NO PETROL !

[bobby1]

Crikey, what's been going on here then. I'm just glad I am not a pasty eating OAP that drives a lot and sells their season ticket at the Albert Hall to ticket tout's when they don't fancy the show. You couldn't run much worse than that this week.

[outragous76]

Govt have released a statement saying we can all stop panic buying now as its April!

[doubleup]

oops apparently the panic buyers are Mantis's tory party friends

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/31/petrol-crisis-thatcher-moment-tories

[MANTIS01]

People should remember the government were simply disclosing UNITE’s threat to strike, they weren't the ones threatening it.

This week we have witnessed the abject chaos caused by the mere possibility of a strike, so imagine what would happen if one actually happened. It was chaos because at this moment the country is on its knees financially and everybody is working off very fine margins. So if people can't get to work they can't pay the bills and its game over for the family. Yet it is in these desperate times, when the country is trying to pick itself back up, that UNITE decide to threaten strike action and bring catastrophic inconvenience on regular working folk. It's a time of great leverage for them you see. UNITE have already threatened to take strike action during our Olympics this year. So with the eyes of the world on London and a good chance to lift Britain out of the doldrums this selfish union want to fuck it up so their members get more of the pie. When the reality is most of us are working harder for less pie as standard. It is a time for us all to dig in and try to recover from this monumental financial fuck up under the last Labour government. So I find it pretty damn inconvenient that UNITE choose this time to threaten to stop me from going to work.

British tanker drivers have some of the best H&S standards and working conditions in the world. There would be a mile long queue of Polish drivers happy to take these jobs. So I suggest these guys just get the fcking petrol to the pumps and crack on. As for the government, sigh, well I prefer full disclosure than the filtered down version for public consumption. The government's plan was simply to lessen the leverage but they forgot that people generally can't think for themselves these days. I mean it's why folk end up in the middle of a lake following the sat nav. Anyway whatever, blaming the government for the crisis is a bit simplistic imo.

[doubleup]

This week we have witnessed the abject chaos caused by a government trying to create a panic by advising people to do exactly the thing that would create queues at petrol stations ie go and buy some petrol when you don't need it

fyp

[Jon MW]

This week we have witnessed the abject chaos caused by a government trying to create a panic by advising people to do exactly the thing that would create queues at petrol stations ie go and buy some petrol when you don't need it

fyp

In what way does it help the government?

Why would they create it?

[DMorgan]

To swing public opinion against Unite and Labour?

[Jon MW]

To swing public opinion against Unite and Labour?

If they wanted to do that why wouldn't they just wait until a strike was called?

This would result in panic buying - and you'd get this result without any of the government looking like they'd messed up.

[DMorgan]

Because they get two bites of the cherry - if this memo isn't leaked they get the fallout from this episode plus the actual strike if it takes place

[Jon MW]

Because they get two bites of the cherry - if this memo isn't leaked they get the fallout from this episode plus the actual strike if it takes place

That would be far too naive for any politician to go for.

You can get the PR for a strike being threatened without the fallout if it's handled correctly - this has just been a cock up.

Politicians aren't naive - but they can be stupid.

[redsimon]

You must agree Jon that the current bunch are exceptionally stupid (Labour included). Probably lack of "real life" experiences nowadays

[Jon MW]

I think the problem started in the 90's - the balance between the people who became politicians after having proper jobs and the 'career' politicians started to tip too far towards the latter.

Did a quick google for some background - nominally a lot of them have second careers but they tend to be consulting non-jobs which are only there because of their political work.

Some kind of criteria for MP's would be good but it'd be hard to avoid their 'proper' job just being an MP's assistant, or researcher or a Party administrator etc - basically an extension of what already happens. Even if there was a demand for it there wouldn't be an easy way to guarantee MP's had 'real life' experience.

[AndrewT]

I've always thought that the minimum age for being an MP should be 40 - politics should be something you do after you've done other stuff.

As it is now, the parties are full of people who have always wanted to be in politics and have known nothing else. When I was at university (which is nearly 20 years ago now - eeeek), the people who got involved in student politics were, almost universally, bellends at best and sociopaths at worst.

Because they've known nothing else they've spent their whole lives in a bubble cut off from the real world - witness the absolute car crash this week which was Cameron and Miliband pretending they ate pasties. They genuinely thought that we would believe them - complete delusion.

[RED-DOG]

I think the problem started in the 90's - the balance between the people who became politicians after having proper jobs and the 'career' politicians started to tip too far towards the latter.

Did a quick google for some background - nominally a lot of them have second careers but they tend to be consulting non-jobs which are only there because of their political work.

Some kind of criteria for MP's would be good but it'd be hard to avoid their 'proper' job just being an MP's assistant, or researcher or a Party administrator etc - basically an extension of what already happens. Even if there was a demand for it there wouldn't be an easy way to guarantee MP's had 'real life' experience.

I've always thought that the minimum age for being an MP should be 40 - politics should be something you do after you've done other stuff.

As it is now, the parties are full of people who have always wanted to be in politics and have known nothing else. When I was at university (which is nearly 20 years ago now - eeeek), the people who got involved in student politics were, almost universally, bellends at best and sociopaths at worst.

Because they've known nothing else they've spent their whole lives in a bubble cut off from the real world - witness the absolute car crash this week which was Cameron and Miliband pretending they ate pasties. They genuinely thought that we would believe them - complete delusion.

Never really thought about this before, but I think you guys are spot on.

[neeko]

I disagree - I mean I agree all politicians are idiots but I would rather that a 20 y/o stood up in parliament  and put forward the views of younger people rather than a 50 y/o who is miss remembering what it was like to be young.

Admittedly the only 20 y/o's that would want to be in parliament would be those who are in the Burlington club and therefore have no idea what it is like to be a 20y/o but I would not like a ban in principle.