Fuel Protests

[Rich.]

Any one attending the fuel protests on saturday ... I'm thinking
of going to the Fawley Esso Refinery in Southampton

 

[Skipton01]

Not a chance - fuel protestors should be boiled.

Thankfully the laws are now in place to have them forceably removed and locked-up, unlike last time.

That's a little harsh!

Something does need to be done about the amount of duty we pay on fuel in this country, which is about 65% of the pump price.

Personally, I am fully behind a rational and civilised protest.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[A2 Golden Miler]

protest but stay warm

Bit cold for standing out at 6 in the morning, so here is plan B, annonce to the press this afternoon that all refineries and distribution centres are going to blockaded from Friday night to Monday am this weekend. It will hit the 6 o'clock news, by 6:30 tonight Q's will be everywhere, the old fella across the road who only ever puts £3 in his tank and it lasts him a month will fill up as will everybody else - by the 10 oclock news they will be reporting petrol stations running out - panic will ensue - government will convene at 23:00 to try and calm the situation.
They will make a few right noises, public let them off this weekend, everybody stays warm, goverment are jittery, public threatens more and see what happens, this way if actual blockades are required "we" can claim "we" gave a warning ?
I understand the arguements for and against protesting but I feel the governments of this country do not listen unless you shout very loudly, it did work previously (although as pointed out they will have recovered the lost revenue elsewhere - flood defences probably )

 

[driveforward]

Something does need to be done about the amount of duty we pay on fuel in this country, which is about 65% of the pump price.

Personally, I am fully behind a rational and civilised protest.

Likewise..

I understand the arguements for and against protesting but I feel the governments of this country do not listen unless you shout very loudly, it did work previously (although as pointed out they will have recovered the lost revenue elsewhere - flood defences probably )

..and that's the reason: One thing worth admiring the French for, they're not afraid to stand up for what they believe. We whinge but never have the conviction to act/support action.

 

[Skipton01]

One thing worth admiring the French for,

Shouldn't that be the only thing worth admiring the French for?

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Trig]

If were onto admiring the French theres only 1 french thing I admire, Mélissa Theuriau...

Think this quote about sums up the fuel thing tho

At the risk of being flamed off the forums:

This makes me laugh, in an sad, ironic and wearily cynical way.

Here we are with fuel prices always increasing as soon as a barrel of oil goes up a few cents yet we never see the prices drop as quickly when oil prices drop...

And yet we all happily drive around in gas guzzlers and 4x4s with 2 litre engines just to take ourselves to work...

Take a look at the roads in the morning, the VAST majority or cars all have one person in them and you can be sure that with people living within a reasonable drive of work that they pass close to other colleagues yet no-one lift-shares.

Rather than protest over fuel prices (where's the money the Government needs going to come from instead?) how about we protest over the lack of car-pool lanes? Allow cars with two or more passengers to use the bus lanes... it'll ease congestion and reduce pollution AND the occupants can share the fuel costs, making it cheaper for them.

But no, we're a bunch of apathetic consumers who can't be bothered to get off our arses and come up with workable solutions other than have the occasional protest over fuel prices rather than come up with sensible and cheap to implement solutions.

Yes, protesting does sometimes make a change but did it do anything last time? No, not really... all it did was inconvenience millions of people, perhaps even damaging the cause.

Higher road taxes aren't the asnwer either... If I can afford a BMW soft-roader, a £100 hike on my yearly tax isn't going to bother me, is it?

No, if the Government wants to keep it's coffers full it needs to come up with sensible solutions for the motorist that don't hit the less affluent, and more numerous, driver in the wallet.

How about plugging all those bloody holes in corporate tax that sees us haemorrhaging tax bucks every year?

How about tightening up on benefit fraud?

To be honest, the more I dwell on this the more I realise what a bloody shambles this country is in... AND we're supposed to be hosting the Olympics in just over 4 years time... where the money coming from for that?

But what really riles me is that the NHS has been in decline for years, state pensions are pretty much screwed and yet all anyone can think of is that the price of fuel is preventing them from filling up and buying a Mars bar and a can of coke out of their change.

I can't wait to see what wonderful scheme we're gonna come up with in 30 years when the pension drawing populace outnumbers the working populace by 2 to 1... a mass zimmer frame shuffle on Parliament Square?

Then again, given the NHS is falling apart through lack of funds and piss-poor management, perhaps that's the plan... that we all die sooner through lack of decent healthcare.

Come on people, fuel prices are secondary to the really big picture and can be easy to fix with initiatives that think outside the box... there are far bigger issues looming in OUR LIFETIMES that we WILL have to deal with.