The outcome seemed to be that if you have a big car, you don't agree with the idea while if you don't have a big car, then you don't have anything against the idea.
Although the article also mentions Haringey in London, where the council proposed adding a 5% surcharge for medium sized vehicles (4-4.49m long), and a 10% surcharge for large vehicles which are allegedly over 4.5m long.
I wholeheartedly disagree with this idea.
It doesn't affect me in the slightest as I never park anywhere inside the M25 but my car is 4.761m long so it's the principle that counts.
Now if it were up to me, it wouldn't be the length of the vehicle that was used - it would be the height.
But then I've always had it in for cross-over SUVs.
Meanwhile, have you seen Jaguar's new concept car?
The opinions that has elicited seem to have fallen into three main categories:
It's woke
It's gay
It looks like Lady Penelope's car
I do have some sympathy for that third one.
The first two seem to have also been influenced by the recent Jaguar advert which was just too surreal and pretentious for my liking - like every single perfume ad - I really hate the Johnny Depp Sausage one.
(Not familiar with the work of PIG but I like their style)
People who think that car is "woke" need to invest in a dictionary - IT'S A CAR! I'm proud to be woke given that the alternative is being ignorant.
And those complaining about the gayness seem to be trying too hard - maybe a bit of insecurity about their own sexuality?
And there will only ever be one Jaguar advert for me, the one that appeared while I was a Jag owner.
At least I dislike the new ad for woke reasons. I dislike the car because it just looks wrong. It looks considerably better in a sensible colour.
But, much as I dislike cross-overs, I do think it helps to able to sit in a car without having to tilt your head.
That post title should get me a few clicks from potential female readers.
And my digital recording device seems to think his current Discovery channel series involves nudity:
A bit of quick Internet research shows that the working title for Ant Anstead, Born Mechanic was Ant Anstead, The Naked Mechanic.
As it is, there has been no nudity so far and I watched episode 5 this morning.
The premise of the show is that he is doing up classic cars to fund the restoration of a very old farmhouse for his parents. He has the help of an old friend called Darren who seems to be giving his time free of charge. Ant also "calls in favours" from many "friends" for both car jobs and house jobs.
I wonder if these people may appear briefly on Discovery's payroll?
Not that it really matters - it's what we thespians call "artistic license."
Like in episode 1 when Ant tells us he is scared of heights then in episode 2 he appears very comfortable on the roof of the farmhouse.
Episode 1 was particularly enjoyable though because they were doing a Triumph Dolomite Sprint - it's ALWAYS a Sprint, they never do a 1500HL like I used to have but never mind, the Sprint is a fabulous car.
Darren reminds me of someone.
It may be that I have seen so many car shows over the years that he has turned up on one if them. Although I did also think that he looked a bit like an older version of former Stig, Ben Collins:
Then I spotted Darren's surname at the end of the show - Collins!
Maybe a cousin or something or maybe a complete coincidence.
But back to the show - I think the format is forcing Ant to sell his cars at auction with no reserve which seems somewhat unfair. He lost a fortune on a Jaguar XJS and made just £200 (not including auction fees which were probably more than £200) on a mint (and therefore extremely rare) one-owner Alfasud. And when I say "mint", I don't mean it had a hole in it - check out the auction listing.
A similar fate befell an original condition (and also extremely rare) MGC with just 5000 genuine miles on the odometer on the programme I watched just before Born Mechanic - that programme being Bangers And Cash, Restoring Classics. The team spent over £30,000 on getting the car ready for auction and it sold for just £22,500. Like the Alfa, it seemed almost criminal to let it go for that price but at least that show is about a car auction site so there is justifiable jeopardy there.
So, does this show mean that Ant has followed Mike Brewer back to the UK?
Nope, but his girlfriend is currently filming the next Bridget Jones film over here so that worked out quite well.
I knew that Audi was formed from four German car companies and that one of them was Auto Union so assumed that was why the first two letters of Audi are AU.
My assumption was incorrect and my knowledge was a bit incorrect.
The company name is based on the Latin translation of the surname of the founder, August Horch. Horch, meaning 'listen', becomes audi in Latin. The four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create Audi's predecessor company, Auto Union.
Thank you Wikipedia.
Audi have now teamed up with SAIC of China to produce a Chinese-only sub brand aimed at "younger, tech-oriented Chinese EV buyers." This sounds a little bit like what Toyota did in The States with Scion - that didn't really work out for them in the end.
Autocar have the Audi story here while Auto Express have an opinion piece on it here.
The Autocar piece has pictures of what looks like an attractive car:
Auto Express opinion pieces tend to be right-wing rants nowadays so maybe it explains why they have only had one response to their question in it, "What do you think Audi should have called its new Chinese sub brand?"
If you have read either of those articles you will now know that it is not to be Audisaic.
But it is to be AUDI.
Not to be confused with Audi - who have sold cars in China for many years now under the name of...
...Audi.
At least the new shouty version will tie in better with the image of your typical Audi driver.
...the knowledgeable and dapper vehicle appraiser and regular contributor to Jay Leno's Garage.
I was watching their latest output on YouTube yesterday. They are clearly great mates and the way he takes Jay's gentle mockery is a pleasure to watch - especially about the concept of their regular segment, "Assess and Caress" in which the idea is for Jay to decide which of three vehicles chosen by Donald has gained most value in the previous 5 years.
What do those millions of fans see in Trump? He is creepy, he cannot string together a coherent answer to any normal question, he makes up lies and statistics on the spot, he managed to bankrupt casinos.
I see no redeeming credentials whatsoever.
You could argue that it's none of my business being a Brit but happens with America affects the whole World. There is already talk of him doing a Putin and Xi to change the rules to stay in power longer. And as Putin has him by the short-and-curlies, it doesn't bode well for Ukraine - and therefore the rest of Europe and NATO.
Meat Loaf was a fan - and I believe that cost him his life as he fell for the Anti-Vaxxer nonsense that Trump liked to promote.
So how can intelligent, articulate, hard-working people such as Dennis & Sean be voting for Trump?
This picture Sean posted on Facebook of the keys his wife had in her pocket imply that he is of the Trump persuasion:
They can't be falling for the Fox News tripe - they're too busy to watch it.
Maybe they are simply life-long Republicans - or maybe they see something in him that very few people outside of the States can see.
I hope they are right - evidence from 2016 to 2020 does not look promising but democracy has declared a winner so we need to accept it and work with it.
Maybe they didn't see a better candidate, over to Jonathan Pie...
