Dougal

@timreay @anon_opin Your examples are all laws that have been passed. There is no law about not using your car in a city or when you feel like it. So you can’t demand people stop doing things that are lawful just because you don’t like it

@dsayers @anon_opin No, in some cases you can't let people make their own choices, if it affects others to too great an extent. It's why we ban smoking in public, mandate the use of seatbelts in cars, ban people from using their phones when driving, etc. We should be free to choose but...

All drivers should have 2 weeks per year when they are not allowed to drive. It would make them realise how shit town planning/road safety/public transport is for pedestrians in the UK and maybe do something about it.

@timreay @anon_opin The air is significantly more breathable than it has been. Cars are much cleaner. And if the alternative you are proposing is to use the tube for example - check out how dirty the air is down there!

@dsayers @anon_opin 3/And then it makes more sense for the city to prioritise some people over others. So for example many cities prioritise cleaner cars, so the air for everyone is more breathable. Others give priority to cars with three or more passengers, as it's a more efficient use of space.

@timreay @anon_opin So we shouldn’t drive as once in a while a police car might need to get through?

@dsayers @anon_opin 2/And if you have massive traffic jams (as we often have anyway), then you make it harder for more deserving people. Just because we all pay taxes doesn't mean we are all equally deserving. An extreme case is a police car - they must be given priority for example.

@timreay @anon_opin Give your head a wobble! You can’t let people make their own choices?? As long as it’s legal I’m afraid that’s how this country runs. Sounds like you are proposing communism!

@dsayers @anon_opin 1/It's just an example! You can't leave people alone to make their own choices because their choices often disproportionately inconvenience others. If you didn't make it expensive to drive into London you'd create massive traffic jams.

@timreay @anon_opin You are all over the place on this. So now the problem is parking?!? Again - just leave people alone to make their own choice. And if they want to drive with all the congestion and parking charges that come with it, that’s up to them.

@dsayers @anon_opin Problem is that doesn’t work in city centres. It’s like parking. In Aberystwyth once they suspended all the parking attendants so it was a free for all and after a few weeks…

@timreay @anon_opin What has your SAC and priorities got to do with people using cars less which this thread has been about? I think live and let live. You want to walk, cycle, whatever - fill your boots. For everyone else that wants to drive for whatever reason they deem fit - I say let them

@dsayers @anon_opin 3/and the guy said semi seriously “not you”. And that’s the point really. None of us are as important as everyone else collectively. (I’m not anti car - I have two good ones, a convertible Mercedes and a BMW SUV, and enjoy them tremendously, just in the right place.)

@timreay @anon_opin I didn’t say they were more deserving. I just don’t think they’re any less deserving. They all pay same taxes and have same entitlement to use it. Councils appear stacked with anti-car zealots like you so shouldn’t be trusted with blunt scissors never mind transport policy

@dsayers @anon_opin Not sure I understand “who died”. It’s what many councils decide. But why on earth would you consider a private driver more deserving of road space than a tradesman?

@timreay @anon_opin So who died and made you arbiter of who was worthy of road space and who isn’t? Have you heard yourself?!

@dsayers @anon_opin Or you might consider that deliveries or tradesmen's journeys are more necessary than commuters'. Tradesmen can't get to a building in their vans if the streets are clogged with cars, etc.

@timreay @anon_opin So what?! If you’re not driving how do traffic jams affect you?

@dsayers @anon_opin Because it causes traffic jams in the city. Better to (for example) discourage people from commuting in, so people can get from A to B within the city (by taxi for example).

@Daniel_Grigg And who exactly is going to pay for his sixth form politics? He’s made it clear people setting up businesses aren’t welcome

Jeremy Clarkson trying to present the Greens as the party that would leave you with less of your money is ridiculous. For 99% of people, Polanski's Greens would leave you with way more of your money than Starmer, the Tories or Reform would.

@Telegraph This is what happens when speeds that were previously considered totally normal and safe are artificially slashed so they can get more money. Of course more people are going faster than the ridiculously low speed limits.

✍️ 'I am not surprised that almost a third of motorists who do courses go on to reoffend' | Writes William Sitwell 🔗 telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/2…

@timreay @anon_opin Not your issue is it? If someone wants to sit in traffic, struggle for a parking space then pay an exorbitant amount for parking why can’t you just let them do it?!

@dsayers @anon_opin In London, if everyone who wanted to drive did so, there would be gridlock, and there aren't enough parking spaces. 700,000 people commute into the City of London (which is one square mile each day). Where would you park 700,000 cars?

@timreay @anon_opin And what exactly is the issue if they want to choose to drive?

@dsayers @anon_opin Doesn't work in cities, though, because the choice that suits most people would be to have and drive a car but for a significant proportion of the other residents of the city not to. Outside the cities, there isn't really the same issue.

@timreay @anon_opin Or even better - butt out of interfering in people’s lives and let them make the choice that suits them.

@dsayers @anon_opin Or alternatively, treat city/town people and country people differently. Maybe do what he suggests but only in places where there is public transport within 15 min walk that runs at least once every half hour.

@ChaponaBike123 @grok @DailyMail

@grok @DailyMail @grok Do the Rothermere family all drive big expensive gas guzzling cars? Have any been done for speeding?

Why 20mph speed limits are a menace to motorists that will make roads MORE dangerous - and who is lining their pockets with the speeding fines: SPECIAL REPORT trib.al/xpZClDR

@Hi__Im__Swat @tomwarren @Ofcom Oh govern me harder! Simp!

@tomwarren What? No, that’s terrible and I’m pretty sure not legal. Account age alone is never proof of age and nor is it acceptable by @Ofcom

glad to see Apple using account age as verification for the UK’s Online Safety Act in iOS 26.4. This is how you do it 👍

@SophieP25397 No we’re not. We complain about our hard earned tax payers money being wasted on absolute nonsense - I’m happy for it to pay for schools and potholes.

The same people who rush to defend Dickie Tice over his £600k tax avoidance Are the very same people who constantly complain about crumbling public services (underfunded schools, overcrowded classrooms and potholes ruining their cars.

@LondonEconomic Wise up! What he did was legal!

'If the standards applied to Angela Rayner last year meant she had to resign, then the same standards must apply to Richard Tice here.'

@pinguforest That’s because one was a story of a cabinet minister (and deputy leader no less) breaking the law. The second is avoidance not evasion and given how badly this government spends my money I don’t blame him for one second for keeping it out of their wasteful hands.

I asked ChatGPT to analyse the first 72 hours of coverage of The Richard Tice tax story and the Angela Rayner stamp duty story. This is what I found.