It’s a trend that started long ago and never seemed to go away: the idea that diesel is, for lack of a better word, disgusting. It pollutes, it produces soot, and its engines are loud, people say. And just when it seemed like things were turning a corner and folks were adjusting to diesel being clean and efficient, Dieselgate happened.

Thus, with renewed vigor, politicians and other assorted sticks-in-the-mud haul out their pitchforks once more and demand that the evil fuel be eradicated from the streets. The latest to denounce diesel has been a U.K. parliamentary committee, the Environmental Audit Committee, which has called for a scrapping program so that drivers feel encouraged to move away from “polluting diesel vehicles.”

Committee Chairman Huw Irranca-Davies claimed that thousands are killed prematurely by diesel exhaust. “Despite mounting evidence of the damage diesel fumes do to human health, changes to (the) vehicle excise duty announced in this year’s budget maintained the focus only on CO2 emissions,” he said. “Introducing a national diesel-scrappage scheme could also provide a shortcut to cleaning up the air in our cities.”

Owners of diesel cars in Great Britain already face intense scrutiny and pressure to operate their vehicles under Euro 6 standards. Currently, such vehicles are allowed to produce no more than .5ppm of CO2, .08ppm of NOx, and .005ppm of particulate matter. What’s more, London mayor Boris Johnson wants diesel owners, by 2020, to pay an extra £10 to drive through the capital on top of the congestion charge.

No matter how you look at it, to be an Englishman and drive a diesel is becoming less and less feasible. When will the madness stop?