"David, you're always so careful to avoid political statements. I found this rather flippant - "asking President Obama about the extent to which BP will be used as an ATM".

"This has been a tragedy and thousands have lost their livelihood. Furthermore I read that the majors had a combined total of something like 10-12 violations in the past year while BP had more than 700 of which 10% were classified as "willful.""

David Fuller's view BP was trying to cut costs, as companies do, and it appears to have ignored the warnings. Unfortunately, when things go wrong in the extraction industry the consequences can be horrific, as we have seen. Many of those who have lost their livelihood are in the oil industry. President Obama approved the offshore drilling and the US certainly needs the oil. Thousands of pensioners in both the US and UK relied on BP shares for part of their income, so there are many victims of this tragedy, not least the wildlife. I maintain that we need reasonable closure on this tragedy once the leak is capped and the cleanup completed, not an open ended, multiyear field day for tort lawyers.