Death of supercars

[hartley]

Clarkson was right - for the wrong reason - Astons and others are doomed not by the green lobby, not by the price of petrol, but by the diabolical state of our roads.
Audit Commission in Scotland has just confirmed what we all know - a third of our road system up here is b---ed and in dire need of repair at at a cost of several billion we don't have - since it is needed for bankers bonusses, half built tram systems and more essential public services like employing people to show fat people how to use a trampoline to lose weight.Has the world gone mad or is it just me ?
Britain seems to have turned into Romania over night ! There is no way I am going to get any pleasure bumping my pride and joy over the farm tracks that pass for A roads. All because local authorities have been stealing money from the roads budget for years for projects nobody who actually finances these idiots wants and this winter has revealed decades of underspending .
I have just about got used to the idea of working for 6 months of the year to finance the less fortunate in society (and accepted that this does mean financing
a few work shy layabouts in tracksuits ), but there does come a point when enough is enough . The evening paper also carried the news that our Council - already warned for being £1.3bn in debt is to borrow £300k it does not have to put in cameras on our bus lanes to raise more taxes .Meanwhile the motorist that pays for all these fools is forced to drive over a road system only a 4x4 should contemplate - the death of the super car ?
Sorry this is a bit of a rant but I just need to know there are others out there that think it's the world that has gone mad , share my concern for future enjoyment of driving on UK roads , and possibly can advise on which country has smooth roads , below 50% tax and some sunshine - I have got to get out of here !

[hartley]

cathalm said:

I love this. Usually all the talk in my office and a normal PH thread is of the dreaded rich, evil bankers, ghastly Tories, Robin hood taxes etc. Pop into the Aston forum though and its bloody socialist local government types, the bone idle, slip off to France old boy, bleedin 50% taxes and MONACO!

I'd like to imagine you are all sitting in wing backed chairs smoking expensive Turkish tobacco in Ivory pipes, sipping on your fifth glass of aged malt and thinking about getting your man to clear the ruffians off the porch. Tickles me.

You badly need to change your office - I assume you are state funded ? - (although I have some sympathy on bankers .)
The majority of Aston Owners probably fall somewhere between your mental image of the tweed clad landed gentry and my mental image of your office - corduroy clad Guardian readers with ties outside their sweaters who knit there own yoghurt and don't realise their views on almost everything are a by product of middle class prosperity .(They might have a point on the bankers though )

Anyway we will all be in corduroy shortly driving 4x4's ( hybred of course ) across the minefields that used to be our road system , all Astons having been nationalised and turned over to the less fortunate who were cruelly denied Aston ownership due to the fact that their drinking habits did not allow them enough time to work and earn the purchase price.

In the meantime I am off to France where the roads are smooth and nobody takes politicians seriously .Le Mans actually .;);)

[hartley]

cathalm said:

Not state funded, but full to the rafters with people who conduct marketing and pr, use terms like "blue sky thinking" and "satisfaction quotient" and describe themselves as metro.

I have heard two them say that Fidel Castro was a man that ran a beer company and decry Stalin by saying "well Germans are ambitious, that's why we started the war after all".

When I asked one of them do something the other day I was asked "and what are your success metrics for this?". Naturally I should have taken the stick out of the cupboard and given him a damn good thrashing.

Anyway, Astons are nice aren't they....

Sounds American business speak - California not New York - no potholes there to worry about- too much money leads to same values as public sector - same issue too much easy money leads to unreal life view

Monaco - Sounds nice but is it not so small you end up in Italy or France if you want a drive. Don' t you burn all your cash buying a house ? Six months in France and six months in Perthshire/Edinburgh sounds interesting

[hartley]

fulham911club said:

People who rave about Monaco usually haven't spent v long there. Out of season it's a shocker, in season simply full of wannabes and old rich men with young Russian hookers. Oh and Russian oligarchs (nice bunch!). And a small studio with cost you €1m.

And before you shoot me down in flames I have a house in the adjacent bay. Trust me (1) there are far nicer tax havens and (2) far, far better places in France (or South of France)

Edited by fulham911club on Saturday 19th February 16:53

OK I am interested - what better tax havens ? Actually I am happy to pay tax if services are good ,roads are smooth the sun shines , and ideally there is some culture/history about the place . Know southern France ( and love it ) but not the northern part of Italy adjoining .Somewhere for winter would be great - all ideas gratefully received

[hartley]

f328nvl said:

Doesn't anybody French have anything to say about all the economically inactive drunk, speeding British sunbathers descending on their country and forcing up the price of their Chateaux, bringing their luke warm beers and pointlessly accurate time keeping to challenge the natural order of things?

What will our economic migrants say when M Le Pen's daughter and her mates turn up with the fire and pitch forks?

Anybody can avoid tax; just find somewhere else to live. Just don't then moan about either:
a) The country the benefits of which you availed yourself of but are not prepared to finance, or;
b) people who are poorer than you (for lots of reasons including luck and effort) and don't have your choices

Honestly, right wing reactionaries, you couldn't make some of this stuff up, and God knows I have tried.

Very happy to pretend I am French once a year - , sunbathing ,5 hour lunches , ignore speed cops and all other forms of authority ,but would find permanent residence activities more difficult - striking for a 30 hour week and permanent employment for my family forever whether or not they work,shopping your neighbours to the tax authorities if they have a flash car,wealth tax etc - actually come to think of it not so different from here now
Oh yes I remember the difference - the French do actually spend the tax you pay on decent roads - we don't.
Personally I think reactionaries get a bad press now that the world is run - very badly -by Guardian readers in corduroy romper suits who want to control our lives for us because they know better.