Monbiot on speed cameras and the real war
in [UK Drivers]
|
From: Brimstone on 3 Aug 2010 08:06 "Derek Geldard" <dgg(a)miniac.demon.co.uk> wrote in message news:jivf56lff8afnefnun33bq2533n7oskbcf(a)4ax.com... > On Tue, 3 Aug 2010 09:42:45 +0100, "Brimstone" <brimstone(a)hotmail.com> > wrote: > > >> >>Not forgetting Mrs T pushing inflation to over 20%. >> > > Very high inflation was a world wide phenomena at the time. > So is recession now, but that doesn't stop people condemning Brown.
From: JNugent on 3 Aug 2010 08:30 Derek C wrote: > Ian Dalziel <iandalz...(a)lineone.net> wrote: >> Chelsea Tractor Man <mr.c.trac...(a)hotmail.co.uk> wrote: >>> On 2 Aug 2010 09:57:30 GMT, Adrian wrote: >>>> There was certainly nothing unusual about women driving by the late '60s/ >>> but also nothing unusual for a woman not to drive and not grounds for >>> assuming Castle anti car. >> Erm... I don't know if anyone's interested, but it has already been >> pointed out that it wasn't Barbara Castle who introduced the 70 >> limit... > It was her that made it permanent. It was originally introduced as a > temporary measure after a series of fog related accidents, AC and > Jaguar found testing high performance sports-racing cars on the M1, > and from memory I think also because of some sort of fuel shortage > crisis. The high-speed tests were wot dun it. There was no fuel shortage in the 1960s (though one was feared in 1967 as a result of the three day Arab/Israeli war). Except for any local problems due to industrial action, there were no fuel shortages between 1956 and 1973. > BTW, when I first started driving in 1963 at the age of seventeen, 100 > octane petrol cost about 4 shillings and 10 pence a gallon (about 24 > pence in today's money). You could buy 4 gallons of petrol for a Pound > with enough change left over to buy a Mars bar. Now a Mars bar alone > costs almost that, and they are smaller than they were then! > Derek C Someone will be along in a minute to suggest that petrol is cheaper now than it was in 1920, or something.
From: Brimstone on 3 Aug 2010 08:58 "JNugent" <jenningsltd(a)fastmail.fm> wrote in message news:8bqgfsF1g2U1(a)mid.individual.net... > Someone will be along in a minute to suggest that petrol is cheaper now > than it was in 1920, or something. OK, I'll bite. Dunno about petrol specifically, but very many more people can afford cars now than in the 1920s so the overall cost of motoring has obviously fallen compared to income over the last 90 years.
From: JNugent on 3 Aug 2010 09:08 Brimstone wrote: > "Derek C" <del.copeland(a)tiscali.co.uk> wrote: >> Chelsea Tractor Man <mr.c.trac...(a)hotmail.co.uk> wrote: >>> Derek C wrote: [�1] >>>> Now a Mars bar alone >>>> costs almost that, and they are smaller than they were then! >>> but in 1965 I earned �660 pounds per annum. People always confuse >>> falls in the value of money with increased price :-) >> You mean inflation caused by several inept Labour Governments? > Not forgetting Mrs T pushing inflation to over 20%. That certainly *never* happened. She inherited inflation at almost that (17%), it having peaked at 25% (some say 27%) pa in 1975 under Wilson, and Callaghan manging to reduce it to "only" 17% by 1979. Bank of England website figures from their very neat little inflation calculator: <http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation/calculator/flash/index.htm> �1.00 worth of goods as at 1970 would have cost �1.09 a year later [9% under Wilson then Heath] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1971 would have cost �1.07 a year later [7% under Heath] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1972 would have cost �1.07 a year later [9% under Heath] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1973 would have cost �1.16 a year later [16% under Heath then Wilson] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1974 would have cost �1.24 a year later [24% under Wilson] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1975 would have cost �1.16 a year later [16% under Wilson] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1976 would have cost �1.16 a year later [16% under Callaghan] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1976 would have cost �1.15 a year later [15% under Callaghan] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1977 would have cost �1.15 a year later [15% under Callaghan] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1978 would have cost �1.08 a year later [8% under Callaghan] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1979 would have cost �1.13 a year later [13% under Callaghan] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1980 would have cost �1.17 a year later [17% under Callaghan then Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1981 would have cost �1.11 a year later [11% under Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1982 would have cost �1.08 a year later [8% under Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1983 would have cost �1.04 a year later [4% under Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1984 would have cost �1.06 a year later [6% under Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1985 would have cost �1.03 a year later [3% under Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1986 would have cost �1.04 a year later [4% under Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1987 would have cost �1.04 a year later [4% under Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1988 would have cost �107. a year later [7% under Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1989 would have cost �1.09 a year later [11% under Mrs Thatcher] �1.00 worth of goods as at 1990 would have cost �1.05 a year later [5% under Mrs Thatcher then Major] As you can see, the peak period for inflation was 1974/75, when the BoE records 25% (there are plenty of contenporary calculations at 27%). Inflation was never lower than 9% under Labour (and that was in a year when they took over power some way into the fiscal year, inheriting the economic background from Heath). For full years in power, it was never lower than 15% and peaked at 25%. The average inflation rate for their full years in power (1975/76/77/78 over this period) was 17.75%. Inflation was never higher than 16% under the Conservatives (and that was in a year where they took over power some way into the fiscal year, inheriting the underlying position from Labour). For full years in power, they never had a rate higher than 11% and quickly got it down the following year, to 5%. Their lowest rate was 3%. The average rate for their full years in power (1980-1991 over this period) was 6.44%. I am sure you will now agree that UK inflation never reached the dizzy heights of 20% under Mrs Thatcher's stewardship. It only reached (and indeed, exceeded) that level under the government led by the Rt. Hon. Harold James Wilson, Baron Rievaulx [RIP].
From: JNugent on 3 Aug 2010 09:09
Derek Geldard wrote: > On Tue, 3 Aug 2010 09:42:45 +0100, "Brimstone" <brimstone(a)hotmail.com> > wrote: > > >> Not forgetting Mrs T pushing inflation to over 20%. >> > > Very high inflation was a world wide phenomena at the time. It may have been, but inflation never reached 20% during Mrs Thatcher's time in office. It took the special talents of Wilson's Labour government to do that. |