And it's going to be painful. Oil quadrupled in cost after the six-days war between Israel and its Arab foes 40 years ago. This introduced rampant inflation into the Western World in the 1970s and we all suffered, for a bit. The same thing is happening now, with oil prices hitting $135 a barrel, but the reasons are different. There are supply problems (so it wasn't such a good idea to invade Iraq, George?) but the price is being driven by extra demand from China and India, a tidal wave of investor money that wants to buy commodities rather than shares or government bonds, and the fact that oil is priced in dollars; the dollar is sinking like a stone. In the meantime, we're all stymied. Actually It could turn out to be a good thing because the price will fall eventually (hammering those speculators who've been driving the price up) and it might finally wean us off gas-guzzling applications. The big car makers will be producing electric or hybrid cars like there's no tomorrow in a couple of years' time. And Western governments will be handing out large dollops of cash to householders for insulation and other energy-saving measures. So the oil producers will get it in the neck (even if it isn't their fault). It's just a matter of when.