The fuel protesters were made up of the business-owning petty-bourgeois. The polite way in which they were treated by the police confirms that they are part of the problem, not the solution. Blair et al don't see them as a major threat because they are not challening the system, merely trying to make more for themselves from within it.

the establishment had never expected these partiuclar classes of people to rise up, even less so in alliance. for a few days the coppers simply didnt know what to do, because their political masters didnt know how to deal with it either.
in the end, these newcomers to direct action backed down, but they were naively nonpolitical rather than sinister (shades of the General Strike of 1926, perhaps) and eventually Straw formed his "Shadow" cabinet, a falange of oil bosses, trades union leaders and police.
it really seems that there are no independent bases of opposition to the Blair regime anymore. Since the defeat of the miners, the left has been able to mount only scattered opposition, and our options are being reduced all the time.
As for the kooming country demo, FOXHUNTING is a side show. yes, its a repugnant aristocratic relic useful only for training cavalry, but the left should do more to persuade farmers away from such characters. the main problem facing small farmers is high rent, and the aristocrats are the collectors, oddly enough one of the biggest being Charles Windsor, self styled Prince of Wales.

that should read LOOMING country demo