Fuelling a panic

9:05am Saturday 26th April 2008

THERE is nothing that makes the British panic more than the prospect of a fuel shortage.

No other commodity excites our desire to form a queue more than petrol. There's a world shortage of rice at the moment, but we don't feel compelled to camp outside Morrisons just in case we run out while we're making a biryani.

When the electricity, gas or water goes off - real utilities without which modern life becomes difficult - we enjoy the Blitz spirit as we eat tea by candlelight and flush the toilet from a saucepan.

But not petrol. We are fixated by the thought that we cannot do without petrol, but even as we join the fuel queue we know how ridiculous we are, how we've used up more petrol driving around searching for fuel than we can buy, how - if push came to shove - we could cope for a day or so by walking, by taking a bus, by cadging a lift, by cycling or just by staying at home.

Given that many people have a freezer that, deep down amid the permafrost, has enough meals to feed a small African country, no one is going to starve if a petrol shortage means they can't visit a supermarket for a whole week.

This is what we have learned from previous fuel protests.

We have also learned that this weekend's strikers only have a small window.

In previous protests, the British have been supportive of the protestors for a few days.

Then the fun has gone out of the upheaval, the Blitz spirit has vanished, the support has evaporated and the protestors have ended up being disdainfully regarded as inconsiderate and selfish. They did not achieve their goals and their leaders' reputations suffered.

The strikers need to get round the table next week and, in times when final salary pensions are increasingly rare, thrash out a compromise before the tide turns against them.

In the meantime, don't worry. We'll get by.

It's Saturday. The sun is due to shine. It'll be warm for the time of year. So why drive anywhere?

Why panic?

Gordon Brown will have seen this coming and will have put decisive contingency plans in place, won't he?

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