SOMETIMES it can feel like eco-zealots have taken over Britain’s streets.
They have glued themselves to our roads and the fences at the Grand National — leading to accusations that they spooked the horses whose lives they endangered with their “direct action” — caused chaos and mayhem for ordinary Brits and held up essential services including ambulances.
And they tried to wreck the snooker world championships in my beloved home city of Sheffield by jumping on top of the snooker table and throwing orange powder all over it — spoiling the night for genuine snooker fans.
It is disturbing to hear, as reported in today’s Sun on Sunday, that these groups have drawn up a hit list of other sporting events to target.
It is clear this is only the beginning, as far as they are concerned.
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SO TOOTHLESS
But I was left chuckling when I read earlier this week that Extinction Rebellion — that very same rag-tag group of protesters that had kicked off these years of disruption — are now being used to help guard today’s London Marathon from rival protesters trying to disrupt it.
We are supposed to be grateful that they have agreed to lay down their arms — or their glue guns and locks — to play the good guys for the day.
Indeed, some of the marathon organisers appeared ecstatic as they welcomed this offer of “help”.
Do you detect the whiff of sarcasm in my words?
What is going on? Is this Alice In Wonderland? Have I wandered through the Looking Glass where down is up and up is down?
It is a bit like thanking the burglar for nicking the telly and valuables from your neighbour’s house rather than your own.
Is Britain really so broken, and are our police really so toothless, that we are now relying on a band of protesters who have brought mayhem and anarchy to our streets to “help” police them? That cannot be right.
Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, Animal Rising, the Tyre Extinguishers.
These groups have different names but they are all hell-bent on doing the same thing — causing chaos.
Britain needs to get a grip of this disruption. As a former Home Secretary, I would not stand for it.
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I would like the police to use the powers they already have at their disposal to arrest these “posh yobs”.
Watching these people make our lives a misery, I am struck by three things.
First, the ringleaders of these groups are at best hypocritical and at worst intent on anarchy.
They are leading some well-intentioned people down the wrong path.
Many of those banging the drum for cutting off our oil supplies right now are well-heeled toffs happy to jet off on holidays around the world, who drive gas-guzzling cars and buy themselves expensive treats.
One of those hypocrites is Extinction Rebellion leader Gail Bradbrook, who The Sun reported earlier this week drives a diesel car and buys imported Waitrose food wrapped in non- recyclable packaging.
Where are her principles when it comes to her own little luxuries?
These anarchists who, while they pay lip service to wanting to influence the mainstream political process, say something different by their actions.
Their behaviour undermines sensible dialogue and persuasion and replaces it with bullying and thuggish tactics.
When police do intervene, they then complain about their arrest or “manhandling” by officers.
Second, the actions of many of these organised groups — including the latest calling themselves Just Stop Oil — manage to alienate the very people they claim they wish to win over.
Look at their attention-seeking protest at the snooker last week.
No one was impressed. In fact, it makes it far more difficult to persuade people that tackling climate change is a good cause.
It ends up backfiring on them.
That leads me to my third point. And this is — in my opinion — the most dangerous one.
These tactics play into the hands of those who deny climate change.
We should all want to cut emissions and save the planet — and therefore our children and grandchildren — from imminent disaster.
But extremist actions give succour to the deniers and harms those of us in the mainstream who want to protect the planet.
Look at the ill-thought-out low traffic zones in some of our major cities.
Some of these measures create more traffic congestion and more pollution rather than less.
CAUSING MAYHEM
If we caved in to Just Stop Oil’s demands tomorrow, what would happen? Who would gain?
Vladimir Putin wants to just stop oil — well, some oil production — so he can hike oil prices and bankroll his war machine in Ukraine.
And who would be the losers? You have it — you, the readers. Often struggling to heat your home and put food on the table.
So on every front we must be absolutely clear. Peaceful protest, legitimate campaigning and sensible persuasion is part of our democratic life.
But causing mayhem on our streets, at our racecourses and in our sporting centres is unacceptable and frankly dangerous.
What we need now is coherent investment in getting this right for the future.
Green jobs — yes.
Blocking ambulances from getting to heart attack victims — no.
Only then will we actually make progress in tackling climate change without alienating the whole country.
It can be done. But it will not be at the behest of anarchists and disruptors.
