Protestor climbs aboard train to power station

[Watto1990]

You will not be saying that when your lights go out and the heating turns off.

Wonder what everyone will be saying when the increasing number of extreme weather events start knocking out the power on a regular basis.

 

[greyman42]

Wonder what everyone will be saying when the increasing number of extreme weather events start knocking out the power on a regular basis.

I do not believe it will.

 

[deltic]

You will not be saying that when your lights go out and the heating turns off.

If the idiot concerned had ended up dead or severely injured doing his protest, no doubt someone in the rail industry would of been blamed.

Having lived in a country where power and water cuts were common you have to learn to live with it

 

[Jagdpanther]

I do not believe it will.

It already is

 

[deltic]

I do not believe it will.

While faith can move mountains I'm not sure your belief will save you in this instance

 

[matacaster]

Did some check he had a ticket?

 

[Railwaysceptic]

Having lived in a country where power and water cuts were common you have to learn to live with it

. . . as did those of us in this country in the 1970s when we had the three day week.

 

[Master29]

The BBC is simultaneously accused of being "far left" but also assused of being a propaganda organisation for a Tory government.

Must be getting it about right, then.

They do say they give a balanced view after all.

 

[yorkie]

Threads like this are 'interesting' to see who supports illegal and anti-democratic actions. It's also interesting to see who is hypocritical.

The more protests the better - its only with radical changes in our behaviour that we are going to tackle climate change.

How do you get your electricity?

The BBC is simultaneously accused of being "far left" but also assused of being a propaganda organisation for a Tory government.

???

Must be getting it about right, then.

Anyone who is a BBC apologist must be getting it wrong in my opinion.

While not condoning potentially dangerous interference with railway operations, it is surely valid to point out (perhaps in another way) that shipping bits of tree thousands of miles to burn in a power station is not in any way environmentally friendly ?

Are you condoning this illegal activity?

What is your proposal and what are you doing constructively about it?

 

[GB]

. . . as did those of us in this country in the 1970s when we had the three day week.

electricity use and dependence has changed a little bit in 50 years.

 

[flymo]

electricity use and dependence has changed a little bit in 50 years.

So has production but that's maybe for another topic..

The climate of The Earth has been changing since it was formed and will continue to do so, irrespective of whether somebody randomly glues themselves to a road or climbs on board a train. What was this protester's aims ? Stop the train ? , Stop the power grid? Stop the planet ? The Earth is still coming out of the last ice age, (for there has been several) and will experience another. Climates continually change and +/- 1, 5 or 500 coal powered power stations ain't going to change it. So many people like to jump on the bandwagon (and the train apparently) and the climate one is a fantastic example of people following such bandwagons. If you believe in the media's take on this (we're all doomed etc...), when did you start believing this and why ?

 

[Ianno87]

???

Tories are considered to be on the "Right" in political terms.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Never mind the wood pellets - all the time she's sitting there, there are eight Mirrlees cylinders chucking diesel exhaust into the atmosphere less than twenty metres away.

 

[yorkie]

Tories are considered to be on the "Right" in political terms.

And who is claiming the BBC are right-leaning in their reporting?

 

[CaptainHaddock]

I'm not sure what protests like this are supposed to achieve. We already know that some young people think climate change might be a major issue at some point in the future and that the government ought to do something about it.

How is endangering the safety of the railway supposed to further their cause?

 

[DarloRich]

How do you get your electricity?

Through the wires outside my house. How do you get yours?

 

[deltic]

Threads like this are 'interesting' to see who supports illegal and anti-democratic actions. It's also interesting to see who is hypocritical.

How do you get your electricity?

From a supplier who states it comes from sustainable generation - of course, that is not how electricity distribution works and some would claim woodchips at Drax are sustainable although most scientists would disagree.

I'm not sure what protests like this are supposed to achieve. We already know that some young people think climate change might be a major issue at some point in the future and that the government ought to do something about it.

How is endangering the safety of the railway supposed to further their cause?

I think many of us see climate change as a major issue now. Not sure how standing on top of a freight wagon is endangering the safety of the railway.

 

[yorkie]

From a supplier who states it comes from sustainable generation - of course, that is not how electricity distribution works and some would claim woodchips at Drax are sustainable although most scientists would disagree.

Can you elaborate?

Not sure how standing on top of a freight wagon is endangering the safety of the railway.

If you can't see that, I call your judgement into question!

 

[deltic]

If you can't see that, I call your judgement into question!

There was a court case that dealt with a similar issue of protestors at Stansted Aiport who were prosecuted and found guilty of actions "likely to endanger" the safe operation of the airport or the safety of people there. They had surrounded a plane carrying deportees to prevent it from taking off. The case was thrown out on an appeal where the Judge said there was no case to answer as to while they were certainly causing disruption they were not causing any danger to anyone or anything.

Standing on top of a railway wagon is a pretty stupid thing to do and in different circumstances (ie where there are overhead wires) can be fatal to the individual but as far as I am aware in this case it is not endangering the safety of the railway. Happy to be shown otherwise.

 

[WestRiding]

So has production but that's maybe for another topic..

The climate of The Earth has been changing since it was formed and will continue to do so, irrespective of whether somebody randomly glues themselves to a road or climbs on board a train. What was this protester's aims ? Stop the train ? , Stop the power grid? Stop the planet ? The Earth is still coming out of the last ice age, (for there has been several) and will experience another. Climates continually change and +/- 1, 5 or 500 coal powered power stations ain't going to change it. So many people like to jump on the bandwagon (and the train apparently) and the climate one is a fantastic example of people following such bandwagons. If you believe in the media's take on this (we're all doomed etc...), when did you start believing this and why ?

The ironic thing is, the Class 66 had to burn more diesel than necessary to get started again after this muppet caused it to stop. Hopefully there was some clag.

 

[deltic]

So has production but that's maybe for another topic..

The climate of The Earth has been changing since it was formed and will continue to do so, irrespective of whether somebody randomly glues themselves to a road or climbs on board a train. What was this protester's aims ? Stop the train ? , Stop the power grid? Stop the planet ? The Earth is still coming out of the last ice age, (for there has been several) and will experience another. Climates continually change and +/- 1, 5 or 500 coal powered power stations ain't going to change it. So many people like to jump on the bandwagon (and the train apparently) and the climate one is a fantastic example of people following such bandwagons. If you believe in the media's take on this (we're all doomed etc...), when did you start believing this and why ?

Maybe the scientists are all wrong, and its fine chucking millions of tonnes of various noxious products into the atmosphere, our seas, the soil etc. But if we can maintain and improve peoples' living standards without doing any of that wouldnt that be a good thing to do in its own right?

 

[dakta]

My first thought when i heard about this was "what a ...", and the same when i found an article on a new? group of people deflating tyres up in scotland to make a statement about big cars being polluting.

I now believe most of these can be boiled down to trying to find a justification to be a nuisance, that said I do think the people doing it do beleive they are providing some benefit, but they aren't.

it gets to the point where people aren't just indifferent to the cause but they are hostile to it ('i notice you bought an electric vehicle, to offset your negative carbon emissions I'll add another four cylinders to mine!')

People can be a bit hostile to even good changes, so telling people to change whilst deflating their tyres, blocking the roads, causing chaos on the rail network etc can only end in a bad day for one protestor someday. And then there'l be a hoo-hah about safety and protection during when active attempts are being made to inconvenience others.

 

[Falcon1200]

I wrote: 'While not condoning potentially dangerous interference with railway operations'; I thought it was self evident that this referred to the subject of this thread, however in reply to your query;

Are you condoning this illegal activity?

No, I am not condoning this illegal activity.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

"Slam on the breaks" - one wonders whether this quote was given in writing and is verbatim, if the BBC are trying to make the protesters look silly or if the BBC themselves can't write...

Having read some of the nonsense on the sports pages, I suspect the latter.

I'm not sure what's "weird" about taking desperate action in the face of desperate threats.

I'm not convinced that these Insulate Britain people are entirely sincere in their protests. They're mostly privileged trustafarians who are larping at being "protestors". The leadership of the group routinely refuse to accept any criticism of their tactics, nor answer questions put to them by journalists.

Their campaign about loft insulation doesn't wash either. About ten years ago there WAS a huge government funded scheme to install insulating foam in older houses, including privately owned housing stock, at a significant discount to homeowners. I seem to recall that it was revealed that one of the leaders of IB did not participate in this scheme despite being eligible at the time.

Not really..... They have alienated me from their cause. They just p@$s me off every time they pop up on the news.

Absolutely this. If they really cared about making a difference (as opposed to making names for themselves) then they would understand that some of their methods were actually harming their cause, and they'd change tactics.

 

[AlterEgo]

I don’t really remember that actual protesting has changed anything.

You have a short memory then.

 

[spyinthesky]

You have a short memory then.

Do you work for change.org and sell personal data?

 

[bussnapperwm]

I wonder who the delay minutes went to and if he had a valid ticket. Maybe the Delay Attribution Board may advise

 

[Alanko]

I'm not convinced that these Insulate Britain people are entirely sincere in their protests. They're mostly privileged trustafarians who are larping at being "protestors". The leadership of the group routinely refuse to accept any criticism of their tactics, nor answer questions put to them by journalists.

Their campaign about loft insulation doesn't wash either. About ten years ago there WAS a huge government funded scheme to install insulating foam in older houses, including privately owned housing stock, at a significant discount to homeowners. I seem to recall that it was revealed that one of the leaders of IB did not participate in this scheme despite being eligible at the time.

To my mind there is a whiff of the agent provocateur to Insulate Britain. I did wonder if they were being put up to it so that exotic anti-protest laws could be swept in for COP26 and then never fully removed again. I just struggle to believe that anybody chooses loft insulation as their hill to die on. I also struggle to believe the Police would take such a light touch approach if it was anti-vaxxers, anti-immigration protesters etc blocking the M25 each morning.

Their campaigning works on the basic assumption that is is up to Big Government to intervene and fix everything as well, rather than encouraging people forking out for insulation themselves.

 

[AlterEgo]

Do you work for change.org and sell personal data?

No, I’ve got a father who won the *literal right to vote* by doing things like sit-down protests on the Craigavon Bridge and marching in the street. That’s one generation before me and I’m only 35.

More recently you can look at things like the Gurkha Justice Campaign for how direct action can be effective.

 

[Gostav]

Wonder what everyone will be saying when the increasing number of extreme weather events start knocking out the power on a regular basis.

There is a problem, climate change may kill some people in the future but shunt down the power supply may kill some people tomorrow.

In fact, past twenty years the supply of electricity in the UK has been very tight, which severly restricted the development (or redevelopment) of British industry and had to rely too much on the service industry.