petrol station scam - the changing tide ...

You must read the comments on this Times On-line article
what stands out to me most is the changing sentiment against the ltte by the Tamils themselves - i am being highly presumptuous in interpreting certain names. The overwhelming angst against the ltte is quite substantial.

I guess this gets to people in two fundamental ways:

1. touching their own wallets (or the possibility to be robbed) in their own neighbourhood to fund a war they are not involved with. No one likes getting robbed but getting robbed for a cause far away i.e. not even supporting the local economy is even worse.
2. the more frightening - credit card fraud. this itself is getting even scarier. most people (of a certain income level) in most locations around the world now carry a credit or debit card. for the vast majority of transactions in the UK i would probably use a credit card - buying a tube ticket, paying for groceries, shopping, dining out, hotels etc. we are constantly on the vigil against on-line credit card fraud but when it happens at the petrol station - then it becomes real. you can see it, you may know the guy who stole from you, did he have access to all of your credit - it is really scary.

the dog wonders if this is the proverbial straw that'll be the undoing of the funding pipeline. mind you the ltte are still meant to indirectly control some 10% of all petrol stations in and around london...