this is the beginning!!
just how much of this damage can we actually reverse.

sanil, watford, u.k

Hang on. Shock horror disaster : Food prices might go down? The media are clearly determined to interpret every item of economic news as gloomy. Try "corpse collectors face redundancy as black death recedes.

Eric Skelton, Cardiff, Wales

Who knows maybe the upshot of this is that the west curbs its oil consumption. Invest in new tech & that in turn spurs a new industrial revolution. Worse things could happen. India & China can keep buying oil at these prices & all the money we have sent them for cheap clothes ends up in Dubai

Jason Pearson, Toronto, Canada

The oil price is going to crash. It is in the interest of OPEC , Russia etc to talk the oil price up. World recession is looming and with recession will come a drop in demand for oil. Goverments are covertly planning to curb hedge fund speculation in oil by legislation. Oil will crash.

antontordy, Torausy, Devon

I think the time has come for all of us to park the car and take up walking or cycling to work again and let the oil rich nations try and eat their oil because we don't want to buy it from them any more.
If we start a boycott of oil products just for a few weeks the price would tumble!

william thomson, lincoln, u k

Its all driven by supply and demand, even speculators are driven by this.

People always look for an illogical explanation in the face of something obvious.

I'm off now to pick my lucky Lottery numbers.

Mike, UK,

The price of oil and commodities is basiclly down to the weakness of the £and the dollar,if the fed and the boe did more to strenghen their currencies then these prices would come down.

bob, hants,

Hedge funds & banks speculating to make up for those credit losses I suspect are the driving force behind this. However, the increased demand is also partly responsible, filter out the speculators $90-$100 is likely the legit price. Also remember OPEC get paid in devaluing USD. Lets not forget Bush

Jason Pearson, Toronto, Canada

Capitalism, with its unsustainable constant growth, is dependent on cheap and unlimited supplies of petroleum. We are very near to the point at which global demand will outstrip supply, at which point our economies will go into free fall and the monetary system, as we know it today, will collapse.

JB, Khobar, Saudi Arabia

it has nothing to do with oil supply. The ever rising price is more about speculation & ramping by those with vested interest. Every time the price eases, one of the OPEC members, or someone from Gazprom or a hedge fund manager make some bullish statement or other and then keep chasing it up

Mac, UK, UK

The way things are going,the oil producing countries will be able to buy the western world.Their is plenty of evidence of sovereign funds propping up and buying large slices of some of our largest companies,with the money they have got rolling in I just wonder where we are heading to.

le berger, teesside, u.k

If the nation had not been so keen to decimate the national technology base for short term gain perhaps new jobs could have been created in the building of a modern infrastructure. to mitigate the problems

dave, chorley, UK

The cause of this is one thing "PEAK OIL".Not something you'll hear the media nor politicians mention in public. Basically the demand for oil has superceded the world's ability supply it. It's the dawn of a new age, unprecedented in human history.People just don't know it yet.This is just the start.

Anthony, London, England

The index is only being held up at all by the oil/ energy firms. Shares of firms dependent on the UK economy are doing much worse than the index as a whole.

John Ault, Edinburgh, Scotland

Thanks for the insight, Wayne

Mark Wayne, Nottingham, UK

Too many people, not enough resources. It aint rocket science, & big business' love affair with the "developing" economies has exagerated the problem.
Its time to become more insular, & start looking after the home front. This will mean a huge reversal of the flawed immigration policy!

Pete, St Albans, England

can't agree with you more, oil is going to $200 then $300 per barrell, gold is going to $5000 and a hyper-inflation depression by end of 2010.

Steve, Edgware, UK

Lidl and Aldi have improved their market share because we now have so many immigrants in the UK. They are used to shopping at these stores in their own countries so do it here.

Fred, Moray, Scotland

Wayne - I agree.The whole situation is looking very scary with no sign of a respite.The winter of discontent looms on the horizon but on a larger scale. Headlines in this paper referring to the 1930's deppression are worrying!

Jay Gee, Warwick, UK

I doubt the crunch will be over so quickly and even if it is the world will be a different place.

Ken Wood, Fleet, UK

I think Wayne Askey is right about the oil hikes causing a global depression, but what role are the speculators playing in this? Shouldn't they be named and shamed?

Mike Mitchell, Spalding, England

The markets would have no sparkle if traders didn't throw their toys out of their prams every now and again. In their tantrums, they forget the pain they cause the man in the street. Only the depth of their own pockets count to them. This "credit crunch" thing will all be over in 12 - 24 months!!

Rob Shelley, Birmingham, England

The West has spent $, £ etc with Oil producers and Asians for goods for years. They, until recently, squared the circle by buying T bonds and Gilts.
Now, they are spending it on building, commodities, oil, etc & lending less to us.
So the cost of our credit, petrol etc has risen.

N Reed, Truro, UK

I know this is gloomy, but I think that the runaway oil price is sending the World and the UK economy into headlong into a depression.

Wayne Askey, Earl Shilton, England