The out of touch Conservative / Liberal Democrat government politicians managed to cause unnecessary panic buying of petrol and diesel fuel, ahead of a threatened strike of (well paid) tanker drivers belonging to the Unite trades union.
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude's stupid remarks about storing "jerry cans" of petrol at home in your garage, were seized upon by not just the tabloid media, but by tv and radio broadcasters like the BBC and Sky.
The equally out of touch Labour opposition (who were astonished that they managed to lose a "safe" seat to the extremist demagogue George Galloway at the Bradford West by-election on Thursday) spent most of the week feeding the tabloid press with their views about the irrelevant to most people, policy of charging VAT on hot pasties and on publishing a list which Conservative party political donors had had private dinner at Prime Minister David Cameron's home.
Labour in turn had to reveal that that Len McCluskey, the boss of the Unite Union, which has paid the Labour party at least £5 million, has had a private meetings or dinner with Labour leader Ed Miliband on 8 occasions since the General Election. Was the tanker drivers dispute discussed during those private meetings ?
The individual members of the general public cannot be blamed choosing to purchase more petrol or diesel than they have done historically at this time of year, especially given the massive media hype and propaganda and apparent political dithering they have been subjected to.
The Unite trades union is partly to blame, for not making it clear to the dim witted, short attention span mainstream media, exactly when they were proposing to take industrial action. Apparently this will not now be before or during the Easter Bank Holiday (a favourite target for UK and foreign transport related strikes) as many people jumped to the conclusion that it would be.
The Government is partly to blame for talking of "Preparedness", the training of Army drivers and the notorious "jerry cans", but again, not making it precisely clear when these measures were expected to be used.
It is not entirely the mainstream media or the internet social media's fault - they can spread rumours and misinformation rapidly, but they can also help to quash such rumours and panics, if they are used properly.
Will this self-inflicted Fuel Crisis be compounded by the planned rise in Fuel Duty (again, regardless of whether the world price of oil actually falls) this coming August ?
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