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IT'S TIME TO BE UNREASONABLE
Page 3
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We live in an age of reason. It's no coincidence that we also live in an age of control. 'Be reasonable', people say, when really they mean 'behave as I want you to: think like me'. Shadow Transport Minister Owen Paterson MP wanted the industry to be reasonable at the Road Haulage Association annual conference. He expected it to listen to his pragmatic analysis of fuel duty -that no Chancellor would give back E28bn, or even the £.5bn that comes from trucks and move on. After all, it would be quite unreasonable to rail against such honesty and common sense. ---...mainatenemenj Well, Mr Paterson, George Bernard Shaw once said: "All progress depends upon the unreasonable man" and Commercial Motor was proud to be in the company of such men and women -at the RHA conference. It is not politicians' role to tell us what can and cannot be done it is their job to deliver the will of the people. "It is not politicians'
role to tell us what can and cannot be done
When it comes to the political scandal of charging strategic workers levels of tax that would shame any other parliament in Europe, do not tell us that you disagree with the policy but will always be powerless to change it. Do not tell us to face the truth and move on. If you haven't the spirit to fight for the right reasons, step aside and let a better man in.
In the meantime, the road transport industry needs facts. It needs arguments. It needs to be educating the wider electorate about the costs of not supporting our transport industry.
History is littered with unlikely changes brought about by those in a minority, those seeking to overturn the status quo, those who had no chance of success. To a man they refused to believe they could not win.., damned unreasonable of them.