Undoubtedly the biofuel targets caused a spike in use in the EU. Now it seems they've realised the unintended consequence of their policy and tried to fix it. In terms of global usage though, palm oil for bio fuel in the EU is minimal. Indonesia alone uses 50% more palm oil than the EU.
Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊
[Politics] Benevolent Dictatorship Manifesto
- Thread starter 1066familyman
- Start date
Undoubtedly the biofuel targets caused a spike in use in the EU. Now it seems they've realised the unintended consequence of their policy and tried to fix it. In terms of global usage though, palm oil for bio fuel in the EU is minimal. Indonesia alone uses 50% more palm oil than the EU.
- Aug 7, 2003
- 8,075
Total ban on CHEWING GUM.
1066familyman
Radio User
- Jan 15, 2008
- 15,233
- Thread starter
- #43
- Jul 10, 2003
- 27,718
Yes to Fat Tax. Food costs should be on a sliding scale according to your BMI.
dibsy
Active member
Immediate global massive tax on plastic production - and I mean huge. Would force manufactures to look at alternatives like chicken feathers for packaging. No more little plastic bags to put your bananas in at the supermarket. Paper bags or take your own. Bring back milk bottles and all that jazz. It's criminal what we are doing to the planet and ourselves. We'll all be full of plastic before you know it. Eat more fish my arse, they are riddled with micro beads. JUST STOP MAKING THE STUFF!!!
dingodan
New member
- Feb 16, 2011
- 10,080
"In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world." - Ronald Reagan, 1987 speech @ the UN.
...30 years later, 20 years after the implementation of the interconnected global superbrain known as "The Web", in a small corner of the worlds greatest message board...
"Following the recent IPCC climate change report, is it now time to get real, accept people aren't going to change without the force of law and start a move towards benevolent dictatorships to save us all?"
*cue sinister Twilight Zone jingle*
...30 years later, 20 years after the implementation of the interconnected global superbrain known as "The Web", in a small corner of the worlds greatest message board...
"Following the recent IPCC climate change report, is it now time to get real, accept people aren't going to change without the force of law and start a move towards benevolent dictatorships to save us all?"
*cue sinister Twilight Zone jingle*
Kalimantan Gull
Well-known member
Well, its not totally undemocratic, it still has to answer to national governments, it can't do whatever it likes. But because it is at an arms length from the voters - and, much more importantly, at an arms length from big business and those vested interests that plague elected officials, these governments can pursue more of what they want to achieve over a longer time frame. For the greater good, imo
worthingseagull123
Well-known member
- May 5, 2012
- 2,683
No thanks.
I am not prepared to have any government changing how I live my life. If this is what you want, I would suggest defecting to North Korea.
vegster
Sanity Clause
- May 5, 2008
- 28,267
I remember our government reducing the duty on Diesel cars many years back as they were meant to be cleaner than petrol engines ! eventually this idiotic policy was reversed too.
vegster
Sanity Clause
- May 5, 2008
- 28,267
This. All microbeads should be banned NOW. I was staggered to see that many different brands and types of toothpaste still contain them. I never buy a toothpaste containing them and I would encourage others to leave them on the shelf.
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,002
yep, governments do a lot of stupid things. which was the point, not which government.
- Jan 18, 2009
- 4,877
It’s not often I laugh out loud when reading political posts on here but, yours achieved that!
If you think that the EU maintains an arms length distance from big business then those arms are non existent. The EU is in complete thrall to big business interests, it is fundamentally why Thatcher and the Tories took us in, and the political establishment of all hues, save the greens, wish the U.K. to remain.
If you were right then it would be the unions that hold the upper hand with the EU, but they don’t, Corbyn, Benn, Crowe, Skinner et al have long been opposed to it, for this reason amongst others including (sorry to say it) how the EU has precedence over Parliamentary sovereignty.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/08/lobbyists-european-parliament-brussels-corporate
I can’t think there are many remainers that would ever say that staying in the EU isn’t about preserving the existing economic framework, it’s why they say “people didn’t vote out to be poorer”. But they are in fact deconstructed Tories, it’s not always about the money..........they are so avaricious they just can’t understand any other perspective.
portlock seagull
Well-known member
- Jul 28, 2003
- 17,763
Very well put.
- Jan 18, 2009
- 4,877
If the EU would change the CAP then things would be better for the poorest countries in the world......
http://www.tuaeu.co.uk/how-the-eu-starves-africa/
Weststander
Well-known member
The bizarre thing is that many Remainers think of evil Brexit as simply evil Tory/UKIP.
No matter how many times they are educated, they can't open their minds to the facts that the EU serves buiness/capitalism above all else, lowering the cost of labour, and is loathed by key trade union leaders, Corbyn and McDonnell.
Blinkered by any anti-Tory class war in their minds, unable to listen to Corbyn & friends.
Kalimantan Gull
Well-known member
Glad I lightened your day
I certainly didn't suggest the EU was anti-business, and I could also have added that they were at an arms length from the unions too - although I was including them in the 'vested interests' of the latter part of that sentence. The point I was making was that elected officials are heavily influenced in policy making by the need to get elected, which is in turn heavily influenced by their donors - the unions, the lobbyists, 'big-business' and so on. So while that influence is still there when it comes to the EU, it is considerably diluted for a number of reasons.
No point in re-running a hundred brexit arguments on this thread. but I think its fair to say that policy on the environment, pollution, human rights, health and safety at work is generally more advanced through EU rules than in the constituent nation's laws, even though I would argue that a large majority of the public would support those rules when considering them in isolation. I think that the contrast between what becomes law in a country and what becomes an EU regulation, comes about because the EU is far more of the 'benevolent dictator' proposed in this thread.
An example is air pollution, for which I am certain the vast majority of the British public would answer yes to the question "do you want clean air and no air pollution"? And yet the supposedly-undemocratic EU has set stricter limits than the democratic UK government ever did and has taken the UK to court over the levels of air pollution in our country. Which is the debate in a nutshell, do you value democracy over clean air?
FYI the greens fought for remain and are now pro-second referendum
Thank God for trade union apologists, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson eh? Good to read these people have got your working-class back.
blue-shifted
Banned
Agree with everything Kalimantan Gull is saying
Weststander
Well-known member
Two entirely different groupings want full Brexit:
Those simply wanting full independence back for the UK. Across much of the political spectrum.
Those of the A.Benn, Corbyn, McDonnell, trade union leaders school of thought, who believe the EU is a club serving big business, with labour costs driven to the bottom.
Those
Last edited: