Policy's blunt instruments and shoddy reporting

Last year I mentioned how a previous car I owned had three catalytic converters in the exhaust path and qualified as being a low-emission vehicle in California. It was a 2004 model so I was surprised to hear the news reporting that cars from before 2005 are to be charged a daily fee in London's new Ultra Low Emission Zone: I thought to myself how typical it is that Her Majesty's Government finds itself but a weak proxy for what it actually intended to target. It makes no personal difference to me: I sold that car after moving from Ohio to Rhode Island and I never drive in central London anyway.

To my surprise the Government is exonerated: older petrol cars are not charged if they meet the Euro 4 emission standards. There is correlation between emissions and age, of course, but in this case the rules seem sensible and the fault is in the lazy news reporting. I am not impressed to have had multiple news stories leave me more misled than informed.