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Time to emmigrate! This country has nothing to offer any more!

Clearly we are been taken for a ride. Use now pay later where have I heard that before.

Mr Darling remove the benefit you give the greenies to stay at home and protest for a living and scrap the 2p rise all together. Don't be shy darling

Who do you think Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, etc. get their petrol from?

Exactly. BP and Esso.

So how hard do you think they'll be laughing if we all did this?

I'm on a year long fuel boycott, at least. I've bought 1000 litres of filtered veg oil for £400 delivered, and I'm running it just fine in my 405 TD. The only duty the Chancellor got from me was the VAT on the delivery - precisely £7.70.

MPs unconcerned by price rises as most claim there fuel on expenses which in the long and short we get hit twice.......thanks labour !!!!!!!!!!!

any chance of someone telling the petrol stations the hike has been temp suspended, as most i know or pass have all increased the price.......

do we vote. do we have a choice, do we get our say ? NO, britian now has toe the line or leave policy which many people are doing, not for a better life always but for a cheaper living..........soon taxes and fees will overtake wages etc causing more unemployment............

This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.

This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.

Usual hitting oil companies in the pocket nonsense again. The only way to affect change is to force government, the oil companies didn't get to where they are now by being bullied. STRIKE, and GO SLOWS are the only way. The last time the haulage companies did it the dim witted general public went up in arms at the lack of bread on the shelves and congestion on the motorways. The public need to be educated that it is the only way to influence policy.

Block the ports, block the airports, Block the motorways, and if near to London block access to parliament. For weeks if it needs to be. Affect those who can actually cap what the oil companies charge and can reduce their own duty.

The public must get behind the haulage companies for it to work.

Sorry, Peakoil, your considered, informative and thought provoking piece is just too far above the heads of most of the contributors to this blog. Never under estimate the ability of petrolheads to ignore reasoned arguments and facts so that they can continue their headlong and lemming like rush to oblivion. I just can't wait to se their faces when they arrive at their Armageddon.

Extend airports more flying,how green is that brown.

Enjoy it while you can !

This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.

This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.

I've taken to riding Shergar everywhere, much cheaper than using the Delorean!

Peakoil (post #12) is correct, the Oil Age is coming to a rapid end. US Congressman Roscoe Bartlett thinks Hubbert's speech in 1956 will be seen as the most important in the whole of the 20th century.

Unfortunately very few people can see this and our so called leaders are stuck in groupthink just tinkering at the edges. The consequences are going to be horrendous there won't be any more driving full stop regardless of whether you are disabled, a pensioner, going to work.... Just think for a few minutes about how much we depend on oil,
agriculture - tractors, fertilisers and weedkillers then getting the food to the people.
mining - mostly done using oil fuelled machinery.
transport - nearly all using oil.
plastics & petrochemicals.
In the future there won't be any social security, unemployment "pay", disability motability allowances, holiday flights.... because we won't be able to afford them.

And by the way gas is also rapidly depleting so we can't just switch. So stop whining about the cost, very soon it will be seen as cheap just like a barrel of oil was only $50 a year ago now its $110, soon be $200.

Mr Tonyw

I am afraid you and Peak Oil are missing the bigger picture here. Everyone knows Oil is become less available. But once you make it a source of income it is going to hurt everyone involved.

Imagine this, government makes 55 billion a year and the oil finishes tomorrow, how is the government going to replace that income? I will bet you my pension what ever the alternative energy source to replace fossil fuels will be tax heavily in order to keep the income coming.

I have faith in mankind in developing an alternative energy source before the depletion of oil. There is unfair to try and make money off people to fund miss managements.

Yes food is a problem, but because it is a basic human right there is always going legislation's to insure that food will not run out.

Us Brits have a nasty habit of taking a problem and blowing it up out of proportion. Look at the so called storm that hit. Over the weekend shops where full of people buying stuff to be ready for a 5 year war.

Coming back to the topic of 2p rise delayed, it should simply be scraped. There are professionals working for the government they can come up with alternatives in order for them to save money from reducing the fuel duty.

we need to team up with the tankers to go on a fuel protests like they did in sept 1999

The biggest question is where is all this money from all these taxes going, we've paid off our debt from the second world war, we have less people on benefits per population than ever before and more people working and paying taxes. As stated more money is generated from motoring, Fuel Duty, VAT on Fuel, VAT on your car purchase, Vehicle Excise Duty (Road Tax) as well as tyres and parts and servicing.

When will this ever end, this has to be the most un-popular government ever and they still don't get the message. Let's hope that they never become disabled or live in a remote area.

To be fair...yes, we hate expensive fuel but in reality there's absolutely nothing we can do about it.

The price of fuel is demand inelastic, which means the quantity demanded (by people) is relatively unaffected by a change in price. This means, if the price goes up, yes some people will stop buying but it isn't going to have a massive effect on how much people demand, because fuel is considered by many to be a necessity. Say, if we took an elastic product such as computers made by Dell. If these were really expensive, people would switch to other suppliers and if the prices of Dell computers fell, people would increase their demand and buy more.

Also, the reason that fuel is so high at the moment is because of OPEC as im sure you are aware. They have limited supply, which simply means the price rises. Supply does not affect demand. Supply affects price, which affects demand and as I've said, the price of petrol is demand inelastic which means the demand is unaltered.

At the end of the day, the government needs tax revenue, and by taxing an inelastic product (also alcohol and tobbacco) means they can get it.

Seriously, no-one is going to affect OPECs decisions about how much oil they produce which affects the price we pay. The market is dominated by a few large firms who pretty much supply the whole market anyway.

37, Stephen Lee: In response to your query:

===

Britain could be in bigger trouble than the US

British house prices and consumer debt levels are much higher relative to incomes — and have grown faster — than in other leading economies, including the US. Since these levels have now proved unsustainable in America, it seems very likely, therefore, that Britain in the year ahead will suffer a housing and credit correction at least as severe as the one now happening in the US.

Link: tinyurl.com/yvtk8u

===

Government deficits are also high

The borrowing increase leaves the UK with one of the biggest budget deficits in the Western world, at 2.9pc of gross domestic product in 2008/09. The only major country with a bigger shortfall is the US, however, this is after taking into account the $168bn of tax cuts recently announced George Bush.

Link: tinyurl.com/2egsfc

===

Additionally, gold has just passed $1000 for the first time in history, the Asian markets have lost around 5% overnight (not a crash by a long shot, but not good) and oil has rocketed from $100/bbl. to around $112/bbl. in the space of a week. The US is pretty much screwed given the $200bn injection of liquidity by the central banks into the global economy this week has failed to change much of anything. With $500 trillion of derivatives at stake, the UK is going to enjoy depression along with everyone else, if not outright economic breakdown (think 1929, but bigger).

On top of that, China won't be propping the global economy up and keeping us carrying on with business as usual: tinyurl.com/36jjfp

===

- Trends in Nasdaq in '99 - '00 and Shanghai Composite '07 - '08 mirror each other (SC down to @4100 from @6000!)
- Chinese inflation up to 9% from around 1% in '06. Food inflation @ one-third of total, which is a huge percentage and not likely to fall given the current problems we face globally (the harsh Chinese winter being part of the problem).
- China may have to slow down production to clear the air for Summer Olympics.
- Alluded to above: some were counting on China to keep the global economy going despite US slowdown, but that is becoming doubtful. (Big psychological effect, apparently.)

===

And then there's the global diesel shortage which is linked to refinery utilisation being poor and heavier, sour oil being the only abundant crude left with all the light sweet taken up elsewhere. These energy issues feed into food inflation and drive up the cost of living in general. The age of cheap motoring and food, no, cheap living, is coming to a close.

Charles no 26,what comments,the trees,woodland being destoyed in south america,food shortages around the world,jobs that are starting to dissapear
due to a recession the govenment is trying to cover up,birth control,l these
topics may be stupid to you but affects millions of people round the world
MORON

41, Kellerman

I do have to admire your tenacity, I come to this blog every now and again to get a reality check, reality being how this lot are going to react when TSHTF. I don't know where you get the patience from. I mean, it's not as if every single warning sign isn't available everywhere, every day - do they really think life is going to carry on as it has been?
What is it with the knee jerk thing, where is there a sign of even the most cursory research?
Anyway, you should probably keep it up even if just as a sporting diversion.

PEAK OIL - DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.


"There is little doubt that crude oil is our world's 'master domino': when it thrives, all other dominoes flourish, and when it tumbles, it does topple all of the others too." - Dr. Ali Bakhtiari (Former Director at the National Iranian Oil Co. of Tehran).

"Previous energy transitions were gradual and evolutionary. Oil peaking will be abrupt and revolutionary." - U.S. Department of Energy (March 2005 Report).

"The basic, fundamental building block of the world economy is in danger of becoming extremely scarce." - Richard Cheney (Vice President of the United States).

"The doubling of oil prices in the past couple of years is not an anomaly, but a picture of the future. Peak oil is at hand." - US Army Corps Of Engineers (September 2005 Report).

"The peak oil scenarios portrayed are absolutely not alarmist; they're realistic." - Robert Gates (former Director of the CIA).

"What people need to hear loud and clear is that we're running out of energy in America." - George W. Bush (President, Unites States).

"I continue to believe that the American consumer is the weak link in the global daisy chain. The combination of rising long-term interest rates and higher oil prices puts an unmistakable squeeze on discretionary income .... the last thing overly indebted, savings-short US consumers need." - Stephen Roach (Managing Director and Chief Economist at Morgan Stanley).

"The end of the fossil hydrocarbons scenario is not a doom and gloom picture painted by pessimistic end of the world prophets, but a view of scarcity in the coming years and decades that must be taken seriously." - Deutsche Bank (Energy Prospects After The Petroleum Age - 2004 Report).


ARE RESOURCE WARS COMING?


"So where is this oil going to come from? The Middle East is where the prize ultimately lies." - Richard Cheney (1999 Speech To The Institute Of Petroleum).

"In World War II, the United States consumed about a gallon of fuel per soldier per day. In the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, about 4 gallons of fuel per soldier was consumed per day. In 2006, the US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan burned about 16 gallons of fuel per soldier on average per day." - U.S. Department Of Defence (2007 Report).

"We can do a better job in conservation, but we darn sure have to do a better job of finding more supply." - George W. Bush (President, United States Of America).

"The great nations just aren't throwing enough money at the problem. Instead, they are preparing to fight for the last drops of oil." - London Times (2005).

"Energy consumption is indispensable to our standard of living and a necessity for the Army to carry out its mission. However, current trends are not sustainable. The impact of excessive, unsustainable energy consumption may undermine the very culture and activities it supports." - U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers (September 2005 Report).

"Oil is unique because it is so strategic in nature. We are not talking about soapflakes or leisurewear ... the Gulf War was a reflection of that reality." - Richard Cheney (Vice President of the United States).

"I fear we're going to be at war for decades, not years; Ultimately we will win it, but one major component of that war is oil." - James Woolsey (Former Director of the CIA).

"The amount of energy is finite, up to now in relation to demand and competition for access to energy can become the life and death for many societies." - Henry Kissinger (Financial Times Article - Kissinger Warns Of Energy Conflict).

"Given the thermodynamic deficiencies of the alternatives to oil, the complexity of a large scale switch to these new sources of energy, and the wrenching economic and social effects of a declining energy supply, you can see why our leaders view force as the only viable way to deal with the coming crisis." - Matt Savinar (Founder of the 'LifeAfterTheOilCrash' web site)


WHAT ARE THE EXPERTS SAYING?


"The consequences (if true) would be unimaginable. Permanent fuel shortages would tip the world into a generations-long economic depression. Millions would lose their jobs as industry implodes. Farm tractors would be idled for lack of fuel, triggering massive famines. Energy wars would flare. And car-less suburbanites would trudge to their nearest big-box stores--not to buy Chinese-made clothing transported cheaply across the globe, but to scavenge glass and copper wire from abandoned buildings." - Chicago Tribune (Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Paul Salopek).

"I continue to believe that the American consumer is the weak link in the global daisy chain. The combination of rising long-term interest rates and higher oil prices puts an unmistakable squeeze on discretionary income ... the last thing overly indebted, savings-short US consumers need." - Stephen Roach (Managing Director and Chief Economist at Morgan Stanley).

"The world has never faced a problem like peak oil. Without massive mitigation more than a decade before the fact, the problem will be pervasive and will not be temporary." - U.S. Department of Energy (March 2005 Report).

"If the peak comes and we can't get our act together fast enough to make up for it, you will end up with people all over the world burning coal as fast as they can just for the space heating and primitive industry. Such a large scale switch to coal could produce global warming so severe that life on planet Earth would cease to exist." - Dr. David Goodstein (Professor of Physics at Caltech).

"The American people are going to pay a terrible price for not having had an energy strategy." - Robert Gates (Former Director of the CIA).

"Globalisation makes it impossible for modern societies to collapse in isolation. Any society in turmoil today, no matter how remote, can cause problems for prosperous societies on other continents." - Jared Diamond (Prize winning author of 'Guns, Germs and Steel').

"The medical profession must eventually be forced to consider whether in an age of fuel scarcity it will be possible to maintain at their present level hospital procedures consuming large quantities of energy." - J.A. Lorraine (Author of 'Medicine and the Energy Crisis').

"Petroleum impacts medical care at every level. Advanced technology is worthless without the energy to run it." - Burt Kline (Former Director of the Division of Energy Policy of the U.S. Health Resources Administration).

"The United States must start now to respond to peaking global oil production to offset adverse economic and national security impacts." - U.S. Department of Energy (March 2004).

"Nevertheless, even with greater efficiency, the total amount of energy used by 2030 will have increased by almost two-thirds." - Rex Tillerson (President of ExxonMobil).

"I fear we're going to be at war for decades, not years... Ultimately we will win it, but one major component of that war is oil". - James Woolsey (Former Director of the CIA).


SCIENCE CAN SAVE US - RIGHT?


"The notion that massive 'free lunches' in energy efficiency will result from tweaking the market with new regulations and standards, he said, is misguided". - Dr. Robert Stavins (Environmental Economist - Harvard University).

"In the United States, annual federal spending for all energy research and development - not just the research aimed at climate-friendly technologies - is less than half what it was a quarter-century ago. It has sunk to $3 billion a year in 2006, down from $7.7 billion in 1979." - New York Times (October 2006).

"The laws of physics mean the hydrogen economy will always be an energy sink. No matter how much money is spent you will always use more energy to create, store, and transport hydrogen than you will ever get out of it." - Alice Friedemann (Author of 'The Hydrogen Economy - Energy and Economic Black Hole').

"It would take every single one of California's 13,000 wind turbines operating at 100% capacity (they usually operate at about 30%) all at the same time to generate as much electricity as a single 555-megawatt natural gas fired power plant." - Paul Driessen (Canada Free Press).

"The basic problem of hydrogen fuel cells is that the second law of thermodynamics dictates that we will always have to expend more energy deriving the hydrogen than we will receive from the usage of that hydrogen. The common misconception is that hydrogen fuel cells are an alternative energy source when they are not." - Michael Ruppert (Founder and Editor of 'From The Wilderness').

"I think what people don't understand about hydrogen is that it is not a source of energy. You have to use energy to make hydrogen and it takes the equivalent of six gallons of gasoline to make enough hydrogen to replace one gallon of gasoline." - Dr. David Goodstein (Professor of Physics at Caltech).

"Nuclear is an alternative, but remember you're not going to have any nuclear cars and nuclear airplanes. Nuclear is not a substitute for oil." - Dr. David Goodstein (Professor of Physics at Caltech).

"There is no battery pack which can effectively move heavy farm machinery over miles of farm fields, and no electric battery system seems even remotely able to propel a Boeing 747 for 14 hours nonstop at 600 miles an hour." - Dr. Walter Youngquist (Geologist).

"Relying on corn for our future energy needs would devastate the nation's food production. It takes 11 acres to grow enough corn to fuel one automobile with ethanol for 10,000 miles, or about a year's driving. That's the amount of land needed to feed seven persons for the same period of time. And if we decided to power all of our automobiles with ethanol, we would need to cover 97 percent of our land with corn. That's a lot of corn." - Dr. David Pimental (Chairman - U.S. Department of Energy - Commitee on Ethanol).


HOW OIL MUCH IS LEFT?


"The basic, fundamental building block of the world economy is in danger of becoming extremely scarce". - Richard Cheney (Vice President of the Unites States).

"The world has now reached the point of Peak Oil. After nearly 150 years of uninterrupted supply growth crude oil production has peaked and has entered its irreversible decline." - Dr. Ali Bakhtiari (Former Director at the National Iranian Oil Co. of Tehran).

"All the easy oil and gas in the world has pretty much been found. Now comes the harder work in finding and producing oil from more challenging environments and work areas." - William Cummings (ExxonMobil Spokesman in Angola).

The most knowledgeable experts revised their predictions and now concur that 2005 is apt to be the year of all-time global peak production." - James Howard Kunstler (Author of 'The Long Emergency').

"...there will be an average of two-percent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead, along with, conservatively, a three-percent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional 50 million barrels a day." - Richard Cheney (Vice President of the Unites States).

"The doubling of oil prices in the past couple of years is not an anomaly, but a picture of the future. Peak oil is at hand." - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (September 2005 Report).

"Nevertheless, even with greater efficiency, the total amount of energy used by 2030 will have increased by almost two-thirds." - Rex Tillerson (President of ExxonMobil).


PREPARE FOR A LIFE OF AUSTERITY.


Find local employment. Reduce your debts. Reduce your fuel consumption. Grow your own vegetables or buy from local suppliers. Exercise regularly. Insulate your home. Help your family, friends and colleagues to understand the implications of Peak Oil.

Moderator: How about giving the Peakoil theory its own blog page, so that anyone who feels inclined to comment on peakoils point of view can do so and then remove any similar and repetitive subsequent posts in other subjects so that we don't have to scan through the same old lengthy post every time we're having a discussion about something else.

Then he can't complain he's being stiffled or censored, maintains the right to free speech, but isn't getting on anyones nerves with his obsessive, unneeded and unwanted posting habits.

Morrisey

I second that. Then we can actually talk about the topic at hand and maybe even come up with workable solutions.

A god way of showing how we all feel about the price of fuel; is by posting a car key { or any sparew key } to no 10. ith a short but simple message of how we all feel. Just think of how much of a pain it would for the pm if 10,000 were posted over the easter bank holiday's !!!!

Not somthing that he could ignor easily i'd say

I would recommend reading the likes of Limits of Growth: The 30-Year Update. It gives a very sobering view of the possible futures should we carry on regardless or decide to powerdown sensibly.

Ultimately, this line of life is not sustainable in the long run, least, not for all of us.

Greg

No, you're right, I'm not willing to discuss the 'powerdown scenario' on this thread.

Should a topic be created for said issue, if I have a relevant comment to make, I shall do it there.

Mr Kellerman, peak oil, Greg Brown and other green peace activists. I proposed that we scrap the whole 2p duty rise, and at the very worst keep the prices where they are but ideally reduce them.

Where is the money coming from? Try using peace negotiators instead of soldiers its cheaper bring back our boys and girls and save money. Work on miss managements and unecessary spending.

What about the environment? The first step is to accept the fact that the motorist is not the main culprit here. Make sure all the countries move in line with improvements for the environment. Note not just the UK. Invest in research into finding a sustainable replacement for fosil fuels. We still have time to find it without the fuel price rises.

"HQ to Agent 3. If he mentions a word about Peak Oil, you know what to do. The chemical will act quickly, so it will look like a heart attack."

I've got one for ya.
Peacfull protest/people power !!
check no 53

62, Boo To Peak Oil: Drive less. How about that? Buy less junk too. Way too many people are spending their incomes as soon as they come in. I guess saving up for a rainy day is something you have to teach people today.

Drive slower too, and get a smaller car. I'm sick of people overtaking at the best part of 100 MPH in a 60 zone in a car that is easily 2 tonnes. I shed no tears for those fools when they complain about fuel prices, in fact, it makes me wish the petro-collapse would come sooner.

Good luck with finding an alternative to oil. There ain't one. Unless you happen to know where several million years worth of sunlight stored in easy to access reservoirs underground can be found right now.

By all means carry on with this hilarious tirade against Brown and taxation. Let me know when you all achieve something, because while I'm planning for a day when shortages are an ever day occurrence, I'll be wondering how whining on an Internet blog at total strangers in Westminster has helped you.

Disabled? Don't earn a lot of money? Can't afford to keep more than one car? Trucking agency going under? Geology doesn't frankly care. It's a harsh life, but maybe if we had the sense not to rely on dino-goop, we'd not be here now wondering what the future will entail.

I think Greek tragedy is the term to apply here.

Single mum two kids,loved by labour on benefits,runs arond in ford focus diesel,on a 04 plate.
So if you cant afford to change your car give up your job,claim to have no money bingo its like earning £35,000 pa.
I sick of paying for this when our OAP's need help.

I think you're missing your own point Kellerman.

If the government aren't reponsible, who the hell is?, thats why they're elected, if every single person who reads this blog stopped driving cars, right now, it wouldn't affect the prices in the shops or the global reserves one bit.

No one believes that oil isn't on the way out, but when a person isn't even allowed to mount a solar panel on his roof or a wind turbine on his garage because it 'isn't suitable for the enviroment' You, ranting on and on at angry tax payers, who contrary to you belief, already know about oil reserves is a huge waste of time and diverting the attention from where it should be.

This government has totally lost it's way, it's time to make a difference, stop listening to peak oil, wether he understands it or not, he and his message are diversionary and just how the government like it.

You can either mount a challenge to this governments policy or sit back and do nothing like the good Sheeple you are, follow the flock and let what peakoil predicts happen.

Familys in some citys and towns,in the UK,have grandfathers,sons and grandsons that have never worked,why?

69, Morrisey: False dichotomy. It's not either or, the government and our consumption are to blame. And who do you think elected those clowns in... thrice?