Pure ignorance.. hope you enjoy the coming inflation in all kind of goods not produced in the UK

Jose, Valencia,

I'm one of the 'profits of doom' referred to by an earlier poster!

Well, think on this.......in 2012 London stage the Olympics at a projected cost of, let's say, at the 'moment' 15 billion quid.

There'll be NO cheap international air fares by then..... so how do we fill the stadiums?

Shirley Bowen, Blackpool, UK

May this please be the end of uncontrolled immigration and we can have Britain as our home again.

There is a God.

Paul Hunt, London,

The slow down is hurting the big Asian energy importers like China far worse than the exporter like Brazil and Russia. Rather than ending globalization, I expect its direction will bend towards
the energy exporters and away from the Asian giants, all suffering under weight of producer price rise.

Robert Berke, Oakland, USA

Nicholas - you do know that OPEC supplies less than 50% of current oil output (thus they are as much a monopoly as George Bush is competent)
You do know that most of the speculation on oil futures is being done by American led funds.

Tim, Shanghai,

A long time ago, I attended a lecture by Barnes Wallis. I particularly remember a slide he showed, which was a projection of the world centred above the UK.

We are in the centre of the land masses.

An excellent competitive position that many forget.

We should continue to develop this.......

Andrew, London, UK

The passiveness with which governments, pundits and the media accept the oil hikes as if they were uncontrollable natural phenomena like earthquakes or hurricanes, and not the product of sheer speculation is unbelievable. So, don't complain if relevant people are not willing to put reins on this.

Geraldo Lino, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Carnations and turnips and roses IN SEASON! Wonderful!

And strawberries, apples and pears etc. Delights to look forward to, not jaded, jet-lagged, nitrogen pumped specimens in supermarket plastic packaging.

YES PLEASE!! Those really were the good old days.

Bill, Suzhou, China

Simplistic scaremongering from Mr. Mortished.

He appears to have considered neither the low carbon, low energy cost of shifting data-carrying electons around the world, nor the complexity of 'upping-sticks' of the expertise and infrastructure behind finanical services.

oxford dom, Oxford,

If your pockets are already lined with cash and you don't have to still try to establish yourself and attempt to do more than JUST survive in these difficult times, then everybody else's existence is just a game until the powers that be get bored and retreat into luxury with their huge oily stash!!

craig, nuneaton, uk

If China's competitive edge was simply down to cheap transport costs then it was never going to be a long-term one. I'm amazed anybody thought otherwise.

Dave, Slough,

Like my own speciality, software, the cost of transporting financial services is nil (unless you want boozy face to face lunches). Thus, London's status as financial top-dog may not be under such threat.

And I'd choose "natural" barriers like oil prices over protectionist barriers any day!

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

If the UK slashed the numbers of people in the non-productive payroll of HMG, slashed the number on benefits and focussed on real enterprise and productivity, we wouldn't need to import cheap tat from abroad.

So lets start by sacking most of the useless politicians.

MarkS, York,

The USA with a huge sophisticated home market will do very well. Couple this with highly competitive exports of high added value goods and what will happen.........the $ will rise strongly. Time to get on board!

Gwilym Ashworth, Wisborough Green, UK

The Brits are world masters in the long gloomy face and produce the best prophets of doom there are. It is either raining or about to pour. In fact Britain has shown remarkable resilience, and I expect it to overcome this challenge as well.

Andrew Piercy, London, England

Sixty percent of the world's oil is not produced by OPEC, so they don't have a monopoly. As for Bush, he just wants to change control of OPEC to himself, not smash it. Iraq: learn about the difference between reserves and production. It makes ALL the differernce. Peak oil is happening now.

Pythor Sehn, Apache Junction, USA

If it slows down mass Third World immigration to the West, I'm all for high fuel prices. Air carriers are dropping routes, cheap fares are skyrocketing, and manufacturers will be moving jobs from Asia to Africa (for the Europe market) and Mexico (for the North American market). Bring it on!

MaryJ, San Francisco , Calif.

So Britain is in a lose-lose situation. Well we can't go around the world taking over any other country as we did in the Empire days as there aren't any left. So start working then!

Richard, Germany,

"Since invasion of Iraq in 2001"

Ah, the American education system strikes again...

Kate, Southampton, UK

Oh, dear, let's not start blaming our proxy partners in OPEC for the difficulties we face today. Let's look in the mirror at our own addiction to the black gold, and deal with it like men. Up until 1970, when the US peaked, it was the big pusher on the block. Too bad we got addicted to our own stuff

Rick, Wellington, New Zealand

Since invasion of Iraq in 2001, OPEC has decided to wage a subversive OIL war against the west, sensing its days of monopoly are numbered once US opens the massive Iraqi oil reserves.
Thanks George Bush for trying to smash this rotten malevolent MONOPOLY !

Nicholas, California, USA