The ongoing absurdity of the petrol crisis in Scotland has been viewed by Siol nan Gaidheal with contempt. The continued attempts by Tony Blair to accept that he is seen as arrogant, yet refusing to listen to the public is nothing short of contemptuous.

Scotland is widely acknowledged to be oil rich. As Siol nan Gaidleal has pointed out on this website, Scotland owns nearly 70% of Europe's oil reserves. We have produced 13 billion barrels of oil so far and have over 3 times production to date left over.

The annual value of these North Sea revenues is set to increase after some years of decline to over £4 billion per annum, and despite unionist lies and scaremongering to the contrary, these reserves will be exceptionally significant to a small sovereign nation like Scotland.

The inclusion of 90% of North Sea energy output that will be taken by Scotland after independence would quickly place Scotland at No. 8 in the league table of industrialised countries of the world.

Yet Scotland pays the HIGHEST fuel prices in Europe. Continued colonialism and exploitation of our nation ensures the cheapest fuel in England with the most expensive being in the Highlands. Fuel affects the cost of everything and none more so than in Scotland. It drives up the cost of running a car and makes bus journeys more expensive as well - cash-strapped education authorities are spending more of their budget on fuel which is a necessity in the Highlands and other rural parts of Scotland. The most expensive petrol in the developed world is leading to an increasingly difficult situation for manufacturers, hauliers, transport operators, all of whom face crippling petrol taxes - THREE-QUARTERS of the petrol purchased in a petrol station is tax.

The puerile perceive this as a Green tax. Yet other European countries have far better environmental records and more effective public transport systems. ALL have lower fuel taxes.

One Nationalist once commented that when history is rewritten one will ask how a small nation could discover a wealth of oil and gas reserves yet at the same time become poorer. Blame for this does not lie with the English. The English are just the English and will always maintain the unionist and imperialist ethos. The blame for this lies with the Scots. As long as they have their fags and their lottery ticket they couldn't give a flying fuck for our constitution and our sovereignty over our wealth of natural reserves - as much as two or three times the amount of that of other nations in the European league table's top ten.

Oil is ten a penny as far as Scotland is concerned. Are we to forever remain second-class citizens - used and exploited by a richer and wealthier neighbour? The phrase "What's yours is mine and what's mine's my own" is just one of many depressing phrases which comes to mind in this situation. WAKE UP SCOTLAND OR OUR DAY IS OVER. Na Alba Saor gu Brath!