Everyone's favourite unelected legislator has had an idea.

I can't drive. I've just never bothered to learn. So lets say I get my licence next month and I drive to my girlfriend's parents in south Down. Alastair Ross will be very upset if I leave for Belfast much after 8pm. Who is he to have an opinion on what time I drive home at? What right does the state have to extend the fairly reasonable restrictions on driving to such an extent? He also wants to ban me from driving my girlfriends sister anywhere for the first year. Total ban on alcohol, perhaps, but the reason zero tolerance on this doesn't work, is that small amounts of blood alcohol are (as far as I remember) naturally occurring!

Lisburn man/Larne MLA Alastair Ross really has let it go to his head. If he wants a nanny state, he should go to Scandinavia. When I learn to drive, I can't exceed 45mph for one year. Personally, I think that a year is a bit long, but the principle is fair enough. To extend that any further is frankly absurd. I know why he has suggested this, but using a sledgehammer to crack a nut is no was to frame policy.

Maybe a better idea would be to introduce measures to curb the enthusiasm of unelected 20-something-year-old MLAs. The evidence that it's needed is certainly there.

Over the last couple of days we've seen the seizure of cocaine at Aldergrove with estimated value between £1-3 million, 8 men arrested (although 4 already released without charge) suspected of being involved with active republican groups, promises to crack down on dangerous and untaxed vehicles and even a Fermanagh farmer arrested for allowing illegal waste from the Irish Republic to be dumped on his land (polluting the land and water around the farm).

What are the odds of this unusual bout of police effectiveness being sustained over the longer-term, I wonder...

I wasn't sure whether to be amused or angry when I first learned of the government giving consideration to taxing rubbish collections as part of council tax reforms for England and Wales (and Scotland?). In principle, it would be a good incentive for people to minimise the waste they send to our already oversized landfills, but only if it's done right. Back in April 2005 I'm sure I recall Belfast City Council saying that every household in Belfast would have a blue recycling bin by the end of 2005. Guess what: they didn't - and we still don't. (They're now saying the end of 2006)

A cynic might question if the government is simply looking for an easy way to raise some extra tax revenue and thinks they will have an easy ride with a 'green' tax. Let's face it, given the Tories recent fuss over the environment, they're not going to oppose it for fear they be lablled environmentally unfriendly - and the Lib Dems will of course be delighted at the prospect of extra revenue and punishing pollution in one foul swoop.

In the real world though, the tax is only useful if citizens are given an accessible alternative, ie a proper rollout of a doorstep recycling scheme alongside the regular waste collection. The sensible thing to do would be to tax the non-recyclable waste and not the recycling collections. Of course that's the point where we see whether the government are more interested in the revenue raising aspect of the plan, or the environmental side. Remember how quickly the metering of water charges in Northern Ireland was dismissed, despite being the obvious sensible option?