Is it possible to find out what model car your councillor drives? If they are doing all these miles going to meetings etc I hope it isn't in some huge inefficient beast.

No doubt its a secret..... How ever one on our councillors tends to walk or use his bike,( he likes to remind us regulary and gets very upset when you mention his lack of head gear) but good on him for doing his bit. We know he has a car, but we are not convinced Mrs Farmer lets him drive it....

I'm not convinced we should have to. Perhaps if we claim for mileage then there is an argument it should be revealed but if a councillor doesn't claim why should a private choice be made public?

I think it is a good idea. If people put themselves in the public eye they should be open to public scrutiny.

I'm not really sure what this would achieve other than to satisfy a few nosy people

But there is public scrutiny and "public scrutiny". Its a dificult balance, and to what end result, other than pure interest. No doubt there will be some who love their cars and are real petrol heads ( good for them) , some will not have the resources, and some will make "politics" out of riding their bike, some may not even drive, does it reflect on their ability or desire to repesent us .... I dont know, how ever I would be keen to know what our green politicians have, and what our MP drives ( assuming he drives and does not use free public transport between Bury and the house) i dont really know why this would interest me, but it would, just to add it to "useful facts" . But what car Mrs Hoffy has, or councillor xxx really does not hold much interest to me .

Richard Rout wrote:I'm not convinced we should have to. Perhaps if we claim for mileage then there is an argument it should be revealed but if a councillor doesn't claim why should a private choice be made public?

It's got nothing to do with the public if the HMRC rate of 40p/mile applies: all cars are the same as far as expenses are concerned.

Cycling with or without a helmet should be up to the individual to decide. I always wear a helmet (a friend fell off and suffered a severe head injury with his helmet; without it he would be dead). But I don't want laws to make them compulsory, particularly since there is some evidence that cycling with a helmet leads drivers to overtake more dangerously.

Cycling without a helmet is extremely irresponsible and sets a very bad example to children. People in positions of authority who do so should be ashamed

I'm with Buryboy on this. It would be interesting to know what people drive but I don't really think we have a right to the information unless they are driving hundreds of miles 'on our behalf' in which case we should know about the environmental damage they are causing by representing us.

Bumble wrote:Cycling without a helmet is extremely irresponsible and sets a very bad example to children. People in positions of authority who do so should be ashamed

I'm afraid that's a snap judgement that doesn't stand scrutiny. The Cycle Touring Club (CTC) has a position on this:

http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4688

As the CTC says, there are lots of factors and it should be up to the individual to decide.

Helmets make riding safer - it's common sense Why on earth would every vehicular sport under the sun use them if they made things worse. I'm all for not wrapping ourselves up in cotton wool but come on Put it this way - would you rather be hit by a car, fall and hit your head with or without a helmet It's a no brainer.

As for revealing the details of an individual's car; never have I heard a bigger load of hippy, tree hugging nonsense. It's a free world.........just