£220 per year to park you car at work, the joys of the NHS.

Gisen
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Post by Gisen »

The elderly also get free public transport, and don't (in general) have to go to work every day. Using "but the elderly manage without a car" is a fallacious argument.
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Si
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Post by Si »

Just to set the cat at the pigeons further - did anyone see that story on the news this am about the research into what is required for an acceptable standard of living and what are luxuries? Afraid i didn't catch who did the research.

The BBC proudly announced that cars are luxuries, then added a little after that what the research actually said was that cars are luxuries apart from people who live in remote rural areas.

Necessities included mobile phones, wine with your dinner and internet connections.

The minimum earnings per person that was considered to give an acceptable standard of living was £13000. Note: that's acceptable standard of living, as opposed to what is needed to keep one out of poverty,thus money for injoying oneself is included.

I'd suggest, as I might havvedone already, that cars are luxuries for some but not for all at the moment. Individuals might be able to do without cars now but as a society we can't. If everyone gave up car use tomorrow we'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble because public transport couldn't cope, people wouldn't then be able to get to their work to do their jobs..this would have a knock on to those who could get to work, etc. But we could manage a planned reduction in car use,which also incorporated increases in pubic transport standards and changes to logistical planning such that more people were enabled, over time, to work nearer to where they live.

Mobile phones a necessity? World's gone mad :wink: .
AndyB
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Post by AndyB »

Si wrote:Just to set the cat at the pigeons further - did anyone see that story on the news this am about the research into what is required for an acceptable standard of living and what are luxuries? Afraid i didn't catch who did the research.


The Joseph Rowntree Foundation. At least they did say that a bicycle was essential. A bit more from the BBC here
fatboy
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Post by fatboy »

AndyB wrote:
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation. At least they did say that a bicycle was essential.


Is this essential to be ridden or take up shed space?
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Post by pigman »

Si wrote:- did anyone see that story on the news this am about the research into what is required for an acceptable standard of living and what are luxuries? ............ Necessities included internet connections.


I thought internet connections were only deemed a necessity for families with school age kids, else its a luxury; the argument being we can all have free access at public libraries.
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Si
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Post by Si »

pigman wrote:
Si wrote:- did anyone see that story on the news this am about the research into what is required for an acceptable standard of living and what are luxuries? ............ Necessities included internet connections.


I thought internet connections were only deemed a necessity for families with school age kids, else its a luxury; the argument being we can all have free access at public libraries.


Quite possibly - didn't see the whole thing and they did seem to change the story on at least one thing. Bird feeders for the old sounded like a strange one (no, not to feed them!) but having put a bird feeder up out side my office window this year I can see why it is a good thing.
workhard

Post by workhard »

You forgot the bird feeder for the aged P to provide him with entertainment.
thirdcrank
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Post by thirdcrank »

More charges for NHS staff - the thin end of a very long wedge.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: parking at work

Post by Cyril Haearn »

workhard wrote:
thirdcrank wrote:My only strong area of disagreement with you is on free choice. IMO everybody's choices are constrained by circumstances and the lower somebody's position in the heap, the less choice they enjoy.


very true but we do live in a society where a "someone" is increasingly expected to resolve the -ve consequences of our own choices for us be it Gordon Brown, the state, national rail, your local train operating company, the Highways Agency, the NHS.

I live in one of those dull dormitory towns where a significant % of the population commute by train to London or by car to other towns in the region. "Dinner party" conversation often revolves around the frustrations, costs and generally draginess of journeys to and from work - but no one ever seems to acknowledge the element of choice. "I can't afford to live in London" really means "I can afford to live in London but not with the lifestyle or standard of accommodation I now have so I choose not to and SOMEONE needs to fix xxxxx to make it easy for me"


One can not thoyle living in London they mean
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kwackers
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Re: £220 per year to park you car at work, the joys of the NHS.

Post by kwackers »

Nearly 10 years between the prior two posts! Is this a record?
ambodach
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Re: £220 per year to park you car at work, the joys of the NHS.

Post by ambodach »

Pigman we do not all have access to public libraries. Some of us [an increasing number I think] have no public library to access. Equally we do not all have access to a useable bus service. You can for example get to our local hospital by bus but getting home again is a different matter altogether.
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Re: £220 per year to park you car at work, the joys of the NHS.

Post by mjr »

ambodach wrote:Pigman we do not all have access to public libraries. Some of us [an increasing number I think] have no public library to access. Equally we do not all have access to a useable bus service. You can for example get to our local hospital by bus but getting home again is a different matter altogether.

Pigman wrote that back in 2008. We've had a few changes of government in that time. Libraries have been cut and now 2Mbps internet access is seen as a universal requirement. However, bus services between most villages and their GPs and hospitals remain largely absurd!
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Re: £220 per year to park you car at work, the joys of the NHS.

Post by Bonefishblues »

kwackers wrote:Nearly 10 years between the prior two posts! Is this a record?

'tis but a small interruption!
pete75
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Re: £220 per year to park you car at work, the joys of the NHS.

Post by pete75 »

mjr wrote:
ambodach wrote:Pigman we do not all have access to public libraries. Some of us [an increasing number I think] have no public library to access. Equally we do not all have access to a useable bus service. You can for example get to our local hospital by bus but getting home again is a different matter altogether.

Pigman wrote that back in 2008. We've had a few changes of government in that time. Libraries have been cut and now 2Mbps internet access is seen as a universal requirement. However, bus services between most villages and their GPs and hospitals remain largely absurd!


Absurd maybe but remain??? Since 2008 they've either vanished or sunk to one each way corresponding to school times in many rural areas. Austerity cuts to county council budgets are either the reason or the excuse.
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Lance Dopestrong
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Re: £220 per year to park you car at work, the joys of the NHS.

Post by Lance Dopestrong »

The main point of this seems to have been missed by the media.

The Hospitals harp on about how the money is essential and raises X million a year for the Hospital coffers. This is unlawful. The charges are only supposed to cover the costs incurred by enforcement activity. It is explicitly against the regulations to use it as a profit making exercise, but apart from a few occasional rumbling reminders from the Communities and Local Government department, and the DoT, it goes almost entirely unremarked upon, never mind enforced.
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