The world according to Snafu

A lot of news stories recently have grabbed my attention

Most recently here in the UK is the amazing events surrounding the non-lack of fuel.   The situation was created when the small band of heroes who deliver fuel to the various fuels stations all across the UK proposed a possible strike for more pay.   Being the kind hearted people they were they suggested that the best time for a strike would be at Easter when most people would be setting off either day tripping or visiting relations.  They felt this practice was unnecessary and being in a strong position they could put a stop to it by interrupting the nation’s fuels supplies and so keeping the roads quiet for the holiday period.

Our beloved leader then yet again demonstrated his fitness to run the country by creating a run on fuel by suggesting we all top up our fuel tanks just in case.  As a result of this, all the fuel stations around my commuter town ran out in the first two hours of the following morning.

Another of his deep thinking cabinet member further exacerbated the situation by suggesting something that is actually illegal in this country, namely storing some extra fuel in your home in a ‘jerry can’.  This kind of container holds more than the statuary amount you can legally store, so apart from causing the hasty to rush out and further exhaust the fuel stations, they were creating fire hazards all across the country.  I recall once before, a few years back, when there had been a fuel scare and some bright spark, oops not a good metaphor, filled a wheelie bin with petrol, which dissolved the plastic the bin was made from and the fire service had to evacuate the entire street to prevent accidental ignition whilst they disposed of the petrol sloshing about in the gutter.

So over two days, most fuel stations have sold more fuel than they would sell in a month and the government must be cheering  as the total tax revenue for the month takes a boost just prior to the end of the financial year.  Of course no one will need much fuel next month so sales will slump, but that is in the next fiscal year and so is in the very distant future, since long term planning does not seem to be a very popular idea in modern politics.

Another recent event was something unexpected in the world of politics, namely that the voters did not vote for the opposition in a local by election.  Normally this is always the case since most people by mid-term are pretty well fed up with their present government which has often reneged on many of its campaign promises, and no matter who is in power, voters will regularly vote against them just to show their feelings.  This, for some reason, always comes as a surprise to the party in power.  Probably because they have only ever been to their own party conferences where everyone present is madly enthusiastic about all things of their party, and in this flush of wild enthusiasm, forget that the other twenty odd million people who did not attend may have other opinions.  So it comes as a great surprise there are people who will vote against them.

On this particular occasion, a complete outsider got in and wiped the floor with the safe seat incumbent who had expected to waltz in, and so the outsider managed to poke both major parties in the eye in the process.

The thing I like about these situations is the platitudes that come out, although early on, the losing candidate refused to comment at all to the press, another losing party came out with the predictable phrase, ‘ you have to look at it in context’ which is a standard component of any politician’s speech after failing to win an election.

I have often wondered if I could place a bet in a betting shop on the chances of the failed candidate using that phrase in his defeat speech.  It would be unlikely that I could get very good odds, so it is not really worth trying.