Another day, another IAM Poll

This time it's about MoT tests. The Government is considering bringing MoT testing into line with the minimum European requirements, which would be:

• First test after four years from new (currently three)
• Subsequent tests every other year after that (currently annual).

Personally, I have no problem with MoT testing. I'm glad to ride around knowing that there is a scheme in place to make sure that other vehicles sharing the road with me are at least of a minimum standard of roadworthiness. I know the system is fallible and can be got around, but it's better than nothing. Also, I'm glad to put any vehicle of mine to an independent test every twelve months. Two sets of eyes are better than one, and occasionally an MoT tester has spotted something that I either hadn't seen, or had underestimated the seriousness of. In those circumstances, I have been very glad to be told.

I use any one of three testing stations, and all of them know that I will be taking the car or bike away, doing the work myself, and re-presenting it, so there's no danger of the make-work brigade finding faults that aren't there, although I appreciate that this is a problem with some places who might see a gullible or non-technical customer as an opportunity to get some workshop time when things are slow.

As for reducing the fequency of testing from 3+1 to 4+2, I am not sure. Most modern vehicles will still be in as roadworthy a condition after four years as they are after three. The regs were brought in when vehicles were much less reliable than they are today, and I doubt if that extra year will make much difference. Once a vehicle gets to 5-6 years old and has perhaps 60-70k miles on the clock, however, my instinct tells me that an annual check is a good idea. That's when things start to fail, and some of them are safety-critical.

Anyway, go and have your say. Unlike Mr Cameron, the IAM are keen to get the opinions of as many people as possible. You don't have to be a member, etc.

UPDATE: Having done the survey, and learned that 27% of cars fail their first MoT at three years old, I am inclined to say keep things as they are. Getting a 3-year-old car tested, and then testing every year thereafter, is hardly onerous.

Speechless

Via Bucko, in the course of reading a much longer article, I came across this snippet from the Daily Wail:

It is illegal to set up a national lottery to rival Camelot.

I mean, just ... why?

That's a serious question. Why would you go to all the effort and expense of setting up a National Lottery and then shut the door behind you to make sure that no-one else could set up in competition? The National Lottery was John Major's idea, and I assume that this rule dates from then. So Tories don't believe in free markets either?

The State: always ready to ban something when it doesn't suit them.

Lorry delivers popcorn to Nowhere Towers

This is getting interesting.

I really don't care whether Mr Papandreou is a visionary leader, infused to his very core with the principles of demoracy, or a weak and vacillating coward who is looking for an opportunity to hold an election and retire from the fray. Both viewpoints are on offer depending on where you look.

No, what I like is that the Eurozone leaders are shocked by his decision (now backed by his cabinet) to hold a referendum on the EU bailout proposal. Shocked, I tell you.

Stock markets recorded big drops amid shocked reactions in eurozone capitals to the referendum announcement.

All because one national leader clearly hasn't read the script.

On Tuesday President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said Mr Papandreou's decision "surprised all of Europe".

That's the understatement of the week. Even his own finance minister wasn't forewarned. And, we are told, even David Cameron learned of the referendum from the television news. Gasp.

The French and German governments said they wanted "full implementation" of the agreement "in the quickest time-frame".

Well, of course they do. Every day that the agreement is delayed is another chance for it to unravel. And that isn't in the script.

The delicious part of all of this is that a crisis has been created because one national leader thought it a good idea to ask his people for their opinion before taking a major decision affecting the country's future.

Yet more evidence that the EU is not about what the people want, it's about what the elite have planned for us. And when someone questions that, they don't like it one little bit.

Whatever Papandreou's motives, his actions have exposed one thing very clearly: in the EU, asking the people their opinion is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Ask Cameron.

Only Connect

... and other brain-dead hypocrisy. Courtesy of Rosie, here's an image I think needs spreading around a bit (click to enlarge):

Cradle of Democracy?

It seems the Greeks are to be offered a referendum on the EU bailout offer and the austerity measures they are having imposed on them.

Greece will hold a referendum on a new European Union aid package intended to resolve the country's debt crisis, Prime Minister George Papandreou says.

Last week eurozone leaders agreed on a 100bn-euro loan (£86bn; $140bn) to Athens and a 50% debt write-off, in a effort to tackle the euro crisis.

But there have been large-scale protests in Greece against austerity measures demanded by the EU.

Don't get me wrong here: the Greeks have a debt crisis and someone has to do something about it. The Germans are rightly getting pissed off about paying gazillions into the EU so that the Southern nations can continue their siesta lifestyle, and it all had to come to an end. There is a debt to be paid, and whether it is paid in cash or in lost confidence is something that will have to be decided. But it seems that Mr Papandreou feels that the decision must be made by the Greek people.

Mr Papandreou told a meeting of his governing Socialist party that Greek people would have the final say on the package, which is designed to reduce Greek debt by about 100bn euros.

"The command of the Greek people will bind us", he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Nice that at least one Euopean leader feels that the people are the best judge of their own situation.

And in other news, the second e-petition for a British referendum on the EU has reached 11,783 signatures.

Which will also be ignored.