Labour Dip Motorists Pockets

Hard done by British motorists are set for another hammering when the price of fuel rockets over the next few months.

On the 1st January 2010 the Government's temporary VAT reduction comes to an end, which will see fuel prices increase by around 3 pence per litre.

In last year's Budget the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced that fuel duty would rise with the rate of inflation, which would add a further penny to every litre from 1st April 2010. On the same date the Government is withdrawing biofuel tax incentives from the refiners, which will result in a one penny increase per litre at the pumps. That's a 5 pence increase due to taxation by 1st April 2010.

On top of this analysts predict that prices could rise by an additional 5 pence per litre due to the increase in market costs.

The next Government, set to inherit Labour's bleak economic legacy, could also decide to further raise fuel duty and VAT by the end of the year.

Worse case scenario, which is entirely possible, is that fuel will reach about £1.25 per litre by the end of the year. Put another way the driver of a pretty average car (Ford Focus) who covers a pretty average distance (15,000 miles per year) will be worse off to the tune of £340 this year compared to last. That's on top of the salary increase they probably didn't get if they work in the public sector.

I told you things weren't going to be pretty!

Things can only get better...

Oh, Please

Gordon Brown: Available for burger flipping jobs from May.

Gordon Brown is set to warn the nation that the Conservatives would "wreck the economic recovery" if they came into power at the next General Election.

The embittered Prime Minister, desperately clinging to the last grains of credibility slipping through his fingers, will mount his hypocritical offensive in his new year message.

He will also predict "a decade of shared prosperity" if Labour remain in Government, warning against Tory "austerity and unfairness" as "the privileged few protect themselves".

Get a grip Gordon. What planet are you actually on?

It is because of the financial ineptitude of your Government and Chancellorship that people face the most arduous economic circumstances in a generation.

Your Government has disregarded the most fundamental principle of financial management - you can't spend what you don't have.

It is because of this idiotic "spend, spend, spend" mentality that Britain has more national debt than at any time since the Second World War. It is because of your willful neglect of the public purse that people will be struggling to make ends meet for years to come.

And you don't need to be educated on the playing fields of Eton to be able to see that.

Urban Cycling

Watching Sky News this morning I saw their feature about Scottish urban cycling enthusiast Danny MacAskill.

Danny, 23, has become a global hit on video sharing site YouTube where his daredevil stunts have attracted more than 13 million hits.

The five minute video, shot in and around Edinburgh, shows Danny bunny hopping along spiked railings, riding up trees and flipping over an assortment of street furniture.

He perfected his technique growing up on the Isle of Skye, where he recalls not everyone was enthusiastic about his antics.

"There were times when I was younger that the policeman in the village didn't approve of what I was doing and I had my bike taken off me for a whole summer holidays once," he said in his interview.

Danny has become so proficient at his art that he was recently recruited to star in a Volkeswagen television commercial.

EastEnders Murder

A little bit of festive fun today.

As usual Albert Square was a scene of traditional family values this Christmas. Jovial soul Archie Mitchell came a cropper when someone whacked him around the head with the Queen Victoria bust in the Queen Victoria pub.

The question is who dunnit?

Online Surveys & Market Research

If you can think of any other plausible suspects please drop a note in the comments and I'll add them to the poll.

Party Leaders' Debate Agreed

Gordon Brown prepares for the leaders' debate.

After months of speculation there was confirmation today that the leaders of the three main political parties will take part in three live televised debates in the run up to the next General Election.

An Ipsos MORI opinion poll in yesterday's Observer put the Conservatives on 43%, Labour on 26% and the Lib Dems on 20% share of the vote. Translated into Parliamentary seats that would see the Conservatives form a very comfortable Government with a majority of around 120.

With Labour being battered in the opinion polls it now seems unlikely the Prime Minister will call an election (and certain death) earlier than he has to.

In all probability his impotent Government will limp on until May or June 2010 after all.

Fair Game

The Conservatives have announced new safeguards to protect householders who tackle burglars from prosecution.

Shadow (soon to be) Home Secretary Chris Grayling said that only householders who used "grossly disproportionate force" should face legal action. The law currently allows householders to use "reasonable force" to protect themselves from a burglar.

The Conservative plan follows the recent case of Munir Hussain, who was jailed for beating a man who tied up his family in their home. Hussain was convicted of grievous bodily harm after using a cricket bat on the intruder.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Grayling said: "We have to be seen to provide greater protection to people who are getting a pretty raw end of the deal when somebody's coming into their home, trying to threaten them."

"People don't respond rationally in these circumstances and I think that the bar should be higher than it would be for somebody who's got the time to take a measured judgement.

"The law should be able to reflect that. And there should be a higher bar when it comes to householders protecting their own interests and their own home."

Mr Grayling was quick to refute one Right-leaning newspaper's assertion that the plans amounted to "a licence to kill a burglar".

Personally I'd like to see the Conservatives go even further, by rewarding people who beat burglars to within an inch of their worthless lives.

It's a scientific fact that burglars left unable to walk are also unable to reoffend.

Northumbria Police: No More Mail Please!

A quick message to another avid reader of this blog, Northumbria Police.

If I fail to reply to one of your lengthy questionnaires you can assume I'm not interested, although as I'm not on the public electoral register and have unblemished character I'd be interested to know where you got my details from.

Importantly, my refusal to respond is not an invitation to send me subsequent questionnaires a few weeks later. The nation does not have sufficient finances for organisations like yours to piss away pointless postage costs.

You provide a service to the public.

I do not provide a service to you.

British Airways: Stand Firm

British Airways faces the gravest threat in its 35-year history with cabin crews poised to abandon passengers over the busy festive period.

The 12-day walk out, involving more than 10,000 members of the Unite union, would see thousands of flights grounded and cost the debt stricken airline as much as £30 million in lost revenue. In September the company announced a record £392 million loss for the first half of 2009.

The desperate state of the balance sheet has forced BA to consider radical economies, which would see 2010 pay frozen and 3,000 staff switch from full time to part time working. The company has just reduced the number of cabin crew on long haul flights from 15 to 14.

BA cabin crew are already paid very generously compared to those with rival airlines. Reports today put average pay for a BA crew member at about £29,900 a year, including bonuses and allowances. That compares with just £14,400 at Virgin Atlantic.

BA believes the Unite ballot was unfair and is taking legal action to block the proposed strike.

Whatever happened to a bit of pride in your work? If I was a member of BA cabin crew my conscience wouldn't let me even consider walking out at the busiest time of the year.

Whatever happened to a bit of loyalty to your employer? Okay, BA is stuck in a rut at the moment but only a couple of years ago things were rosy.

BA employees, with their generous bonuses and final salary pension scheme, are by no means hard done by. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Willie Walsh is the right man to steer BA to calmer waters.

If Unite pushes ahead with its petulant and immoral strike action it could seal the decline of the nation's favourite airline.

Things will be a lot more difficult for their members then.