Its Been A While…

Yet again, there have been many things all of which are worthy of blogspace. First off, I am (technically) now no longer a student – until September 24th anyway – and more scarily, my NUS has expired (although no-one in Cornwall understands NUS anyway so I’m not really missing it). Secondly, I’m back at the shop of dooooom, earning money and being a productive member of society. Thirdly, there’s only ten days to go until my exam results are out…

The 42-day detention debate deserves some blog attention, but I’m loathe to attempt a serious post at the moment since I am having to write this in Notepad and paste it into explorer on a Windows Me computer which is nearly ten years old and crashes. Its like a conversation with my Gran, this machine. I keep expecting it to conk out or yell ‘what did you say? Speak up, don’t mumble’ etc etc.

As to 42 day detention – and now I’m forced to be short, direct and to the point, three things which don’t come naturally – my main concern is not the egocentric publicity stunt of David Davis but the big Brown fudge that the Government has accomplished. Beyond the initial reaction last week, our Dear Leader has done little to defend the constitutional position, or to assert the patent absurdity of Davis’ position. By-elections exist to choose local constituency MPs, not to resolve complicated legal issues.

If he wanted to genuinely influence the progress of the Bill or derail it, there are so many more logical things he could’ve done. First off, press for Tory policy (as Shadow Home Secretary, no less) to aim at parliamentary reform to prevent whatever scandal he is so aggreived by – from what I can fathom, this amounts to the Labour party legislating on a manifesto commitment mixed with a good dose of sang froid that things didn’t go his way.

Alternatively, he could get other Dave (’Call Me Dave’ Cameron) to kick him upstairs and move from the proverbial animals to the vegetables and as a meber of the House of Lords involve himself in the legal scrutiny of the Bill. Of course, that might seem a bit radical – to become a single-issue Lord as it were – but the point still holds that the Terror Bill has a massive amount of parliamentary procedure to go before it becomes law. After all, a layman could be forgiven for thinking either that the Lords was a Tory/Opposition free zone, or more significantly, that David Davis has no confidence in his party colleagues in the Upper House.

His decision – as I said before – is childish and egocentric. Furthermore, it sets a bizarre precedent. It suggests that his constituents (and by implication, any local constituency) is a valid location to decide national security policy, or (equally) any issue which the incumbent feels passionately about. This is a bizarre and ludicrous idea for all the obvious reasons. The entire point of the bicameral system of the UK is to allow for high level and highly qualified legal deliberation in the House of Lords. In forcing a by-election on this issue, David Davis has in my view done more to harm democracy in the UK than 42 day detention ever would.
He has ridden rough-shod over parliamentary procedure and democratic principle in asserting (superciliously and egocentrically) that he is to be the arbiter of the forum in which the 42-day debate should be discussed – and choosing one which is entirely inappropriate. The election of an MP should be based on the suitability of the candidate and their party team to represent local people.

OK. Breathe in, here I go on the petrol crisis (the computer just crashed, conveniently). Living in the West of Cornwall (where they still eat their young etc), I have to confess to being slightly confused on two fronts by the idea that the country will be brought to a halt by two four day strikes by Shell workers (+ associated wildcat strikes). As usual, I have a fatuous and a serious comment.

Going for the comic first, one of the manifold joys of working in Essentials (there’s certain to be a post later in the season listing these), is the local Atlantic FM radio station. They have – over the last three days – been sending – by car – reporters to different petrol stations up and down Cornwall to see what the price is and what queues there are. On top of this, first local news (creeping over the border from Plymouth, armed with garlic and crucifixes to ward of the Cornishness), then the national news broadcasters have sent people into the region worst affected by the petrol strikes. The quick-witted among you will be expecting what’s coming next…

Is it not possible that the petrol shortage down here is being exacerbated by journalists reporting on the petrol crisis using petrol to fuel their investigations of the crisis?

Secondly, and mroe seriously, just what is it about a spokesman saying ‘don’t panic buy’ that makes the entire nation rush out and, err, panic buy? I heard the news when still in Cardiff but no part of my brain ever considered that this was an invite to dash down to the mounting queues to fill up my tank, even with a 217 mile journey ahead of me. Furthermore, I did not think when I left Bristol on the M5, I must top up now “because ‘ey don’t ‘ave petroleum down in corrrnwaaall” (imagine a ludicrous rural accent if you wish).

Other people – some of them sensible, others less so – however, have been flitting hither and thither across the county searching for a petrol station and getting worried because the station down the road has sold out. Possibly if people stopped panic buying, there wouldn’t be as much of a problem. Perhaps if people just used petrol for urgent journeys – and driving round to find a garage is not really urgent, that is panicking – there wouldn’t be any garages out of fuel.

Its not as if the petrol is even disconnected. The majority of non-Shell deliveries have continued, with some companies arranging extra deliveries to maintain supplies in their stations. Equally, its not as if – in the modern era of motorways and massive lorries – that it will be impossible for all but the most rural and remote petrol stations to be refuelled during the five day gap between Monday monring when the strikes ended and Friday when the second strike is due to start. This is particularly true in Cornwall where moving things by car is pretty much the only quick and efficient way to transport goods such as fuel in and out of the county.

This is not to ignore the many consumers who have been dreadfully affected. It is odd though, that to my knowledge, the farmers and fishermen – who, after all require fuel in order to grow/catch/raise foodstuffs – have had a much lower profile than the apparently poor motorist. Certainly, there are more motorists than fishermen, but they have other options – even down here in deepest Ruralland. For example, public transport of various forms. Though I guess a panic increase in rail use due to a petrol crisis wouldn’t be as newswoprthy for the ‘the end is nigh’ -mongers of the media. Igf you are a fisherman with a small commercial or private boat, without diesel there is very little way of maintainign your livelihood.

But of course, the Curse of Jeremy Clarkson means that it is the motorist who always suffers, the motorist whose livelihood is threatened, and of course, the motorist who flies into a big girly panic-buy when some of the fuel is stopped for a few days.