David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, is to be applauded for his enthusiasm for cycling. Cycling is good for the health of the cyclist, good for other road users because it reduces traffic and good for the environment because cycling does not poison the atmosphere. Bicycles last for many years and are very low carbon producers over the lifetime of their manufacture and use.
So it is with some sadness that I now must now critisise David Cameron for his cycling but according to newspaper reports in the Daily Mirror David Cameron is a naughty cyclist. He was photographed going the wrong way up a one way street. (Is that going up a one way street or is it going down a one way street?) He was seen to go through traffic lights when they were at red and going the wrong side of a traffic bollard while negotiating his way through traffic. Hardly terrible things in themselves but not the behaviour we normally expect of our parliamentary leaders and lawmakers.
Perhaps there is a chink of good news in what appears to be hypocricy from someone who is an important member of the Houses Of Parliament and part of the system of government that creates all these rules and regulations. If David Cameron is aware of the difficulties faced by cyclists then it is to be hoped that if ever he becomes Prime Minister then he might actually do something about it. The more our MPs see of the effects of their clumsy lawmaking then the happier I am and I live in hope that having faced up to the real world, that we all see every day, they might be more careful with their pronouncements and their laws.
It would be wonderful to think that David Camerons lawbreaking cycling shows a new direction where MPs and government might wake up and smell the coffee. The world is full of stupid rules and regulations. We are being punished and penalised at every opportunity by the taxman, the local authorites, private parking companies, and even the police in schemes that seem designed to raise maximum revenue for the government. Remind me… who was chancellor of the exchequer for ten years? Oh yes, of course, it was Gordon Brown wasn’t it.
You forgot to renew your road tax? Ok, we will crush your car. You have a vehicle sitting in a garage miles away from a public road, unused for two years but you haven’t told Big Brother that you aren’t using it on a SWORN declaration? OK here is a nice juicy fine. Just be thankful we didn’t crush the motorbike, take posession of your house and sell your wife into slavery and you should be thankful that you live in a democracy where freedom of the individual is the most important aspect of life. What? What happened to Britishness? What happened to the considerate and understanding approach to life, attitudes and behaviour that Britain is famous for. We live in a completely changed country where being a little quirky and failure to conform accurately and precisely to the rules and regulations is now see as anti social behaviour rather than the character traits that put the Great in Great Britain.
It’s ok to get pissed out of your skull and wreck the town centre on a Saturday night though. The only requirement is that you spend lots of money on alcohol and make companies rich. One can only assume that those rich companies contribute considerable sums to the polical parties.
Maybe this s what is wrong with society these days. We as voters don’t contribute millions of pounds to the labour party. Perhaps if we did then they wouldn’t mind so much if we misbehave in a mild sort of way. We have seen plenty of examples recently where ministers and MPs have apparently broken the law and get away with it so it would seem that to survive in society today you have to do one of three things:-
1) Contribute generously to the Labour Party.
2) Be friends with the Prime Minister or at least be an MP.
3) Ruin life for the majority of the electorate but make lots of money for the industries that, presumably, do action number 1.
You don’t have to be a bad person to be a law-breaker these days as David Cameron has shown. You just have to use your own judgement and you are in the wrong. There is little freedom these days. You can get an ASBO just for complaining about your neighbours behaviour or a fine for not knowing what the law says, on some obscure action you are expected to carry out.
The world seems quite mad and in it’s attempts to crack down on the bad behaviour of a few, the government has damaged the lives of the majority. People in this country who still cannot walk outside their doors at night and feel safe and secure.
David Cameron as an MP and leader of the Conservative Party should not have to break the law just to get to work. However, I understand why he did and have no problem with it and it gives me hope. Hope that this is, in fact, a sign that he is personally aware of how the country has itself been going the wrong way up a one way street and it is heading for a disastrous dead end street where the yobs rule and society breaks down completely. Laws these days, seem to be all about details, technicalities and tax revenue rather than directing society down a better path to a better future.
We need a rethink and I find it hard to see that our illustrious leader Gordon Brown is the man to change things. He seems to delight in the fact that with his encouragement as chancellor of the exchequer the country is ruled by people who can fine you, almost at will. Almost, for daring to leave your house. Drop a cigarette end, – around £65 – or throw an apple core into a field – we are still awaiting the result of the court case on that one, parking just about anywhere, putting the wrong rubbish in the wrong dustbin. The list is as endless as the list of organisations who rule every waking moment of our lives.
Perhaps what we need is someone who is prepared to stand up and say that some laws are stupid and deserve only contempt. Perhaps a potential lawbreaker like David Cameron might be just the man to do it. Hypocricy in government and in Parliament is something to be reviled but honest misbehaviour might be just the ticket. So, David Cameron, just make sure you vote against these stupid laws when they come up in the house and you might earn the respect and get the votes of the electorate.
Honesty in Politics? Now that would be an original concept.
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