Irrational protesters

Parts of central London have once again been brought to a standstill by climate change activists belonging to the outfit Extinction Rebellion (XR). Doubtless many people sympathise with their concerns about the fate of mankind should global warming continue unchecked, until they stop to consider the utter irrationality of XR’S approach.

The XR policy programme envisages the total eradication of carbon-based energy emissions within six years. Were this even remotely feasible, which it isn’t, the impact on the economies of the world would be so calamitous that millions would starve or die of diseases that could not be controlled. The poor would be hit hardest by the proposed solutions.

Effectively, the organisers of these protests want to return the world to a pre-industrial age which they appear to regard as man’s proper state. They accompany this with apocalyptic predictions of imminent doom that frighten impressionable children into believing they have no future. This is not only irresponsible but has the hallmarks of a millenarian death cult.

XR is essentially a front for a sub-marxist, anti-capitalist, anti-growth movement that is attracting support from educated middle-class people whose common sense has been submerged beneath guilt and sanctimony. Politicians dare not stand up to them; far from it – they pander to them while knowing that what they say is untrue. The police, who were criticised for inaction when XR last staged similar protests, have made more than 200 arrests, with many more likely if this goes on for the next two weeks as planned. By then, any residual public support will have evaporated.