To think that Insulate Britain are an absolute menace…

[Flawedperfection]

Just that really. Currently listening to LBC radio.
And they should be held to account for the death of the woman last week who couldn’t reach an hospital for 6 hours, following what would normally have been a much shorter journey. An oncologist also couldn’t get to work, where she was surely urgently needed.
I understand they have a message, but what if they do more help than good?
What do you think?

@Moonmelodies

It's difficult to insulate more houses when you can't get the materials delivered.

😂

I think the PP who stopped recycling because of these idiots is a genius.

If enough people did the same, XR and IB would probably reevaluate their methods. Of course not recycling and deliberately buying produce with lots of air miles is not ideal, and it’s harmful, and it’s long term self-sabotage, but it’s just a drastic way of protesting - not against what the environmental groups stand for, but against their methods, and that’s why it’s something I’m happy to get behind, with a heavy heart.

If these thugs realise that their actions are making people deliberately do the opposite, and every disruption to normal people’s lives causes each counter-protester to pledge to not recycle for an extra year, they may well think twice before blocking public roads again. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the tactics of their protest the inconvenient truth remains backed up by any scientists worth their salt and David Attenboroughgh ffs and the evidence of our own eyes we are on the brink of disaster so awful I don't have the capacity to process it. So I don't. This is primal howling scream stuff.

Their tactics remind me of a teacher I had at school who thought by putting the whole class in detention because 1 person messed about would turn the class against that person and shame them into behaving. It didn't. After the initial eye rolls and moans directed at the perpetrator, all it did was made us dislike her.

@HarrietsChariot

They're scum, there's no other word. Well, there are lots of less polite ones I suppose.

When XR were on the rampage a few years back I made a committment not to recycle anything for a year and largely managed it for a long while, though I've gradually slipped back into doing it because of the convenience factor. I also used to leave the taps running as much as possible.

I don't really want to start that nonsense again but this road-blocking bullshit has angered me every bit as much as the XR twats disrupting public transport, so I think I will have to.

I know wasting water and not recycling aren't exactly what "Insulate Britain" are protesting about but it feels like the only action I can reasonably take. At least it's sticking two fingers up to the environmentalist thugs in a general sense.

Some things are easier, I try to buy things that have a lot of "food miles" and processed stuff because often they're cheaper than buying local/organic stuff.

You don't "have" to do any such thing, what an utterly ridiculous and pointless course of action. Actually it sounds downright barking.

@FuckinGoddess
Genius? Bloody hell, people are dim.

What were they trying to achieve? I just don’t know

@LeafOfTruth

As the risk of sounding like I support IB (I don't - I don't pay them a huge amount of attention), it occurs to me that every effective (and some non-effective) activist group since the dawn of time has been

a) disruptive
b) described negatively for it

The suffragettes were accused using similar language to that used here. Called terrorists, accused of causing millions of pounds worth of damage and risking/taking lives with their bombs.

Sometimes the current generation is not best placed to judge what is reasonable and what isn't - plus, progress is only made by unreasonable men and all that. So my distaste for IB may be right or may just be a product of my generation.

None of these ‘activists’ can ever answer the question - what is the point in this virtue signalling when UK has less than 1% of global carbon emissions? Really what difference does it make?

1% is too high no? There are 195 countries in the world and the UK is a small one compared to some. Using a crude measure 1/195 of the carbon emissions would be 0.5% so 1% would appear to be more than 'our fair share' iyswim.

This.

I haven't joined Insulate Britain because I don't really understand what they are trying to do, but if a coherent protest came along, I'd join it in a heartbeat.

You know what is really putting lives at risk? Climate change. A bit of disruption on the M25 is a gnatbite compared to what's coming.

And you know what causes traffic delays, every day of the week, leading to problems for ambulances getting through? Er, private cars.

I dont understand what insulating homes has to do with motorway traffic. I really dont.

If we are trying to reduce pollution I have no idea why making 1000s of cars idle on a motorway is deemed in any way to be reducing this problem.

And the 'A bit of disruption on the M25 is a gnatbite compared to what's coming.' are ridiculous statements. Do you think these people are driving round the m25 for the fun of it?! Do you think they are not going to drive round next week or the week after, because you showed them!
Of course not. They are likely commuting.

This is achieving precisely NOTHING except more pollution.

I haven't joined Insulate Britain because I don't really understand what they are trying to do, but if a coherent protest came along, I'd join it in a heartbeat

I have joined in some of extinction rebellion protests when they are things I believe in and not disruptive ones

There’s plenty of things to protest against. But the existing m25 isn’t one that makes sense to me.
Hs2, heathrow expansion, widening the m25, adding another service station on the m25, great big ill thought out developments on greenbelt.
I’d agree with all that. But the existing m25??? They aren’t going to put it back to fields.

Agree with you. Just as bad as extinction rebellion

Both switching off people in droves

Agree 100%. I fucking loathe them. They give genuine caring environmental activists, (and people in general, who care about the planet and its animals,) a bad name! I find them infuriating. I wish they'd fall off the planet.

Imagine what happens when these dense middle class arseholes cross the wrong kind of guy on one these protests.
On a side note, their leader comes across as thick as mince on tv. Honestly, every idiot calls themselves a climate activist nowadays without a single brain cell in their possession.

@LoislovesStewie

I read somewhere that one of these idiots lives in a house that has single glazed windows and no insulation. So why hasn't he done something about that?

It’s their leader. Honestly you couldn’t make it up.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

Pathetic bunch of (mainly) baby boomers who rinsed this country of fossil fuels, never recycled, living off a life pension and homes that have appreciated 16 x since they bought them - holding up the struggling to survive working masses who are more acutely aware of climate change than ever before! I would run one over for sure!

Ha ha

Look at me! Look at me! I'm an activist and I'm better than you!

Attention seeking prats. It's all it is.

@2point7degrees

Yep annoying ordinary people will get them attention, but also massively turn people off their cause which seems exceptionally counter productive

Turn who off their case? Most likely most people on the M25 are older people with a majority view that they'll probably be dead or near the end by the time the worst consequences of climate change really set in - massive frequent natural disasters, widescale food and resource shortages and wars to name a few. Older generations have shown for long enough that collectively they don't give a shit and will happily leave younger generations to a horrific fate, why should anyone who cares about climate change care if these people are inconvenienced?

More beneficial for climate change than the single issue of isolating British homes is the contribution and added momentum to increasingly disruptive activism amongst younger groups across the world to actually take climate change seriously, because asking nicely and increasingly bleak scientific reports are making bugger all difference.

So to sum up: Old people dont care. Young people do care.

What outstanding insight.
Summed it up right there.
Clever you.

I don’t care what cause someone is supporting, they should not be preventing people from normal access to right of ways and places they have the right to enter. It could be a motorway, it could be a picket line in front of a factory. Once I saw striking students physically blocking other students from trying to attend class.

I don’t have to follow a cause to believe in someone’s right to advocate, loudly, but I do believe they must do it in such a way that other people can choose to ignore them if they wish.

And I couldn't help but think about the insulate guys and how new build properties have issues with lack of ventilation and over heating because they are almost over insulated. And again its his attitude

YY @RedToothBrush I live in a social housing flat that was built in the "70s. They have been over insulated. Because work has been done since including repeat cavity wall insulation. In summer it is like a furnace. I cant take it anymore. It affects everything including eating habits because of the need to cool down. Cant store perishable yet non fridge food for long. Fed up with it. Over insulation also causes mould. On top of the over insulation they also put in new windows (in Jan 2004) which open by inches. Previously we had slidey up windows which were much better for letting air in.

IMO the reason there has been a concerted effort to shift the blame to tenants for mould issues is to cover up their mistakes.

Agreed they are a bunch of idiots

These people are what water cannons were invented for. People should start using them on them. Absolutely arseholes.

Almost missed my flights due to these fools. First flight in 24 months. If I had, I would have rescheduled another certainly were not influencing my plans the way they hoped. Completely selfish, virtue signalling dicks.

I assumed they were XR, or part of the group.

What I don't get, is what exactly they want. They say they're concerned about climate change/the environment. Why?

It can't be because they care about the impact on humans - because their own actions have impacted heavily on humans. XR have delayed ambulances and stopped a man getting to the hospital in time to say goodbye to a dying parent. This Insulate lot have killed someone.

So is it that they care about non humans and the rest of the environment? If so, they're kidding themselves if they think much will change. We're a destructive species. And there's too many of us. We're building all over animal habitat, cutting down rainforests, taking their space and food.

The only way to save the environment is to let the human race die out. Naturally, of course - no need for mass murder Covid style. Less extreme but still much more helpful than aggressive 'protest' would be encouraging (through education and access to contraception) smaller families.

Raising awareness? Everyone knows about the need to take action, in what small ways we can. Aggressive selfish action isn't even needed. People already know. For the majority, it's not lack of awareness. It's lack of funds. A lot of climate friendly action is expensive.

Meanwhile, why don't these people ever protest about issues we can more easily do something about? If they cared that much about suffering, why aren't they campaigning (in a non aggressive manner) about the public health housing emergency and the UC cut.

(I care passionately about the environment btw. I know, however, that attacking people - stopping them getting to work or hospital - isn't the solution.)