From AW, Manchester

Well the budget came and went.

So what did the thieving sods give us?

• 50 quid off road tax

.....- If you have a diddly little car.

If you need a big car because you have a large family, they are going to charge you more for the car you carry them around in but never mind, they are going to up family allowance at the same time.

So what did they take off us?

• Huge amounts on unleaded and even more on diesel.

The logic of all this defeats me. In recent journals, various scientific types far more learned than myself, and I would venture our esteemed leadership, came to some eye-opening conclusions.

To wit:

• Global Warming is caused by the Greenhouse gas carbon-dioxide. CO2
• 97.5% of  CO2 production is natural  (i.e. plants, animals and people)
• Of the remaining 2.5%, less than 1% is produced by vehicles (i.e. 0.025% of global CO2 emissions.)

The conclusion of which is that trying to stop global warming by taxing the motorist off the road is akin to trying catch a F**T in a colander.

Additionally, there is a real worry that those *Green* types that cycle to work may produce more CO2 than they would if they drove there in a clean modern car.

The real way to stop pollution is to get rid of the polluters or at least not have any more of them. Some would say that the only polluters on earth are people, and yet here is the government encouraging the production of people, but at the same time they would have us believe that fuel tax at around 85% is a good thing and will benefit us all. The facts though, however unpalatable, don't bear this out.

So next time you see some mad Greenpeace hippy with a tribe of kids telling you that cars are evil and removal of such satanic devices will lead to a happier future for us all, tell her to BUY A TELLY  or some condoms and save the world!

On a final note, the budget coincided with my parents' return from Spain where they report that diesel is 50 potatoes a litre and unleaded 70. With an exchange rate of 240 potatoes to the pound and a little arithmetic, we can work out how much the average signor in the land of little saves on fuel compared to us in the land of plenty (rain that is!). Roll on Europe and equalised taxation rates!