Tuesday 16th March 2010 - National Rail

160310 National Rail
Originally uploaded by Adam9309

Right, so before I begin, I apologise if I offend anyone. Because this is gonna suddenly become a large whinge.

Today goes to NATIONAL RAIL. Now, you'll remember that the Government want us all to use public transport, and they have decided to really push it because of greenhouse gases. The last few weeks have proven to me that cars really are the way forward.

I used to be able to get into London with Dad for a quid, because of his Gold Card (which, itself, costs over £4,000 a year). That's until you;re 15, and once you're 15, it suddenly shoots up to £18. And thats off-peak - if you go peak time its £26. 26 QUID for a day in London with Dad.

Last week, Isobel and I went to London for a university fair - I blogged about that as well. We had to go peak, to make sure we were there in time. It cost £22. I'm a student who doesn't have a job, because of the credit crunch, and the Government are still intent on screwing me over for all the money I have to help pick my further education, and to try and get us OUT of these worrying times. It's disgusting.

And not just that. Isobel and I plan on going up to Liverpool and seeing Grandad at some point in the summer. We thought that'd be quite nice for him, and it'd also mean we get a nice holiday as well. But no, the National Rail idiots come in again. Its nearly £200 ONE WAY to Liverpool. How can you even charge that?! That's daylight robbery!

So its crippling me. Stupid transport system, stupid Government. Here's my suggestion. Cut public transport costs in half, and tax every person a 0.5% transport tax on their income. That could come to about £200 per person, per year. In total, based on taxpayers in this country, that could be well over a couple of billion pound. Now that sounds pretty feasible to me.

And while you're at it, cut funding towards other things, and help fund the things that we NEED. Trim a billion from the NHS fund, and offer some sort of subsidy to private healthcare. Education needs some more money, so give it to that, and help turn some of the poor schools around, and rebuild them from the foundations of the place. Keep the license fee exactly how it is, and allow the commercial channels to charge more for ad spots. Help those channels get through the credit crunch however, with some extra funding 'loans', where only some of that money comes back. And you can make billions by selling the shares off in each of the banks you took over, by waiting, rebuilding and selling in a year or so.

That's my plan. And probably most of the country will agree with me that taxation is too high. But stop crippling those of us who can't afford it. In fact, stop crippling those of us who CAN afford it. We can't claim expenses. Money-grabbing monkeys.

NATIONAL RAIL, you are the Day Dedicatee for Tuesday 16th March 2010.