Most of the problems the U.K. has are caused by the government.
Income Taxes punish people for working.
Green Taxes punish people for creating plantfood 
The welfare state rewards irresponsibility.
The first rule of economics is that incentives matter.
So is it a suprise that Britain is in such a state?
WT:¨So that's 100% of UK households living in tax poverty¨
Yes, I am in tax poverty. There are a minority of the working population in the UK that arn´t though. MPs.
As you so rightly point out, 'Green' taxes do nothing for the environment. All they do is fuel inflation and cut living standards.
Pity it's all based on the Great Global Warming Swindle. Read the Climate Skeptic at www.climate-skeptic.com, then google "Climate Sceptic" and see all the instructions on how to 'deal with' or 'silence' the Anthropogenic Global Warming doubters. If AGW was an undeniable fact, then the dissenting voices would not need dealing with or silencing, would they?
And whrn they talk about 10% spent on 'fuel' to define fuel-poverty they only mean what you use to heat/light your house.
if they were to include the petrol/diesel most people spend just to survive then the number of people in 'fuel poverty' would be _vastly_ greater.
Government is the problem. Tax is the symptom. The cure is obvious.
Just a wee comment on the throwaway line about Benbecula (as a stereotypical end-of-the-earth place). I was there for the first time recently, and apart from the stunning natural beauty, and the fact that I was the only person on the bus who received a ticket in exchange for my fare (paid on leaving, not entering, the vehicle, and the driver attempts to chat you up in Gaelic), but APART from all that, it's recognisably part of the UK - they won't mind your bag for you while you pop out of the airport lounge, and you get served by Poles in the hotel.
In the USA presidential primaries, Mike Huckabee is advocating shifting tax from income to consumption, he calls it 'Fair Tax'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W...h?
v=W8GHnxBEH1g
Would you support something like that?
Commenting by HaloScan
