Category Archives: Politics

Why Aren’t They Listening?

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The War between the Land and the Sea
The War between the Land and the Sea

Salt, Sea Devil ambassador: “These are the words of a politician, vetted and craven and hollow. You would answer.”

Barclay, Ambassador for human-kind: “Because we were stupid. That’s the truth of it. And the whole planet is going to hell right now because we didn’t understand the consequences.”

Salt, Sea Devil ambassador: “But now, you do?”

Barclay, Ambassador for human-kind: “Yeah, now we do. Still every day water companies are pumping poison and sewage into our rivers and oceans, all the while dishing out bonuses to their bosses. And the thing is, we are letting them get away with it! We’re just sat at home, flicking through our phones, making tea, thinking it’s someone else’s problem! But it’s not. This is my fault. We all played our part. Now we have to help fix it. And the thing is, our kids know this! Our kids. They’re way ahead of us! Why aren’t we listening? Well, today’s the day we start.”

Salt, Sea Devil ambassador: “I think you are my favourite human.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

This exchange from the new BBC/Disney+ series The War Between the Land and the Sea stayed with me long after the episode finished. The sets, costumes and visuals are impressive — but it was Barclay, the unlikely ambassador thrust into responsibility, who delivers the most piercing truth:

“And the thing is, we are letting them get away with it!”

“Why aren’t we listening?” 

Two lines that feel painfully relevant.

Water companies, oil and gas giants, the media, the banks, and the politicians who prop them up have been getting away with it for decades — and we’ve let them.

Where am I going with this?

This post is about why we must accelerate the transition to renewable energy, whilst also bringing essential services like water back into public ownership. For decades, executives have prioritised profit, bonuses and shareholders over public good. Since privatisation in 1989, it’s been yet another “victory” for neoliberal capitalism — one that has spectacularly screwed us over.

We’ve Been Betrayed

The science on greenhouse gases has been clear for almost two centuries.

  • In 1824, Joseph Fourier described the greenhouse effect.
  • In 1861, John Tyndall identified the gases responsible. The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research — named after Tyndall — is just down the road from me in Norwich.
  • In 1900, Knut Angstrom, discovers CO2 strongly absorbs parts of the infrared spectrum. 
  • In 1938, Guy Callendar showed that temperatures rose over the previous century. He demonstrated that CO2 concentrations had increased over the same period, and suggested this caused the warming. His claims were dismissed.
  • In 1968, US President’s Advisory Committee panel warned that the greenhouse effect is a matter of “real concern”.
  • In 1975, scientist Wallace Broecker put the term “global warming” into the public domain.

The above has been followed by countless IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assessments, and COPs (Conference of the Parties) to try to solve the challenge of climate breakdown. Some progress has been made, but not nearly enough.

We’ve known the facts. We’ve proven them. And yet oil and gas companies hid their own research, just as tobacco companies once hid the link between smoking and cancer. Billionaire-owned media outlets are defending them. Politicians were and are being lobbied into paralysis – just look at COP30. And so we are being lied to, misdirected and exploited whilst the planet is burning.

We have been failed time and time again by successive Governments who have put the interests of mega-corporations, profit and power, ahead of ordinary people. They have betrayed us to the altar of profit, lied, misdirected, and in some cases filled their pockets with blood money.

We didn’t “fail to understand” — we are being denied the truth.

We’re Not Stupid

Barclay says, “Because we were stupid.”

But we weren’t. We were and are being deliberately misled.

Instead of honesty, we got greenwashing, smokescreens, and faux responsibility — like BP inventing the personal carbon footprint calculator to shift the blame from corporations onto individuals.

Imagine if the public could be given the same clarity scientists shared recently at the National Emergency Briefing. The shift in understanding — and action — might come rapidly and radically.

National Emergency Briefing – https://www.nebriefing.org/

You can find recordings of the various segments of the National Emergency Briefing on YouTube.

How Fast Can We Decarbonise?

In the UK, we’ve reduced emissions — but we still emit far more per person than many countries with less wealth and fewer resources. And we should have made the major cuts twenty years ago. We’re now out of time for a gentle transition. We must act rapidly, even if it’s uncomfortable.

This will upset people, especially in a country used to convenience and abundance. But climate physics does not negotiate. Deaths, harm, migration, are all being caused right now by our carbon emissions.

Our Obligations 

We are privileged — often without realising it. Given our historic emissions, the UK has a moral obligation to move first and fast.

The alternative? Pull up the drawbridge, protect ourselves for a few extra years, and ignore suffering elsewhere. But our food imports, supply chains and future mass migration make that fantasy laughable.

Billions will be on the move. The question is whether we meet that future prepared — or panicked.

Tell the Truth

People are not being told the truth by politicians or the media. If they were, they’d understand what we are facing:

As laid out at the National Emergency Briefing, the collapse of AMOC (the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation – a crucial system of Atlantic Ocean currents acting as a giant conveyor belt) could mean:

  • –30°C winters
  • extreme summer heat
  • chronic water shortages
  • the UK unable to grow food
  • the British becoming climate refugees

The irony isn’t lost on me; one wonders whether we’ll have enough small boats.

Extinction Rebellion warned we needed major emissions cuts in 2018. Oil and gas companies and wealthy governments around the world denied it, buried it, or have since waved around Carbon Capture and Storage — a technology unproven at meaningful scale, and one that conveniently ignores the huge emissions from extraction and transport of natural gas in the first place. Profit over life, again.

So, What Can We Do?

We need rapid, large-scale deployment of renewables:

  • Wind
  • Solar
  • Tidal
  • Geothermal – there’s some exciting stuff going on with old coal mines

Fusion power would be ideal, but remains underfunded and decades away. We also need to upgrade the grid and to build massive battery storage facilities. This is all doable and exciting, and will create huge potential in terms of sustainable economic growth, jobs and wellbeing, we just need the politicians in power to stop dragging their heels.

But there are obstacles. Solar is a prime example.

Solar Energy: What’s The Problem?
Rooftop solar is brilliant — low impact, popular, and efficient. But we no longer have the luxury of time. Large solar farms are faster to deliver and much cheaper per megawatt.

Using ChatGPT for initial comparisons (yes, with a pinch of salt but it saves me hours of trawling through websites and research papers), I asked, when looking at the electricity 4,000 acres solar panels could generate, what is cheaper and quicker to build – a large solar farm or rooftop mounted solar:

Large Solar Farms

  • 400MW: ~£400–600m plus land/grid costs
  • 800MW: ~£800m–1.2bn
  • Build time: 12–24 months after permitting

Distributed Rooftop Solar

  • 400MW: ~£600–800m (likely more)
  • 800MW: ~£1.2bn–1.6bn+
  • Rollout time: 5–10+ years

Planning times for solar farms could be slashed if government finally treated the climate emergency like an emergency.

And then there’s capitalism: energy companies don’t want millions of small producers cutting into profits. Legislation could fix this — but it requires political will. We already know neoliberal capitalism needs serious reform.

As for the criticism that solar farms use agricultural land:

  • They would occupy only 0.45%–0.82% of agricultural land, some of which is fallow at the moment anyway.
  • We already face food insecurity. Solar barely dents agriculture. 
  • Meanwhile, golf courses consume five times more land than solar would — and I know which I’d rather repurpose.

You can’t tee off on a golf course that’s underwater.

Unfortunately, there is significant opposition to solar farms, largely from people living near proposed sites — which is understandable

Grid Upgrades: The Unavoidable Backbone

We need new pylons, underground cables, or subsea routes — plus battery storage. None of this is optional, and the arguments are similar to the above. All options have ecological impacts, but we’re out of time for perfect solutions.

Pylons may be ugly, but they’re cheaper, faster, and even capable of creating wildlife corridors. France has even turned some into public art. If only imagination were a UK policy priority.

Large Scale Renewables Are the Clear Winner

Solar farms and other renewable energy sources are the clear winner if our priority is rapid decarbonisation. They are cheaper, quicker to build, will create new jobs and provide clean energy. They are our future proofing.

We face a choice: continue failing, continue betraying younger generations, retreat into selfishness and isolation—or respond to the climate and ecological emergencies with the urgency they demand, adopting something akin to a wartime mobilisation.

It may already be too late to avoid severe impacts. But every fraction of a degree of avoided warming saves lives, ecosystems and stability.

CO₂ rises → temperature rises → runaway climate impacts:

  • floods, fires, drought, famine, harvest failure, extreme weather, mass migration, ocean collapse, extinction events… and then societal collapse.

The stakes could not be higher.

The Path Ahead

We change — or we face the consequences.

The graph below shows how CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have changed over the millennia, using data from ice core samples.

Carbon dioxide levels are higher than any time in the last 800,000 years

Renewables give us a fighting chance of reducing emissions and avoiding societal collapse. Oil, gas and nuclear leave only waste and devastation. Renewables can coexist with nature and even help restore it when designed well.

It comes down to communicating honestly, successive governments, oil and gas companies, supported and controlled by billionaire media magnates, have denied people that honesty: change now, or our children will not live to the same age we do. 

We don’t have to let them make us stupid, but they won’t change on their own.
We have to force it.

Let’s Take Back Power

From billionaires. From fossil fuel companies. From media moguls. From corrupted politicians who may not even realise how compromised they are. Let’s stop them getting away with it.

They’ve been getting away with it for decades. They are “craven and hollow.”
We can stop them.

And yes — I’m going to say it:

Vote Green. Let’s make hope normal again

Promoted by James Harvey on behalf of Broadland Green Party, a constituent party of the Green Party of England & Wales PO Box 78066, London, SE16 9GQ

BBC Coverage of the Climate Crisis: A Missed Opportunity

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I recently wrote to the BBC to complain about their coverage of the climate crisis, which I, and many others, believe remains woefully inadequate given the existential threats it poses. Below is the complaint I submitted.

Coverage of climate change 

I’m writing to complain about the BBC’s inadequate coverage of today’s letter from the Climate Change Committee to Government on the UK’s preparedness for at least 2°C of global warming by 2050.

This is a matter of profound national importance, yet your main news programmes gave it little to no prominence. Such omission feels negligent at best, and at worst suggests a deliberate downplaying of vital information, whether due to editorial decisions, management influence, or political pressure. The public deserves transparency on issues that will shape our collective future. It is already known that Downing Street blocked a government report warning that the collapse of rainforests, reefs, and mangroves could raise food prices in UK supermarkets.

Earlier this year, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) warned of escalating climate risks -more floods, fires, droughts, and ecosystem collapse. Their analysis projected GDP losses of up to 50% between 2070 and 2090, and warned that global heating of +3°C, possible as early as 2050, could cause over 4 billion deaths, societal collapse, and extinction events.

Despite the gravity of these findings, BBC reporting on the climate and nature crises remains inconsistent and insufficient. This undermines your stated purpose “to provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them.”

While I appreciate an article appeared on your website, this story should have led your main news bulletins, with clear context on what climate breakdown, mitigation, and adaptation mean for ordinary people. It would not have been difficult to feature credible climate scientists or policy experts.

I urge the BBC to give greater priority to the climate and nature crises, ensuring the public are properly informed and able to make meaningful democratic choices, particularly about which leaders and policies will act to safeguard our future and that of coming generations. 

You can read the letter I referenced here: https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CCC-letter-to-Minister-Hardy-15-October-2025.pdf

The CCC warns that the UK must urgently strengthen its adaptation objectives to protect food security, infrastructure, public services, the economy, and access to financial services such as insurance. Many properties are already becoming uninsurable due to flood risk.

We are beyond the stage where it’s possible to mitigate all catastrophic climate impacts. Yet the current levels of adaptation -and even the plans for adaptation – remain unambitious and wholly inadequate. Inadequate seems to be the word of the day when it comes to both government and media responses to the climate and nature crises.

This is the response from the BBC I received last night:

Dear Mr Harvey,

Thank you for getting in touch about BBC News at Ten on 15 October.

We’re sorry you feel insufficient coverage was given to the letter addressed to the government from the Climate Change Committee (CCC), warning that the UK should be prepared to cope with weather extremes as a result of at least 2C of global warming by 2050.

We know that not everyone will agree with our choices on which stories to cover, or the order in which they appear. Our news editors make these complex decisions, based on the editorial merit of all the stories at hand. We accept that not everyone will agree with each decision – various factors are at play and there’s often debate in the newsroom too.

BBC News did cover this across our news outlets however and you can read the online report here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx24kllyye1o

The BBC has been reporting on both the effects of climate change and the changes that individuals and governments can make in order to reduce carbon emissions for many years. In recent years these reports have had increased prominence as the evidence grows about the speed and impact of climate change.

To read our latest News on the issue of climate change, you may be interested in the following link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cmj34zmwm1zt

We can assure you that the BBC is committed to providing fair and impartial coverage of the latest News stories to our audience, and climate change is an issue that the BBC takes very seriously.

We very much value your feedback. Complaints are sent to senior management and we’ve included your points in our overnight reports. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC. This ensures that your concerns have been seen by the right people quickly, and helps to inform decisions about current and future content.

If you’d like to understand how your complaint is handled at the BBC, you might find it helpful to watch the short film on the BBC Complaints website about how the BBC responds to your feedback. It explains the BBC’s process for responding to complaints, what to do if you aren’t happy with your response and how we share the feedback we receive.

Kind regards, 

BBC Complaints Team 
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

I appreciate that the complaints team forwards feedback to senior management, and I can only hope that the BBC – and the wider media – will soon recognise the urgency of reporting on the existential crisis that is climate breakdown.

This crisis threatens the lives and livelihoods of billions over the next 25 to 50 years — and millions are already being affected, displaced, and killed by its impacts. It demands coverage that reflects its true urgency, accuracy, and frequency.

I’d be very interested to hear what others think — please feel free to leave a comment or share your perspective below.

This is fine
This is fine


 

Let’s Make Hope Normal Again

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I find it increasingly strange, and frankly disturbing, how we’re being conned by politicians, much of the media, and mega-corporations. From birth, we’re bombarded by advertising designed to shape our thinking; by MPs who chase votes with half-truths, misdirection, or outright lies; and now by social media echo chambers that trap us in a cycle of misinformation.

As a Green Party member, I find it refreshing to have leadership that isn’t afraid to tell the truth. As a district councillor, I can vote in the best interests of my constituents – and with my conscience – rather than following the orders of a party whip. Zack Polanski’s election as Green Party leader, by a huge majority, has brought articulate and intelligent debate to the forefront again – on immigration, the climate crisis, renewable energy, and human rights. His policies on taxing the super-rich (the top 1%), reforming the private rental sector, renationalising water companies, and providing universal free childcare are resonating deeply with people across the country.

Green Party membership is now over 140,000, making us the UK’s third-largest political party. Polls put us around 15% of the vote, level with the Lib Dems and closing in on Labour and the Conservatives. Reform UK may be polling slightly higher, but perhaps that’s unsurprising when they’re not bound by things like telling the truth, or avoiding donations from dubious sources. People are joining the Greens in their thousands because we’re the only party that speaks plainly, answers questions directly, and puts people before profit.

Why don’t other political parties do the same? Surely an MP’s job is to represent their constituents – and by acting in their best interests, you’d think re-election would follow naturally. But that’s not how it works. Other parties are deeply influenced by corporate lobbying. Labour, for instance, met oil and gas company representatives over 500 times in their first year of power – that’s an average of two meetings every working day between ministers and fossil fuel lobbyists. Meanwhile, the Conservatives, Labour, and Reform continue to accept large donations from oil and gas interests, climate denial think tanks, and polluting industries. Is it any wonder, then, that their policies serve those industries – while the public is distracted with talk of immigration and welfare spending?

There’s a growing frustration with politicians who dodge questions or distort the truth. Brexit was, in part, a reaction to this. Westminster has become synonymous with elitism, corruption, and detachment from reality. It’s not even a criminal offence to lie in the House of Commons. Again and again, politicians mislead the public with impunity, aided by a media that too often fails to hold them accountable—especially those on the right.

Why isn’t Nigel Farage grilled about the £350 million-a-week NHS pledge that vanished after Brexit? Or challenged on the fact that immigration is essential to sustain our NHS, care sector, farms, and schools, as well as to support an ageing population and pensions system? Why aren’t we hearing that renewable energy is cheaper, faster to build, and infinitely safer than oil and gas?

In 2008, I was fortunate enough to visit the Great Barrier Reef on my honeymoon and swam among the coral and turtles – a breathtaking experience. Last week, I read that we’ve passed the planet’s first major climate tipping point: warm-water coral reefs are dying and will soon disappear. Hundreds of millions of people depend on them for food and livelihoods. Other tipping points – Amazon rainforest dieback, ocean current collapse, permafrost melt, and ice sheet loss – are not far behind. Each accelerates the next, creating feedback loops that speed up climate breakdown.

Then, this morning, I received an email from the Government responding to a petition to halt airport expansion. Part of it read:

“The Government therefore supports airport expansion where proposals contribute to economic growth, can be delivered in line with the UK’s legally binding climate change commitments, and meet strict environmental requirements on air quality and noise pollution.”

The list of planned expansions – Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, and beyond – was all about “economic growth” and maintaining the status quo. But if we don’t act decisively to cut emissions, climate breakdown will destroy any chance of growth – and in some regions, any chance of survival.

Carbon dioxide levels are still rising. Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry funds anti–net zero campaigns and uses politicians as mouthpieces to protect their profits. Green energy offers a massive opportunity: it can create jobs, cut bills, and reduce emissions. We could lower bills immediately by cutting the link between electricity and gas prices, but that would hurt oil and gas profits, so it doesn’t happen. These same companies continue to receive huge public subsidies that dwarf support for renewables.

Airport expansion is simply incompatible with our climate goals. No amount of greenwashing through “sustainable aviation fuel” or dodgy carbon offsetting schemes will change that.

If we’re serious about telling the truth, we need to be honest about green energy too: why we need to decarbonise, why solar panels (covering just 0.7% of UK land – less than golf courses) can help power our future, and why upgrading the grid and installing battery storage is essential – even if that sometimes means projects are built near where we live. Time and money are tight, and we don’t have time to always wait for the perfect solution.

The clock is ticking. Hundreds of millions in the Global South are already dying from floods, fires, famine, and disease linked to climate breakdown. We’re not immune here either: UK farmers face failing harvests, rising food prices, and more frequent flooding. Some truths will be uncomfortable and require lifestyle changes – but that’s a small price to pay compared with a world of famine, fire, and forced migration.

Scientists and even insurance companies are warning us. The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) recently projected global GDP losses of up to 50% between 2070 and 2090 and warned that a +3°C world – possible as soon as 2050 – could cause over four billion deaths, social collapse, and mass extinction events. GDP loss seems almost trivial in comparison.

The Green Party tells it like it is – guided by science, compassion, and a commitment to act in the best interests of the majority, not a privileged few. Our membership continues to grow rapidly. We’re out on the streets, talking to people, telling the truth, and offering real solutions not tainted by corruption or corporate influence.

The good news? If we act now, we can still build a fairer, healthier, and more hopeful future – for ourselves, our children, and the countless other species we share this planet with.

Come join us – and let’s make hope normal again.

Promoted by James Harvey on behalf of Broadland Green Party, a constituent party of the Green Party of England & Wales PO Box 78066, London, SE16 9GQ

Green Party

Our Countryside Deserves Better Than Endless Development

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This is a blog post I wrote for the Broadland Green Party website, partly in my capacity as a Green Party district councillor. I think I therefore have to include a digital imprint, so here it is: Promoted by James Harvey on behalf of Broadland Green Party, a constituent party of the Green Party of England & Wales PO Box 78066, London, SE16 9GQ

It can often feel as though our farmland, countryside, and the few remaining wild spaces are being steadily consumed in the name of “growth” — the relentless drive to build more houses and satisfy developers’ appetite for profit.

This was evident at the recent Broadland District Council Planning Committee meeting, where permission was granted for 200 dwellings, including 90 retirement apartments, alongside a country park and parking. This decision was made despite the development not being in the local plan, and despite strong objections from the Parish Council, local residents, and Green Party district councillors.

Communities Ignored

Time and again, developments are approved against the wishes of local communities.
People are rightly concerned about a wide range of issues, including:

  • The loss of good-quality farmland needed for growing food
  • The destruction of nature — our woods, hedgerows, and wildlife habitats are under threat
  • Local roads already struggling with traffic and in poor condition
  • Overwhelmed sewerage systems and limited water supply
  • Insufficient local employment opportunities
  • Overstretched doctors and dentists, making appointments hard to get
  • Local schools with no spare capacity
  • Flood-prone land — a risk worsened by climate breakdown
  • Rising air and noise pollution from more houses and roads
  • Poor public transport links and lack of cycling infrastructure

Yet these legitimate objections are often ignored, overruled, or dismissed due to complex planning regulations and housing targets set by central government.

How the System Fails Local People

Planning officers frequently cite what can be a bewildering array of planning rules and legislation that make it hard for councillors — let alone residents — to challenge inappropriate developments.

Government policy requires councils to maintain a five-year housing land supply, ensuring “sustainable residential development” as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) 2024. Unfortunately, the Labour Government under their “Build, Build, Build” mantra increased the housing target for every Local Plan by 34%. Hence, no sooner had we agreed and published the GNLP it was out of date.

There will now be a “call for sites” in early 2026 to accommodate the extra 600 houses per year, an increase from 2,000 to 2,600. Because Broadland currently cannot demonstrate a five-year housing supply, developers are allowed to put forward speculative (or predatory) proposals for sites outside the Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP) – even when local people object.

It’s worth noting that Broadland Green councillors were not in favour of the GNLP, but without a plan, developers would have free rein to build wherever they wanted. Supporting the GNLP became, unfortunately, the lesser of two evils.

A Growing Sense of Anger and Frustration

We fully understand why residents feel angry and powerless as excessive housing developments encroach on towns and villages, straining local infrastructure and changing the character of cherished communities.

We can argue that new developments can bring opportunities, diversity, and economic benefits. While that may sometimes be true, it’s hard to make that case when local councillors and residents alike see their surroundings being irrevocably changed — often without meaningful local input.

The Challenge of Objecting

To make a legitimate objection, we must show how a proposal conflicts with planning policy. Each application must be judged on its own merits, and when there’s a housing shortfall, the so-called “tilted balance” comes into play — meaning that planning permission should be granted unless there are strong reasons for refusal.

This makes it incredibly difficult for communities to resist developments, even when the case against them seems obvious.

Developers and Trust

Many people simply don’t trust developers — and who can blame them? Too often, promises about affordable or social housing are quietly dropped once planning permission is secured.

Meanwhile, faith in national politics has eroded. Too many politicians fail to understand or represent the people they serve. The planning system itself is deeply flawed, with too much power concentrated in the central Planning Inspectorate, which can and does overrule local decisions.

If proposals for single “unitary councils” — Broadland has suggested three — go ahead, this erosion of local democracy could get even worse. All the while, the drive for endless growth continues on a planet with finite resources.

Smarter Solutions Exist

There are better ways to meet housing needs without destroying green spaces.

In England, there are over one million empty homes — including long-term vacant properties, second homes, holiday lets, and homes left empty due to care or probate. According to Action on Empty Homes, around 325,000 people are currently in temporary accommodation, with many more sleeping rough.

Instead of relentlessly building on our countryside to enrich a small number of developers, why not prioritise bringing empty homes back into use?

We also need a wealth tax to address the widening gap between the super-rich and everyone else, ensuring fairer funding for housing and public services.

Building the Right Homes in the Right Places

Some new housing is, of course, necessary. But it must be the right kind of housing — affordable for local people and built in the right locations.

We need more urban regeneration and brownfield development, not sprawl across our countryside and remaining natural habitats. It’s unacceptable that key workers in the NHS, emergency services or care-workers, and other essential services can’t afford to live near where they work, or that local young people are priced out of their own communities.

Likewise, those moving into new areas should have access to suitable housing — and that means utilising empty properties and building responsibly.

And it’s long past time to end the Right to Buy scheme, which has depleted social housing stock and worsened the housing crisis.

Hope for a Greener Future

The Green Party is growing, with more members and support than ever before. Under the new leadership of Zack Polanski, we will continue to challenge government policies that fail local people — both in councils and in Parliament.

With your support, we can build a fairer, greener, and more democratic future — one where communities have a genuine voice, and where hope becomes normal again.

James Harvey, Green Party district councillor for Plumstead Ward

Resist or Be Ruled: The Fight for Freedom in a Fractured World

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We Are at Risk

An existential threat looms over us — one that grows stronger every day.

The world is being divided, conquered, and exploited by arrogant men — mostly, though not exclusively, old and white — and by their allies. Trump in America, Netanyahu in Israel, Putin in Russia, Orbán in Hungary, Xi Jinping in China, Lukashenko in Belarus, and Milei in Argentina to name a few. They are supported by political movements rapidly gaining power and influence: Reform in the UK, National Rally (Rassemblement National) in France, and the AfD (Alternative for Germany) in Germany.

The institutions and laws that were created after the Second World War to safeguard peace, democracy, and justice are being eroded, undermined, and dismantled — and they were built for a reason.

The Institutions Under Attack

These include the Council of Europe, of which the UK was a founding member — a leading human rights organisation.
European integration, beginning with the European Economic Community, built prosperity and trust between nations.
NATO, designed as a deterrent to aggression from Russia, China, and North Korea — though critics argue it has also been provocative.
The European Union, founded to promote peace and democracy, from which the UK was misled into withdrawing.

There are also critical human rights protections: the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention Against Torture, the Human Rights Act, the Equality Act, and the fundamental right to peaceful protest.
Yet these cornerstones of democracy are being chipped away by successive laws restricting free speech and dissent — the very essence of a free society.

The Authoritarian Playbook

The first step for those who seek authoritarianism — and in some cases outright fascism — is clear: dismantle or discredit the institutions that oppose them. Then exploit public anger over poverty and inequality to consolidate power. The irony, of course, is that these same leaders are the ones perpetuating that poverty and inequality. They are taking us for a ride.

Trump appears intent on destabilising Europe and the United Nations, whether by design or through alignment with Putin. Both support Germany’s AfD — a direct threat to European unity and stability. Empowering the AfD is like planting dynamite beneath the foundations of peace and democracy that have protected Europe for decades.

Trump knows exactly what he’s doing. As a narcissist, he believes his actions are justified. In the U.S., he governs by emergency decree, steadily eliminating opposition. ICE agents patrol the streets, spreading fear; the National Guard is deployed to American cities under the guise of quelling “violence.” Trump describes Portland as “war-ravaged” — yet people there post pictures of peaceful parks, open cafés, and calm streets. He claims “It’s anarchy,” though he clearly has no idea what that word means.

Trump has even pardoned far-right rioters convicted of violence during the January 6th insurrection — an armed attempt to overturn a legitimate election. If you’re violent but pro-Trump, it seems that’s acceptable. If you care about honesty, equality, and justice, you’re branded as “woke.”

The enemy doesn't arrive by boat, he arrives by private jet

The Fragility of Freedom

Everything we now take for granted — our freedoms, comfort, and relative stability — could vanish in an instant. Trump is normalising military presence on American streets, perhaps laying the groundwork to declare sweeping emergency powers, suspend elections, or bypass democratic oversight. If not him, then perhaps Vance or another successor will.

Meanwhile, in Europe, governments are suppressing protest, increasing military budgets, and pandering to Trump’s ego. China grows more assertive. Russia, vast and patient, plays the long game. The world risks being carved up by the U.S. and its allies, by China and Russia, while nations in the Global South may only influence outcomes at the margins. Africa, rich in resources, remains exploited by all — Europe, China, Russia, and the U.S.

Over it all looms the climate and biodiversity crises, driving food shortages, violent weather, floods, fires, and mass migration. These may soon eclipse every political crisis — or accelerate our slide into protectionism and authoritarianism.

Choosing Courage Over Fear

The world feels increasingly frightening – and it’s okay to be afraid. What matters is how we respond to that fear.

Do we stay silent as freedom of speech and the right to protest are eroded? As citizens are arrested for demanding an end to genocide, or for calling for urgent action on the climate and nature emergencies?

Or do we stand up? Do we engage in protest and nonviolent resistance, call out hate and lies, and demand that our politicians act? Do we build a more tolerant, inclusive, and equal society — one that dares to reform the systems that no longer serve the people?

Recently, a video surfaced of a lone woman on the Norfolk coast confronting a group erecting nationalist flags. It was a small but courageous act, especially when others have been harassed or attacked for similar resistance. She refused to be a bystander. We all must do the same.

Resistance Begins with Us

We are being manipulated — by politicians, by media, by the ultra-wealthy, and by the far right’s lies and division. Patriarchy and privilege still dominate the stage. We are told what to think, who to blame, and which words are now forbidden. Migrants are scapegoated for problems created by the powerful.

We must rebuild from the ground up — stronger local communities, solidarity, and hope. Stop consuming the propaganda of our supposed leaders. Deploy hope, not hate.

Act now, before we are convinced that 2 + 2 = 5.

Courage calls to courage everywhere

General Election now

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Our illustrious Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, laughed or maybe giggled nervously yesterday when asked when the General Election will be. The BBC presenter asked him why he was laughing.

It’s not a joke you horribly out-of-touch person. You already had a green card to live in the US, and clearly want to go back there, so please just get on with it and leave. The Conservatives have had 14 years in power and I’m struggling to think of anything that’s improved. I quite like the fact bus fares are capped at £2, but it’s hardly game changing. A lot of people can’t even get a bus because they don’t run through their villages.

I started to make a list of reasons not to vote Tory. I expect some of these will be the same when Labour get into power too, but they can’t do a worse job can they? Surely not. Unfortunately, with our first past the post voting system it’s only ever going to be a two party race. Neither party is brave enough to bring in proportional representation. As the Green Party peer Natalie Bennett said on a recent visit to Norwich, we don’t really live in a democracy. No wonder so many people don’t vote. We need to change the system, it’s corrupt and broken.

Here’s my list of reasons not to vote Tory, in no particular order.

  1. The destruction of the NHS: This really is unforgivable. They’ve privatised parts of it, made ludicrous contracts with Private Finance Initiatives, poor management, over-worked an underpaid staff. Not sure where to stop. People have and will continue to suffer and die because of Tory neglect and ineptitude.
  2. Dentists and GP Surgeries: Getting an appointment ain’t exactly easy is it? I don’t exactly blame doctors for moving abroad to work.
  3. Licensing of North Sea Oil and Gas: Driving climate breakdown and ecological destruction. Licensing Rosebank/Cambo. No energy security, no new jobs, and no cheaper bills. More death and suffering due to climate breakdown, whilst they are at the same time degrading the NHS to the point it won’t be able to cope. Also means we won’t hit our emissions targets; they lie about our carbon emissions anyway as they don’t include goods produced abroad which we consume, or aviation, or shipping.
  4. Energy company profits: Tied to the above, during a cost of living crisis with a bogus windfall tax that has too many loopholes. The oil and gas companies are making billions at our expense, and still don’t think they are making enough money.
  5. Lack of investment into green energy: No new onshore wind, solar panels still aren’t mandatory on new builds, behind on targets for heat pump installation, behind on training skilled workers in the industry.
  6. Subsidies for oil and gas companies: The Government subsidises the oil and gas industry to the tune of about £236m a week, that’s billions more than it subsidises the Green energy industry. Why are we subsidising an industry that is wrecking our lives and the planet, especially when they’re making grotesque profits?
  7. Lack of investment in public and active transport: We are so far behind many European countries. Very little in the way of segregated cycle lanes. So much remains car centric. Why is it often more expensive to take a train than it is to fly? Underinvestment and mismanagement of our railways and rail stock. Lack of active transport options puts more strain on our NHS too.
  8. Brexit lies: We were lied to. Where is the extra £350m a week for the NHS? Where are the amazing trade agreements? It’s now harder to trade with Europe, harder to travel, and prices have gone up. Immigration has gone up. Nothing is better. Why aren’t the Tory politicians that lied to us in jail? And oh good, I have a blue passport.
  9. Failure to support farmers post Brexit: They’ve been hit by more regulations, a failure to deliver promised subsidies, and no benefits. Look at the poor mental health and suicide rate amongst famers; I read an article suggesting 3 suicides a week amongst agricultural workers.
  10. Politics by division: That’s how they are desperately trying to cling on to power, by wedge politics, dividing the country on issues such as Brexit, stirring up hatred, lying, profiting from conflict. Look at the hatred and language used around immigration such as ‘invasion’, and the de-humanising, whilst refugees fleeing persecution die in small boats or commit suicide on the Bibby Stockholm.
  11. No team work or statesmanship: Division within the cabinet, fighting and one-upmanship rather than working together. No continuity, roles change to often, and no long term strategy or vision.
  12. Water companies: Shit in our rivers. Pollution in our lakes and coastal waters. Our water infrastructure is so poorly maintained we’re losing millions or litres of water in leaks. No new reservoirs despite water shortages. And all the time they’re paying out millions to shareholders, and bonuses to their executives, and saying they’re going to put our bills up. All started by the Conservatives privatising the water industry. Enough is enough, renationalise them now. Hold the execs to account with criminal trials. Get our money and our clean rivers back.
  13. COVID: Tories partying whilst ordinary people couldn’t visit their relatives in care homes, or when they were dying in hospital. The Queen sitting alone at her husband’s funeral, whilst Boris partied in Number 10, and then lied about it. PPE scandals, with contracts worth millions given to friends of the conservatives that then failed to deliver – Baroness Michelle Mone and £200m springs to mind. We will not forget, we will not forgive. You should all stand trial.
  14. Truss mini-budget: Truss was only PM for 50 days, the lettuce lasted longer. Her ‘mini’ budget with Quarteng cost the economy billions, and hiked interest rates. It meant many people couldn’t retire as their pension funds took a massive tumble. It meant lots of peoples mortgage repayments went up, including mine by £200 a month. She added to the cost of living crisis, and has the audacity to still show her face in public. Shame on you.
  15. Trickle down economics: Well, something is trickling down, but it ain’t wealth.
  16. Tax con: Trying to con the electorate with tax/national insurance cuts that aren’t really tax cuts. They’ve frozen thresholds and allowances rather than lift them in line with earnings or inflation, which is in fact a massive tax rise. We are not stupid. And what about a wealth tax, and closing down tax loopholes, and chasing companies that operate here but fail to pay tax?
  17. HS2: Billions of pounds into a railway few will use, which has destroyed large swathes of countryside and farmland and doesn’t even go all the way into London. This is not levelling up, it’s a scandal.
  18. House building: Massively behind plan, and not social/affordable housing or building in the right places – more brown field sites needed. People paying rent have to pay more than people paying mortgages, with little in the way of security, or a chance of getting on the housing ladder.
  19. Stifling freedom of speech and the right to protest: A new raft of anti-protest laws including the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, and the Public Order Act. Peaceful protest is part of true democracy, even if you don’t agree with the cause. Peaceful protesters are now being arrested in ever greater numbers, and even thinking about taking action can land you in hot water; the Thought Police are coming.
  20. Corrupting the judiciary/legal system: Allowing private companies to take out injunctions – money driving laws. Silencing defendants, and not allowing juries to make decisions based on conscience. Judge Silas Reid is prime example of this. If the Tories don’t like the Legal system they just try and change the law – see next point on Rwanda.
  21. The Rwanda Bill and immigation: The Tories want to send 300 people to Rwanda. How is that going to discourage people from trying to get into the UK, often when they are fleeing persecution? The courts said this wasn’t legal, so the Tories try to change the law. They think they are above the law. It was always a stupid idea and besides, we’re going to need immigrants to pay for pensions because we’re having less children. Plus we have a massive number of job vacancies that need filling. And I’ve just read that Sunak is hinting we might leave the European Convention on Human Rights if the Rwanda Plan is blocked; pretty sure most of the UK population will be appalled if this happens.
  22. Gaza: Labour are just as guilty here, for not calling for an immediate ceasefire, and continuing to sell arms to Israel that are killing civilians and aid workers. Collective punishment is a war crime. The Tories have massively misjudged the public mood on this, as have Labour, and they will both suffer for it in the polls; allowed George Galloway to become an MP again.
  23. The Climate and Ecological Crises: Failure to give the Climate and Ecological Crises the priority they need, putting us and future generations in peril. Doing the opposite of what is needed, often for profit and short term gain. The UK is the most nature denuded country in Europe.
  24. The three-line whip system: Alright, this one isn’t just the Tories either. It means MPs often can’t vote in line with their constituents wishes, or with their conscience, like on Gaza. It’s corrupt and undemocratic, and should be banned or severely restricted to issues of national security.
  25. Lobbyists: Again, not strictly just the Tories, but why are they so influenced by the right wing media, oil and gas companies, the building industry, all giving them money in the hope of influencing policy and decisions. It’s corrupt. I’d be up on criminal charges for such behaviour in my job.
  26. Tory donors: Why are Tory donors given peerages in the House of Lords? In fact, why do we allow private individuals to give money to political parties for their campaigns? Wouldn’t a central fund of some sort make more sense, and be much fairer?
  27. GB News: Why are Tory MPs allowed to use GB News to promote their agendas, whilst also failing to be impartial when reporting the news; as stated by Ofcom in the case of Jacob Rees Mogg. This news channel is toxic, tells lies, and promotes a nasty right wing agenda. I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ of doing interviews with them just so they can say they give a balanced view. They’re rubbish, and thankfully losing millions of pounds a year, but their owner doesn’t care about that.
  28. Homelessness: Is on the rise, despite Tory pledges to end it by 2024. I certainly see more rough sleeping in Norwich. We have more billionaires in the world than we have ever had, yet we can’t give people basic food and shelter. Redistribution of wealth please.
  29. Food banks: Why are nurses and other essential workers having to use food banks. More and more people are being forced to because of the cost of living crisis caused in a large part by Tory policy. You can’t blame it all on the conflict in the Ukraine, or COVID, or Brexit. Other countries are doing far better than we are. Even Russia’s economy is growing faster than ours.
  30. Inflation: I am sick of hearing the Tories talk about cutting inflation. It doesn’t make prices go down. They are already high and still going up. Get real, please.
  31. Road building: They want to build new roads, but can’t even maintain our existing ones, with a pandemic of potholes across the country. We don’t need new roads, we need better public transport; bus and rail. New roads means more traffic, more emissions, and more opening up of our already denuded countryside to more unwanted development.
  32. New coal mines: Nearly forgot about this one. They want to build a new coal mine in Cumbria, even though the steel industry has told them it’s the wrong type of coal for coking. I think they want to take us back to the Victorian age, and increase carbon emissions whilst they’re at it.
  33. Drax: Have you heard about the Drax power plant. It burns wood chips from prime untouched forest in Canada, and claims to be carbon neutral. What utter nonsense. Destroying nature, burning it, with the associated carbon emissions. And stop peddling the lies about carbon capture and storage technology which is unproven at scale. And stop giving them subsidies.
  34. They are unkind: We need politicians that are kind, that have some empathy. Not the likes of Braverman or Patel, Sunak, Johnson, Baker, Coffey etc. Please can we have some kindness from politicians?


I am sure there are lots more reasons to vote for someone other than the Tories, I might add to the list over the next few days. They are degrading the UK, dividing society, destroying our public services, making us poorer, and both mentally and physically sicker. We’re still supposed to be the 6th biggest economy in the world, how can you have made such a complete mess of things? Do the right thing and call a General Election now, then go off and sort yourselves out.

That being said, the current political system and main political parties just aren’t fit for purpose for the challenges ahead. We can’t reform what is fundamentally broken. We need a revolution. Visit https://umbrella-org.com/

I think I might take a leaf out of Gideon’s book and just sleep a lot more.

Gideon asleep and snoring
Gideon asleep and snoring

Difficult Decisions

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It feels to me like we’re stuck. The current political system and western society we live in isn’t fit for purpose in terms of making the difficult decisions needed to secure a liveable future. We are too trapped by corrupt politicians, climate change denying corporations, and a way of life we don’t want to compromise.

We may go down in history as the first civilisation to end itself because it wasn’t deemed economically viable or politically popular to make the changes needed to survive. We won’t save ourselves or most of the species we share the planet with because it’s too expensive, and politicians are worried they might lose an election over it. Sounds crazy, but that’s what seems to be happening. Sunak announced approval of over 100 new oil and gas projects in the North Sea last week, which flies in the face of what climate scientists, the UN, the Government’s own Climate Change Committee, the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, the International Energy Association and many other organisations are saying.

Economically, socially, and politically, are we really set up to deal effectively with the challenges happening now, let alone the challenges that are going to happen next year, in 10 years, in 50 years, due to the climate and ecological crises? Are we emotionally ready for it, or even awake to the fact radical change has to happen if we want our society to survive?

Churchill said “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.”

It’s very debatable as to whether we live in a true democracy in this country; we don’t have proportional representation. There are perhaps 2 other countries in Europe that have first past the post systems. I posit this is one of the reasons UK society is increasingly divided, and as to why decisions being made in Westminster make no sense to the majority of the rest of the country and are driving us further towards civilisational collapse.

Would another form of Government be better placed to save us from the mass migration, war, famine, drought, ocean death, food system collapse, economic breakdown, health service demise, panic and societal collapse we’re facing? I don’t know the answer to that question, but the Tory party are really making me start to wonder if we ought to try something else.

And sod the criticism we keep getting about using alarmist language. Have the critics actually looked at what’s happening right now? Wildfires in Canada and across Southern Europe, massive floods in China and the Philippines, harvest failures becoming increasingly frequent, ocean heatwaves killing millions of fish, and temperature records broken on a monthly basis. Let’s not even get started on how species extinction rates are way above the natural baseline. These are not just due to ‘seasonal changes’ or ‘a natural cycle’, this is proven beyond doubt to be down to human caused ‘global boiling’, quoting Antonio Guterres, caused by us burning fossil fuels. Anyone denying this needs to get their heads out of their posteriors, and have motivations thoroughly examined. Criminal charges need to, and no doubt will be made in many cases against politicians, media and journalists deliberately misleading the public, banks like Barclays and JP Morgan financing fossil fuel companies, oil and gas lobbyists and execs, and climate change denying think tanks.

Earth Hour - Texas Public Radio - The Voice
Earth Hour – Texas Public Radio – The Voice

Last week I was interviewed on Texas Public Radio on a show called The Source. I was nervous about being interviewed in my role as a Just Stop Oil spokesperson by the US State built on oil and gas. But…it was a really good experience, with lots of great questions and points from callers. One of the comments made was that the system of Government in the US isn’t fit for purpose either. Generally people get it, they get we’re in a crisis. We turn to our Governments for protection and solutions and they don’t seem to understand, and instead make things worse.

You can listen to the interview here, one of my better ones I think, but it really is a constant learning experience: https://www.tpr.org/podcast/the-source/2023-08-02/who-is-just-stop-oil-and-what-do-they-want

Why did Sunak announce the approval of over 100 new oil and gas projects in the North Sea? Profit? Energy security? Bowing to pressure from the likes of Murdoch and oil and gas companies? By the way this was shortly after his wife’s family business, InfoSys, signed a massive deal worth a reported $1.5bn with BP. I’m sure there is no connection.

It’s worth noting that new North Sea oil and gas:

  • Won’t come online for decades, in many cases beyond the Government’s net zero target of 2050, which will be blown by these new fields
  • Does nothing in terms of UK energy security; we don’t own it. BP, Shell etc own it and will sell it to the highest bidder
  • Is more expensive than renewable energy which is cheaper and quicker to build, but far less profitable for the monsters making billions at our expense
  • Will increase emissions which can’t be countered by carbon capture and storage; this is unproven at scale and mostly a way of excusing the stranded assets that stopping new oil and gas will cause, funny that

I love this world, the biodiversity, the people, the cultures, the amazing ecosystems we have that are a result of billions of years of evolution. Are we really going to destroy it all, in a matter of a few hundred years, to make the super-rich even richer, and to preserve a completely unsustainable way of life for people who mostly live in the Global North? The super-rich will only be richer for a short period of time, before the pitchforks arrive at their gated communities demanding justice.

We’re being betrayed by our politicians, much of the media, and by huge corporations, all of whom have been told what will happen if we continue on our current trajectory. The Government and politicians in general seem completely unable to face the truth and do something about it, which can only be because they’re afraid it will lose them the next election, as well impact the profits of vested interests, mixed in with a fair dose of denialism. This seems like madness to me, there won’t be elections or economics if society breaks down. As has been the case for too long it’s all about short term politics and short term decisions when in fact the choice is clear: Change or Die, millions are already dying because of the climate crisis.

What are the difficult decisions I’m talking about? Here are some I think about a lot.

Telling the truth: People deserve to know exactly how dire the crises impacting us are. I’d love to see the same amount of money spent on advertising and greenwashing by fossil fuel companies, and on fossil fuel lobbyists, instead spent on educating the public on the latest science and solutions. Did you know that there were more fossil fuel lobbyists than representatives of the ten nations most impacted by the climate crisis registered to attend COP27; around 636 lobbyists in total. And between January and March this year Government ministers met with oil and gas representatives 54 times. Is it any wonder their priorities aren’t in our best interests? Why isn’t the truth a priority? Because it would cut into profits and would be viewed as unpopular without the right education. Politicians don’t dare tell the truth, they’d be called out, hung, drawn and quartered, and lose the backing of their donors.

Stopping new oil, gas and coal projects: We have around 7 years of reserves in existing oil and gas fields to keep the lights on whilst we transition to a more sustainable way of living using renewables. We don’t need to open new fields if we invest in solar, tidal and wind, including onshore wind which is currently effectively banned in England; Ukraine built more onshore wind-farms than we did (we built 2) in the last few years, and they’re at war. Instead of subsidising fossil fuel companies to the tune of £236m a week, why don’t we direct that money towards renewables which are cheaper and quicker to build, and would create thousands of new jobs? Seems like a sensible decision to me, however that would disrupt the status quo and shift power away from those that currently have it.

Invest in the grid: To get the electricity from where it’s produced from renewable sources we need massive investment in our energy grid and storage. This would counter the argument of not having a reliable and resilient baseline power supply. This would be another decision viewed as unpopular by some, because of unsightly pylons, or trenches being dug for power cables. Again I think this comes down to education; what would people rather have, unsightly power lines or societal collapse? We should have started this decades ago, with a joined up plan, but of course that didn’t happen because it was too difficult, and the Tories would lose votes if they built pylons through the countryside. Oil and Gas mega-corporations would also oppose such developments; I heard recently that the objectives of companies like Shell are to survive for as long as possible versus their competitors, and to maximise their profits.

Insulate and retrofit houses: We need to stop poking round the edges and properly commit to insulating our existing housing stock, before retrofitting air source heat pumps to replace gas boilers. It’s not happening fast enough and there isn’t enough investment. If we implemented a proper windfall tax on energy companies, without loopholes they can offset against, we could fund things like this. It needs a big training programme to produce the skilled workers required, which would mean more jobs. We also need to make sure developers do a better job on new builds with insulation, solar panels made mandatory, and phasing away from gas boilers. This is all pretty difficult if you’re a politician worrying about an election in a few years time; no motivation to do the right thing.

Public Transport expansion and Electric Vehicles: I’m really sorry, we’re being sold a lie that swapping your petrol or diesel car for an electric one will make things better. Electric Vehicles are heavier, have a large carbon footprint when they’re constructed, and are not without particulate emissions which increase air pollution. Their weight makes them more dangerous, and could mean some structures such as multi-storey carparks and bridges aren’t suitable anymore. I’m also not entirely sure what’s going to happen to all the batteries when they reach the end of their useful life, although they’re improving all the time. I like electric vehicles, and think electric bikes are brilliant, but we can’t just swap one bad thing for another to keep the car industry and economy afloat; and where are all those rare earth minerals going to come from exactly? Invest instead in better public transport; trains, buses and trams. Invest in more cycle and foot paths (active transport). Introduce more clean air zones which in turn will mean less deaths from air pollution. Another difficult decision for those in power as in the short term it would no doubt be incredibly unpopular to tell people the age of personal car ownership is over. Just look at the reaction to ULEZ.

Consume less and change the economic model: Our emissions per capita (per the average person) are much higher in the UK and other westernised countries (the Global North) compared with the Global South. We consume far more in terms of single use products, meat, fast fashion and goods produced from fossil fuels. We also travel more, especially by plane. This is a massive privilege and not accounted for in UK emissions a lot of the time, as the goods are produced abroad and emission statistics don’t include shipping or aviation. This is one of the reasons the ‘UK is only responsible for 1% of global emissions, go and protest in China’ argument is so infuriating. It’s based on yet another lie. Selling the idea that we need to buy less stuff, eat less meat, and not go on holiday by plane as much is going to be a tough sell for politicians, so let’s strike this one off the list straightaway. It will however happen of its own accord if we don’t make the changes needed; not having a viable society equals lack of shops, food, and holidays.

On the economic model front we need to stop basing success on GDP (Gross Domestic Product = a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced in a specific time period by a country or countries). Instead we could move to doughnut economics to ensure that “no one is left falling short on life’s essentials, and an ecological ceiling, to ensure that humanity does not collectively overshoot the planetary boundaries that protect Earth’s life-supporting systems.” Read Kate Raworth’s book for more information. The current economic model seems to rely on the fiction that our planet has infinite resources, which it doesn’t. We’ve got to move to a sustainable model or we’re just going to burn out; countries in the Global South are already quite literally burning out due to our addiction to GDP.

Sadly changing our economy would upset a lot of rich people, and those in power, and wouldn’t be painless for a lot of the population in the short term. But the long term benefits, and the fact it would help us survive seem, to me, to outweigh that. It would take a pretty charismatic and courageous politician to sell that though.

Refugees: You know how angry people are getting about thousands of migrants and refugees trying to get into the UK? It’s going to get a lot worse as parts of the world become uninhabitable, which is already happening. In the meantime the UK is cutting overseas aid budgets and pulling up the drawbridge. Shouldn’t we be doing all we can to help these people? A lot of the impacts being felt in places like Africa and India, and small island nations, are a result of our colonialist policies of the past, and the fact we’ve been burning fossil fuels for centuries. The people least responsible for the climate crisis are suffering the worst, and are the least able to mitigate and adapt to it. I get people have concerns about how much room we have, and our public services and infrastructure being overwhelmed, however surely we have a duty of care due to our past and present actions? The least we could do is increase our aid budget and cut emissions to give these people a chance in their own countries; they don’t want to have to move, we’re forcing them to. This is a political hot topic and it appears those in power, or aspiring to form the next Government, have decided it would be political suicide to help refugees. History will judge us, if we have one.

Protect our remaining wild spaces and seas, and re-wild: I really don’t get why this isn’t happening. Most of the public clearly support it and it would win votes. Yet we consistently cut down woodland to build houses and industry, ignore protected zones in our seas, and continue to pollute our landscapes, persecute wildlife, and destroy rare habitats. The UK is the most nature-denuded country in Europe. Our national parks are ecological wastelands most of the time. Insect populations are plummeting, an estimated decline of 64% between 2004 and 2022 due to the continued overuse of pesticides. Our waterways are full of sewage, and our fields and ground water full of excess fertiliser and animal faeces from agriculture. We’ve been getting it so wrong. Thankfully there are efforts to stop and reverse the destruction and pollution, and to rewild across large parts of the country. There are some brilliant efforts being made by farmers to change their practices, use less chemicals and not just grow monocultures. However they’re up against greedy developers, a Government that still wants to trash our countryside with new roads, and a general public misconception about what nature looks like and how it should be managed; see national parks comment. And of course big-pharma who really don’t want us to stop using all those nice chemicals they make for fertilisers and pesticides, and who rubbish and persecute soil scientists trying to convince us otherwise.

New roads: The Welsh Government has very sensibly said no to new road building, however we’re still ploughing ahead with it in England. New dual carriageways, bypasses and link road plans abound. I could write an entire post just about this, and how new roads equals more traffic (induced traffic demand) and more emissions, not too mention how the emissions from building them will contribute to breaking our net-zero targets. This is a sensitive issue in Norfolk, where I live, where there are several schemes going through at the moment including the Norwich Western Link road. The link road will destroy rare chalk stream habitat, cost a fortune, increase emissions, air, light and water pollution, all for the sake of cutting minutes of a car journey. Again, we need to stop our car-centric view of the world and invest in public and active transport, then we wouldn’t need all these new roads. This is another political hot potato, with pro-road campaigners and politicians accusing anti-road campaigners of being anti-growth, and not being in line with ordinary working class people. It’s a back and forth argument, however most politicians in England are still on the side for new roads for economic growth.

I really wish we had more joined up thinking across all these challenges. Why can’t politicians see we’re shooting ourselves in the foot? There are no doubt more examples of difficult decisions politicians won’t make, however maybe you could suggest some in the comments. I’m starting to feel a bit burned out about it all.

It does indeed feel a bit hopeless when you look at what we’re up against. How can we hope that any politicians that want to get elected are going to make these difficult decisions? But they could do, if they explained why they’re needed truthfully, why it is 100% necessary for survival, and that it could result in a better way of life after perhaps a tough transition period. We really need to move onto a global war footing to start solving these challenges, with daily updates similar to those we had during the COVID pandemic.

The benefits of all these changes will be massive when they happen. I say when they happen, because they have to happen if we want to survive. Better physical and mental health, more joined up communities supporting one another, and an appreciation of what’s really important in life. And the great news, we can still have things like the internet and lots of the stuff we enjoy today, but in a sustainable and balanced fashion with the rest of the world’s inhabitants, without breaking through ecological ceilings. I dream of nature being allowed to regenerate, clean air and water, thriving habitats and healthy soil, and of species currently struggling or nearing extinction making a comeback. I really believe that one of the reasons so many people are ill at the moment, both mentally and physically, is because we’re totally out of balance with nature. At a subconscious level I think we all know it. We’re all fundamentally a part of nature, not apart from it.

The longer we maintain our current destructive way of life the more difficult and expensive it will get to change things, and the more people and animals across the planet are going to suffer and die. I know we’ve locked in a lot of climate change impacts now as greenhouse gas emissions stay in the atmosphere for so long, but we need to fight against every fraction of a degree in temperature rise, and against every ecological tipping point being reached.

Why is Sunak, who appears to be spineless, so willing to go along with this countdown to extinction? I’m pretty sure his daughters don’t agree. Kudos to the Greenpeace supporters that climbed on one of his houses this week to call him out; they knew he and his family weren’t there, and knew how to climb the building safely. Feels like he’s a child trying to survive politics in an aquarium full of sharks, and he’s hiding in the coral which incidentally is dying due to yes, you guessed it, the climate and ecological crises. Sadly I don’t think Starmer will be much better. He’s already said he will keep the new oil and gas licenses the Tories have approved, and he seems pro most other things that will make matters worse, whilst supporting legislation to silence ordinary people protesting about it. We’re up against huge vested interests, worth billions of pounds, whilst activists only have a fraction of the resources.

That was a heavy but I hope informative stream of consciousness, and I’d love to hear what you think about it all. By way of light relief here are some pictures of Gideon being his usual self, and of a hedgehog that’s visiting me each night.

Arrives most nights, about 11pm
Arrives most nights, about 11pm
Visiting hedgehog having a drink
Visiting hedgehog having a drink
Hiding in the brassicas
Hiding in the brassicas
In the brassicas again
In the brassicas again
Hunting butterflies, I tried explaining about insect number declines
Hunting butterflies, I tried explaining about insect number declines
Apparently rain water in a bucket is best
Apparently rain water in a bucket is best
Propping up sunflower due to high wind
Propping up sunflower due to high wind
Gideon supervising gardening
Gideon supervising gardening

Finally, just to acknowledge the passing of Sinead O’Connor. Here’s one of my favourite songs of hers. What a powerful voice, full of emotion and conviction. Such a loss. And such a travesty that she was hounded by so many for speaking the truth.

Not an April Fools, just Fools

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I know I post about the the Climate Crisis a lot. I know that it might bore some people. But this week has seen complete madness from our Government. And now this, and it’s not an April Fools.

Tax Cuts on Domestic Flights
Tax Cuts on Domestic Flights…lunacy

France has banned short-haul domestic flights to cut emissions, we on the other hand appear to be encouraging them, rather than investing in trains, buses and active transport. Apparently flight bookings have surged since this announcement

This week the Government were originally going to have a ‘Green Day’, instead it turned out to be a day of investing further in fossil fuels; an ‘Energy Security Day’. They want to open over 100 new oil and gas fields in the North Sea, a new coal mine, and claim that unproven carbon capture technology will make it alright; would you bet your future on a three legged horse? They won’t even end routine oil and gas flaring by 2025, a key recommendation.

The carbon capture thing just isn’t proven at scale, and is motivated by politicians and companies like BP, Shell and Exxon (climate criminals) wanting to make as much profit out of oil and gas, whilst the world burns. I strongly suspect carbon sequestration is also an attempt to not make loads of oil and gas infrastructure redundant, which would leave a massive stranded asset. They probably think they can make loads of cash off Europe by trying to store carbon under the North Sea, but it’s just gambling with our future. Money Money Money, Growth Growth Growth = Death Death Death.

People are already dying in their thousands from the Climate Crisis. One person every 36 seconds in East Africa due to climate induced drought/famine. Island nations such as Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands will cease to exist soon, and the Maldives where people love to fly to, ironically, on their holidays.

And the Government are worried about refugees and migrants. Well, we’re going to have billions of climate refugees soon, which will make the ‘small boat crisis’ seem like child’s-play. Millions will be displaced from Africa alone by 2050 – estimates range from 86 million upwards.

Our Government are failing to invest sufficiently in renewables, they won’t back onshore wind, they won’t make solar panels mandatory on new builds, they won’t prioritise improvements to the power grid to make renewable energy work better, they won’t prioritise insulating people’s homes sufficiently. Instead they subsidise the fossil fuel industry to the tune of £236m a week (£11bn a year), oh, and they do this whilst accepting donations from oil and gas companies and climate sceptics, but I’m sure there’s no connection. They’re homicidal maniacs.

The latest IPCC report says ‘There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.’ They’re talking a few years. Government policy is a death sentence for future generations.

We’re not going to meet our emissions targets; 68% cut by 2030 and net zero by 2050. The UN say we need to bring the net zero target forward by 10 years anyway. The target to keep temperature increases to 1.5C above pre-industrial averages is blown; we’re on target for +2.7C by 2100, which will be disastrous. Chris Skidmore MP, Chair of the Net Zero Review, has told the Government that any investment in new oil and gas means we won’t hit targets. The UN, IPCC, International Energy Association, thousands of climate scientists, all say no new oil and gas.

We have enough reserves to last us 7+ years whilst we transition to renewables, which incidentally are 9 times cheaper than fossil fuels, and far quicker to come online (months not years). What the hell are the Government doing aside from lining their own pockets, and supporting the billionaires running the fossil fuel industry and right wing press? It’s all short term profit for a few, over people and planet, and during a cost of living crisis.

They are breaking their own laws on meeting targets. This was demonstrated last year when Friends of the Earth took them to the High Court, who deemed the Government’s Net Zero Strategy unlawful on the grounds that they didn’t forecast the emissions impact of its policies, and that third-party forecasts put the impact far short of what would be needed for the UK to meet its legally binding climate targets.

They lie, misdirect, and cheat. If I hear one more claim that we’re ‘world leading’ I might just explode. Do they really think we’re that stupid? The stats might have shown a reduction in emissions but that’s because we’ve outsourced the production of so much we consume to places like China and India, which those stats don’t include, not to mention the transportation of those goods (aviation or shipping).

Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, says ‘We’re on the highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.’

The Conservative Government are criminals, they are knowingly committing murder. They are killing people in the Global South now with their policies, and wiping out our children’s futures. This is a strong word, but really it’s an act of genocide being committed by our Government and Governments around the world, especially in the Global North, for failing to act decisively on the climate crisis whilst actively investing in the root causes. All the science says we shouldn’t invest in new oil and gas. What else would you call it? They know what will happen but are choosing to ignore it in favour of profit.

Who do you trust? It’s time to pick a side. I am incensed, grieving, sickened. All the solutions are there but the Government are choosing to do the opposite of what’s needed. We can’t go on like this, but we can come together, work together, and force the changes needed. We have to unite to survive.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. It was meant to be a short blog on the short haul flight thing, but there’s so much idiocy from our Government it turned into something far longer.

I, and thousands of other ordinary people, are in rebellion against our criminal Government. We’re aiming to get 100,000 people outside Parliament from 21 to 24 April, to send a message they can’t ignore to those in power. The Big One is being organised by Extinction Rebellion, with supporters such as Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Earthday, Global Justice Now and many others.

If you can’t do anything else, then please join us for ‘The Big One’. And drop me a message if you want some ideas on how you can get involved by joining 1000’s of others in taking action on the climate and ecological crisis.

https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-big-one/https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-big-one/

I’ve not even mentioned new road building, HS2, that we’re the most nature denuded country in Europe, the indigenous climate protestors being killed for taking action, that water companies are making massive profits whilst polluting our rivers and on and on and on. I think I’d better go outside and take some deep breaths.

One other bit of news this week. Gideon has been quite poorly. I had to take him to the vets for an emergency procedure on Tuesday for a blocked urethra. Apparently this isn’t uncommon in male cats, especially when the seasons change. The procedure was successful, and he had a very long wee afterwards. There is a risk it will block again so he’s got to take medicine for a while, which he hates, and has to have special urinary cat food now. Fingers crossed he’ll be alright but I’m having to keep a close eye to make sure he can wee, poor thing. Here he is, convalescing.

He needs lots of attention
He needs lots of attention
Gideon convalescing
Gideon convalescing
Sleeping even more that usual
Sleeping even more that usual
He had to have some fur shaved off his leg. Not impressed.
He had to have some fur shaved off his leg. Not impressed.

As we say when we sign off in Extinction Rebellion, Love and Rage.

Letter to my MP – March 2023

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In this month’s letter to my MP I address his update on Voter ID, and his claims on the benefits of the proposed Western Link Road.

On voter ID, remember to register and get a photo ID if you want to vote in person, and don’t already have one. Mr Mayhew says:

‘Local Elections for Broadland District Council and North Norfolk District Council are fast approaching.  With photo ID now required to vote in UK elections, it’s the right time to ensure you’ve got everything you need to vote on Thursday 4th May. Don’t have photo ID?  There are options:

On the Western Link, he claims:

‘I was very pleased to meet Norfolk County Council’s Western Link Team. The missing link road is one of issues most frequently raised with me. It is vital that we build this road to stop the terrible rat running that villages currently endure, reduce traffic emissions, improve access to markets for swathes of Norfolk businesses and knocks twenty minutes off ambulance response times to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.’

Here’s my letter to Jerome Mayhew MP, I am looking forward to his reply.

Dear Mr Mayhew,

Thank you for your latest newsletter, an interesting read as always.

I’m writing in response to your updates on the Western Link Road, and Voter ID.

To address the latter first. We have never had a problem with electoral fraud in this country. This seems like a deliberate ploy by the Conservatives to exclude young voters, further alienating them, as they are less likely to vote for your Party. Why is it that student cards are not an acceptable form of ID, but bus passes for the over 60’s are? This is yet another erosion of our rights in this country, which when coupled with the PCSC Act and Public Order Bill is leaving us in a scary place (1930’s Germany-like).

On the Western Link. Your newsletter claims this is one of the most frequently raised issues with you; I wonder if you count the number of people that are against it in your tally? I know I have corresponded on this with you before, but why is it so vital we build this road given the damage it’s going to do? Rat running in villages is not pleasant, but set against ecological destruction, environmental damage, increased emissions we can’t afford and the impacts these will have in terms of increased floods, wildfires, and harvest failures in Norfolk, I’d take rat running; I live in the countryside and have to contend with some of this myself.

On the rat-running front, there are other avenues that can be explored, such as camera controlled gates (they have these in Trowse now).

You say the road will reduce emissions, how exactly? Building the road will blow Norfolk’s carbon budget for a start, and it is proven that increasing the number of roads increases the amount of cars/traffic, and thus emissions. I did a quick internet search and found this study on it, from the Government website – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/induced-travel-demand-an-evidence-review . There are plenty of other studies out there, however the evidence is that road capacity improvements increase traffic – induced travel demand.

You also claim the road will increase access to markets for swathes of Norfolk businesses. Which markets and which businesses? As this CPRE report states, new roads do not equal economic benefit – https://www.cpre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/TheZendZofZtheZroad.pdf

This report also backs up the induced traffic effect I referred to earlier.

Moving on to ambulance response times. I think a more pressing concern is the wait times ambulances have to offload patients when they get to the N&N, which I hope have improved after recent issues. The NHS is massively underfunded and under constant attack by the Government, who seem intent on privatising it. Your claim that it will reduce ambulance response times by 20 minutes is spurious, as surely it won’t really make any difference for much of Norwich, where ambulances will still need to travel into the City. I don’t think we have a problem with ambulance response times (see – http://www.ambulanceresponsetimes.co.uk/), I think it’s more a fundamental problem with a lack of support for our doctors, nurses, and hospital infrastructure, and what happens when ambulances reach hospitals.

So, we’ve debunked the emissions point, as well as the economic benefits, and addressed the ambulance response times point. In addition this road was going to cost £64m a mile if it goes ahead, probably more now. We’re in a cost of living crisis and Norfolk County Council are slashing public services, including welfare, people are going hungry, homeless and can’t afford heating. Wouldn’t it be better to spend this money on public and active transport, as well as welfare services? Investing in public transport and reducing personal car ownership is really where we need to go in terms of reducing congestion and emissions; I really liked the £2 cap on bus fares recently. The cost could also severely damage the county council’s finances if government funding is not secured; less likely now Liz Truss is no longer PM.

Please consider withdrawing your support for this road. It’s going to destroy ancient woodland, rare chalk stream habitat, endangered Barbastelle bat colonies, and pollute the local landscape. It will increase traffic and emissions because that’s what new roads do. The road is also a blatant move to open up the Norfolk countryside to more development and destruction, for the profit of a few.

I look forward to hearing from you, and would welcome an opportunity to discuss in person at one of your surgeries, if possible?

Yours sincerely,

James Harvey

I’d encourage everyone to write to your MP on issues you feel strongly about. With the right to protest being eroded we need to make our views known. If you’re unable to get out on the streets then at least write a quick email.

Here are a few recent pictures of Gideon, cos he didn’t want to be left out.

Gideon hiding, not very well
Gideon hiding, not very well
Taking in some sunshine
Taking in some sunshine
Gideon getting some lap time
Gideon getting some lap time

And a couple of things I dug up from my garden recently, which were most excellent. Looking forward to planting more vegetables this year, especially with supermarket shortages and prices going up.

Mutant beetroot
Mutant beetroot
Leeks extraordinaire
Leeks extraordinaire

Thanks Dad for the leek seedlings!

What the f*ck are we doing to ourselves?

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I think this has been brewing since Christmas, however a few things have happened today which made me really want to write it. If you don’t want to read this in its entirety then please skip to the end, there are a couple of call-to-actions I implore you to consider. And when I say you, I mean all my friends in Norwich and around the country, my family, people I’ve met on my travels; please consider taking some sort of action to get us out of the mess we’re in. There will probably be some swearing in this post, and it’s quite raw. I might forget to include asterisks.

Here’s a picture of Gideon being judgemental, to ease things in. But we will be judged by future generations for not doing enough, of that I have no doubt. We’re being judged by the current younger generation. Gideon reminds me that we are very much a part of nature, not apart from it or above it. When nature dies, we do too. He is wise (but sometimes quite stupid like when he thinks the weather will be better through the back door compared to the front door).

Judgemental Gideon
Judgemental Gideon

I was in an online meeting earlier which included several young supporters of Just Stop Oil, people who have also taken action with Extinction Rebellion and other environmental campaign groups. I was listening to their personal stories, what they are feeling, what they’ve gone through, what motivates them to take action. Some of them have only just turned 20 and are terrified about the future, about what is happening right now. These are extraordinary individuals, they are my friends, I love them all. I was immensely moved by some of the accounts they shared, I could feel my eyes tearing up and that big lump in my stomach and heart I get when I feel emotional and anxious.

Why the f*ck have we allowed this to happen? What are we doing to ourselves? Why are these young adults so afraid for their futures? Why am I worrying about asterisks in swear words when the situation is so awful? My friends don’t dare consider having children, and long term plans are a luxury they don’t risk dreaming about.

I take action on the spokesperson team for Just Stop Oil, as well as Extinction Rebellion sometimes. I watched this interview on Good Morning Britain again earlier. I’m sorry, Richard Madeley is a bastard. He treated Miranda with utter contempt, and was a patronising fool. Miranda was excellent, intelligent, thoughtful, passionate (although I hate that word), and clearly understands how dire a situation we’re in far better than anyone else there. How dare they and other journalists accuse young people of taking action to boost their egos? How fucking dare they sit there being anything but journalists telling the truth and going after the real criminals, when ordinary people are suffering and dying all around the world whilst they sit in their comfortable, privileged seats paid for in the most part by historical colonialism. It fills me with rage, grief and a fair amount of despair, but I can use that. I can definitely use that; hope may be lost but love and rage drives action.

Here is the interview on GMB, watch it and tell me you think Madeley or the other guest they have on should be given any more airtime?

https://twitter.com/GreenpeaceUK/status/1513835066928951301?s=20&t=FVBYkaHWv7N5yuID8lCFEw

I am not doing enough. I take action with Just Stop Oil (JSO) and Extinction Rebellion. I have joined the Green Party and am going to stand as a district councillor to try to make things better for local people. I still sign petitions although I don’t know why, they don’t seem to do anything. I still write to my MP, I did so earlier this week about the abhorrent profits Shell and now BP have made off the back of the energy crisis, whilst we’re in a cost of living crisis. I’ve stood and sat in roads with placards, filmed and live-streamed countless actions, banged drums, put up posters, handed out fliers, helped with talks, been to picket lines, spray painted protest artwork. Not been arrested but that seems inevitable now the Government have brought in, and are trying to bring in more draconian anti protest and anti freedom of speech laws. It’s like the V for Vendetta film but this isn’t a fantasy, it’s actually happening; ordinary people are being arrested in their homes for doing nothing but exercising their democratic right to freedom of speech and freedom to protest. The police have arrested journalists for fucks sake. Do we actually live in a democracy, I don’t think so, although it’s still just about ahead of the likes of Russia and Syria. It’s getting very like 1930’s Germany, have politicians, media and business not studied history? Have we learned nothing?

I’m not doing enough though. And this isn’t ego talking. I wake up every day, and often during the night, thinking I’ve got to do more. Why am I bothering thinking about a pension, my job, about saving to buy stuff I don’t actually need when the world might be unliveable in many places within the next 50 years; it’s already starting to happen now with 1 person dying every 36 seconds from climate induced drought/famine in parts of Africa.

I have a niece who is 9, a nephew 11, god children who range from 5 to 12. I am terribly afraid they won’t live to my age. I’m 47. How can I protect them from what’s coming? Food and water shortages, extreme weather, war caused by mass migration and battle for remaining resources, I could go on but it makes me want to cry, again. I wish I was being sensationalist but scientists are telling us, via peer reviewed studies, just how bad things are and how much worse they’re going to get. But the Government and media just seem to ignore it, and as a consequence the general public seem to mostly ignore it too.

Okay, photo break. Well done and gratitude if you got this far. I wish I could describe better the emotional state I’m in; guilt, sadness, grief for sure, and massive amounts of rage. It doesn’t have to bloody be this way but the system we’re in seems incapable of realising where we’re at and what we need to do.

A world within a world
A world within a world
Gideon lounging
Gideon lounging
I time to reflect
A time to reflect
Everything is fine
Everything is fine

Consulting notes I made earlier. I don’t want to write an essay on this, so I’m going to summarise why I’m really scared, sad, depressed, anxious, fucked off, desperate, angry, so concerned for people that are being utterly mislead or suffering right now. Here goes (list not exhaustive and if I was more talented I’d turn it into a poem).

Bee killing pesticides the Government keep licensing, plus Glyphosate use. Dumping sewage in rivers – Government voted to say that’s fine. HS2 – costing billions and report out today says it’s destroying nature. Licensing new oil and gas fields, and opening new coal mines – Tories are doing it when every other political party, climate scientists (other scientists too), Antonio Guterres etc say no. Building new roads – we don’t have the carbon budget for them and they destroy ancient woodland/habitat – local Western Link Road plans for example. Fucking grouse shooting and moorlands – urgh. Fixation on growth and GDP – it’s killing us, other models of existence are available and more promising in terms of the existence bit. Freedom of speech. Freedom to Protest. Actual democracy. Media ineptitude (although a few local journo’s have been great) and failure to tell the truth. Refugee crisis and our failure to take responsibility and be welcoming. Intolerance. Racism. Sexism. Transphobia – extreme right wing in Norwich have been at it recently. Insect numbers plummeting (this is really serious, think windscreens and bugs). Artic/Antarctic ice melt. Glacier ice melt. Greenland ice sheets disappearing. Amazon rainforest tipping point. Electric vehicles being hailed as the solution. Ocean acidification. Ocean over-fishing. Global North just keep on consuming (buying stuff). Global South just keep on dying as a result. Institutional police racism, misogyny, sexism – no wonder a lot of people don’t feel safe to protest – sort your own house out before you arrest anyone. Hurricanes. Rain bombs. Drought. Famine. Air pollution. Flooding. Wildfires. People striking for fair pay, terms and support – NHS, teachers, railway workers, ambulance drivers etc

These things are all happening right now. And are going to get worse. I need to do more.

It feels like we’re going backwards with the current Government, and big businesses. The BP boss Bernard Looney has said he’s gonna invest more in oil and less in renewables for Christ’s sake (other gods are available to profane). Shell and BP have announced record profits, billions of pounds, profiteering off the back of a war and putting us into a cost of living crisis.

Why on Earth do we think this is all acceptable? There are other ways of living that would bring us closer together as people, communities, faiths. We could be happier and healthier, yet the current system is driving us into an existential crisis; repeat, young ones today won’t live to my age if this continues, and thousands are dying right now because of our greed, ineptitude, ignorance and unwillingness to change. It’s so frustrating because it could all be so much better.

Please help. I and many others are sick, quite literally, of trying to change things. And I count us lucky as we’re not the ones suffering and dying from drought, famine, or fighting for resources. My home isn’t being flooded or burnt as many people’s are round the world, or even here in the UK.

Join Just Stop Oil. Join Extinction Rebellion. Join Friends of the Earth. Join Greenpeace – checkout their current oil rig occupation. Join Stand Up to Racism, ACORN, a Union, anything that makes a difference. Take some sort of action; yeah, write some letters, sign petitions, join digital storms on Twitter, Insta and Facebook. Just do something whilst we still have time (1.5C target is blown by the way).

And don’t let the Government and Oil/Gas companies get away with Greenwashing or blaming individuals. We can only do so much with recycling, stopping flying, stopping buying, or moving to a vegetable diet. We need SYSTEM CHANGE, otherwise we’re trapped.

As promised. Links to stuff you can do.

Join Extinction Rebellion and many other organisations in London on 21 April. Thousands will be gathering. Police won’t arrest you. Peaceful protest that won’t disrupt the public. Find out more and sign up here – I’m gonna repeat my plea to friends, family and colleagues at this point – https://extinctionrebellion.uk/ – IF YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING ELSE THEN PLEASE JUST COME TO THIS (sorry for shouting)

Come to a Just Stop Oil talk about Our Responsibilities At This Time. Learn that it’s totally possible for you to make a difference, and meet like-minded people that stop you feeling so alone – https://juststopoil.org/events/

Stay safe my friends. Stay in contact. Hug your loved ones. Keep learning, reading, communicating, organising and taking action ✊

Oh, and vote Green, we can win, and it’ll make a hell of a difference.