Fuel protest

The truckers are out again, and it's being portayed by the media (ITN tonight being the best example) of how circumstances are both interlinked and combining against Gordon Brown.

Closer inspection, though, tells a different story. While Brown's current travails may well be caused, in part, by tax issues, the fuel protests do not add to the evidence of a groundswell of opinion.

Since the first fuel protest in 2000, the numbers of protesters and their impact have diminished significantly. This time around, 1000 lorries were expected to stop us London residents going about our daily business, but less than 300 turned up.

The story is not that fuel protests are another nail in Gordon Brown's coffin. The story is that the fuel protests are a damp squib.

Sadly, our metropolitan elite aren't interested in this, perhaps the only salient fact to emerge from today's 'protest'.