Rolling roadblocks were being used by protesters in lorries, vans, cars and tractors to force traffic to slow or stop in the country today as a demonstration against high fuel prices.
Police have arrested a number of those involved for driving too slowly while some roads were blocked using a stinger device to stop protesters with diversions set up elsewhere to try to minimise disruption.
With fuel duty levied at 59.95 per litre and VAT added at 20% on both the product price and the duty we are effectively paying 50% of the price of a litre of petrol in tax.
Now, it seems to me with margins like that the Government has ample room to lower the price of petrol by a very considerable margin and still take as much in tax as they were doing before the war in Ukraine.
My sympathies are very much with the protesters but I have to say this is not the right way to go about protesting about the price of fuel and I have a nasty feeling the Police are not going to take the softly softly approach they did with the climate change protesters, unfortunately driving at such slow speeds on a motorway leaves them open to prosecution for driving offences and as an easy target I fear the Police will be swift to react, let’s hope not
I first started driving in 1968 when I could fill my car up for £2.00, I think the cost of petrol was 6/3d a gallon, now if I want to fill my rather extravagant Bentley Arnage I need over £200.00 and young people think we are exaggerating about ‘the good old days!’
I am a retired actor, although to be honest I only retired because I wasn't getting any work and the option of becoming an unemployed actor/waiter at my age was ludicrous, especially as my waiting skills are non-existent.
Having said I’m retired, I don’t think there really is such a thing as a retired actor for I am still available for work, I just don’t have an agent or any connections with regards to obtaining any worthwhile work.
I have over the years done student films when there is nothing else available, always low paid (if at all) the only incentive was always the promised copy of the finished film for your show reel which nine times out of ten always failed to materialise.
I spent many years looking after my aged mother who had dementia, hence the lack of acting work but shortly after her death I was lucky enough to run into an ex-girlfriend of many years ago and our romance blossomed once again, resulting in us getting married in 2013.
My move to the countryside inspired me to write The Diary of a Country Bumpkin which tells of my continuing dilemmas in dealing with the rigors of the countryside from the unexpectedly large number of pollens, fungal moulds and hay products waiting to attack the unsuspecting townie.
I enjoy writing, see my play Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori on The Wireless Theatre Company, The Plays Wot I Wrote and The Battle of Barking Creek both available on Amazon.co.uk and am very fond of classic cars so my ideal occupation would be acting in a film I had written set in the 1930s/40s, we live in hopes.
I am delighted to say that since venturing to the countryside where space is not quite the premium it is in town, I have due to the availability of two double garages acquired more classic cars to form a small collection the pride of which are a 1947 Bentley Mk VI and a 2000 Bentley Arnage.
My various blogs and websites are continually evolving and I’m sure that by following the appropriate links you will find something which will edify or amuse.
The Diary of a Country Bumpkin 