Why don't politicians like 4x4's

Oooh... I can see endless focus groups, strategy committies and a handful of independent regulatory authorities...

The thing I can NEVER understand is why the f*ck it actually matters how many wheels are driven? I think that the reality is, it doesn't matter at all, it's more a perceptual image thing. P'raps if we all drove 2WD busses (which, out of service are classed pretty much as private vehicles) or 7.5 tonne trucks for the skool run... Hmm.. there's and idea...

It is not so much the number of driven wheel but the physical size, engine size and fuel consunption that seems to irritate those in 'power'.

Or is it the fact that a new 'designer' 4x4 costs anything from 30k upwards that gets up their noses?

Let us consider a practcal element ..last weekend i took my son to Leeds where he started university, all his stuff in my RR and one 450 mile round trip, this is against friends who have to take two cars to carry their son's possessions, hire a van or make two trips...............which of the afore mentioned has less of an impact on the environment???? (if the environment really is the issue?).

For god's sake, if you want a larger engined vehicle with the poor economy that goes with it are you not paying for the priviledge in taxation on fuel?

AlunP

In message , David_LLAMA4x4 writes

Exactly. Stick to talking on things you know something about, and which is relevant to alt.fan.landrover.

In message , MAB writes

You, like another similar post earlier, are just subscribing to the prejudice. A school run is a school run is a school run, regardless of whether it's an X5, mondeo or whatever. If you object on engine size then say so and include ALL vehicles above a specified capacity, if it's footprint size then a Mondeo is bigger than 110, if it's height then an MPV is a van and a Defender is a car, according to the people who run the M6 toll road!!

Looking at the ethnic diversity of the local W.I., here in this patch of rural Lincolnshire, it'd be more than my lunch was worth to vote for Howard's mob, so I reckon I'd have to vote Lib-Dem again.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@raefell.demon.co.uk, hugh blithered:

Make the little b'stds walk!!

What an empty and p'raps boring group this would be should people follow your jackbooted assertion.

On or around Thu, 23 Sep 2004 12:03:10 +0100, Mother enlightened us thusly:

aye, 'twould be boring. variety is the wossname of thing.

and besides, I tend to agree - the hunting thing is just a smoke and mirrors exercise to distract the gullible from the state of the country in the run-up to el presidente Bliar's re-election campaign.

On or around Thu, 23 Sep 2004 10:51:44 +0100 (BST), snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G. Bell") enlightened us thusly:

bugger them, they're proposing punitive taxes on 4x4s. I was going to send 'em a spicy message about not jumping on bandwagons, but the feedback page thing on their website's broken, so I sent email complaining about that instead.

Luckily I saved the text I was gonna send 'em, so if I find a way of sending it...

meanwhile, you can read it here:

I gather it will be LibDem policy to apply punitive taxes to "large 4x4s", in the event of the party being in a position enact such things. You'll not get my support for jumping on the anti-4x4 bandwagon alongside such shallow thinkers as Mr. Livingstone of London.

I use a "large 4x4", among other uses, to transport up to 7 children at a time from remote areas to school or to meet the school bus. Rest assured that if I get hit by increased road taxes, I will pass the increase on to the local authority, who pay me for this work, and they will then have to raise the council tax in order to fund it. What goes around comes around.

You'd do better to consider the use to which all large cars (including 4x4s) are put, and whether they are needed for what they're doing.

Some attention to stopping people from driving their precious darling kids to school half a mile away wouldn't go amiss either, schemes such as "walking buses" have been tried in some areas with considerable success.

It don't matter who you vote for, the fecking Government always get in.

'sides, not many people realise that there's actually no such word in the Oxford English Dictionary of "gullible".

Indeed, and such a strategy also helps to reduce these little darlings becoming socially insular, overweight little brats....

Talking of socially insular, overweight grown-up brats...

Just before going off to float the Warwickshire ring for a week I was chatting to a neighbour whilst clearing some stuff out of Grumble following Peterborough. A young lad, prolly 4 or 5 years old appeared by the truck. I asked him if he was lost? - no response, I asked him where mummy or daddy was?, no response... Suddenly a woman appeared, running down the road screaming (very loudly, I may add) "GET AWAY FROM MY CHILD, GET AWAY FROM MY CHILD!". She snatched him from the pavement not 6 foot away from me with a force that could easily have broken the poor little sods arm.

Bemused, we watched as she literally flew down the road (toward the dead end), threw him into a new(ish) BMW 'people carrier' type thing, underwent the now common ritual of trying to reverse up the road, giving up, doing a 15 point turn, hitting the curb a few times before roaring up to the end of the road (10 yards), going on a further 20 or so yards, parking up (badly) and going into a house there...

Ann (neighbour) and I shared a moment of slow head shaking. Some people, we concluded, are simply mad.

Relevance to the NG I accept your comments though it is not me who started the thread. But why am I not qualified to talk about politics - what is there to say I know nothing about it? On the subject of qualifications and Govt. - politicions don't need any and yet they are allowed to run a country! Try setting up as a Doctor or MOT tester without the correct qualification and you won't be allowed.

MPs are not always right. They are not always the best informed or qualified on matters that they take decisions on. It is our job to question them and keep our democracy alive.

David LLAMA 4x4

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Mother" FROM MY CHILD, GET AWAY FROM MY CHILD!". She snatched him from the

Unfortunately that doesn't disqualify them from breeding!

I am a user and owner of two of the marques finest. What I am suggesting is to force, cajoll, frighten, or otherwise enforce drivers of all 4x4's to recognise the ability of their vehicles and to use them appropriately. It is my belief that if required to go through extra driver training the VAST majority would not be 4x4 drivers. This would leave only those that are prepared to raise their driving skills to meet the abilities of the vehicles they own/use and I would anticipate, as I said before, that some element of off road driving skills including respect and appreciation of the countryside would be included. This I beleive would go some way to appease the anti 4x4 lobby as a positive step to resolving what is, whichever side of the fence you are on, a problem. Unless someone makes a move the situation will not improve and, as there are more of them than there are of us, they will win.

Please re read my posts as at no time have I mentioned engine size, fuel economy, type of fuel, size of vehicle, or seating capacity. My reference to 'bus run' was an attempt at levity, totally failed on yourself unfortunately, to highlight the number of drivers that would not want to, or be capable of, completing my proposed extra driving test.

This proposal is not without presidence as you can not drive a lorry over 7.5 tons, a minibus carrying children, an electic vehicle etc without a test. These restrictions have been in force for a great many years.

MAB

It is my belief that if required to undergo the EXISTING driving test again, the VAST majority would not be drivers...

On or around Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:01:16 +0100, Mother enlightened us thusly:

I'm not falling for that one...

Twice...

I didn't know you had either....

Alex

That is one of the many reasons that I am beginning to consider ignoring kids wandering around aimlessly. Couple that with the current trend to bang in PI claims (hello your kid fell over in the middle of the road....) and other worse problems....

In this day and age where people take most of their information from the sensationalist hype spoon fed through the gross media that is the dubious side of the tabloid press, it begins to worry me what the country is coming too....

-- Simon Isaacs

Peterborough 4x4 Club Vice Chairman, Newsletter Editor and Webmaster (how much more....)

3.5V8 100" Hybrid, now LPG converted Part owner of 1976 S3 LWT, Fully restored, ready for sale! Make me an offer! Suzuki SJ410 (Fiancée's) 3" lift kit fitted, body shell now restored and mounted on chassis, waiting on a windscreen and MOT Series 3 88" Rolling chassis...what to do next 1993 200 TDi Discovery (the Pug 106 is dead, long live the Pug)

Peterborough 4x4 Club