Emma: I’m no hypocrite... I use a wooden knife and fork
DAME Emma Thompson accused police of wasting taxpayers’ money by trying to stop the illegal climate change protests in London during an expletive-laden rant yesterday.
In chaotic scenes as the capital’s streets were once again shut down, costing retailers millions in lost business, the actress urged activists not to stop demonstrating.
Speaking on the pink boat at the centre of the protest, she dismissed accusations of hypocrisy for flying 5,400 miles from Los Angeles to Heathrow to join in.
She admitted that she had flown business class, saying that at 60 she was ‘far too old’ to use economy.
She also displayed a nonplastic bottle and a set of wooden cutlery that she carries in her handbag at all times in order to cut down on her plastic use.
Dame Emma said: ‘I don’t fly very much at all in the same way I did. I’ve made a big effort in that regard and sometimes I do have to fly.
‘Where the hypocrisy lies is with the Government who have refused over many decades to clean up our aviation systems. I am fed up of governments and saying, “It’s your fault”. It is b******s.’
A flight from LA International to Heathrow generates 1.67 to 2.1 tons of CO2.
Dame Emma said she tries to off- set carbon emissions by planting trees at her Scottish holiday home. She added that her husband, the actor Greg Wise, plans to build a hydroelectric scheme at the property so that the couple can live there off-grid.
On her second day at the scene, the actress was surrounded by hundreds of adoring protesters as she climbed on top of the wooden boat that was barricading Oxford Street to read a ‘love letter’ to the planet.
But the event took a dramatic turn as hundreds of police surrounded the wheeled vessel with her still on top.
Dame Emma poured scorn on the Metropolitan Police’s decision to escalate its approach on the fifth day of the protests having taken a hammering for its light-touch strategy earlier in the week.
She said: ‘We didn’t ask for police resources, that is their decision. It’s not like we are burning things down. The police turned up because they have been asked to turn up. They decided to spend their money in this way, which I personally think is a waste of taxpayers’ money. We aren’t doing anything violent.’
She said it was ‘nonsensical’ to blame her and Extinction Rebellion, the group behind the protests, for potentially diverting police resources from tackling violent crime.
‘It is not my problem, it is their problem,’ she said. ‘It is the problem of Government, so don’t hand it back to me because I have dealt with this [climate change] for decades.
‘ What this is about is a Government that would prefer not to listen, who would prefer to put entirely peaceful protesters into a f****** police cell instead of doing what they promised to do for decades. They are liars and hypocrites.’
‘I don’t fly very much at all’