The air in London is terrible despite being one green city. Wouldn't be better if Londoners kick out the actual elite who own all the housing and extract passive income from the working people? Many of the people that Londoners pay for the privilege of having a roof are corrupt people from all over the globe ripping of their citizens and buying properties in London.

Something tells me these people not only drive "compliant" (= new) cars, but on the odd chance they didn't, they probably wouldn't even notice the £12.5 tax.

So if the people who cannot afford a new or the fees, can start looking for an actual fix of the problems. Or they can blame computer elites I guess but I hope not.

However, in practice, the housing problems as well as alternatives to it, like public transport, are very much "political issues" in that they require politicians to do something.

Which is an issue because there's a clear imbalance in political power between "the poor" and "the rich". The former absolutely "demand" better housing and public transport, at least in my neck of the woods, but there's hardly any actual progress.

I don't buy that. The UK is a proper democracy and everyone has about the same political power - which is a single vote. Sure, the rich can influence how those choose to vote but its not an absolute power at all. Mislabelling IT workers as elites and demanding clunkers when you can't find a house with reasonable transport options are not unfixable.

The idea that cycling is only for 20-year olds or that you have to be "very fit" is ridiculous.

Another thing that quickly disproves this idea that cycling is only for young people...

It has little to do with age - and more to do with viability.

If you live an American lifestyle, and you live 5+ miles from a grocery store - cycling is not a great option.

If you live in a city like Chicago or New York or... Amsterdam - there's really no reason it can't be viable - except in the US case a lot of places that could be cycling utopias are severely lacking infrastructure.

In Netherlands, commute rates drop to their lowest for people in late 20s and early 30s because this is usually when they have jobs / living situations that require commutes too far for a bike - though how much of this is due to choice vs lack of adequate housing in cities (global problem) is unclear.

60s are not "old" in Netherlands. At 60, people aren't old and frail - they're not much different from people in mid to late 40s.

The average person doesn't start to get frail until late 70s - and at this point - you probably shouldn't be driving either...

Even if I could afford to buy the 2022 model year of my car, it would still be quite a significant expense and I honestly doubt it would be better for the environment, since I don't drive every day.

The reaction will be that motorists will drive petrol vehicles registered after 1 January 2006 or diesel vehicles registered after 1 January 2016 or EVs. These vehicles don't incur a ULEZ charge.

This will be passed through to householders in the form of higher prices and fewer tradesmen available to work when needed - on fact this is already a problem in London and will contribute further to rent inflation. It's crazy in my view to do this without a scheme to support replacement of older vehicles which would enable people to switch to newer less polluting vehicles in a much more cost neutral way.

Those higher costs will hit those least able to afford them most so I agree it is regressive.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/van...

I'm sure they can manage.

So it will likely end up being passed through, which means it has an inflationary impact of 4-5% on day rates (which are going up already due to broader inflation), which in turn squeezes customers (especially households) further. It's poor timing for such a policy when inflation is already squeezing households significantly.

Good news - FTA:

> A £110 million scrappage scheme has also been announced, to allow those living within the expanded ULEZ to get money towards a compliant car. Van owners will be allowed to use the cash to retrofit their vehicles to make them compliant.

This measure:

- Only applies to petrol vehicles over 17 years old and diesel vehicles over 7 years old

- Offers scrappage grants for those on low incomes or with disabilities

- Is generally not considered to be a “strong political action” and has reasonably broad support as par as polling can tell.

So, in other words, this seems like a reasonably proportionate effort to reduce local air pollution and there is not massive opposition.

That beings said, Sadiq is a WEF member so he is pushing their Great Reset agenda upon Londoners. He used Labour as platform to get into position of power and sold workers down the river.