Rigid enforcement of 70mph limit on motorways.

The government is proposing the above in another of their leaked secret reports. Having virtually lost the debate from the safety angle they are trying a different pretext - exhaust emissions. Apparently engines become much less efficient beyond the magical figure of 70 that just happens to coincide with the current speed limit. Officials agree that the move could be highly sensitive (and a poll I took part in confirmed that 75% of respondents were opposed to such authoritarian control.)

Given the governments much weaker majority and the bloody nose it received in Parliament on the Terrorism Bill, I very much doubt they will go through with it. The proposals are likely to create a stir in the media before being flatly denied, as we've seen a few times before in recent years.

I'm convinced the proposals would simply be in keeping with the totalitarian bent that exists solely to make people in power feel powerful under suitable pretexts that the public are expected to swallow i.e: safety, the environment or national security.

We've already discussed ad nauseum what the government would need to do if they really wanted to make the roads safer. Now we need to consider measures that would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases without necessarily imposing more restrictions on drivers.

If the government wants to reduce emissions I suggest the following:

1) Removal of all speed humps and chicanes. The process of stopping/starting, slowing down/speeding up, or even maintaining a constant speeed of 15 to 20 mph does not make for an engine running efficiently. The emergency services would be delighted at this and more lives could be saved as a result!

2) Reverse all those speed limit reductions that didn't actually reduce the accident rate. Engines are more efficient at 40mph plus than at 30mph. The 30 mph limit should be reserved exclusively for roads in densely built up areas and not on arterial suburban roads that used to (and were designed to) carry limits of 40, 50 mph or even national speed limit.

3) Stop removing parking spaces from our cities forcing drivers to go round in circles adding to traffic while they look for somewhere to stop.

4) Tax punitively the use and ownership of fanny cages.

5) Address the issue of emissions from factories and fossil-fuelled power stations.

6) Build more nuclear power stations and wind generators, promoting renewable energy sources in general.

Alternatively they can use every pretext available to limit our freedom as they usually do. It is only a question of the gullibility of the electorate.