Monbiot on speed cameras and the real war
in [UK Drivers]
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From: Matt B on 2 Aug 2010 05:33 On 02/08/2010 10:07, Chelsea Tractor Man wrote: > On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 09:52:39 +0100, Brimstone wrote: > >>> except metrosexual twits. Although Castle wasn't like that. I wonder how >>> many women then did not drive? >>> >> AIUI, the majority. It was seen as being the man's job. > > [...] > > I do not think "anti car" existed. "An anti-capitalist environmental movement had begun to stir in the 1960s, depicting the car as the sociopathic enemy of the Earth. That vision was tacitly endorsed by the Wilson government and Barbara Castle � the first transport minister who couldn't drive � who halted major road-building projects." DT: <http://is.gd/dXZXI-> -- Matt B
From: JNugent on 2 Aug 2010 05:46 Chelsea Tractor Man wrote: > JNugent wrote: >>> the politicians were envious? >> Playing up to it. > and this happened in most countries? I'm talking about what happened here. I remember that period well. it was a time in my life I will never forget. Far fewer people had access to cars than is the case today, and even people who should have known better took up stances on transport which were conditioned by their own position in relation to the system as a whole (if you can call it a system). This was by no means universally due to the malice or political dogmatism that is exhibited today by too many people. Take an example. My grandmother, whom I remember with fondness, never travelled on a motorway in her life (she died a few years after the year we are discussing). She probably never saw a motorway except on television news reports of opening ceremonies. I recall her being very critical of the government spending money on motorways; she would "go off on one" whenever there was a motorway report on the news - particularly when the infamous cracks appeared in the surface of the M1 (yes, that was a few years earlier). And she was definitely not a socialist - she just had no way of understanding what was happening in the modern world from her terraced house in an inner suburb of a big city. For her, the world should have remained as it was in the 1930s, when she was a young mother. And she ws not alone in that. So, take a different citizen, whose natural inclination was to view the car-owning classes (of which we never were members and had no expectation of ever being so) as an undeserving elite, and you have great scope for the expression of resentment and envy.
From: JNugent on 2 Aug 2010 05:51 Chelsea Tractor Man wrote: > On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 09:52:39 +0100, Brimstone wrote: > >>> except metrosexual twits. Although Castle wasn't like that. I wonder how >>> many women then did not drive? >>> >> AIUI, the majority. It was seen as being the man's job. > > I asked the in laws. At the time one or two women they knew of had cars, > the headmistress of the locals girls school had one and it was parked in > the playground, (there was no staff carpark yet). The owner of a small > chain of hairdressers also had one. Both were regarded as exceptional. The district nurse who lived at the bottom of our street had an Austin A35 - one of only about five vehicles (including a coalman's horse-drawn lorry) among all 130+ houses. I recall seeing a woman driving and parking a car in Myrtle Steet, Liverpool, when I was about 5. It was the first time I had ever seen a woman drive. Until that moment, I would probably have assumed that women were not allowed to drive. > I do not think "anti car" existed. Oh, it did.
From: Brimstone on 2 Aug 2010 05:53 "JNugent" <jenningsltd(a)fastmail.fm> wrote in message news:8bniflFfelU1(a)mid.individual.net... > Chelsea Tractor Man wrote: > >> JNugent wrote: > >>>> the politicians were envious? > >>> Playing up to it. > >> and this happened in most countries? > > I'm talking about what happened here. > > I remember that period well. it was a time in my life I will never forget. > Far fewer people had access to cars than is the case today, and even > people who should have known better took up stances on transport which > were conditioned by their own position in relation to the system as a > whole (if you can call it a system). > > This was by no means universally due to the malice or political dogmatism > that is exhibited today by too many people. Take an example. My > grandmother, whom I remember with fondness, never travelled on a motorway > in her life (she died a few years after the year we are discussing). She > probably never saw a motorway except on television news reports of opening > ceremonies. I recall her being very critical of the government spending > money on motorways; she would "go off on one" whenever there was a > motorway report on the news - particularly when the infamous cracks > appeared in the surface of the M1 (yes, that was a few years earlier). And > she was definitely not a socialist - she just had no way of understanding > what was happening in the modern world from her terraced house in an inner > suburb of a big city. For her, the world should have remained as it was in > the 1930s, when she was a young mother. And she ws not alone in that. > > So, take a different citizen, whose natural inclination was to view the > car-owning classes (of which we never were members and had no expectation > of ever being so) as an undeserving elite, and you have great scope for > the expression of resentment and envy. > A reasonable assessment. Sad to say that we now seem to have swung in completely the opposite direction. Hopefully we'll swing back in time and end up with a more balanced approach to transport. However, I'm not holding my breath.
From: JNugent on 2 Aug 2010 05:55
Matt B wrote: > On 02/08/2010 10:07, Chelsea Tractor Man wrote: >> On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 09:52:39 +0100, Brimstone wrote: >> >>>> except metrosexual twits. Although Castle wasn't like that. I wonder >>>> how >>>> many women then did not drive? >>>> >>> AIUI, the majority. It was seen as being the man's job. >> >> [...] >> >> I do not think "anti car" existed. > > "An anti-capitalist environmental movement had begun to stir > in the 1960s, depicting the car as the sociopathic enemy of > the Earth. That vision was tacitly endorsed by the Wilson > government and Barbara Castle � the first transport minister > who couldn't drive � who halted major road-building projects." > > DT: <http://is.gd/dXZXI-> Damned good article. Every word well-measured. |