'Buy! Buy! Buy! Petrol's running out, the diesel's all gone! Buy! Fill your tanks! Fill your jerrycans! Queue up for hours at a forecourt only to see a harried service attendant wheel out the closed sign just as you reach the entrance! Buy! Buy! Buy!'
I might be over-egging it a touch, but this was the government's line ... yesterday. Today they are offering slightly more measured advice, telling us to tank up once we're down to a half. I have a sneaky suspicion that it might have been a cynical attempt to create a panic over the threatened tanker driver strike, thereby turning the fuel thirsty public against the strikers before they've even set a date.
Funnier still is the rush of high-ranking politicians all lining up to be photographed eating pasties. Now, I like a pasty, but I have a hard time believing that it's a regular feature of the prime minister's diet. And yet, there he was, pasty in hand, insisting he's something of a fan but doesn't mind at all that his chancellor has added VAT to them because their policy is 'fair taxation'.
What he failed to mention was the confusion over the implementation of the new tax, which only applies when the item in question is served hotter than the ambient temperature. This could potentially lead to a situation where pasties will once again be VAT free during heatwaves!
Do you ever get the feeling that nobody's really in control?
I think there is a way round this...If Greggs turned off all their heaters on their display cabinets so that all the pasties would then be sold 'below ambient temperature' and so VAT free. There could then be a free to use microwave tunnel, something like you see as toasters in hotels for the customers to heat up their pies and etc..
ReplyDeleteI think I'll talk to Greggs about getting their contract to supply them with microwave tunnels...
Go for it, RIchard! Not only would you be saving the nation's pasties, but you could be on to a nice little earner!
Delete