Peak Oil - how prepared are you?

[tavdy79]

It's a one-bedroom flat

I take it you're stuck there on a year contract? If so, they might let you cut it short to save them the hassle of suing you.

It's a housing association flat, a *really* nice one that I'd like to buy eventually.

In fact my work/money situation is a lot more complicated than I said. My employer changed working practices last year in such a way that they're now in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act due to my Asperger's Syndrome. I'm working with my union rep to try and sort it out, but if we can't I'll have to quit; if that happens I'll also sue them for constructive dismissal & disability discrimination. They already know this is what will happen, so I'm hoping they'll be sensible and do what they ought to do. If it gets to the stage where I do need to quit I'll be needing a new job within two to three months of now, rather than by early next year.

My life is Hell in a handbasket right now...

[PaulX]

Moving back to sort-of on topic, we certainly have "interesting times" ahead. Poor old Gordon Brown is getting pressure from absolutely every direction on this, I actually feel quite sorry for him at the moment despite what I may have said elsewhere.

I think it could all get quite ugly in the coming months, with one chunk of the population supporting the hauliers etc campaigning to get the fuel taxes cut, and another chunk demonstrating for him to step up the green taxes. I think things are going to get polarised in a way that we haven't seen for a long time.

[buzzingtalk]

It's a one-bedroom flat

I take it you're stuck there on a year contract? If so, they might let you cut it short to save them the hassle of suing you.

It's a housing association flat, a *really* nice one that I'd like to buy eventually.

In fact my work/money situation is a lot more complicated than I said. My employer changed working practices last year in such a way that they're now in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act due to my Asperger's Syndrome. I'm working with my union rep to try and sort it out, but if we can't I'll have to quit; if that happens I'll also sue them for constructive dismissal & disability discrimination. They already know this is what will happen, so I'm hoping they'll be sensible and do what they ought to do. If it gets to the stage where I do need to quit I'll be needing a new job within two to three months of now, rather than by early next year.

My life is Hell in a handbasket right now...

savage!

[megadaisy]

I think it could all get quite ugly in the coming months, with one chunk of the population supporting the hauliers etc campaigning to get the fuel taxes cut, and another chunk demonstrating for him to step up the green taxes.

The government have zero regard for the environment unless they can raise money by taxing it so the lorry drivers will win.

[baldmosher]

I think it could all get quite ugly in the coming months, with one chunk of the population supporting the hauliers etc campaigning to get the fuel taxes cut, and another chunk demonstrating for him to step up the green taxes.

The government have zero regard for the environment unless they can raise money by taxing it so the lorry drivers will win.

I've NEVER understood the complaints of hauliers. They are basically complaining about having to pass on the additional fuel costs to THEIR customers.

They are ONLY competing against other hauliers. Every haulier running vehicles in the UK pays the same price for fuel in the UK. (The only possible exception would be hauliers who could fill up in Ireland or Europe to save fuel costs but I don't know fuel tank capacities or mpg figures for HGVs so I wouldn't like to validate that point...)

The people who SHOULD be complaining are the people buying the goods (i.e. the everyday consumer). Everyone else throughout the chain, hauliers included, just gets a cut, the same as they always have. It affects inflation but that's been so low for so long that people have been distracted by dirt cheap food from the third world by airfreight and aftermarket electronics from the far east that everyone's forgotten that prices are actually supposed to go UP over time.

We've been moaning for years about having to pay for congestion charges, road tolls, road tax, etc. and now the fairest method of reducing congestion comes along and someone's up in arms about it? Ridiculous. If it really bothers you that much that fuel costs are rising, buy a more economical car and minimise the effect. Or, if you can, get a scooter, or even a bicycle, or maybe even try public transport (that's not any cheaper, but if you can then do without your car completely you'll save a packet on tax and insurance). The best thing you can do is buy a house nearer to work and national transport links. I've been doing this for years. (But I still have a car and use it to drive the 4 miles to work cos there's no direct buses.)

[megadaisy]

I saw an interview with some protesting lorry drivers yesterday on the tv and the journalist asked why they cant just pass the increased cost onto the customers and he said "no way weve tried and the customer always says that theyve spent theyre budget". Well thats not a very convincing argument is it.

Like you i've always tried to live as close to work as possible. In fact I started a new job 3 weeks ago and my commute to work is now a 30 minute stroll through park and woodland (Stockley Park) and its lovely

[baldmosher]

I saw an interview with some protesting lorry drivers yesterday on the tv and the journalist asked why they cant just pass the increased cost onto the customers and he said "no way weve tried and the customer always says that theyve spent theyre budget". Well thats not a very convincing argument is it.

wtf I feel like a cunt for trying to explain why that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. And it's not far off.

I work in logistics and we increased our air freight fuel surcharges three times this year, it's gone up from 56p/KG to 78p/KG. It's the same situation the world over.

[PaulX]

The best thing you can do is buy a house nearer to work and national transport links. I've been doing this for years.

I thought you said this was the first time you'd bought a house? The costs of moving are significantly higher (legal fees, surveyors' fees, stamp duty and now the expensive and pointless HIPs) when you're buying and selling. Also, on this occasion you happened to buy in an area where stamp duty was exempt, so either you're going to have to pay stamp duty if you get a job somewhere else and you want to buy again, or restrict your job search to places where stamp duty is exempt.

If you need to up sticks fairly often as you change jobs, renting is much easier. To be honest, the only reason I've stayed with this job as long as I have is because it's much more of a hassle to move now. I rarely spent more than a year in any job when I rented.

Is that how you see things unfolding, by the way? A return to the 'good old days' when people lived in houses built by the mill (or pit) owner? I've seen the future and it's an LS Lowry painting? If 'peak oil' really does kick off, I'm probably better off staying put, as I have a big enough garden to be self-sufficient in food (apart from meat, except for the 'gifts' that my cat brings in) and buying direct from farmers is also easy here. It's the city dwellers who'll have bigger problems.

I think the truckers' main grievance is that Johnny Foreigner can fill up on much cheaper fuel, then come to Britain and undercut them. They're seeking a special concession on fuel duty (on a par with coach firms) purely for themselves, not for everybody else, so it isn't of much relevance to the wider issue of motorists being priced out of their cars. There does seem to be a growing national mood of resentment towards the country's level of taxation, though, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if some motorists try to start protests of their own - as well as green activists holding their own protests against Government retreats on this issue.

[baldmosher]

There does seem to be a growing national mood of resentment towards the country's level of taxation

It's not that much different from elsewhere in Europe. Fact, it costs a fuckload of money to keep a capitalist country with a free health service running well, and (IMO) it is.

[blather]Sperge, the problems with the government that you're citing seem to be centred around the government's perceived attitude, not their ability. And you can't guess what someone's attitude is, but you can judge them on their actions. Brown does seem a bit lost but he doesn't really have any crises to deal with. We might well have an economic one coming very soon, if the worst predictions are acccurate, but if it doesn't happen, will you thank Brown or just continue to foretell impending doom? If the Tories take over before it happens, they will certainly lay the blame squarely on Labour's shoulders.[/blather]

It doesn't help when they invade other countries for very little or no gain. (OK there's a very good reason not to vote Labour but it didn't seem to help much last time because the Tories were just as keen to invade Iraq. And Brown doesn't seem much like the guy to spunk billions on another war, so that's a moot point.)

Just look at the USA, they've (quite possibly, this is just a hypothesis) fucked themselves by invading Iraq, they've tried to promote "stability in the region" by eliminating an enemy, sounds great but they have merely destabilised the region even further, whilst laying first dibs on Iraqi oil. Securing supplies, perhaps, but for how long? And even if they DO get a real grip on Iraq over the next 5 years, I don't see that they can possibly draw enough oil out of the Iraqi wells and embezzle enough money to make it worthwhile for the US in the long term. Surely the ongoing costs of the war far outweigh the benefits? But perhaps the US is just too far gone down the road of global domination now, since oil is now worth more than their own people, and all they care about is the black stuff.

[PaulX]

It's not that much different from elsewhere in Europe. Fact, it costs a fuckload of money to keep a capitalist country with a free health service running well.

Hmm, the tax burden continues to rise in Britain while it's falling in the rest of the EU. I don't think the UK's tax burden has overtaken most of these countries' yet - but most of those countries do have much more to show for the money IMO. Not that it really matters, as I was just commenting on the way the national mood appears to be going. And - more to the point - the government does appear to be back-pedalling on the higher road tax bands and on the fuel duty escalator, which is a sign that they're getting worried about this backlash.

Surely the ongoing costs of the war far outweigh the benefits?

I think they do. It looks like a major fuck-up to me all round, especially considering that Cheney supposedly wanted the war to stop oil reaching $100 a barrel.