Yesterday, it was one of those relatively rare evenings when I watched the BBC television news, finding that the Petroplus story was lead item, with the hand-wavers hyperventilating about shortages of petrol and diesel. We got it right, I think, but if you want a greater authority, one can refer to the Wall Street Journal.

It cites a number of analysts saying that weak demand and over capacity in Europe's refining sector will likely cushion the impact in oil markets of the closure of one of Europe's largest refiners Petroplus Holdings AG.

View full article here

From the Chairman of the, what a surprise, French company who stands to gain most from the situation.
If it is not Total, it is EDF, GDF Suez, La Poste, water companies and so on that are stealthily worming their way into basic UK infrastructure while keeping their markets intact. And let's not forget E.On and the wind turbine people. This is little more than a continental takeover to my mind.

Why the British government allow this is beyond me. Is The City all that counts now? Well, with Barnier 'in charge' now, they might not be holding on to that for very much longer either at this rate.

BP should buy the refinery, the govt should help them to make sure it becomes British again, just in the same way as the French are doing their utmost to keep SeaFrance French. Whatever it takes

Goose for gander, and all.

totally off topic: Dr. North:
Davos Economic Forum Meeting covered in snow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... lenews_wsj

These are the Globalists who think capitalism has failed and fossil fuels have had their best time.
They are the morons pushing the climate scam.

Didn't know where to put it, thought you would like to know about this.

For some reason the BBC neglect to mention the issues with the market in that article. They do mention it in two earlier ones:

Swiss oil refiner Petroplus sees credit lines blocked



This one also contains the same paragraph above.

Perhaps the article will have it tacked on eventually. It would make more sense to have it at the beginning than at the end though.

The Boo-Boo-C's agenda? Let's see, they are fear-mongering about reliance on nasty old fossil fuels. Might it be they want us to believe things will be so much better with the land- and seascape littered with wind and solar plantations?

Good to see the Daily "we won't make a drama out of a crisis" Mail is on the case.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -bust.html
What ever happened to balanced, truthful reporting?

Oh yes they can. When I worked for a major manufacturer I often had to work with the specialist press. Some were good people and they often considered that they tried hard, but most were not really interested in the subject and did the minimum to get copy out the door. Accuracy was never a consideration.

Well, do you really expect anything else from the Daily Wail?

What is the point of watching the MSM when the analyses the do are usually crap?

Much better to come to sites like http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/ where the authors really do understand what is going on.

Sod the Daily Mail. Waste of time.

Put together a raft of decent blogs, and between them they will cover the ground.

I would second PeterMG. It is staggering how little the MSM know about any subject they address, and how uninterested they are in rectifying this omission.

The advent of e-mail and the internet has unquestionably made things worse. In earlier times, a journalist writing about, say, a sinking ship would have to find out some names of assumed experts, then talk to them, either on the phone or face to face, and then transcribe their statements into a coherent story. During this process, they would have had to have thought a little bit.

Nowadays a journalist just clicks on Wikipedia and a blog or two, then cuts and pastes. There is no need to engage with the subject - since the information flow is strictly one-way, there is no opportunity to do so either. Instead, speed of delivery seems to have taken over as the main measure of competence. On to the next 'story'!

Hmmm ... Speed Of Delivery ... S.O.D.

The cynic in me thinks the media scaremongering could be a useful cover to hike fuel prices anyway...

Well, the refiners have been looking for an excuse to hike prices ... this is it.