Constituency: Northampton North
MP: Ms Sally Keeble
Party: Labour
Council: Northampton Borough Council
Dominating Party: Lib Dems
This forthcoming general election I cannot see myself voting for any party so it would seem relatively hypocritical if I were to look down on those who will be in a similar situation. Firstly, if I were to vote for a party it would be Labour. I would do this because Labour seems to hold students views in mind more than any other party; an obvious choice as I am one. Secondly, living in an area where the local MP is a Labour member it would make sense that she would try her hardest to fulfil the policies promised by the Party. Thirdly, my family have always voted for Labour so I might as well carry on the tradition; much like Lloyds TSB being the family bank. However, there are several factors which make voting seem futile. From looking at the 3 main parties it seems that all seem to focus themselves in the centre of the Political Party Spectrum i.e. None are extreme Left or Right so effectively the ultimate goals will be similar for all. To me this suggests that nothing vastly different will become of the country if any of the parties win so really it wouldn’t make a difference who I voted for or even if I voted at all. Also I find myself in a position where I do not have an income, family, own a house, own a business or even drive a car so I feel the majority of policies would not affect me directly. I’m sure there would be plenty of factors that may affect me indirectly but they are not going to scare me into voting just yet. It seems odd to confess that in a society where we can be proud that our country does indeed allow for each person to have a vote that I’m willing to squander that privilege. Tim Harford of the Financial Times says:
“There’s no point in voting at all, for that matter, as a purely logical act. So if you stayed home that day, relax. If you really want to make a difference, buy lottery tickets — your chances of hitting the jackpot are roughly equal to your chances of swinging an election — and devote your winnings to political lobbying.
“The chance of any individual’s vote making any difference to the result is tiny; the benefits of turning an uninformed vote into an informed vote are also tiny. Rationally speaking, why bother?”
A fair view you may agree. I certainly did, as it appeals to the side of me that can’t find myself making the effort to vote. Although at the time of writing this I did register to vote but because of the inability to completely register online, I found myself somewhat disenchanted by the whole experience. Next they’ll be telling me that I can’t vote online either.
The problem lies in that not many people really know what each party stands for. From some research, Labour stands for equality and Liberal Democrats stand for fairness, two not so very different ideas in my opinion. The Conservative Party, with the word conservative in their name, had me believing that they would like everything to stay how it is now but to my surprise on their homepage, the words “Our Country Needs a Change of Course” were emblazoned on it. Each party says the same thing and that makes it hard to decide which to vote for. So for this general election, I will be reserving judgement. I’ll see if I’m disappointed by the outcome and if the answer is yes, I’ll have 4 more years to get my vote sorted. Hopefully by then I can do it online as well.
20100316
Cars
"It's the only way to live, in cars" - Gary Numan
Being one of those unfortunate people who have never owned or even driven a car, the issue of personal transport has never really afflicted me. It is hard for me to comprehend concepts like the volume of petrol a car can get through in a day, or even its basic essentiality for everyday life. However, from the numerous people I know who own cars, it’s quite obvious just how troublesome the transport situation of Britain can be. Topics such as the price of maintenance and insurance often forefront in people’s minds with speed limits and traffic jams following close behind but rarely the case of how bad cars are for the environment. On the other hand there is the public transport system, which receives a fair amount of criticism from those who use it and those who don’t. Being a veteran of buses and trains alike, it is easy enough to state every minor flaw when it comes to presentation and experience but criticising the ability to travel to most parts of the country is much harder to do.
For me and probably many others, life would be very different without the public transport system our government provides. Living a considerable distance from the majority of my friends for most of my life, social activities would have been much more difficult to participate in. It’s hard to imagine what would have happened without buses allowing me to go see my friends. Before coming to University I only had one friend who owned a car. Once that car came into his possession, changes in his personality were evident. Suddenly everything started to cost much more money than he deemed worth, money that could be spent on a friendly drink with friends would now be used to buy petrol or to fund customising his car in some way or another and every walk was now just too far. Car drivers are incredibly lazy I’ve discovered over the years. The mobility that a car provides has been both a benefit and a loss. Transport, along with readymade meals and the internet has made everything so easy that people are so very infrequently motivated to do anything that may require effort. It’s said that a lack of fitness can be derived from the over dependence on cars and it’s not hard to imagine.
Negativities aside, the car has revolutionised society. Much like buses and trains but to a higher degree, it allows anyone to travel wherever they like whenever they like. Parts of the country that were never accessible before have now became accessible for the first time and aside from luxury, the car now proves essential to everyday working life. That is partly where the transport problem lies. The over-dependency on cars means that people are very reluctant to use different methods of transport and that will ultimately result in catastrophe. However, I feel I belong to the school of thought that deems itself technologist. That is I believe that technology will eventually find a way to solve any problem that may be apparent. So really it is difficult for me to say that I think there will still be a problem in the future. I have no doubt that some form of renewable energy will be discovered or harnessed that will solve any of Earths energy problems. For instance, nuclear fusion will no doubt become the world’s number one source of energy once it has been harnessed properly as its waste product is merely water. However, even if that is discovered tomorrow, it will still take years to implement into the transport system. The technology will no doubt be far too bulky to situate inside an automobile let alone be safe enough. Therefore even though technology may be the long term answer, there is still a lot that needs to be done in the short term.
A lot of drivers don’t consider the indirect costs to car ownership but only concentrate on direct out-of-pocket costs such as fuel and insurance. For example, with an increasing number of cars, more roads will need to be made in order to cope. In America 60% of the gas tax contributes towards the construction of these roads. So if more roads are needed, tax must be increased. Maybe the tax will not be increased on petrol but it will have to come from somewhere which will still indirectly affect car owners. It’s not all bad though. The production of cars, as stated by this article below, created the middle class:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4899992_how-did-automobile-change-america.html
Steady work was now available to the masses. The car also created the world of suburbs. Now workers could easily commute to work each day, explore new areas of the country and visit the seaside.
In my opinion, the benefits of cars easily outweigh the cost to the environment. I am one of those that firmly believe that technology will solve any problem that is thrown at the world. It might be subtle such as a new way to eradicate technology or it could be huge like populating Mars. Either way I’m not one to live in fear and neither should anyone else. There are those who are paid to worry about the environment and then there are those who are paid to fix it. For everyone else, life carries on and not many are going to give up their mobility if they don’t have to. So no, there is not a transport problem, there is only a delay before we crack it.
Being one of those unfortunate people who have never owned or even driven a car, the issue of personal transport has never really afflicted me. It is hard for me to comprehend concepts like the volume of petrol a car can get through in a day, or even its basic essentiality for everyday life. However, from the numerous people I know who own cars, it’s quite obvious just how troublesome the transport situation of Britain can be. Topics such as the price of maintenance and insurance often forefront in people’s minds with speed limits and traffic jams following close behind but rarely the case of how bad cars are for the environment. On the other hand there is the public transport system, which receives a fair amount of criticism from those who use it and those who don’t. Being a veteran of buses and trains alike, it is easy enough to state every minor flaw when it comes to presentation and experience but criticising the ability to travel to most parts of the country is much harder to do.
For me and probably many others, life would be very different without the public transport system our government provides. Living a considerable distance from the majority of my friends for most of my life, social activities would have been much more difficult to participate in. It’s hard to imagine what would have happened without buses allowing me to go see my friends. Before coming to University I only had one friend who owned a car. Once that car came into his possession, changes in his personality were evident. Suddenly everything started to cost much more money than he deemed worth, money that could be spent on a friendly drink with friends would now be used to buy petrol or to fund customising his car in some way or another and every walk was now just too far. Car drivers are incredibly lazy I’ve discovered over the years. The mobility that a car provides has been both a benefit and a loss. Transport, along with readymade meals and the internet has made everything so easy that people are so very infrequently motivated to do anything that may require effort. It’s said that a lack of fitness can be derived from the over dependence on cars and it’s not hard to imagine.
Negativities aside, the car has revolutionised society. Much like buses and trains but to a higher degree, it allows anyone to travel wherever they like whenever they like. Parts of the country that were never accessible before have now became accessible for the first time and aside from luxury, the car now proves essential to everyday working life. That is partly where the transport problem lies. The over-dependency on cars means that people are very reluctant to use different methods of transport and that will ultimately result in catastrophe. However, I feel I belong to the school of thought that deems itself technologist. That is I believe that technology will eventually find a way to solve any problem that may be apparent. So really it is difficult for me to say that I think there will still be a problem in the future. I have no doubt that some form of renewable energy will be discovered or harnessed that will solve any of Earths energy problems. For instance, nuclear fusion will no doubt become the world’s number one source of energy once it has been harnessed properly as its waste product is merely water. However, even if that is discovered tomorrow, it will still take years to implement into the transport system. The technology will no doubt be far too bulky to situate inside an automobile let alone be safe enough. Therefore even though technology may be the long term answer, there is still a lot that needs to be done in the short term.
A lot of drivers don’t consider the indirect costs to car ownership but only concentrate on direct out-of-pocket costs such as fuel and insurance. For example, with an increasing number of cars, more roads will need to be made in order to cope. In America 60% of the gas tax contributes towards the construction of these roads. So if more roads are needed, tax must be increased. Maybe the tax will not be increased on petrol but it will have to come from somewhere which will still indirectly affect car owners. It’s not all bad though. The production of cars, as stated by this article below, created the middle class:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4899992_how-did-automobile-change-america.html
Steady work was now available to the masses. The car also created the world of suburbs. Now workers could easily commute to work each day, explore new areas of the country and visit the seaside.
In my opinion, the benefits of cars easily outweigh the cost to the environment. I am one of those that firmly believe that technology will solve any problem that is thrown at the world. It might be subtle such as a new way to eradicate technology or it could be huge like populating Mars. Either way I’m not one to live in fear and neither should anyone else. There are those who are paid to worry about the environment and then there are those who are paid to fix it. For everyone else, life carries on and not many are going to give up their mobility if they don’t have to. So no, there is not a transport problem, there is only a delay before we crack it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)