Cross Channel Fuel Charges

My local MP, Gordon Henderson, asked a question in the House regarding proposed adjustments, or charges on Truck using the channel tunnel who originate from Europe.  The suggestion is that truck drivers should be charged a tax, or a toll to compensate for the lower fuel prices charged in France and elsewhere in Europe.

Checking the Foreign Truckers

It appears that they are accused of filling up where fuel is cheaper and driving into Britain and back without buying any fuel before returning to Europe.  On their part that seems to be a most practical and cost effective way of operating a truck.  I am sure that any vehicle owner in the UK would like to buy cheaper fuel before travelling back onto home soil from France.

So, the politicians start trying to devise a scheme that will charge Foreign drivers a tariff and create a paraity for their UK counterparts.  The arguments seem to be about how the tariff will be imposed, how it will be regulated, who will be charged and who will collect it and of course how much the tariff will be.

The repercussions could be that the companies running the foreign trucks will add the costs on to the goods delivered to the UK and therefore adding costs to the long suffering UK tax-payer.

The idea is to give the UK trucker parity.

Instead of trying to devise a complicated and expensive scheme that will slow down the flow of traffic, more than likely be difficult to manage and will inevitably be full of loopholes as well as being difficult to set into EU Law, surely there is a much simpler solution.

Is it not possible to reduce the fuel tax UK consumers pay to bring prices of petrol and diesel in line with European prices?

Michael Gove and teachers

The one word that comes to mind here in the latest round of media spats is Thatcher.  That’s right, Baroness of the same name and  in Gove’s stance can be heard the echo’s of Thatcherist Union bashing only instead of the coal face this is the so-called chalk face.  Like the attitude of both sides in the miner’s dispute both are out of date.  The coal industry and its closed shop unions needed a shake up but not annihilation.  Michael Gove’s attitude seems to suggest that Teachers should not be permitted to strike but as I waffled yesterday it is rare they do.

There has to be a reason.

The reason is the government’s determination to extend what is a stressful work-life beyond its use-by date.  If we treat teachers as a commodity the way the government seems to want to do so then teachers have a shelf life, so to speak, that is determined by the stress and work load they can bear.  Some are good at it but the average  teacher,  despite how good they may be at their job, cannot battle against anno-domini and deteriorating health.  Not all teachers rise to be heads and deputy heads or heads of departments and those that do have a heavy work load.

The whizz kids in the city burn out early – teachers burn out a little later.

The Cock Sparrow - the father feeds and teaches the young

The attack on teacher’s right to withdraw labour being compared to other professions is a little ingenuous.  The armed forces sign a contract to serve and a strike as such is mutiny; no forces personnel will contemplate such an action.  Doctors swear the Hippocratic oath, Consultants can choose who they work with and for, and as we have seen in the past the Fire service and the Police can use industrial action.  Teachers are a mid profession, necessary but strategically vital.  Being responsible citizens they prefer to protest on a Saturday or a school holiday rather than strike.

 

Michael Gove

The recent government stand taken by non other than Michael Gove against the NUT strike is a typical tack spitting reaction to what is a situation where the Tory party on the one hand will not negotiate and Teachers on the other have failed to make their point.  Mainly because the government isn’t listening.

(picture from files)

Our Future

Gove declares that the teaching profession will lose their reputation for what is a carefully planned one day strike that deliberately avoids disrupting exams and does not compromise the new start of the year on July 4.

The issue has to do with the pensions that many teachers have paid part of their salaries to achieve and will expect to pay for in the future.  The new proposals will mean that teachers will lose a chunk of their pension yet will still be paying a premium for it.  Agreed that other sectors of industry suffer too from the same or similar maladies but teachers have the education of the young to deal with and most consider their position in society as a vocation and not merely a job.

To teach children takes a special skill and even experts in their field find the skills difficult; the hours are long with many staff arriving at work just after 7 am to finish past 5pm on many days.  This is not a nine to five job for most. On top of that there is the marking to be done which with the trend toward vocational subjects means many hours of free time at home or during the half term breaks and school holidays to catch up.

Consider that many teachers today will have taken out an expensive loan for their degree study and will be paying that back as well.  Their Summer holidays are charged at a premium being taken at prime season time – school is off so prices rise – and during that many will take with them marking to be done.

Gove’s reaction is that of a spoilt brat who cannot get his own way and will result in many leaving what is a stressful profession that as health and safety measures kick in, CRB checks get more rigorous, children less disciplined at home and an atmosphere of fear that at any time a parent or child may bring an action against them, or laws restrict what can be done or said in the school environment, and denying the pension as it stood is counter-productive.

But Gove is doing what politicians do – using his privileged position to hammer home the government opinion.  He ignores the fact that teachers rarely strike and if they do it is not without much careful thought.

Gove, you are wrong to make such statements – think about the future instead of cutting immediate costs.  We need good, enthusiastic and contented teachers to ensure our children’s future.

 

About Waffling

Waffling is what I do best so in this blog I will put forward some opinions that may seem at times a little muddled, a little long winded and sometimes out on the edge of political correctness.  I even have opinions about that as well.  Whatever yuo think I hope you will be polite and refrain from rude language should you wish to reply or make any comments.

Bear in mind we all have prejudice which we must learn to overcome or at least come to terms with.

Our opinions are biased however much we try to prevent them being so.

Not everybody will agree with what we say.

We are all human beings and share similar physical abilities, attributes, difficulties and common needs. These being that we all have to eat, sleep, and we all excrete body wastes and more crudely have to make a daily bowel movement.

What makes us different from other animals is that we can think and speak our thoughts in a language that can be stored, transferred and understood; but mostly because we have abstract thoughts that can be translated into learning complex procedures enabling us to discover the previously unknown and explain it.

Sometimes what we do with that knowledge is harmful but this is balanced out by the good things we do.

A thought: the only reason to wage war is the desire to kill other people and take what they have.  Any other reason is merely an excuse.  Like other animals we kill the outcasts, the different ones to make way for ourselves; that is when we perceive the opportunity for gain and when we do not we argue through politics – which is no more than the territorial posturing of a big cat.

So, here I am waffling.