death, trash and taxes

The rational objection to Miliband’s trash charging schemes is that they force consumers to pay extra to dispose of wasteful or non-recyclable packaging which they had no choice other than to accept in the first place, because it came wrapped around the goods they wanted or needed. Surprisingly, it was the Tories who made this point:

But the shadow environment secretary, Peter Ainsworth, accused Mr Miliband of "dither", adding: "You want a voluntary arrangement with industry to reduce hugely unpopular, unnecessary packaging, but a system of fines for households struggling to cope with waste packaging they didn't want in the first place.

However, my first reaction was an entirely irrational one. You can’t charge me anything, Miliband: you’re an overgrown teenager. Fuck off back to the chess club you little geek.

As I say, I can’t justify this response rationally. It’s just what turning 43 does to your outlook. I mean, if it was Ming Campbell doing this I wouldn’t have had that response. Since death and taxes are inevitable, I’d rather be taxed by people closer to death than me.

And yet, and yet…forcing the public rather than industry to bear the cost is just the kind of thing that a civics nerd would prefer to do. It means that young David can climb into his Harry Potter pajamas every night and go to sleep with his thumb in his mouth and with the pleasant thought that he’s activated a load of citizens that day.

And me I’m just left baffled with the thought that this little twerp – this frog faced little fucker – apparently has the power to make me do things. The same, of course, goes for Cameron come the glorious day.

Comments

[Cian]

I don't have a problem with charging people who don't recycle - it seems to work in Europe and Japan, apparently the technology is available, and its doable politically.

But what kind of political moron do you have to be to think that you can get away with charging residents for rubbish they have no control over, which they don't want, while doing nothing about the companies generating it?

[Phil]

This is all of a piece with the mess over car disposal charges when the value of scrap metal dropped below the cost of slicing the car up in an environmentally-friendly manner. A lot of European countries either charged the car makers or put a levy on the price of new cars, but Nu Lab decided that it was the last owner's responsibility to pay causing the current rash of car dumping. Because of course the kind of person who owns a car at the end of its useful life will be happy to chuck away a couple of hundred pounds to get it officially disposed of.

[Martin Wisse]

It's Nu Labour'd ideology in a nutshell isn't it: the consumer is the person who can change the world and all government needs to do is sting the consumer in behaving the right way.

[Flying Rodent]

Would it be pedantic to note that, while rubbish collection was probably a burning issue sixty years ago, we should really have got past the point where this was controversial?

It doesn't say great things about modern politics when the major political parties are reduced to playing weeaboo with the sodding bins.

Don't we have, you know, real problems to worry about?

[ejh]

Miliband: you're an overgrown teenager. Fuck off back to the chess club you little geek.

As I say, I can't justify this response rationally. It's just what turning 43 does to your outlook.

God, I missed this.

I'm 42. Does this mean that I have less than a year's worth of liking chess left to me?

[jamie]

Well YMMV, as they say. But sooner or later...

[ejh]

Or not