Another damp squib

Alastair Darling's pre-budget speech yesterday was as disappointing as many thought it would be. The "biggest" ideas were all stolen from the Tories, including the only environmental rule of note: that flights rather than individual passengers will be taxed from 2009. The airlines will of course scream bloody murder and attempt to drown out the noise of those pointing out it's the least they can do considering they don't pay VAT or duty on the fuel they consume, in direct contrast to rail, sail and even road users. It's also not going to stop this government backing an unfettered expansion of air travel - we already produce double the amount of carbon dioxide from air travel compared to the global average, so maybe Brown et al are already handing the airlines the emissions we've exported to China. Either way all that green wash suddenly leaves a nasty taste in the mouth when you look behind the bluster and find nothing of real substance.