to rush through on the way to somewhere else (that's fine, I'm all for Kentish independence, then we can declare UDI, slap a big hefty tax on all the wretched foreign lorries and generally return to growing apples, cherries and hops!) but (unless you count Thanet Earth - which I don't) .... in an area where we grow some of the finest fruit and vegetables, finding it in anything other than small, tucked away shops or farmer's markets is almost impossible. So - where's it all going? Because it's not in our local supermarkets.

 

I try and buy Manx, if not British food. But living in an island community it's very difficult to stay patriotic. Our choice here is limited so I buy a lot on the internet and it's so much cheaper too.

 

There was something on the news the other day, that the government is thinking of charging about £10 per lorry per day for foreign registered lorries to drive on our roads. This even includes EU registered lorries. The argument is that when UK registered lorries go abroad, they often have to pay tolls, but when foreign lorries come here, they don't.

If that law goes through, you never know, imported stuff might be very slightly more expensive (although £10 per lorry load isn't going to make much of a dent), and home grown stuff might stand a chance of competing.

 

If they scrapped UK road tax & put the difference on petrol then no one would be able to avoid it.

We'd be getting a propper revenue from every lorry that came here from abroad & we'd clobber all the scumbags that avoid paying road tax over here.

 

Perhaps Britain should adopt American and Canadian ways of dealing with road tax. Out there the tax is combined with the car insurance and this is displayed on their registration number plates, so it would be easier to spot those trying to dodge the system.

Here on the island tax is 'geared' to the engine cc of the car, so obviously the higher the cc the higher the road tax.

 

True, but we would not be getting revenue from Foreign transport, who fill up cheaply before boarding the ferry to the UK

So drop the road tax and add a 0.05p to fuel and charge incommers £20 to use the roads here

Even more realistic would be to increase the fuel cost to cover insurance too, so no insurance and no tax, and if you move on the road the fuel cost covers it

Oh oh scrub the insurance, it would cover those with no claims and those with mulitiple claims at the same cost duh :DOH:

Jack McH