Local councils across the country are considering plans to tax motorists up to £250 a year to park at work, in a desperate attempt to raise funds.

According to the Daily Telegraph* today Nottingham City Council will be the first to impose a £250 annual levy on local workplaces with 11 or more parking spaces in 2012, and plan to hike the tax to £250 by 2014. It will be up to the individual employer as to whether they pass this levy onto to employees.

Other councils also considering introducing a workplace parking levy include Bristol, York, Leeds, Devon, South Somerset, Bournemouth, Wiltshire and Hampshire, while authorities in Milton Keynes, Cambridge and Oxford have also previously shown an interest. In London meanwhile a number of councils will attend a seminar next month to discuss the proposal.

The tax, which was originally intended to tackle congestion and cut carbon emissions, is now being considered as a way to plug a hole in local council funding and improve public transport.

Is a tax on motorists who drive to work a fair way to fund local council spending? What about the people who live in remote areas and have no choice but to drive to work?

With car insurance and petrol costs at record highs, is this tax not a step too far in the war on motorists? What do I pay my road tax for? Its certainly not used to improve the roads.

Isnt it enough that Labour mishandled the economy, councils are paying off workers and the labour council here want to remove the freeze on council tax? Money grabbing "^&^^&£R%&£R$s...

There is a wonderful organisation called Glasgow Freegive Group ( http://www.freegive.co.uk/p/glasgow.htm ). Glasgow freegive group connects people who are giving and getting unwanted items for free in their own towns. It's all about resue and keeping good stuff out of landfills, and at the same time, helping someone in your community by gifting them the items you no longer need. It's completely free to join.

Go to Glasgow Freegive Group Website at http://www.freegive.co.uk/p/glasgow.htm

Freegive group is active in all Scotland towns. Find a group near you at http://www.freegive.co.uk/sco.htm

This is a great ideal! Encouraging people to reuse and recycle things by giving them away and not sending to the garbage bin.

Took the kids to see Toy Story 3 and thought it was fantastic, with plot reminiscences, realisations and all tinged with a little sadness.

Andy is now 17 and ready to head off to college, leaving Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and the rest of the gang to ponder their uncertain futures, either in the trash or confined together in the attic. When the toys are accidentally donated to the Sunnyside Daycare Centre they are initially overjoyed to once again be played with, but their enthusiasm quickly turns to horror as they discover the true nature of Sunnydale under the rule of the deceptively welcoming Lotso, a bear who smells of strawberry. Now, all the toys must band together in one final, crazy scheme to escape their confines and return home to Andy.

Some of it might be quite upsetting for the youngest audience, I even caught my wife with a tear in her eye.

Great film and nice conclusion to the series.

I must add that the 3D experience is the future and once the technnical minds come up with a way of getting rid of the 3D glasses, the tv revolution will be upon us. The wee Night and Day animation at the beginning was eye-opening and fresh. Great stuff from Pixar again.

Had been wondering what to do that was a wee bit different with the kids during Easter break and a mate recommended the Wigwams at Tantallon Caravan park in North Berwick, so having never been in a Wigwam, off we went.

It was a great couple of days, spent relaxing and messing about with the boys and the missus. I was worried about how cold it would be a night and so we brought lots of duvets and sleeping bags, but the fears were unfounded as the nights were warm and the boys found it all very exciting.

Berwick has a nice wee beach and harbour, a few pubs and a bit of shopping. Apart form that, its basically it. But the Wigwam, the beach and the company made it for me. There is a wee kids playpark in the site, but no entertainment. I reckon it could really benefit from a restaurant and some family entertainment.

Tantallon Castle is however a must visit. Its a ruin, but you can climb to the ramparts and turrets and down into the dungeon depths. My two boys loved this and thankfully, they dont seem to have their Daddy's vertigo. I was shitting myself up there let me tell you, and the steps are steep !!

So for something different and a relaxing time, the Wigwams in Tantallon North Berwick should be considered.

Sat and watched Paranormal Activity the other night. IM still undecided as to whether it was a good film or not as the night scenes were extremely creepy, the daytime scenes were rather dull and although trying to build character in Katie and Micah was warranted, but reall failed in execution. This was more than made up for by the brooding terror that lurkes in the doorway, blew the covers and then dragged Katie from the bed in the scariest part of the movie. Good ending and ideas with the camera timer. So 7/10 for me. Worth seeing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw1j2Ng3ovA

I was reading about Myleen Klass and her brush with a couple of burglars/neds/whatever. They were staring at her through a window of her home and so she grabbed a knife and banged on the window to scare them off. After calling the police, she was informed by the officer that she could be charged with carrying an offensive weapon even in her own home!! 

I am astonished at that as I thought that a home owner in this country could protect their property with some force. Bloody sure that if somebody appeared at my window and I felt threatened by their actions I would be prepared to kick the living shit out of them and have no qualms about it. 

So the saviours of the world finances have delivered their pre-budget report and what a piece of electioneering it is. All the hard decisions have been left until after the election and the bonuses paid to our bankers are being taxed to appease public opinion.

I see very little in the PBR to get excited about. Free meals for school kids is good news.

And as one of those greed-driven bankers, seemingly the biggest threat to the new world order according to some media and public voices, I am disappointed that my well-deserved bonus is being taxed.

Not to worry though, I will just defer it until next year and take up the double payment then. It will be hard in 2010, but I think I can keep fueling the cars and pay the bills for the holiday home in Carcassonne without reducing my savings or restaurant bills.

Greed is Good.

Poverty is due to not trying hard enough.

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I was driving to Edinburgh today to take my children to the Edinburgh Zoo and along the M8 there are a number of bridges that have had grafitti scrawled on them, obviously by some well-meaning environmentalists. Slogans such as Choose Life Not Oil and Cars Kill Our Planet etc.

Now im sure these people actually agree with these sentiments, but I do feel that they did not actually think through what they were doing.

Let me consider it for them.

Mistake #1... Ok, these bridges cross the M8/A8 and are about a mile or so apart. So lets consider how they got to the bridges....... Hmmmm.. By CAR !!! So there were either a number of activists, one on each bridge, or one person drove between them. Either way they got to the bridges by CAR. So those spouting about cars killing the Earth are drivers themselves. Hypocrites.

Mistake #2... In order to paint said slogans, spray-paint was used and in order to produce spray-paint, the manufacturer uses...OIL.. So the activists are promoting the use of oil by purchasing and using items created using OIL. Hypocrites.

Mistake #3... Now that the slogans have been sprayed onto the bridges, the council of the nearest areas will at some point, have to remove them, requiring a re-paint or grafitti removal from the bridges in question. Ok, so to remove the grafitti, the motorway will have to be coned off and council vehicles on site to progress the removal. So we have council vehicles and machinery to remove the grafitti, both of which will use fuel and OIL, and a coned off motorway. So as the road is coned off and the 2 lanes reduced to 1, we will have slower moving traffic and possibly queuing. So with queuing we have increased pollution in the area and in conjunction with the council workers we have a large amount of oil / vehicle induced pollution.

So, whilst forcing their views down the throats of the public at large the environmentalists have increased the pollution and are therefore adding to the problem.

So i would just like to say to these fools............ THINK BEFORE YOU ACT....