What We Should Be Cutting

In the light of the anti-cuts marches happening today, and constant criticism from the Tories that no-one on the left has provided a credible alternative to their deficit reduction programme, I've decided to come up with things I would cut before withdrawing funding from education and public services. There are a lot of things the government wastes money on that not many people (except the Green Party) bring up.

1. The House of Lords
Pretty much everyone agrees that we need to reform the Lords, to make it more democratic. We should only allow them to continue if they are elected, with shorter terms. But I would go one step further, and say we shouldn't continue them at all. The House of Lords has no real power. They have to pass a bill once it reaches them from the Commons. They can delay it for a year, but after that, it must be passed, even if the Lords were to unanimously object to the bill. They are essentially the Royal Family without the tourist income. No plan for reforming the Lords says anything about giving them more power. So why not do away with it completely, and have a unicameral parliament? I really don't see the disadvantage. While the Lords don't recieve a salary, we would save 792 lots of expenses, as well as however much we spend on upkeep. 
2. Trident
   There is presently a fairly extensive campaign including people from Greenpeace, the SNP and the Greens not to renew the Trident nuclear weapon system.There are a number of cheaper alternatives than the full replacement plan currently in the works, or we can replace the programme as plan but cut the number of submarines. It goes without saying that the present threat of nuclear attack is much lower than it was when Trident was initially bought, and nuclear armament is nowhere near so important that it should be immune to the cuts all other departments are facing. 
3. Replacing Petrol With Hydrogen
4. Okay, so this one is complication, would initially cost money, and would take a long time. However, oil prices are going up and up, and with so many alternative fuels available for cars, it's ridiculous not to replace them. Mass-production biofuel requires a lot of land space, and while it releases a lot less carbon extra carbon than crude oil, it's difficult to prove that it's entirely carbon neutral. Hydrogen, therefore, is by far the best option.
5. Carbon TaxesDetailed here, a carbon tax would provide more money for tackling to deficit while deterring people from releasing too much carbon. 

So, that's that. I'm sure there are many more options I could have put here given the need. The point is, there are many ways the Tories could be protecting our public services etc, they just aren't. So don't believe them when they say it's inevitable.