Eco-mob are only fuelling contempt
DTHERE’S always that moment when you think: ‘Oh dear, they’re bringing the Army in. That can’t be good.’ And then there’s another part of you that goes: ‘Ooh! They’re bringing the Army in. Thank Heavens!’ Sorry, but there’s just something about a man in uniform . . .
isRUPTiON works; disruption is justified. Those are the words of Roger Hallam, founder of insulate Britain, on his website.
Beneath a moody photograph of himself, Hallam sets out his stall: ‘life is good and we must preserve it at all cost. Whatever it takes.’
except, that is, if you’re unfortunate enough to be caught up in one of Hallam and his mob’s so-called peaceful protests.
Asked this week whether he would block the path of an ambulance transporting a critically ill patient to hospital, Hallam’s unequivocal response was: ‘Yes.’
in other words, to pursue his group’s agenda, this man would take action that could deliberately cause someone’s death.
it is the kind of deranged logic to which fanatics of all flavours have subscribed over the centuries.
it doesn’t matter what the cause is. Politics or religion, the common denominator is always the same. Agree with me, or moral superiority dictates that you are expendable.
No matter, say, that you are rushing to be with your sick mother in hospital. Or that you have just come around from a covid-induced coma and need to undergo urgent medical tests.
PleAD all you like, weep all you want: your words will fall on deaf ears. Your feelings and emotions pale into insignificance against the single-minded selfishness of the sacred mission.
They will not budge, no matter what, for the simple reason that these people believe that they, and only they, are right. Anything or anyone who stands in their way must, at all costs, be eliminated.
That is what we are dealing with. A fanatical eco-cult every bit as bonkers as any of the lunatics who have, over the centuries, sought to impose their will on the rest of the world. And potentially just as dangerous. Not just to the public, but to the cause they claim to love. Because the truth is that until this lot came along, the need to modify our lifestyles for the sake of the planet was one that most ordinary people were on board with.
some more than others, admittedly. But then not everyone can just rush out and buy an electric car, or switch to cycling to work, or replace their draughty windows. Bit by bit, though, attitudes were changing. The direction of travel was the right one, both at a personal and political level.
But with prats such as Hallam and his followers on the loose, the issue of climate change no longer seems like a practical problem we all need to work together to solve — it’s just a source of frustration and anger.
Witness the scenes of exasperated motorists, including a paramedic, dragging limp protesters off the road like sacks of rubble in order to let an emergency vehicle through. The fury was palpable. And i, for one, found myself cheering every one of them on.
Because this lot are so annoying, so arrogant and smug they make a person want to rush out and buy the nearest gas-guzzling 4x4 just to exact some small act of revenge for the misery of the past few weeks.
Of course, we need a plan to counter global warming. And who knows, maybe we do need some kind of figurehead to lead the way. But one thing’s for sure: swiveleyed Hallam and his army of climate-change zombies are not it.