Keep calm - and panic buy

I don't normally discuss politics on this blog -  but when you wake up and find that the country's prime minister, chancellor and other senior government figures have shown themselves to be absolute and complete idiots then sometimes you have to.

So we have rumours of a possible fuel tanker driver strike. The Union has decided possibly to take strike action at some unspecified time in the future. At present there are negotiations going on. Talks are being held. Tanker drivers are still driving tankers.  At present there should be absolutely nothing to see!!

So what does our wise and parentally minded government advise us to do?  The prime minister, no less, advises us to go out immediately and to fill our cars up so we have reserves should the tanker drivers immediately go on strike. Not surprisingly, this leads to long queues at the service stations. So the prime minister amends his advice and tells us not to queue, but to fill up as soon as practicable. No one heeds this and the queues get longer. The cabinet office minister weighs in and tells us to go out and fill up, just in case, and not only that but to buy jerry cans and fill them too - completely failing to take into account that storing petrol in jerry cans is unwise, unsafe and (in the UK, at least) illegal. He also told us to put these jerry cans in our garages.  I had a look as The Builder drove me from home to the station this morning and the very large majority of houses we went past don't have garages. Not sure where they're supposed to hide their clandestine stash of fuel! In the meantime, the queues at the service stations grew and stocks of jerry cans began to fail. Then the government changed its advice again and told us not to store petrol in 20 litre jerry cans (because that is unwise, unsafe and not legal) but instead to fill our cars when they get to about 3/4s full (not 3/4s empty, you notice) - just in case.

So now we have not a potential problem looming at some unspecified time in the future, but a proper crisis with people rushing to the service stations to fill their cars, long queues in many places causing hazards on the roads, a shortage of fuel which the tanker drivers (who are still driving) can't keep up with and general chaos. Almost entirely caused by idiotic advice from the government.

This has partly, but not comprehensively, diverted attention from the recent imposition of VAT on hot (but not cold) baked goods, such as pies, pasties and sausage rolls which has caused a significant ruckus in the media. And nobody is paying any attention at all to the other things that are going on, you know, like the economy or the health service and minor concerns like those.

In the meantime- the tanker drivers have decided not to go on strike until after the Easter holidays, if then.

Sigh!!!!!