Anyone think that Putin's war will spread across Europe and beyond?

I find it all so confusing, and my gut tells me there's something far bigger going on behind the scenes. What would be the point of a nuclear war? It would render huge areas of the world unusable for a hundred years due to radiation. But then again, if the leaders are waiting to see what Biden is doing and then follow suit, we are done for. He doesn't even know what country he's in half the time. Then the data from Pfizer is now coming out heavily redacted which makes you wonder what they're trying to keep from us. This is the most scared I've been in over 50 years, when I was a young teenager, and I thoght then that Russia was goign to nuke us.

Everybody is buying fuel forward in case Ukraine escalates, this puts pressure on the spot market where we are all buying what we need so prices rise, because demand exceeds supply.

Prices are driven by buyers all over the world competing to buy fuels that they think may be in short supply.

There is a simple solution. A windfall tax.

40% on upstream UK continental shelf activities.

Germanshepherdsmum

And they are heavily taxed too.

No more than other companies.

And they are heavily taxed too.

The Fuel companies are making millions every hour of every day in PROFITS ..there is no shortage just greed .

A CEO from Centrica was on the radio this morning.

He thinks fracking and shale in the U.K. is a non-starter

It’s people like you who encourage panic buying karmalady. For heaven’s sake stop it.

There is no shortage of fuel, but profits are sky rocketing.

Perhaps that needs looking at when so many will find life almost impossible as the bills start coming in.

I could never understand why we closed our own coal mine only to import coal from Russia with transport costs on top. It seems to me we have jumped too soon to go green properly.

Nonnadiana

If these people refuse to unload Russian oil and gas are we going to have enough to heat our homes and necessary buildings- hospitals schools care homes etc.?

The UK gets about 3% of its gas from Russia and 15 - 20% of its oil.

Make of that what you will, but do stop panicking...

We could think of this as practice for lessening our dependency on fossil fuels...

The government should be looking at ways of improving energy efficiency and alternative methods of energy production anyway. Perhaps this will sharpen their minds and gee them up a bit..*.

(*Vain hope, actually, they're talking about mining more coal and allowing shale gas extraction)

karmalady

fuel needs to be rationed for starters, essential workers need to get to work.

I'm afraid this is just scaremongering.

There's no shortage of fuel.

Why does fuel need to be rationed?

fuel needs to be rationed for starters, essential workers need to get to work.

volver

I think we're getting a wee bit ahead of ourselves. Fuel and food will get expensive, for sure, but I don't think we'll be queuing for our weekly egg any time soon.

Agreed.

Flour and sunflower oil might be more difficult to get hold of (and both will become more expensive), but I doubt there will be rationing.

If people are able to grow their own food (and very few people will have the land, the skills or the time to do so) they may choose to do that if food gets expensive, but there is no point in 'encouraging' people do grow food if they have no garden, no idea how to go about it and are working full time as it is.

When fuel prices rise so will prices across the board. Far better than rationing would be cuts to taxes or subsidies to basic foods. People who are already forced to use foodbanks are going to feel this really badly, on top of rises in energy bills.

Or powdered egg. I really don’t understand how anyone can start to worry about food rationing in the UK other than to stop the panic buyers as in the early days of covid. Panic buying of petrol is setting in - my son had to try four garages before finding any at the weekend - though that may be people filling up before the price rises further.

I think we're getting a wee bit ahead of ourselves. Fuel and food will get expensive, for sure, but I don't think we'll be queuing for our weekly egg any time soon.

I wonder if we will have some form of rationing, fuel for starters, priority for essential workers, including military. Food perhaps, to encourage people to grow their own to an extent and to discourage stockpiling

I believe he has a girlfriend or wife hiding in Switzerland with their children. This isn't the first time I've read this. Hopefully he's concerned for their safety.

If these people refuse to unload Russian oil and gas are we going to have enough to heat our homes and necessary buildings- hospitals schools care homes etc.?

Cossy

I fear he will not stop ! I feel sorry for most Russians, they also do not want war !! We all need to stand up to bullies !!

You don't know that; we have only seen the protestors on television here.
Most Russians might well believe Putin is doing the right thing because their access to information is controlled by the State.

There is a growing movement who are displaying the Z, a pro-war symbol, not just there but in Serbia too.
It's very worrying indeed.

MerylStreep

GillT57
I hope our Mi6 are involved but certainly not the CIA.
They haven’t covered themselves in glory in some covert operations.

No CIA? There no such thing , love em or not, CIA have more resources and capabilities than any other agency in free world and we need them ...on our side! MI6 works in conjunction with all sorts so no silly distinctions exist.we don't show our full hand but we do play together all the time. Always have. Unseen operations are a filthy trade and you don't get anywhere fast by being prissy about wading through sewage sometimes

Putin would be far more likely to use nuclear weapons if nobody else had them. It is the knowledge that if he fired nuclear weapons, so would we that is topping him doing it now.

It is called a policy of mutally assured destruction. So far it has worked.

I don't think Putin expected to meet the resistance he has and the condemnation, as he's clearly deluded. He's not however entirely stupid. He knows if he tries to invade a Nato country there'll be a world war. He thought he could just take back Ukraine , as they hadn't joined Nato, as he took Crimea. I think he will stop once he's taken over Ukraine. Ukraine will resist and fight a guerrilla war against Russia occupation which will drag on for years. There will be a new Cold war, and Russia will be isolated and symuffer from the economic sanctions against them. Maybe Russian people will turn on Putin at some point. He is a bully