21 October (Part 2) - Who’s the rebellious one?
Earlier today I was asked to give publicity to the Bexley Branch of Extinction
Rebellion and in particular their Twitter account @XRBexley which has this
afternoon been doing battle with Councillor John Davey @CllrJohnDavey. As is
often the case I found myself coming down on the side of John Davey.
The name Extinction Rebellion has been forever tarnished by the activities on Westminster
Bridge where their members prevented people going about their lawful
business and patients from attending St. Thomas’ Hospital. I saw one of their
delightful ladies saying that a man trying to get there was stupid for allowing
himself to have cancer and it was his own silly fault for not booking in
elsewhere. (I know from personal experience that that is simply not possible.)
These
people are beyond help and really shouldn’t be let out of the asylums. Mick Barnbrook’s
Twitter version of jokey and blokey banter was not all that far from my own view; his friend was me.
At times I have felt that XR should be made a proscribed organisation. Anyone
wearing its badge could be heavily fined and those engaged in criminal activity such as
punching through armoured glass with a hammer and chisel should get a minimum of five years.
They should be whether proscribed or not but the police… Oh let’s not go there again.
Maybe aircraft with protestors glued to them should just take off as usual and Jubilee
line trains at Canning Town with roof riders should move off into the nearby tunnel.
That way lessons might be learned but as we are now these expensive protests are likely to go on for ever.
Last Thursday I looked at the various Canning Town videos several times over and
could barely contain my pleasure at the summary retribution. These people deserve no sympathy whatsoever
and whilst they might have a point their remedies are totally unrealistic. Back to the stone age by 2025. They are mad.
I thought Ed Miiband’s Climate Change Act in 2008 was very expensive madness which soon killed off much of our heavy
industry. Every British aluminium smelter went out of business by 2012. Steel is
in much the same boat, other countries have much cheaper electricity. Domestic electricity bills sky rocketed
too but despite those obvious drawbacks the Act has pushed the green energy agenda. The UK is now essentially coal free and I suppose the sandwich muncher must be given credit for that.
In 2015 with atmospheric pollution beginning to make its presence felt I attended a meeting on that subject. I went
to it slightly sceptical and came out convinced by the rational arguments of a doctor from King’s Hospital who
provided hard evidence of what vehicle pollution was doing to children’s lungs.
The doctor conveyed his message without the aid of superglue, diesel generators, plastic tents or pink boats.
No pregnant lady was forced to publicly pee on a DLR train held up behind another superglued to a moronic hand.
The blog in September of that year was the first time electrically powered
vehicles were mentioned here. I kept my eye on EV developments and bought one
exactly three years later. I have as you will have noticed become something of an
evangelist for them but they are not alone going to solve any perceived climate
problem. To do that you’d probably have to sail a pink boat to China which
ironically produces more electric vehicles than any other country.
I am not against Extinction Rebellion’s aims but their methods are entirely wrong as is their ludicrous timetable.
I try to do my bit for the planet. I have 4 kilowatts of solar panels on the roof and did not
use either gas or grid electricity from late April until today to heat my
domestic hot water. I recycle everything I can. In a whole month I filled only
one large carrier bag with non-recyclable waste and have never ever used my
brown food waste bin. It sits in the under-stairs cupboard full of toilet rolls while the
2002-2006 Labour Council supplied compost bin does its job in the garden.
No food has ever been dumped where it shouldn’t and I am living testament to the
fact that a sealed pack of bacon kept in the fresh meat section of the fridge is
perfectly usable more than a month after its best by date. And that is by no means a one-off event, no pun intended.
Am I a bit of a secret greenie? Definitely not, I just do what pleases me.
There is however one notable difference between me and Councillor Davey. He appears to have a closed mind and refuses to attend the
rebellious group’s meeting on 30th October. 7 p.m. in The Exchange. (†) The old library building in Erith.
I don’t see how they can do anything that would cause me to forget the damage they have already wrought on the city but listening costs nothing.
I think I might go. At least we will see which of our Councillors is willing to learn.
There is an annoying clash with the Transport Users’ Committee meeting which John Davey and I like to attend.