Shropshire Star

Peter Rhodes on taxing pensioners, driving at 20mph and how Countryfile got out of its depth

Patience, comrades.

Published
Mind how you go

THE enduring mystery of Amber Rudd's fall from grace is why she ever denied that the Home Office had targets to deport illegal immigrants. All government departments have targets for everything they do. A department without targets is, quite literally, aimless.

A 20mph speed limit may be imposed in all towns, villages and cities throughout Scotland later this year, giving the country some of the slowest roads in the world. "The case for 20mph has been won," declares a Green member of the Scottish Parliament, Mark Ruskell. Yet there is not a single argument in favour of cutting the limit from 30mph to 20mph that cannot be used to justify reducing 20mph to 15mph or 10mph. And why stop there? Why not insist that every powered vehicle is preceded by somebody walking and displaying a red flag? And none of your fast walking, mind...

IN the meantime, the national epidemic of deaths caused by drunken, drugged, uninsured and reckless drivers who ignore all speed limits continues. While the authorities are busy re-setting the speed cameras to nick little old ladies at 23mph and cutting the number of police road patrols, the slaughter goes on. Ostriches, heads, sand.

THE 'accumulated assets' of Britain's pensioners have been estimated at a cool £1.5 trillion. So why not tax those assets – mostly homes – in order to fund the nation's social-care bill? So says Simon Stevens, a former Labour councillor and now head of NHS England. You can argue endlessly about the justice or injustice of such a plan. But why do the authorities always assume the social-care bill will keep rising? If we found a cure for dementia, the burden would be massively reduced. Research might cost us a few billions but the savings would run into trillions and old folk would no longer see their beloved homes confiscated by the State.

FARMING can be a lonely job and has a notoriously high suicide rate. The isolation can be worse for gay or bisexual men, and that would be a suitable subject for Panorama, Farming Today or even The Archers. But how on earth did it get on to Countryfile (BBC1), that weekly family-viewing celebration of adorable animals and beautiful scenery? It smacked of somebody at the Beeb trying to tackle edgy issues and tick worthy boxes but Countryfile seemed outside its comfort zone, and way out of it depth.

GONE awfully quiet at Salisbury, hasn't it? Two months ago we were told there had been a nerve-agent attack in English streets by the Russian state. Yet there are still no names of suspects, no photo-fits, no CCTV and not even a hint of what, if anything, the recovering daughter Yulia Skripal has told cops. Personally, I'd love to know how a 'Russian hit squad' could penetrate the intense security of a typically English cul-de-sac, defended by twitching curtains and home-security cameras, without anybody seeing a thing. What's going on? Terpeniye, tovarishchi (patience, comrades).