IT is said that for a healthy heart it is good to give yourself a bit of a fright each and every day.
For drivers of four -wheel drives and agreeable large luxury cars today’s morning news went beyond this to defcon 3 heart stopping.
The man who would be king, Gordon Brown, was reported to be thinking of increasing the level of road tax for large cars to £400 per annum.
This on top of council tax bills that seem to support the theory that an Englishman’s home is his castle, or at least a large stately home.
Of course we will have to wait and see but should it be true I can see no more clear an indication that this government’s environmental concerns are not so much about making the sky better as raising taxes for another raft of diversity outreach co-ordinators and NHS key target managers.
Environmental groups - people who still mourn the passing of Che Guevara and think Billy Bragg is Britain’s best ever poet- say this is not enough.
Well it won’t be, will it? Hatred is a terrible beast to satisfy. And that’s what it is about. Hating people in big cars who may have big houses.
The thing is that demonising 4x4s is giving credibility to a lie. Most are no more polluting than an average family car and considerably less harmful than a clapped out Orion form a Castleford housing estate.
Certainly when you get up there among the Bentleys and Astons emissions are on the large side. But then is really conceivable that an extra £200 a year is going to have any effect on that market?
It will have an effect on some poor sod trying to scratch a living hill farming in Cumbria. A Toyota Prius may be good for some things but working the land is not one of them.
The only Panda that is happy in tall grass eats shoots and leaves and I really don't see a Corsa diesel being the choice of a man who relies on healthy carrots for a living.
The HUMMER brand is arriving in the UK with the opening of the first dedicated HUMMER showroom this week. HUMMER will begin selling a right-hand-drive H3 in the summer.

Bob Lutz, GM vice chairman, global product development, unveiled a prototype right-hand-drive H3 during an opening ceremony at the Bauer Millett Hummer facility in Manchester. "Hummer's iconic design and unparalleled off-road capabilities appeal to a wide audience globally. We are determined to build upon the brand's unique recognition in Europe and especially here in the UK," said Lutz.
Great said everyone who loves big 4x4s and likely to make eco-pixies hide under their toadstools.
Hippies everywhere will drop their juggling balls and fall off their unicycles as GI Joe’s taxi comes to town.

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