Review: Panorama, BBC1

3:38pm Tuesday 29th July 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Panorama’s look at the rising price of petrol couldn’t have arrived soon enough, if you ask me.

The question, and the title of the programme Can We Afford To Fill Up, has been on everyone’s lips for weeks.

The answer is obvious, No. But most of us who commute to work every day have no choice. What does the Government suggest, ride a bike on a 70-mile round trip every day, and then, carry the shopping bags we collect on our way home, under each arm and on our head maybe?

Or better still we should, apparently use public transport to our places of work. We’d have an unemployment rise on our hands when everyone was fired for lateness. I wonder have any of these politicians ever tried to get to a location on a regular basis on public transport and made it on time, and without being in need of a shower by the time they got there, either from all the rushing around or due to the smelly man who sat just that bit too close for the entire journey.

The honest truth is, we all need our cars. So you can imagine that the tips we were promised to conserve petrol, on last night’s Panorama, were well anticipated.

I was, however, rather disappointed. The advice to do 56 mph on the motorway because it is the most efficient speed is possibly the most ridiculous suggestion I have ever heard.