Over A Barrel

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Though the PM didn't want to appear weak, his weakness was obvious. The army, mustering 80 tankers to provide essential fuel if needed, couldn't possibly have distributed enough. Had the truckers decided to hold out, Blair would have had no alternative but to wait--looking more hapless by the minute--until opinion turned against them.

The truckers were smarter. They gracefully quit the field before lurid government scenarios, of corpses stacking up in morgues and housebound patients dying from lack of care, could come to pass. Thursday morning, when Brynie Williams, a Welsh farmer who instigated the first refinery vigil, called for the embargo to be lifted while the protesters still held "the high moral ground," the rest of the demonstrators quickly disbanded.

But Blair is on notice that the revolt is only suspended, not over. He is expected to come up with some tax relief when he presents his spending plan in November. It will take two more weeks for the country to return to normal. Lest Blair forget the ferocity of the issue, he has only to look across the Channel to see how easily the protests could resume. It doesn't really matter that most of the current price rise is OPEC's doing or that Europe's economy is generally thriving. Drivers there are mad as hell, and they just won't take it anymore.