Earl Mardle (![[info]](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/http/web.archive.org/web/20040720045438im_/http:/=2fstat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} rlmrdl) wrote,@ 2003-01-20 21:51:00 |
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Lord Mayor Of London Tries to Find a Tipping Point
The guardian has a good column from Jackie Ashley on Mayor Ken Livingstone's attempt to halt the march of the motor vehicle before it chokes his city completely. Starting in February London will start congestion charging, with fees, prosecutions and confiscations for scofflaws.
If nothing else we'll get to see whether the "great man" theory of history and some determined, if politically dangerous leadership can stand in the way of unthinking and unsustainable behaviour before it kills us all. Expect massive anti-publicity from the vested interests in the motor industry and all those who believe that government has no place in any activity that has to do with money.
As predicted by the piece, all hell is breaking loose as public sector unions vow to strike rather than enforce the legislation. Interestingly, the process is being orchestrated by Class Law which helped Railtrack holders force the Government into bailing out their failed investment in the rail monopoly. Class law? Or Class war? The issue remains, whether London will be more damaged by a congestion charge, orsimply waiting in despair till the system grinds to a halt. Maybe they could learn something from cities like Bogota, a city of 7 million and therefore nearly as big as London, is heading steadily towards freedom from cars
And Just to show what happens if you can't get your legilative and social conscience act together, Milan Bans Private Vehicles To Fight Pollution. Rule number one, the environment is not fragile and does not need protecting, we are fragile and if the environment shifts too far from where it has been the last 2,000 years, it will not support us and we will die. That's a good enough reason to get sensible.
Someone trying to do that, and invoking the network is Jean-François Rischard, the author of High Noon: 20 global problems, 20 years to solve them, who talks to openDemocracy about his proposal for a new way of addressing the most intractable questions about the way the world is ruled. Frankly, if his solution is what is needed, and I would bet that it would work, the only problem we have to ocvercome is very powerful, unbelievable selfish and deeply stupid vested interests, so that'll be a snip then.
The guardian has a good column from Jackie Ashley on Mayor Ken Livingstone's attempt to halt the march of the motor vehicle before it chokes his city completely. Starting in February London will start congestion charging, with fees, prosecutions and confiscations for scofflaws.
If nothing else we'll get to see whether the "great man" theory of history and some determined, if politically dangerous leadership can stand in the way of unthinking and unsustainable behaviour before it kills us all. Expect massive anti-publicity from the vested interests in the motor industry and all those who believe that government has no place in any activity that has to do with money.
As predicted by the piece, all hell is breaking loose as public sector unions vow to strike rather than enforce the legislation. Interestingly, the process is being orchestrated by Class Law which helped Railtrack holders force the Government into bailing out their failed investment in the rail monopoly. Class law? Or Class war? The issue remains, whether London will be more damaged by a congestion charge, orsimply waiting in despair till the system grinds to a halt. Maybe they could learn something from cities like Bogota, a city of 7 million and therefore nearly as big as London, is heading steadily towards freedom from cars
And Just to show what happens if you can't get your legilative and social conscience act together, Milan Bans Private Vehicles To Fight Pollution. Rule number one, the environment is not fragile and does not need protecting, we are fragile and if the environment shifts too far from where it has been the last 2,000 years, it will not support us and we will die. That's a good enough reason to get sensible.
Someone trying to do that, and invoking the network is Jean-François Rischard, the author of High Noon: 20 global problems, 20 years to solve them, who talks to openDemocracy about his proposal for a new way of addressing the most intractable questions about the way the world is ruled. Frankly, if his solution is what is needed, and I would bet that it would work, the only problem we have to ocvercome is very powerful, unbelievable selfish and deeply stupid vested interests, so that'll be a snip then.
