trippytinker Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 The Tories latest wheeze scaremongering over fuel shortages strike me as a classic example of diversionary tactics . When the August tax increases arrive we'll all just be grateful that we've got some & can get to work, that is if we're not dead and still have a job. Am I just cynical? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Am I just cynical? No, because you asked the question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossybabe Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 No more so than I am. I thought it was designed to ensure people stockpile illegal amounts of petrol, burn their houses down when it spontaneously ignites, thus pushing house prices up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenubracon Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Staff in the Total garage I just visited were openly talking about how the garage had put prices up 2p per litre this morning. Even they thought it was a rip off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libspero Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 The Tories latest wheeze scaremongering over fuel shortages strike me as a classic example of diversionary tactics . When the August tax increases arrive we'll all just be grateful that we've got some & can get to work, that is if we're not dead and still have a job. Am I just cynical? I think they entirely under estimated public stupidity. The government just gave a "heads up" and said there might be a tanker-drivers strike coming up and that people might want to keep a bit of spare fuel in the tank/garage just in case. They didn't think people would be quite so stupid as to immediately rush out that same hour/day to queue up on the forecourts for a strike that can't happen for at least a week anyway. The press blame the government, but they are equally guilty because they are the ones who keep drawing everyone's attention to it and feeding the completely irrational panic. The alternative was not to warn people and then have panic buying in the days before the actual strike (if it ever happens), but that would have played into the hands of Labour's largest donor union and the drivers who only get a measly £45k a year.. poor bastards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Alternative view libspero and one I might have concurred with had it not been for their track record of late. The British always panic. Newspapers always feed/feed on this. Politicians play on being able to manipulate things. There was no strike only the possibility of one. As for the OP and August, that is too far off to be on the radar. No doubt some other diversionary tactic will be needed then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@contradevian Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Pandamonium at my local garage. Even some old guy in a 1960's Vauxhall Cresta topping it up and also his jerry can. The country has gone mad but thats motoring for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libspero Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Alternative view libspero and one I might have concurred with had it not been for their track record of late. The British always panic. Newspapers always feed/feed on this. Politicians play on being able to manipulate things. There was no strike only the possibility of one. As for the OP and August, that is too far off to be on the radar. No doubt some other diversionary tactic will be needed then. I'm happy to admit that it could be a deliberate attempt to divert news away from "Cash for Cameron" and the Pasty exposé.. but surely if they were that clever they would have found something that didn't mean causing mass panic and turning the public on them. Any scenario is possible I guess.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbonic Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Pandamonium at my local garage. Even some old guy in a 1960's Vauxhall Cresta topping it up and also his jerry can. The country has gone mad but thats motoring for you. I called in at Morrisons in Sheff after work - massive queues being directed by a bloke ho looked like Blakey. Two other garages rammed, another one empty (I assume it had sold out). A touch of irony was that a Jet garage I passed was full, cars queueing to get in on the road outside - and a feckin great fuel tanker parked just off to one side of the forecourt, having I assume just made a delivery. I'm off on hol for two weeks on Monday - so I'll get the hotel wifi fixed up, get some popcorn, and watch it unfold from the poolside on my smart phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ologhai Jones Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 The 'heads up' given by the government was a bit clumsy, but I'm not convinced that any sort of heads-up could've been given without people forming queues immediately. The alternative would've been not to mention it at all, in which case, if the first sniff of a strike happened when the strike was upon us, I would imagine that the lack of warning would've been blamed on the government. Conclusion: the government gets blamed either way. People interviewed from their position in the forecourt queue are saying it's the governments fault. Or, bluntly, 'We're sheep, and we're acting only semi-rationally, but it's not our fault we're stupid sheep.' Quite funny. In a way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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