Climate protesters at Mansion House

It's hardly aggression or violence though, is it?

I can’t believe you wrote thar oldgimmer did you actually see what he did, but then of course you think she was ‘asking for it’ probably.

This

The day began with a video of Mark Field slamming Janet Barker against a wall. It ends with a recording of Carrie Symonds shouting “getting off me to Boris Johnson and E Jean Carroll accusing Trump of rape. Helluva day for violence against women, guys

This

Doesn't sound like Mark Field believed she had a gun ….

“He continued to grip me by the neck & the arm all the way to the door of the building. ..... he shoved me outside on to the street, & said: ‘This is what happens when people like you disturb our dinner.’”

CyclingKnitter. Thank you for your eloquent comment!

Perhaps we should all remember that had it not been for female protesters not one of us, on Gransnet would be able to vote, today.
Mark Field’s behaviour was abhorrent.

Cali are you Jami?

No. Why would you think that? This is my only handle.

This incident highlights how much the entitled are feeling entitled.
He told her "this is what happens when people like you disturb our dinner"

Who are we are people like you? we are the ones watching those MP's destroy our country and our planet for their own greed. They also look down on us and this action showed his emotions leaking out in an ugly manner.

There is no way a white girl in a thin dress was a terrorist.....she was part of Greenpeace who make non violent protests.
They are not all hypocrites. On what is that based.? This girl lives off grid

Some of the comments here make me deeply sad.....the planet is dying.......

As an aside to this, I'd really like to know what Philip Hammond was talking about in the bit of his speech just before the interruption, when he said he welcomed the fact that there had been a number of applications from ordinary people, one of whom was a primary school headteacher. What on earth does he mean by 'ordinary' people?! And what were they applying to/for? Anyone on here have any idea?

Hammond sought to minimise the impact of this protest by congratulating the government for its (future) achievements, saying:

"The irony, of course, is that this is the government that has just led the world by committing to a zero carbon economy by 2050".

This pronouncement elicited much inevitable applause. In reality it meant nothing. He was talking about 30 years hence and it's easy to make promises so far into the future. By that time the members of this government are likely to be very old or dead. It would have been difficult, of course, for him to flag up the great environmental achievements that this government has made during its time in office, as Abby Innes, Assistant Professor of Political Economy at the LSE, recently wrote:

"In the light of the recent climate protests the Conservative government insists that the UK is a world leader in climate change policy, but this is no longer true. Conservative governments since 2015 have systematically dismantled the policies put in place under the Climate Change Act of 2008 and increased public spending on fossil fuels. Nevertheless, conscious of ongoing public concern, governments since 2016 have played a remarkable game: one in which they make unprecedented promises of action while they actively reverse the essential policies of mitigation in practice...............................

..................... "On her second day in office May abolished the Department for Energy and Climate Change and moved climate change responsibilities into the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy: a marked downgrading.

"Climate change did not feature in the ‘Five Giant Challenges’ set out in the 2017 Conservative Manifesto, Forward Together. On the contrary, the number one challenge as conceived by the Conservative Party was to create a strong, high growth economy, though maximising growth (as distinct from inclusive prosperity), is a recipe for accelerated ecological disaster. The Manifesto also committed to ensure “that the [oil and gas] sector continues to play a critical role in our economy and domestic energy supply.” It supported fracking and committed to exempt exploratory wells from planning permission requirements, a policy on which they are currently following through. This government also promotes the significant expansion of UK aviation.

............................"In the 2015 summer Budget Osborne removed Climate Change Levy Exemptions from renewable electricity with less than a month’s notice. This decision ended the de facto tax exemption for organisations that turned to renewables and left few tax incentives for industry to make a forward-looking choice of supplier. The shift was straightforwardly damaging to the renewables sector.

.........................."The Budget made no mention of carbon pricing after the phase-out of coal. The low price threatened a return to coal by the 2020s and endangered the UK’s emissions targets. Greenpeace declared autumn 2017 “one of the least green Budgets ever”.

................"By 2016 UK general government (i.e. central and local) spent £14.4 billion on Environmental Protection Expenditure compared to £15.4 billion in 2010, with over 70% of this spending taken up by waste management. Spending on the protection of ambient air and climate stood at £119 million in 2016: that’s just over a fifth of the expenditure in 2010, despite the UK’s chronic breach of EU air quality standards.

.........................." The IMF reported that the UK spent £26 billion on fossil fuel subsidies in 2015, with coal the main beneficiary, gaining some £18 billion, with much of that subsidy going overseas, since the UK satisfied 85% of its coal demand through imports. This suggests that the UK in 2015 subsidised fossil fuels at between three to four times what it spent on renewables: a policy that is lose-lose."

There is no way a white girl.....was a terrorist.

Good grief.

Trisher Yes, I have looked at the video.

As for demonstrators already having been ejected - I think this was from the building, not the actual room where Mark Field was sitting.

I think that he acted wisely in this situation, and if you had had a loved one of yours sitting there - potentially under threat from an unknown intruder - you would be thanking him for putting his life on the line, to save their's.

As for the silly comments from some posters - 'She was wearing a red dress and high heels', meaning, presumably, that she couldn't possibly be a terrorist, or someone who meant harm - GROW UP!

It wasn’t the fact she was white or a woman it was that she was in a sleeveless , low cut gown carrying a few leaflets on a peaceful protest that made it obvious she wasn’t wearing a suicide vest or carrying a machine gun, or even a milkshake. He has admitted he overreacted. Those who say he didn’t, obviously don’t agree with him.

Security,had they intercepted the protester, would have done the same, they would have used an armlock though, which is more painful.
Breaking into a private event is quite different to holding a preplanned public demo.
The protestors seemed to enjoy the whole thing, having achieved their aim.

Exactly lemon

and as Lyndiloo said if you had had a loved one of yours sitting there - potentially under threat from an unknown intruder - you would be thanking him for putting his life on the line, to save their's

Yes I would .

As for the climate change 2050 promise. What do these people really want? An overnight ban on everything? I laughed listening to a silly little schoolgirl on our local radio yesterday bleating on about staying off school to protest....she was asked if she was taking a foreign holiday with her parents this year and when pressed, answered “I don’t think my trip to Greece will make much difference do you? “ stupid girl, someone needs to tell her that If you talk the talk you must walk the walk of course the rules of the game don’t apply to spoilt little brats like her do they?

gillybob If we carry on being complacent about the massive environmental damage that is being done to the earth we are guaranteeing a very miserable and frightening future for the generations that follow us.

In a way you contradict yourself. You say that it would be impossible to enforce "overnight bans" on everything. That surely means that even small changes are better than nothing. People can make a difference without living on bread and water and walking everywhere. Having one holiday abroad a year, for instance, is better than having holidays abroad practically every other month, as some of my friends do. Why pick on a young person. I expect many of us don't always do what we know we ought to do.

I think it would be patronising and insulting for someone to be referred to as a "silly old woman" just because she expresses an opinion that doesn't suit. I think it's equally unacceptable to refer to a young person as a "silly little schoolgirl".

I’m not picking on a young person Eloethan I am just pointing out the sheer hypocrisy of her words versus her actions . There are plenty more just like her . Super hypocrite Emma Thompson anyone ?

Like many others I do my best . I recycle etc. but I realistic about what can be achieved in what time frame . This child was talking about stopping car production, and instantly banning diesel vehicles ( of course what these people were going to do for jobs didn’t enter her tiny mind) and at the same time quite happy to fly to Greece on holiday .

Reactions to this 'event' show just how massively divided we are- on GN, and in the country.

And I do wonder about the correlation to other 'issues' (won't say the word) ?

Oh and she was defending her “right to stay off school to protest”. I wonder what her teachers think about that ?

I think that there is a strong and entirely true argument that climate change threatens the entire world, bringing with it, species loss, climate migration, overwhelming weather patterns including flooding, drought, excessive heat and storms amongst other things.

In my view these climate protesters are entirely right in what the are trying to achieve. Those who try to detract from their efforts are entirely wrong.

The suffrage movement carried our far more violent and aggressive protest. It seems to me that those who have reacted so negatively to these climate warriors would have reacted just the same to the suffragettes if they had be alive at that time. Both backward looking and totally bigoted.

Yes, double standards, gillybob

If young protesters cannot heed their own advice - demands? - what hope is there for their own future and that of this planet?
Thank goodness there are so many others who work diligently and often without praise or publicity to find solutions.

No one has said that someone wearing high heels and a red dress couldn't be a terrorist. What they have said is that it was very clear she wasn't wearing a suicide vest, carrying a bomb or a gun and that the fact that Field didn't bother to confine her arms or hands means he knew that too. If he was truly concerned that she was a terrorist he would either have held her arms and not let her go afterwards or he would have run away. Saying "what if this, what if that" is pointless: the violence and aggression in his behaviour is so obvious to anyone who has been on the receiving end of this kind of thing.

Rest of the Europe reacting with disgust at the video of Fields behaviour

I think questioning young kids on the radio (Gillybob's post) about their holidays is beyond the pale.

My GS who, as you no doubt know by now , is a keen supporter of Extinction Rebellion, is going to the US next month for the World Scouting Jamboree. He is now punishing himself to the extent of taking away from the enjoyment of anticipation, all because he has to go by aeroplane and therefore letting the side down!

Let me assure you that these young people's commitment to the cause is very genuine.

Not one person there thought that they were in any danger. Apart from having to wait for the speeches. He was furious that's quite obvious, not frightened or concerned.

gillybob, do you think the young girl should stay home alone whilst her family go on holiday?

It's the unnecessarily frequent flyers that they are protesting about.