Comment posted Who guessed the real point of the ‘jerry can’ fuel panic? by newsroom.
This is a very pertinent point. Our source was talking about the financial quarter and it is our mistake that this did not feature in the report. Thank you.
newsroom also commented
- We understand from our expert source that:
‘The fuel price panic provided approximately £1,296,311,000 in early tax revenue to the government. Timed as it was, effectively 4 weeks of fuel were sold in the week before the end of a VAT quarter.
‘And also, before the price of Brent Crude dropped. I notice the relaxation has not made its way to the pumps yet.’
This can be read alongside Tony Gill’s (rational – but this is politics) comment above – and Karl Hughes’s observations on pump prices.
Recent comments by newsroom
- Radically new council group changes all the dynamics: party politics dead in Argyll
The fact is that the SNP councillors in the Argyll and Bute for Change group are not ‘SNP councilors’ in council group terms – as rules forbid membership of more than one group.
So the ‘Russell camp’ is definitely no longer in the council’s SNP group, although presumably they will personally vote in elections according to their preferences.
And IF the other 8 SNP members have actually joined [as opposed to supporting [the Argyll, Lomond and the Isles group, there is no formal SNP group at all in Argyll and Bute Council.
If this has become the situation, it means that the SNP as a party has no right of purview over the behaviour of ANY of its originally elected councillors, none of whom would now be SNP councillors.
You have to say this is fun. It's not politics but it is a laugh. - Argyll and Bute Council: Councillor McCuish leads again
As given in one of the recent updates above - the missing person is Councillor Strong - from the, as of this morning, Argyll and Bute for Change Group. This would leave that group with 18 members but only 17 present to vote - which would not be enough to carry them to administration IF all other 18 councillors voted together.
This has to be likely but in the current situation the finessing is so arcane that one cannot be certain of anything until it's done. - Argyll and Bute Council: Councillor McCuish leads again
The fact is that they were quite prepared to work with the Liberal Democrat and Conservative groups - but were ordered by the the SNP to face expulsion from the party or to leave the administration that was planning just such a coalition.
We do not yet know what the SNP party position is today - although in our 14.15 update above, we have laid out the range of possibilities - but we do know that the 8 SNP Councillors have not resigned from the party. - Argyll and Bute Council: Councillor McCuish leads again
Sincere apologies for the temporary error - now corrected - and thank you for the prompt.
We are doing our level best - live - to get changing situations out to people as fast and as best as we can.
When we inevitably have the odd muddle [like cloning Mary Jean Devon], it is corrected very quickly. - Argyll and Bute Council: Councillor McCuish leads again
Apologies. We’re working flat out to keep the information coming. Anne Horn got submerged by a second Mary Jean Devon – correction now made.
It IS a confusing situation because the council has elected a leader with no obvious administration to lead.
That comes next.
With two 18-strong groups, the issue is how will a decision be made?
We think that the Provost has a casting vote – a situation which with the Provost and the Depute Provost now in the same camp, cannot be other then controversial.
We cannot afford to drop an entire day for an event of indeterminate length so we do not know whether Provost Councillor Isobel Strong is in the Chair; or whether she is still absent through serious illness.
If she is absent through illness, this would not have prevented her known wishes form being recorded as her membership of the group named in the council email at the top of this article.
However if she was absent, it would prevent her from voting.
But the impact of that vote would depend on who else is absent.
It has been pointed out to us that Councillor Semple has posted on his facebook page since the meeting began – raising a question we cannot answer: Is he absent – which would balance the Strong vote if she is absent; or is he posting from the chamber as matters wind their interminable way through to some conclusion or other.
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Hmmmmmm! Indeed. Some people see conspiracy everywhere. I seem to remember that tanker drivers were threatening to strike and hoping to bring the country to a standstill. The advice to keep your tank full and maybe fill a jerrycan was sound. Had the strike gone ahead, forward planning like that suggested would have minimised disruption.
The fact that people panicked is more a comment on our society, I feel. The result of the overbearing, interfering, nannying government of the past decade and more has been to create a populace unable to think for itself or for us to accept any responsibility as indiviiduals for our own behaviour. A nation of sheep, brought to its knees by the ‘party of the people’.
I don’t know where all that came from, I haven’t even got a soapbox.
I feel better now. 
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One things for sure…as oil prices drop, it is not reflected at the pump with either the same haste…or in the long run on par with the price before a peak.
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Karl,
Given high prices at the pump maximise HMRC tax revenues, it is actually not in the governments interest to do anything about them. After all, it’s only the public who are being hurt.
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We understand from our expert source that:
‘The fuel price panic provided approximately £1,296,311,000 in early tax revenue to the government. Timed as it was, effectively 4 weeks of fuel were sold in the week before the end of a VAT quarter.
‘And also, before the price of Brent Crude dropped. I notice the relaxation has not made its way to the pumps yet.’
This can be read alongside Tony Gill’s (rational – but this is politics) comment above – and Karl Hughes’s observations on pump prices.
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Happy to let you all know that we have just ordered home heating oil – 9p cheaper than previous and got diesel at Tesco Oban yesterday 5p cheaper than previous – plus a 5p per litre voucher for spending a certain amount on groceries – a win win situation.
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An interesting thought but VAT period ends would be different for every fuel station so not an immediate hit as you suggest. However I would suggest another reason, it was just before the end of a financial qtr where it was touch and go if we would have negative growth or not, by stimulating a petrol spending spree it could have just had the potential to keep growth positive and prevent an announcement of return to recession. In the end it appears it wasn’t quite enough though compelete financial analysis for that qtr has not yet been completed so we wait to see for definite!
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This is a very pertinent point. Our source was talking about the financial quarter and it is our mistake that this did not feature in the report. Thank you.
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One minute you accuse politicians of being as thick as two short planks – then you hail them as devious conniving clever dicks. Which ? ? ? BTW – nice one Tony !
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1. Duty’s going up again soon, isn’t it?
2. The petrol panic caused a big spike in demand but I don’t think it actually increased consumption. My local garage was lovely and peaceful for days after the stupid happened.
3. Correlation does not imply causation. Is there actual evidence that this was a conscious decision on the part of the government, or was it an unintended consequence of something else?
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