Just having a cuppa whilst reading over the news this wintery Sunday morning; the coverage seems to be focused on the current strikes on an oil refinery in Lincolnshire because the owners sub contracted to Italy rather than use a UK firm.

Having read a bit more into the background, the Italians have already been working on the project 18 months and the UK firms were too greedy when the contract went to tender.

In an ideal world, using a UK firm would be preferable, however as we are part of the European Union it seems logical that European options must be considered (from a business point of view) given the current pound/euro exchange at the moment.

I remember all the industry strikes when I was a kid, the unions at the time were very powerful and you could see where the drive was then; but now, lets just say that I’m a little cynical about who’s pulling the strings behind the scenes.

According to the unions, this is an unorganised and unofficial protest. It’s SO organised though, that’s the thing. Banners quoting Gordon Brown’s pledge to provide “British jobs for British Workers” are everywhere and the protests are almost TOO organised.

With a General Election looming I personally suspect that the BNP are involved, and it reminded me of another time in history where politics sought to influence the masses by kicking out anything remotely foreign.

This poster is from the 1936 german referendum. The text reads “BEFORE: unemployment, hopelessness, desolation, strikes, lockouts. TODAY: work, joy, discipline, cammeraderie. Give the führer your vote!!”

I doubt anything that extreme could ever happen in the UK given the voting process, however it does trouble me when I hear people where I live are voting BNP to “show Labour!”. Twats.

I like protests, they usually serve a purpose. But I have an uneasy feeling about this one…..