The Big Smoke

London, with its propensity for winter smogs, used to be known as 'the Big Smoke'. It still has unacceptable levels of air pollution, mostly produced by traffic. Air pollution damages health. It also kills more people than road traffic accidents. London's mayor is consequently expanding the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) to cover the whole of Greater London. ULEZ will charge drivers of the most polluting cars and vans, £12.50 per day to enter the zone. The mayor, however, accuses UK government ministers of 'weaponising air pollution', because they think there are votes in being anti-ULEZ (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/27/ulez-expansion-sadiq-khan-accuses-ministers-of-weaponising-air-pollution). London has funded its own £160m scrappage scheme encouraging residents to replace heavy-polluting vehicles. In spite of this, some folk have claimed that the ULEZ policy is a) being put in place, simply to raise money for Transport for London and b) unaffordable, in a cost of living crisis. Since August 1st, there have been almost 300 attacks on ULEZ cameras by the so-called 'Blade Runners'. They have cut wires and, in some cases, stolen the entire devices. There does seem to be a marked difference in government responses to these overt crimes and to the direct action taken by 'Just Stop Oil'. They've been almost silent on the former but have demanded police action/imprisonment for the latter. Are they really prepared to value life so cheaply?