Oil prices have shot up since Donald Trump’s bombing of Iran and Iran’s subsequent blocking of the Strait of Hormuz. Oil is used in everything, not just for transport and heating. It plays a major part in the manufacture of fertilizers, all plastics and artificial materials for clothing.

When the world can’t get its hands on oil, all prices shoot up. Relying on oil is not resilient. Relying on narrow stretches of water to supply the world is even less resilient. We have seen it before with the Suez Canal, the entrance to the Red Sea and the Panama Canal. In 1972 Schumacher, in his significant book Small is Beautiful, wrote, “Economically speaking, we eat mainly oil.” Things have only got worse since his dire warnings.

What is our Government’s response to the current crisis? Pathetic in my opinion. Helping people to carry on as if there isn’t a problem by offering financial assistance isn’t the answer. Yes, prices are rising, but our suffering is minimal. Think about the war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year; consider how their citizens cope with shortages on top of the shelling, sitting in the freezing cold for weeks on end. In the 1970s we were told to drive slower, to drive less, to turn the thermostat down, turn the taps off, turn the lights out, close the curtains, and insulation of houses was taken seriously for the first time.

People have short memories. Our younger generations have never known shortages. But we all know the awful suffering that’s going on in Iran, south Lebanon, and other places in the Middle East. In South East Asia, universities are being closed and “Bangladesh has imposed daily limits on fuel sales following reports of panic buying and stockpiling in several areas,” according to News18. Keir Starmer this week announced, “No matter how fierce this storm, we are well-placed to weather it.”

Of course he wishes to see the Strait of Hormuz opened as he reckons it’s vital for our energy supplies. Starmer also talked about making our country more energy secure with the expansion of renewables, once the war is over, good, but in the short term it’s business as usual with subsidies in the pipeline.

Sir Howard Davies, an economist and former Deputy at the Bank of England takes a different stance, asking us all to use less energy now. That makes sense. Just as we had to in the 1970s. Why can’t our leaders ask that of us? Are we so feeble that we can’t contemplate life without drowning in oil?

You may think I have no sympathy for those who struggle to heat their homes. It’s the opposite actually. I simply have no sympathy for people who waste energy. It’s the inequality I have a problem with too, with many households having a bad time while others are totally indifferent to the current crisis.

I think Keir Starmer’s message is wrong and Sir Howard Davies’s correct. Painting a Churchillian picture of himself at the helm of a ship making sure we get to shore safely, the prime Minister isn’t telling us the truth. When nations start to fight over resources, and don’t kid yourselves that Trump is in the slightest bit interested in the people of Iran, it’s a sure sign that there are shortages or that a shortage is being created because someone can control the flow. Trump wishes to control that flow. He is a world class bully who wants all of us to dance to his tune. First of all he started with high tariffs on those countries he wished to punish, then he decided he wanted to rule Canada and Greenland, next he simply carried out a coup in Venezuela, he has blocked supplies to Cuba, he’s like a yo-yo in his dealings with Ukraine, in fact he’s even happy for Russia to enjoy high oil prices at the moment, never mind the effect on its beleaguered neighbour, and now he is destroying Iran together with his Israeli mate Netanyahu.

This major fight over oil resources has been on the cards for decades. Those of us who have been predicting this don’t wish to gloat. Schumacher explained the deeper problems associated with the use of oil, its nature depleting capacities and soil destroying properties. He argued then for organic farming, for crop rotation, for regeneration. Fifty years on, farmers have by and large not heeded his calls.

I feel sick that mankind never seems to learn from history. How many people will die in this episode? In the early days of the Green Party, our slogan was Think Globally, Act Locally. Acting locally is precisely what we can all do. And our own Ceredigion County Council can help too. Here is one major decision they can make. On the Ceredigion Rally. Cancel it. Simple.