These Nutters With Their Smiley Faces Want Thrown In Jail

[Bobbisox1]

Then heavily fined , hot them in their pockets !
Yes they’re entitled to protest but they’re not ‘entitled’ to stop others getting on with their jobs ….

[andy-hughes]

I have always believed that alienating the very people whose support you are supposed to be canvassing, seems a wilfully perverse way to shoot yourself in the foot.

Hence my question prior to Naomi's point.

[jno]

they're doing what the suffragettes did (to the fury of people like Churchill). If you're a woman and you vote, you should be praising disrupters, you owe them a great deal.

[andy-hughes]

Jno - In my view, your analogy does nut stand up.

The Suffragettes made their protests directly to the very people who could make their aims a reality.

The same cannot be said of disrupting the lives of people who have zero influence over the issues' instigators.

[jno]

andy, do you really not know about the suffragettes? They went round smashing shop windows in the West End, slashing paintings in galleries, setting off bombs and (oh horrors!) disrupting sports events. They were terrorists - and society has benefited immeasurably from their campaign.

The women of today conveniently forget how they won the vote but believe me, you would have been furious.

[andy-hughes]

Jno - The fact remains that the people with the power to make the suffragettes' dreams a reality, could and were directly affected and influenced by their actions.

The same cannot be said of stopping the journey of the man on the Clapham omnibus.

The chances of the suffragettes' actions directly impacting one or more individuals with the power to alter the voting system may have been small, but it was viable.

The chances of the Stop Oil protesters imoacting anyone close to influencing their agenda is non-existent, mainly because none of them live and work on our continent.

[naomi24]

jno, that's a poor comparison. An irrational one in fact. Seriously, what are the protesters achieving by disrupting people who can't help them? They were there at the First Night of the Proms recently. The audience booed them and security bundled them off. All they've achieved was greater disdain. They're certainly not generating support, which, if they really wanted to achieve something worthwhile, should be their aim.

One more thing. If they want instant results, what do they propose as a replacement? I heard a suggestion the other day of a return to sailing ships. Not exactly ideal.

[nicebloke1]

Close their bank accounts, after all they dont need, or want to pay their energy bill, or anything else that may harm the planet, in their view.

[douglas9401]

They seem to be a more invasive version of the bloke on the soapbox spraffing about the end being nigh.

[david small]

Naomi and Andy Hughes are in my opinion right on this subject.
Nice to see this, as I respect these posters highly.

[Untitled]

"Untitled - Leaving aside the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the protests to date, do you agree with the protesters' methods as strongly as you do their reasons?"

apologies andy i thought this thread had stopped attracting new posts lol

yes i do. regardless of the law i think civil disobedience and direct action are viable methods of affecting change. the civil rights movement were extremely annoying and disruptive and sought deliberately to be so... so did the chartists, the poll tax protestors, the gay rights movement... all of these people were very annoying and may even have delayed some ambulances.... but they simply refused to allow society to ignore serious injustice and problems... and the truth of the matter is that it is at present very easy for people to ignore climate change and by the time it isn't it will be too late.

all of us benefit in the long run from the brave actions of activists in the past who took a stand against injustice... I consider JSO to be in their company

[ToraToraTora]

14:37, Perlease!

[retrocop]

//all of us benefit in the long run from the brave actions of activists in the past who took a stand against injustice... I consider JSO to be in their company//

Nothing brave about blocking an ambulance on the blues and twos with a serious ill patient on board who is helpless and in need of immediate hospital attention. JSO are cowardly selfish attention seeking scum.

[Untitled]

they actually let ambulances through retrocop... they also inform the authorities in advance so they can plan alternate routes

[Bobbisox1]

An alternate route for an ambulance could be the difference between life and death !

[Untitled]

the ambulance service has to do it all the time e.g. during roadworks... where ambulances do reach JSO they let them pass

[Bobbisox1]

Would you or have you every joined them Untitled?

[Untitled]

does it matter bobbi?

[Bobbisox1]

Probably not ,

[retrocop]

//hey actually let ambulances through retrocop... they also inform the authorities in advance so they can plan alternate routes//

I have seen a different picture on ITV News at Ten footage which paints a different picture to that you describe.
If they try another stunt on the Dartford River crossing bridge that is one hell of a detour for an emergency ambulance or Fire appliance.

[retrocop]

People do die due to the selfish actions of unlawful road blockers .

//One caller told LBC's Andrew Pierce how his mother suffered a stroke and he got caught up by the disruption en route to get medical help.

"I was caught for about six hours in traffic. I was doing a mission of mercy to help my mother," the caller, Chris, said.

"I was there with my mother for six hours watching her slip away, and I could do nothing."

He added: "When we got her to the hospital, the doctors said if we were to have gotten to them within 90 minutes, her symptoms, her recovery would have been minimal."//