New campaign to introduce fuel stabilizer

And that it is supported by such political luminaries as Jeremy Clarkson and Ann Summers boss Jacqueline Gold.

And yet there is undoubtedly a genuine grievance, behind the Sun's vain posturing. Fuel tax, as a percentage of the total cost of petrol, is at around 81%. And 81.5% was the figure which prompted the activism of 2000, when hauliers and farmers took matters into their own hands.

Public support for these protests however has dwindled since the heady days of 2000. The planned protests of 2005 and 2007 went off with barely a whimper, even though the 2000 protests did wring concessions from the Labour Government of the time.

It is to ask a reasonable question, to consider why exactly we pay so much in fuel duty. At one time this tax went directly to spending on roads and infrastructure, the system supporting itself, though now the duty goes straight to the Exchequer.

People perhaps assume that the road tax is essentially punitive, part of a long-term effort to ultimately get people off the roads. And bundled in with current benefits for greener drivers, including cheap tax for green vehicles and grants to buyers of electric cars, this explanation makes a certain sense.

And yet as with smoking, that other cash cow, driving is always going to continue. And so the government are in a win-win position. They present themselves as the environmental conscience of the nation, while happily shafting us at the petrol pump.

The current wave of student protests may galvanise other disgruntled groups. And The Sun, with their faintly anarchic subconscious, may help to realise another blockade.

A tabloid barely able to conceal its glee at the vandalism of the royal cars; and who relish the news that MET chiefs are considering borrowing water cannons from the authorities in Northern Ireland, to combat those dangerous student protesters.

But whether this latest campaign dies out like the mooted protests of last year (remember that?)remains to be seen. We will see in the April budget whether the government are listening to another Murdoch newspaper.

As their current PR chief is ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson, don't bet against it. And as the coalition have which sought to eek away at our reliance on the motor car recently moved to rescind Labour policies, we may see some movement on this ongoing issue.