Home truths

I HAD parakeets nesting in my loft this spring and had to pull out most of the insulation.

It hasn’t been put back properly yet and I feel guilty every time I go up there.

But it’s on the to-do list – as is replacing my old gas boiler, getting a quote for double glazing and looking at hybrid cars.

And, while I’ve cut down the amount of meat I eat, have stopped buying new clothes and only flown once in 18 months, I know I need to do much, much more to help tackle climate change.

Because saving our planet requires every single one of us to take responsibility for our own actions, admit to our failings and use our votes and voices to effect change.

Positive steps, instead of causing mayhem and misery and endangering the lives of fellow earthlings – as the Insulate Britain eco-maniacs have. They’ve been sitting on their backsides blocking the

M25 to try to force the Government to lag lofts and insulate all social housing.

In doing so they’ve stopped loft-laggers and many other genuinely green champions from going about their business.

They also prevented a woman who’d had a stroke from reaching hospital – and the six-hour delay she endured left her paralysed.

One of the ringleaders, Liam Norton, 36, went on Good Morning Britain to defend their actions and compared their struggle to Winston Churchill’s fight against Nazi Germany.

But he threw a hissy fit and stormed off because a journalist “debased the discussion” by asking him why his own home is still singleglazed, has no cavity wall insulation and uses gas central heating. (It’d cost too much, apparently.)

And then there’s “brickie” Joshua Smith, 28, who led an Insulate Britain march in London holding a placard reading: “Arrested 4 times because I am mourning life on Earth.” Turns out he’s a property millionaire and owns a clutch of buy-to-lets with – you’ve guessed it – little or no insulation.

So much for debasing the discussion! I’m sure that many of the Insulate Britain campaigners are passionate environmentalists who feel the Government is lagging behind in the race to net zero.

And they believe that their “nonviolent direct action” is a tactic of last resort, like the way in which suffragettes won votes for women.

But the arrogance and double standards of people like Smith and Norton is utterly counter-productive.

Their hypocrisy alienates all those people who ARE trying to take responsibility for their actions.

And it shatters support for what is, after all, an extremely sensible environmental objective.

But the simple fact is, eco-warriors in glass houses really shouldn’t be

throwing stones.