Comment posted Who guessed the real point of the ‘jerry can’ fuel panic? by Grant MacDonald.
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.
Recent comments by Grant MacDonald
- Scottish Government forced to intervene on loose-mouthed Russell gaffe in Campbeltown
Never suspected I’d write this but, in fairness to Mr Russell, even 20 minutes on a boat is better than 2 minutes on a bus. A bus is simply transport whereas a boat is always an adventure.Of course, my caveat comes from the unpleasant passenger boats on the Dunoon run. When adventure feels like life threatening danger, it’s not worth it. (And I’m a boat person and know these stupid boats are able to handle the crossing. Ideally, without paying customers.)
- An independent Scotland and the pound
Perhaps not entirely germane to the issue but worthy of a moments ponder regarding National Debt and the banking crisis. The recent report naming the culprits behind the Bank of Scotland disaster was interesting, especially if one views the CV of the folk involved. For some reason, every single one of them were from Halifax Building Society, tending to suggest the merger was actually a complete takeover as none of the senior management actually had bank experience!Makes me wonder who the RBS bloke who’s been demonized was listening to?
- Struan Lodge closure proposal and costs confusion – have we not seen this before?
I notice Cowal Courier is run by an ex-News International employee. It makes me pause for thought for some reason but I do understand why Simon would cite it. - Margaret Thatcher dies
In the history of FA, I’ve rarely read so much tripe from usually sensible posters. “Rules of Engagement” equates to please unload your weapons and replace the missiles with blue practice loads. It was a war and the object is to win. Nothing else counts. As soon as someone stops talking and starts shooting, there is only one aim. To win.Secondly, had Maggie supported our coal industry in the 1980′s would it have survived against cheap imports which continue until this day?
The answer is obviously no.Our steel industry was paramount and should have been defended. After all, it wasn’t the case cheaper steel was going to be available within 10 years. Except it was and by the time it happened, the UK steel industry was closed down with the people involved either re-skilled or in the trash bin as they would never have retrained.
The woman did a heck of a lot wrong but the big picture tends to suggest she’d only one thing in mind and that was our country’s future.
Importantly, she never once mentioned Wind Farms as part of that future which is the sort of rubbish people will eventually write.
But she did view the big picture which is something not a single politician seems capable of doing at present, resulting in record low voting numbers. - Young Dunoon boy missing
Pity you didn’t notice the fact Newsroom had updated their piece 2 hours and 19 minutes before your latest input of spiteful drivel.
Slimey strikes again…[Update 17,00:Found safe and well in Dunoon.]
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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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