Robin Banks

Looks like the predictions about the budget were pretty accurate. The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has rammed up tax on almost everything you could think of.

Petrol is up 2p per litre.
Beer is up 4p per pint.
Wine is up 15p per bottle.
Spirits are up 50p per bottle.

The moronic thing is how this is sold as being the "miracle cure" for binge drinking. Firstly it wont be, and secondly we know that it's not really the reason he's taxed it so hard. To provide some sort of comparison all you have to do is look at what has happened with banning of advertising of cigarettes as well as the enormous tax increases on them. Did it stop people smoking? Not really.

It's a straightforward tax on as many people as they could extract more cash from. The Government know it wont make any difference and that people will continue to drink so they liberally smatter some taxes across the board. If it meant people giving up drinking then the Government starts to lose taxes and everyone is aware how financially broke the UK is at the moment.

Let's face it - Labour already introduced 24 hour licensing, allowing bars, pubs and even supermarkets to sell alcohol at any time they like. So now we are all used to the late opening hours we get slapped with more tax? Am I too cynical?

If you couple into this budget the fact that all farm produce - particularly butter, milk and cheese - as well as loaves of bread have skyrocketed in price recently and so has gas, water and electricity you have to wonder where we are heading.

Yet more taxes were slapped on so-called gas guzzlers in the name of Climate Change (tm), despite the fact that the money goes nowhere except into the greedy MP's expenses pot. We're getting battered on every turn by so-called environment taxes so the climate should - if these Government funded boffins are to be believed - be changing to a perfect one because we are paying loads of money because of it. Isn't the case though.

These taxes might seem small but they soon add up. It annoys me also how the Chancellor defers some taxes so that they occur after a few months or next year, by which time we have forgotten about them. For example, he deferred the petrol increase until October, by which time we will probably be paying around £1.20 per litre anyway. It already costs me about 80 quid to fill up my gas guzzler...

Darling has also looked at forcing supermarkets to charge for plastic bags. I'm sure they would rather the Government forced them to do it rather than make an active decision. Small things like 10p for a plastic bag put customers off if they can go elsewhere and get bags for free, but is it going to save the planet? Absolutely not.

Remember the Chancellor is the same idiot that doled out £40billion to a bank to save it from going bust. I don't really see why I should be hammered for more tax because the Chancellor is clueless. It's a sad state when the Government can hand out such large amounts of public money to private firms affected by their management of the economy to save its own bacon.

I'm getting a bit fucking tired of England right now. I heard the other day that in Wales it's now free to park at a hospital. Arguably it should be free everywhere but it's not in England - its more expensive than parking in a town centre. Profiting from the sick.

Also in Wales if you need a prescription from a doctor, it's free. It's around £8 per item in England.

In Scotland, students pay no tuition fees to go to university. English students have to pay over £3000 per year.

What pisses me off is that the tax I pay goes to give freebies in Wales and Scotland, but what are they doing to give me any freebies? Nothing, I don't get anything.

Get me on an plane to Australia.