If you smell gas, blame it on the dog

The whole country is going to the dogs with the introduction of competition to the gas supply market.

First, Calortex, a joint venture between Calor and Texaco and the country’s largest independent supplier of gas, introduced us to a Lassie lookalike called Oscar.

Then industry regulator Ofgas launched its public information campaign about competition in the gas market. Its literature features an unnamed cartoon dog, looking like a mange-ridden Scooby Doo, beside that most memorable of straplines: “Cheaper gas is in the pipeline.”

It is hard to see the connection between gas output and man’s best friend. Perhaps it’s the fact that when a naked flame is applied to a dog or the gas supply, they both go woof.