As readers will probably be aware, we have been running a campaign against London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Transport Strategy for some months (see http://www.freedomfordrivers.org/against-mts.htm ). It has been remarkable that a large number of the responses came from disabled people, or those caring for them. Below is one example of a letter sent to the Mayor on this topic.
Subject: objection to tyrannical taxes
Dear Mr Khan,
I wish to object to your Stalinist policies intended to impose even more taxation on already monumentally taxed motorists driving in London. Can I remind you that in this country it is not yet a criminal offence to be a motorist, and your treatment of them as virtual criminals is a scandal.
My wife is disabled and moving around for us has become a nightmare in London. Successive ideologically obsessed, national and London Mayoral governments have ramped up the difficulties of driving in London and have imposed punitive measures on anyone who has the audacity not to walk or ride a bike or travel on the dysfunctional public transport system.
Do you, Mr Khan, intend to make life even more difficult for disabled people like my wife, as well as for millions of able-bodied people whose lives are not so cushioned as yours? How would that look on the election posters?
Soviet style dictats which sneer at democracy are imposed without regard for those whom governments are supposed to serve. Public opinion is swept aside in a cynical, Stalinist, totalitarian, environmental policy, in the formulating of which hardly any rigorous scientific expertise has been used – merely the intolerant, doctrinal posturing and ignorant polemic of bullies.
You are supposed to represent ALL Londoners, not merely your tiny political clique and your sycophantic fan-base in the East End. A majority of London taxpayers live outside your exclusive and introspective inner-city bubble; do their interests not count? Or are they just tax-fodder? There is a fundamental democratic principle which seems to have escaped you – ‘No taxation without representation’. It is the principle on which Americans parted company from Britain. You certainly don’t represent me, a London taxpayer, and I suspect there are many others who would say the same.
If I’m wrong, Mr Khan, challenge me – though I doubt you will consider a mere taxpayer worthy of an answer. I know what I expect from the London Soviet, but I’m quite prepared to admit I’m wrong if you can demonstrate that you are a democrat. If you aren’t a totalitarian, Mr Khan, then come and talk to me – and millions like me in London who are sick of Soviet government.
I’ve thrown down the gauntlet and all that remains is to see whether you have the honour, the sense of democratic obligation and the justice to pick it up. I await your reply.
Yours sincerely, Peter Newsham
<END>
We will advise readers if any response is received, but I doubt there will be one of any substance.
Roger Lawson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drivers_London
You can “follow” this blog by clicking on the bottom right.