Alright, we may not be facing nuclear Armageddon (yet) but the way things are going the best we can hope for is getting around on the old pony and trap in a few years time.

Motormouth filled the old diesel splutter bucket this week and it cost a whopping E80. Now I’m not rich, but I’m not on the breadline either and E80 a go has got to hurt all but the most hardy of pockets. While I’m on the subject I haven’t been able to find a reasonable explanation for why the price of diesel has overtaken the price of petrol so dramatically at the pumps.

Some say that it is blatant profiteering by garages in anticipation of higher diesel sales following the introduction of the new road tax and VRT regimes. Others say that the Chinese are hoovering up all the diesel there is to be had in the run up to the Beijing Olympics.

This may well be true, but surely this is just the beginning of a long-term trend. For too long a small number of people have used the vast bulk of the world’s resources, be it oil, coal gas, minerals or whatever. Now vast nations like China, India, Russia, Brazil and other are awakening from their slumber and demanding their share of the resources too.

We have had it our own way for so long this consequence of the global market is something we hadn’t really anticipated. The truth is that it can only mean higher prices and more limited supply for everyone. Poor old Ireland being one of the worst planned, most car dependent and oil dependent nations on earth will suffer more than most.