Oil and hypocrisy

Having watched the televised savage mauling of BP chief executive Tony Hayward by members of the American Congress, I felt vague unease. Is this another 'banking' fiasco but with a different hat? Ie all down to government regulators, of which we've heard very little in the vociferous public baying for blood.


You could argue the reason for this appalling environmental catastrophe is to some extent the American insatiable demand – the biggest consumers globally by far - for ever cheaper oil. And cheaper inevitably means cutting corners and safety standards. Oil production has long been a hazardous business, the men who work in such dangerous work conditions are unsung heroes and I've met many of them. Perhaps the fact that oil companies such as BP lobby US candidates might have some bearing in all this.

Let us not forget it was oil at the root of the war in Iraq: second largest oil reserves in the world. Oil and war are historically and bloodily inextricably linked and drive the economy. US covert operations put Saddam Hussein in power after Qassim was conveniently assassinated, entirely coincidental to wanting to pull out of the Baghdad oil pact and nationalize the oil reserves. as was also the case with Iranian regime change.

Conservative estimated cost to the US for both Iraq and Afghanistan wars $3 trillion. For the UK estimated £20 billion including social costs. Figures according to Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel
Memorial Prizewinner for Economics. It will come as no surprise that the West's four biggest oil companies are back in Iraq after four decades to provide 'technical' support, yeah right.

Still, looking on the bright side Hollywood has come to the rescue in the shape of actor Kevin Kostner – really you couldn't make it up – so now we can all relax. As for Helen Mirren's outburst on the David Letterman show, she really should stick to what she does best – acting. Loyalty is something she's not best known for as the residents of her home town, whom she alienated with her comments 'I come from a little town called Leigh on Sea, the armpit of the world', will confirm. This is risible from someone who lives in LA with it's artificiality, pollution, health-obsessed bores, New Age nutcases and fear of aging. And why use the World Cup as a point of reference saying she couldn't have appeared on his show if England had won, what a jaw-dropping statement to make and one she'll doubtless rue in the coming weeks if not years. And maybe mindful of another person who used sport - the 1936 Berlin Olympic games - in a political way: Hitler.


So well done our Helen, Dame Commander of the British Empire (hand it back luv) and while you're busy gobbing off dear, let's hear it for Union Carbide: the true American Way. Not forgetting the Niger delta - supplies 40% of all the crude the US imports - where oil spills are an every day occurrence, little monitoring data, average life expectancy 40 years and no-one cares.

So God bless Apple Pie America, home of McCarthyism, Ku Klux Klan, shotguns, psychobabble, plastic surgery, Agent Orange, war-mongering, corruption, factory farming, soil erosion, biotech, oil, lobbying, pharma, CIA, deforestation, McDonalds. Hey, what's not to like.

Isn't it time America put it's money where it's mouth is and made more serious efforts to look for a sustainable alternative to a finite and highly polluting resource.