Fuel Duty

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I've heard that they're arming the former miners in preparation for the upcoming police strike. It's only fair.

[shelby68]

To be fiar we do.

The only saving grace for this country is that truckers never organised themselves into unions and they generally don't feel like striking.

If we did strike however this country would be ****ed inside 2 days.

Isn't being in a union punishable by death or something these days, my my new liebour are even more anti-union than the soft southern tories!

[expat]

This time it's the sheer demand for oil, and particularly diesel, worldwide. There isn't enough supply, so prices are shooting up.

Especially in greenbacks or New Labour Pesos, which are sinking. In Euros or gold it is not so bad.

[Ardesco]

This time it's the sheer demand for oil, and particularly diesel, worldwide. There isn't enough supply, so prices are shooting up.

From Wiki:



I'm sure I heard them say 140 dollars a barrel on the radio this morning!!

There isn't really much leverage for a strike here. Any reduction in tax will be instantly swallowed up in price increases for the raw material.

Ah but the only reason that there is not enough supply is because OPEC decide how much oil they are going to give us. Reducing the amount they give us means that they can increase prices and we will happily play.

OPEC need to be careful though because if they increase the price of oil too much other sources of power may become economically feasible and the good old US of A may find it cheaper to invade somewhere else with lots of oil....

Of course they may be ramping up prices as much as they can because it is looking like we may be able to create our own oil commercially in the next 5-10 years. If this happens their monopoly is shot and they will have a big cut in the amount of money coming in.

[expat]

OPEC need to be careful though because if they increase the price of oil too much other sources of power may become economically feasible and the good old US of A may find it cheaper to invade somewhere else with lots of oil....

Don't be silly, OPEC is run by Saudi, and the Saudis have a deal with the US to price oil in dollars. For that, they get American protection. The Americans get the ability to print cheques that never get cashed (and boy have they been printing them of late). The Saudi Royal Family depends on the US, and the US depends on their oil mechanism. Neither will upset it.

OTOH if the UK joined the Euro, priced Brent in Euros, and developed big wind power while getting allied with France on nuclear, things would change. Expect that not to happen.

[dang65]

OTOH if the UK joined the Euro, priced Brent in Euros, and developed big wind power while getting allied with France on nuclear, things would change. Expect that not to happen.

Wind power:

Wind Turbines only have a working life of 20 years, so are not sustainable. They require huge amounts of energy to produce their metal casings and the cement used in their construction. One 320-feet high turbine requires 150 tons of cement and 300 cubic metres of steel lining and shuttering for a massive hole some 100-feet deep in order to provide enough support to resist and stabilise the massive torque generated by the spinning blades. Access roads to the site and for each turbine must be able to bear heavy traffic.

The turbines only work a maximum of 29% of the available time and are currently subsidised by £1.5 billion annually from taxpayers' money. When the subsidies cease, much more expensive electricity bills for every householder and business can be anticipated. Danish electricity, after their loss of subsidies, is now 12% more expensive thanks to their turbine policy which has also shown itself to be woefully inefficient. British industry is not even benefiting from their construction! The turbines are manufactured in Denmark or Germany!

Conventional power stations will still have to be relied on and kept working, ready to take up the shortfall, because turbines can only operate between wind speeds of 10 - 50 miles per hour.

The Government has also ignored the huge costs of upgrading and supplying extra national grid power lines which will be needed for all the extra turbines.