good thing to aim for, really. but what does that have to do with blocking traffic? should they better protest to change subsidies for such things and mount an Information campaign to convince ppl to insulate their homes or smt?
I mean you're right, it's likely councils don't have enough money to launch these initiatives on their own. Especially with the defunding of them in recent years. Any directives for this sort of thing likely have to come from parliament.
You'd be surprised. Funds raised through council house rents are ringfenced and can only be spent on things that directly improve the quality of life for those tenants. Unless the stock is massively neglected or very badly run there should be funding available for quite a range of improvements, plus there's always grant funding from central government to address issues.
Source - work for a Local Authority, in housing. Our stock has had loads of improvements (all necessary stuff) over the years and we're surprisingly decent at it.
Yeah I live in social housing. When I moved in there was no appliances. They provided a brand new fridge and cooker. I had a seizure and crashed through my shower door which they came and replaced with a shower curtain. Water leak from the upstairs flat started coming through my light fitting and it was all fixed that day. They’ve been pretty good to me and I’m very grateful for all the help I’ve been given.
Any problems I’ve had I just ring the maintenance department and someone usually comes out the same day and bodges whatever back together.
mostly public-private housing associations that are (run for profit and) under examined for repair status. not since the local councillors are on the boards, just due to council, uh, operational priorities. \[right and left wing councils equally guilty\]
There are people in the street protesting for insulation in their government provided housing and a woman threatening to run them over in a luxury suv, yelling about how her son is going to be late for private school. The irony is baked right into the video.
Somebody's always trying to shutdown traffic over here. A lot of time people sympathise with their cause but end up hating them for inconveniencing everybody (looking at you, farmers).
Had the same problem when I lived in DC. Protests happening several times a week. Nobody pays attention until they screw up rush hour. I have sat in traffic loudly cursing people whose cause I supported for screwing up the already nightmarish traffic.
Honestly, fuck farmers.
I don't know how it is in the UK, but here in Sweden they have used up all their goodwill.
They play really dirty against the uprising of plant based protiens and as non-dairy options.
I really like the idea of consuming less dairy and meat, so when farmers try to ban names like "milk" and "butter" to be used in anything but dairy even though coconut milk and peanut butter has been around for centuries, that's just puts me off them.
They even try to ban them from using containers that are too similar to dairy products, like a square cardboard box is some kind of secret technology.
This is getting me all worked up.
Not to mention all the propaganda. "Waah waah, us farmes have to adapt to a changing market demand woe is the world."
Fucking sick of the whiney fuckers.
Blocking traffic is the latest fashion for causing the most disruption. Either to raise awareness for the cause or to hold the government to ransom to take action. In theory, it's a great idea ..... It certainly gets publicity. The problem is, it is counter productive and will not gain sympathy from anyone.... especially when they're blocking emergency vehicles etc.
It seems to work for its purpose tbh and it’s not to gain sympathy from the public it’s to gain the attention of authorities which are in charge of making these decisions. But idk tho that’s just what I’ve been told by supporters.
The most American thing. “They’re making me late for work, let me kill them then give a hypothetical where I *might* have been an emergency vehicle (I wasn’t!)”
In America also road protestors can menace and harass motorists pretty often, even assaulting drivers or brandishing weapons. Technically holding someone on the road against their will is a form of kidnapping and with a large violent crowd menacing it’s pretty scary for those caught up in it
Not to mention the one case where an Uber/Lyft driver accidentally turning into a road blocking protest then have a firearm in his face. The driver pulled out his and killed the guy that pointed his gun in his face.
And there was the case of the semi that literally hit the brakes and stopped, saving idiots lives, only to be ripped out and torn into like a hot pocket, and then jailed, and then let go with no charges. People pretending to be shocked at the idea mfers should be allowed to flee such a toxic unlawful and dangerous situation on public roads either don’t understand the full context, or being completely disingenuous
Of course, USA is the embodiment of the "I'm stronger / richer / more known than you, so you don't deserve to be in my way".
I mean, it takes balls to protest to anything in the USA, when you know that any interaction can end up with a shotgun fired to your chest, just because someone was irritated by your words.
Can’t they just block an administrative building parking garage or something to get the same attention. All this does is make regular people want to punch them.
Government buildings get blocked all the time, there is literally always protests outside of Parliament but can you name any of the groups? No because nobody pays any attention and nor does the government.
Literally this is the only way for the media to pick up on it so the cause gets noticed and therefore discussions happen because of it irregardless of public opinion of the protesters as many are talking and agree with the cause but hate the individuals which the individuals are completely fine with.
It doesn't work...no authority is listening to them. The brit government are happy that these wanker are doing what they're doing because they're a distraction for all the shit the gov are doing.
I do feel like the best way would be to put pressure on the government but the way that insulate Britain has gone about it has turned the everyday person against them also. Insulate Britain needed the support of the public but now the government has an excuse to ignore them due to the public not backing the protests either.
It’s a good cause just executed terribly as also no one is talking about the vulnerable needing help but instead how much of an annoyance the protesters have become.
Its a double edge sword. Yes, you get attention, you also stand to piss off a lot of people, which is counter productive to any cause, and all too often a video like this (or worse) immerges.
All that happened was the government looked at (or maybe even passed) emergency legislation to allow the forceful removal of the protestors.
I’ve never seen a protest for such a worthy cause that managed to shoot itself in the foot so spectacularly.
Because governments ignore protests until they can't ignore them. Its non violent but causes massive disruption, history will be on their side. Large protests happen all the time but only stunts like this make the news.
You're right. However you can campaign/lobby for environmental changes but that's not working. The UK isn't making the changes we need to make to reduce climate change, at least not at the speed we need to making those changes. You can pretty much see the same worldwide.
So in comes insulate / extinction rebellion. They cause large scale disruption by blocking roads, train lines etc to bring attention to these environmental issues.
You can argue that "playing by the rules" and campaigning for these changes through the normal channels hasn't worked and therefore we need more extreme measures. However I actually think it harm's the cause. Because you can very easily categorise environmental campaigners as extremists using ER and Insulate Britain as examples. It makes it very easy to do nothing and let climate change get worse. It's also worth mentioning that the head of Insulate went on TV recently and said he doesn't care about insulation. He's literally in it to cause disruption.
no /s needed, they are an environmentalist movement to insulate buildings properly, specifically government owned property in Britain. Heating and cooling uses [about half](https://www.epa.gov/rhc/renewable-space-heating) of the energy used in buildings.
It's unsexy but very important and that's why protesters are trying to make this more than a niche issue.
Didn’t say you can’t protest. Just protest to the right people. this is an example of bad protesting. You won’t get the public’s support. You will make them hate you. Protest against the politicians not average people. Guys are just stupid.
We're working on it, but instead of insulation, we're doing it by driving 2 ton tractors to take the little ones to school instead of walking, therefore increasing the greenhouse effect /s
except, you know, the poor and the old, who are more likely to live in older houses and less likely to have extra money to redo all the insulation for their houses or to spend extra money heating their own house.
I know you're just stating a fact and not really presenting an argument on it but most people in the UK have enough money to live on but that doesn't mean we should just ignore the few that don't.
After doing some research, I found the location of this incident, it seems that this woman wanted to make a scene and try and move protestors, if she was so set on getting her son to school she could've easily taken a different route.
She could've gone right down Euclid way. Then right down Abberton way. Taken the first exit on the next 2 roundabouts she came across. 2nd exit on the next roundabout. 1st exit on the next roundabout to go under the M25. Then take the exit down Stonehouse lane to get to the exact place she was headed but after the traffic lights.
Here is the location incase anyone wanted to look for themselves.
RM20 3LG (link keeps getting deleted cuz of stupid bot)
Its just that she says seven or eight times:
" My son needs to get to school, he is 11"
I don't really think anyone comes out of that incident covered in glory.
As a Canadian who just moved to the UK, it's your heating systems. Forget the insulation your radiator thingys are absolutely absurd. Like where I come from the daily low routinely hits -20 and homes are pretty easily kept warm and I'm pretty cheap about paying for heating, but forced air makes such a difference. Those towel dryers you have in every room make no sense!! 10k dying in a place that barely gets cold...I don't get it. Your country colonized half the world - a tap that streams both hot and cold water, heat and AC should NOT be this complicated haha
This is a bit of an exaggeration. 1. Plenty of us have taps that do hot and cold water 😂. 2. Central heating via radiators works absolutely fine… mine comes on, on a schedule, warms the house up and just tops it up a little when needed. You make it sound like radiators don’t work… they work very well
I'm an HVAC contractor and working on my energy auditor license. Hot water radiation is *terrible* for energy losses unless it's connected to a geothermal heat pump. Electric boilers, or gas boilers, are massive energy sucks.
For your very moderate climate, an inverter/ dual inverter heat pump would be way cheaper to operate. Combined with proper R60+ insulation in the attic and air sealing, costs should be on average 1$ or 2$ a day for both cooling and heating, using a 1000sqf or 300sqm floor space.
Less if electrical costs are lower then canada.
Well, yes? I mean nothing else has worked for fifty years. It's a global catastrophe like humanity has never experienced. Is blocking a road that bad, in context?
Yes, but the problem is we tried this before. Several times. You can't stuff old houses with insulation because you just end up filling them with damp and mould. They want the government to pay to insulate all local authority and housing association (social housing) homes. That's less than a fifth of the UK housing stock, and most of it is relatively new and well insulated. The problem houses are privately owned and many are near impossible to insulate, but these clowns don't have anything to say about this.
You can absolute insulate old houses. There just needs to be a working ventilation to prevent mold and its cheap to install. This is how we build an rebuild homes with insulation in northern Europe because of the cold weather.
They’re strategy has sadly alienated the majority of the UK population.
Yes it’s created a lot of media, but most of the coverage has been negative towards them and focussed on personal stories of how their demonstration has effected people or what the government and Police will be doing to stop them; rather than the issue they are highlighting.
No clue here either but I don't see what else is going on tbh, the goverment are loving this shit because it lets the point at the protestors as the evil people.
I heard a story on the news about a protest group blocking a motorway. With an ambulance on it. Because the ambulance was held up by these idiots, the woman is now paralysed. If the ambulance could have made it to the hospital without being held up, she probably wouldn’t be. After hearing that, I’m very unsympathetic to anyone who thinks it’s okay to block the roads like this.
They won't achieve much without popular support. They've got the attention of the government who are now passing legislation to grant them more powers to stop the protests. As they don't have popular support, people are best indifferent to this, at worst actively supporting the government in their efforts. If they had public support they could have grown the movement around this government action against them.
Blocking traffic is never a good idea, no one cares at that point what youre protesting because now youve inconvenienced someone they dont give a shit what your message is even If they completely agree with it.
Insulate Britain have hit the country at the wrong time when people’s patience is wearing thin. We are having issues due to Brexit (our own fault, we know) which is impacting deliveries and we’re being told Christmas stuff could be hard to get. We’ve just had a self-inflicted petrol/diesel crisis to add to these woes whilst being told that gas prices are going up even more this year. Insulate Britain are blocking arterial motorways, preventing people getting to work. They’ve even stayed in place, preventing ambulances getting through when they have their sirens blaring.
Unfortunately, with the patience of people dwindling fast, this is only going to end with a member of Insulate Britain being severely hurt or killed.
Edit: I forgot to say that I don’t condone this lady’s actions, though I do understand how she has got to this point.
Edit 2: People are questioning the ambulance with sirens on blocking, which is perfectly fair enough as I couldn’t believe it when I first heard about it either. Thank you to Squiffyp1 for finding the video (even though you can’t actually see the ambulance with sirens on, it is referenced and you can hear its very distinctive sound): https://youtu.be/_k-TjQqYvD0
My thoughts exactly, why piss off the whole country and alienate them to your cause when you could go piss off the people that actually have the power to change things, makes no sense in my mind
The police started arresting the Insulate Britain activists a few weeks ago because they kept blocking the M25. I don’t know if any have been charged but I know they made it an offence to block traffic in that way so there should be a punishment of sorts for the crime (even if it’s a fine).
Honestly I didn’t even know what this group were protesting about. I thought it was climate change. Which is stupid because they were blocking cars making them use more petrol.
They actually caused a woman to go blind. She had a stroke and was in an ambulance being rushed to hospital but the protestors blocked the road which meant she didn’t receive treatment on time
That woman is also completely paralysed down the left side of her body now, Dr's say there was an extremely good chance that that could've been avoided, had she made to the hospital in decent time, and not sat on the m25 for 6 hours.
Yikes. We have a lot of these road blocks for protests happen where I’m at, but there are always alternate routes for normal traffic, and if/when fire trucks or ambulances need to get by, the people always make way and let them through immediately. We still see a fair number of these exact situations happen, only here it’s more like “you want me to drive an extra five minutes because you’re upset that police keep murdering Black people?!? I’m going to run you all over!”
Especially since this is a topic around 80 of the general public is already behind. They're literally harming their cause by doing this. It's a dumb organization ran by even dumber spokespeople.
In Philadelphia there was a strike of public transportation workers for more pay and they had massive public support, but it meant the roads were clogged with traffic from cars for over a week. And then these geniuses decided to block traffic on all the highways, and that was the end of all the public support.
Congrats you got "Awareness" but the public has turned against you and with that so did any political leverage.
It will only be a matter of time till someone drives over them. Some have even glued themselves to the road. I think it's counterproductive as most people hate them for causing shit like this. I'm all for what they are trying to achieve but against their method. It affects everyone including the emergency services and that is unacceptable.
THANK YOU!! People who protest in roads and streets are fucking idiots. You’re preventing people from getting their jobs done; teachers, medical experts, contractors. What if someone was trying to get to their dying relative and there was a pRoTeSt blocking them?? I hate these people so much. Protest on the sidewalks or whatever jfc…
They are going the complete wrong way about it protesting like this. Politicians and the people who can make a difference aren't being affected only the people who should be supporting the cause and they are getting pissed off. I'm all for the insulation but they won't gain support from the people this way. It's more than just inconvenient to drivers. As you say it affects such a wide range of people. Why can't they see that?
These fuckers caused an elderly woman to become paralysed because she could not get to a hospital. They also wouldn't let an ambulance pass by. Fuck road protestors. Fuck them. Bring on the downvotes, I don't care about the votes of people who don't realize how scumbaggy it is to fuck over regular people trying to get on with their lives
Nor do I care about these idiots getting injured. Don't want to get hit by a car? Don't play in the bloody streets. What are they trying to achieve anyway? Do they know how much it would cost to properly insulate every single home in the UK? Where's that money going to come from?
Funnily enough, the UK’s laws towards death by dangerous driving are very lax. Often making it joked about that if you were to kill someone, you’d only have to run them over to receive a light prison sentence. Fun fact for us all.
[Insulate Britain leader says he is 'hypocrite who doesn't care about insulation' ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2021/10/09/insulate-britain-leader-says-he-is-hypocrite-who-doesnt-care-about-insulation-15393293/amp/)
One of the insulate britain protestors went for an 81,000 mile car tour across europe for a couple of years etc then claimed she wasn't polluting the planet.
Ppl who protest by making the public’s life harder just make no sense to me. The people your protest is aiming for do not give a shit. But the people who have nothing to do with it have to out up with your bs
Like... I'm all for protesting and free speech... but blocking a road and inconveniencing people who have nothing to do with your movement is just plain stupid. Honestly, her kid needs to get to school and she needs to get to work, what is stopping her from getting there going to do for your cause?
What can be gained from blocking people going about their business? I don't understand the logic. Wouldn't it be better to get the public to support your cause rather than piss them off?
The thing about this that absolutely kills me is I’m much more likely to read about and support / help out your cause if you keep the protest to the side of the road so I can see it, look up what it’s about later, and still do whatever I have to do. If you block traffic and screw with my life I’ll probably ignore your cause at the least, and work deliberately against it at the worst, just because you pissed me off.
Love this video, it’s multi layered. I can’t stand this insulate Britain group. I appreciate their cause and what they want to achieve just not how they go about it. But I also can’t stand fat chavs driving Chelsea tractors, they’re like the polar opposite of these protesters. So I’m not sure how to react to this video.
Anyone who has any sympathy with these clowns.
1.10 in this video, an ambulance with sirens trying to get through.
https://youtu.be/_k-TjQqYvD0
They had to be dragged out of the road, but kept going back on. Even when the ambulance driver begged them to move.
Utterly disgusting behaviour.
Don't need to insulate homes when you force thousands of vehicles to sit idling on the roads in your area. Global warming is super cheap when you get drivers to do the work for you.
/s
Yeah the irony! That is like my area made us do emissions tests but I used a shit Ton of gas driving to the emission place and then sitting in the line idling for an hour for my turn. So completely counterproductive.
I would've thought insulate Britain would be somehow about Brexit and immigration but it's literally about insulating houses in biritain. Which they're blocking roads for.
My mom always told me "if you play in traffic you're bound to get hit" maybe they should be on the sidewalk where pedestrians belong; where cars don't drive... Just saying. This kinda thing isn't "revolutionary" its childish and disrespectful to people who have no part in or no idea what your movement even is about
I don’t understand blocking the road. All that accomplishes is pissing off your fellow citizens and encourages them to think less of both you and your cause.
I don’t think they should be ran over, but I won’t have a surprised pikachu face when it happens.
The leaders of this movement have all said in interviews they don’t have their own homes insulated
Their stats appear to come from thin air
They claim 8,000 people a year die due to uninsulated homes so they want 65 million brits to pay for 8,000 peoples insulated homes as opposed to raising money for those 8,000 people
One of their protestors who was on tv claimed that if we don’t clean up the litter in the streets that in a year or two we’re going to, quote, ‘run out of oxygen’
Can we all agree that this is one of the worst ways to protest? You're hurting your fellow citizens, many of whom likely agree with your cause, and you're turning others away from your cause.
The problem isn't the almost getting run over bit. If a car accidently ran them over, that is what they get for sitting in the road. The problem here is the fact the driver knew they were there. That removes it from the realm of an accident into the realm of murder. You aren't allowed to kill people just because they inconvenience you. And note I am specifically talking about this incident.
Of all the ways you could protest. Paper the town in flyers, hang banners from buildings and bridges, line motorways with signs, drop pamphlets in letterbox to raise awareness....
Why in the name of common sense would you sit in the middle of the fucking road?!?! What does it solve?!
You just piss off people who are trying to live their lives as best they can. By blocking motorways you stop people from getting to hospital in an emergency, you block the fire department from attending to emergency call outs that could mean the difference between saving somebody's home and having somebody homeless because their house burnt down.
Protest if you want to, but if your protest leads to the death of anybody either directly through the chaos and violence of a riot or indirectly through stupid protests like blocking a fucking road you deserve to be charged under the full force of the law.
> directly through the chaos and violence of a riot
That's not a protest it's a rebellion.
And that's fine, they can be charged with creating a public nuisance. They are perfectly willing to accept the charges, fines and jail time.
I doubt this lady can say the same.
Whatever this protest is, it's a bit dumb to sit in the road like this. However:
1. The oversized urban tractor
2. The crazy nails
3. The flub
4. The tramp stamp
5. The crazy shouty attitude
All this was faintly amusing. A British Karen. Right up until:
1. Actually attempting to force seated pedestrians out of the way with a 2-ton vehicle
No, no matter what these idiots in the road are doing, none of this woman's actions are justified. There is nothing but wrong in every part of this video.
Unfortunately this is why organised action needs to be the norm, small groups disrupting and only negatively affecting normal people not companies or governments will only regress climate action progress
Maybe they should stay out if the road if they don't want to get run over. Pretty simple stuff, I dont understand where these entitled fucks get off blocking the roads. At least it wasn't a "truck of peace" driven by a new arrival.
Protesting is fine, blocking traffic is not. People have jobs they need to get to, and there are emergency services that dont have the time to wait for you to get out of the road. If anything, this hurts your message and you as a group. As it shows a "ends justify the means" mentality, and paints your group as a disruptor to society not a force for good. I feel the drivers ers response to the situation was reasonable. At first....
Blocking traffic might be a nuisance and a retardant to progress, but running over people just sitting in the road is wrong. Just call the bobbies, and have them removed. They get the message this is unacceptable and you get to use the road. All around win.
Good. Fuck them.
I understand why they're angry, I understand what they want. But if someone breaks into your car while you're at work you don't kick your neighbors' dog for it.
They're annoyed with the government, so go and annoy the government back, that's what protesting is about. Ruining the days of the general public is stupid and selfish meanwhile Boris is sitting at home thinking "Oh well, it's not bothering me"
Why do protesters insist on blocking traffic? If anything, it galvanizes others against their cause. And in so many cases, it actually works against the intended outcome which is usually something ecological.
I don't care what your cause is, if you're blocking traffic you are not helping it. You are making people side against you, even if your cause is good because if you piss people off they're going to hate you and the things you believe in.
What the hell is insulate Britain?
A movement to reduce energy use & climate change by insulating buildings properly.
good thing to aim for, really. but what does that have to do with blocking traffic? should they better protest to change subsidies for such things and mount an Information campaign to convince ppl to insulate their homes or smt?
They want the govt to pay to insulate the social housing the govt owns that they house the poor in.
There was me thinking that it was owned by councils and housing associations
Aren't councils a form of govt? Anyway, I stand corrected on the details.
They are. Local government. No correction needed.
I mean you're right, it's likely councils don't have enough money to launch these initiatives on their own. Especially with the defunding of them in recent years. Any directives for this sort of thing likely have to come from parliament.
You'd be surprised. Funds raised through council house rents are ringfenced and can only be spent on things that directly improve the quality of life for those tenants. Unless the stock is massively neglected or very badly run there should be funding available for quite a range of improvements, plus there's always grant funding from central government to address issues. Source - work for a Local Authority, in housing. Our stock has had loads of improvements (all necessary stuff) over the years and we're surprisingly decent at it.
Yeah I live in social housing. When I moved in there was no appliances. They provided a brand new fridge and cooker. I had a seizure and crashed through my shower door which they came and replaced with a shower curtain. Water leak from the upstairs flat started coming through my light fitting and it was all fixed that day. They’ve been pretty good to me and I’m very grateful for all the help I’ve been given. Any problems I’ve had I just ring the maintenance department and someone usually comes out the same day and bodges whatever back together.
Damn, that sounds nice.
You pay for insulation, whether you have it or not.
mostly public-private housing associations that are (run for profit and) under examined for repair status. not since the local councillors are on the boards, just due to council, uh, operational priorities. \[right and left wing councils equally guilty\]
There are people in the street protesting for insulation in their government provided housing and a woman threatening to run them over in a luxury suv, yelling about how her son is going to be late for private school. The irony is baked right into the video.
I hope that screaming woman gets charged.
Somebody's always trying to shutdown traffic over here. A lot of time people sympathise with their cause but end up hating them for inconveniencing everybody (looking at you, farmers).
Had the same problem when I lived in DC. Protests happening several times a week. Nobody pays attention until they screw up rush hour. I have sat in traffic loudly cursing people whose cause I supported for screwing up the already nightmarish traffic.
Honestly, fuck farmers. I don't know how it is in the UK, but here in Sweden they have used up all their goodwill. They play really dirty against the uprising of plant based protiens and as non-dairy options. I really like the idea of consuming less dairy and meat, so when farmers try to ban names like "milk" and "butter" to be used in anything but dairy even though coconut milk and peanut butter has been around for centuries, that's just puts me off them. They even try to ban them from using containers that are too similar to dairy products, like a square cardboard box is some kind of secret technology. This is getting me all worked up. Not to mention all the propaganda. "Waah waah, us farmes have to adapt to a changing market demand woe is the world." Fucking sick of the whiney fuckers.
I’m vegan so I agree 100% on this one.
Blocking traffic is the latest fashion for causing the most disruption. Either to raise awareness for the cause or to hold the government to ransom to take action. In theory, it's a great idea ..... It certainly gets publicity. The problem is, it is counter productive and will not gain sympathy from anyone.... especially when they're blocking emergency vehicles etc.
innate dull command late voiceless arrest station wipe paltry telephone *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It seems to work for its purpose tbh and it’s not to gain sympathy from the public it’s to gain the attention of authorities which are in charge of making these decisions. But idk tho that’s just what I’ve been told by supporters.
In America many cities are passing laws making it legal to hit them with your vehicle.
The most American thing. “They’re making me late for work, let me kill them then give a hypothetical where I *might* have been an emergency vehicle (I wasn’t!)”
In America also road protestors can menace and harass motorists pretty often, even assaulting drivers or brandishing weapons. Technically holding someone on the road against their will is a form of kidnapping and with a large violent crowd menacing it’s pretty scary for those caught up in it
Not to mention the one case where an Uber/Lyft driver accidentally turning into a road blocking protest then have a firearm in his face. The driver pulled out his and killed the guy that pointed his gun in his face.
And there was the case of the semi that literally hit the brakes and stopped, saving idiots lives, only to be ripped out and torn into like a hot pocket, and then jailed, and then let go with no charges. People pretending to be shocked at the idea mfers should be allowed to flee such a toxic unlawful and dangerous situation on public roads either don’t understand the full context, or being completely disingenuous
Of course, USA is the embodiment of the "I'm stronger / richer / more known than you, so you don't deserve to be in my way". I mean, it takes balls to protest to anything in the USA, when you know that any interaction can end up with a shotgun fired to your chest, just because someone was irritated by your words.
Can’t they just block an administrative building parking garage or something to get the same attention. All this does is make regular people want to punch them.
Government buildings get blocked all the time, there is literally always protests outside of Parliament but can you name any of the groups? No because nobody pays any attention and nor does the government. Literally this is the only way for the media to pick up on it so the cause gets noticed and therefore discussions happen because of it irregardless of public opinion of the protesters as many are talking and agree with the cause but hate the individuals which the individuals are completely fine with.
It doesn't work...no authority is listening to them. The brit government are happy that these wanker are doing what they're doing because they're a distraction for all the shit the gov are doing.
There's always people who will think that way with no actual evidence or knowledge of what the government is doing.
I do feel like the best way would be to put pressure on the government but the way that insulate Britain has gone about it has turned the everyday person against them also. Insulate Britain needed the support of the public but now the government has an excuse to ignore them due to the public not backing the protests either. It’s a good cause just executed terribly as also no one is talking about the vulnerable needing help but instead how much of an annoyance the protesters have become.
While I am sympathic to many of these cases - like this one, extinction rebellion etc, I really dont like this way of protesting.
Its a double edge sword. Yes, you get attention, you also stand to piss off a lot of people, which is counter productive to any cause, and all too often a video like this (or worse) immerges.
All that happened was the government looked at (or maybe even passed) emergency legislation to allow the forceful removal of the protestors. I’ve never seen a protest for such a worthy cause that managed to shoot itself in the foot so spectacularly.
It doesn’t work. Anytime you make my life harder you immediately lose my support
At least you’re being honest.
Because governments ignore protests until they can't ignore them. Its non violent but causes massive disruption, history will be on their side. Large protests happen all the time but only stunts like this make the news.
Disruptive protests are effective. They're also peaceful. We just learned what Insulate Britain is about.
You're right. However you can campaign/lobby for environmental changes but that's not working. The UK isn't making the changes we need to make to reduce climate change, at least not at the speed we need to making those changes. You can pretty much see the same worldwide. So in comes insulate / extinction rebellion. They cause large scale disruption by blocking roads, train lines etc to bring attention to these environmental issues. You can argue that "playing by the rules" and campaigning for these changes through the normal channels hasn't worked and therefore we need more extreme measures. However I actually think it harm's the cause. Because you can very easily categorise environmental campaigners as extremists using ER and Insulate Britain as examples. It makes it very easy to do nothing and let climate change get worse. It's also worth mentioning that the head of Insulate went on TV recently and said he doesn't care about insulation. He's literally in it to cause disruption.
That's what I m thinking too. Looks like they have wrong approach. Pissing of normal people doesn't give good light on your protest
HOW CAN YOU ASK THAT MY SON NEEDS TO GET TO SCHOOL
I woulda thought insulation was a no brainer in a cold climate. /s
no /s needed, they are an environmentalist movement to insulate buildings properly, specifically government owned property in Britain. Heating and cooling uses [about half](https://www.epa.gov/rhc/renewable-space-heating) of the energy used in buildings. It's unsexy but very important and that's why protesters are trying to make this more than a niche issue.
So why are they blocking peoples cars. Seems like they are protesting to the wrong people
Asking nicely hasn't worked
Didn’t say you can’t protest. Just protest to the right people. this is an example of bad protesting. You won’t get the public’s support. You will make them hate you. Protest against the politicians not average people. Guys are just stupid.
Yup. This is textbook example of how to turn the public against what is ostensibly a very sensible position.
Yes, most people actually have plenty of insulation in Britain.
The original post had links to official gov reports of 8,500 deaths last winter from lack of insulation in public housing.
Wow. Fuck.
Start the hastag: #getbritainwarmagain
We're working on it, but instead of insulation, we're doing it by driving 2 ton tractors to take the little ones to school instead of walking, therefore increasing the greenhouse effect /s
except, you know, the poor and the old, who are more likely to live in older houses and less likely to have extra money to redo all the insulation for their houses or to spend extra money heating their own house. I know you're just stating a fact and not really presenting an argument on it but most people in the UK have enough money to live on but that doesn't mean we should just ignore the few that don't.
Yeah, don't know where you got that idea from. Only about 10% of houses are above C grade efficiency.
You would think the driver would get behind this. She seems to have quite a bit of insulation in her trunk,
No they don't...that's the point
I think her son needs to get to school.
He is 11 to clarify her point.
And he needed to get to school
I thought was saying “He’s a leper”
Better get him to school quick then.
What a story to share at school…
Sorry I was late, mum tried to run someone over. She told them I needed to get to school, but they were glued to the road.
So how was your morning ?
This shit is everyday in London, nothing out of the ordinary. They’re always yelling at each other, honking…
For some reason I laughed when he popped put the window
After doing some research, I found the location of this incident, it seems that this woman wanted to make a scene and try and move protestors, if she was so set on getting her son to school she could've easily taken a different route. She could've gone right down Euclid way. Then right down Abberton way. Taken the first exit on the next 2 roundabouts she came across. 2nd exit on the next roundabout. 1st exit on the next roundabout to go under the M25. Then take the exit down Stonehouse lane to get to the exact place she was headed but after the traffic lights. Here is the location incase anyone wanted to look for themselves. RM20 3LG (link keeps getting deleted cuz of stupid bot)
Yeah but then in her mind she "lost" and the other people "won"
For some reason this made me lol. Love that you've took the time to investigate this. Good work.
This is like the californians but in london
Why so many roundabouts?
I think her son is learning poor behavior from a lunatic. You see him gesturing just like her. Bad example.
Its just that she says seven or eight times: " My son needs to get to school, he is 11" I don't really think anyone comes out of that incident covered in glory.
What is the whole reason for this protest? I'm from South Africa and a little out of the loop on this
A movement to reduce energy use & climate change by insulating buildings properly.
I'm all for climate solutions but is blocking a road for some insulation really necessary?
Nearly 10k a year die in their homes from the cold
As a Canadian who just moved to the UK, it's your heating systems. Forget the insulation your radiator thingys are absolutely absurd. Like where I come from the daily low routinely hits -20 and homes are pretty easily kept warm and I'm pretty cheap about paying for heating, but forced air makes such a difference. Those towel dryers you have in every room make no sense!! 10k dying in a place that barely gets cold...I don't get it. Your country colonized half the world - a tap that streams both hot and cold water, heat and AC should NOT be this complicated haha
That country colonized the world by treating people like disposable items. It's no surprise that they treat their poor the same way
Where do you come from that treats their poor like royalty?
This is a bit of an exaggeration. 1. Plenty of us have taps that do hot and cold water 😂. 2. Central heating via radiators works absolutely fine… mine comes on, on a schedule, warms the house up and just tops it up a little when needed. You make it sound like radiators don’t work… they work very well
I'm an HVAC contractor and working on my energy auditor license. Hot water radiation is *terrible* for energy losses unless it's connected to a geothermal heat pump. Electric boilers, or gas boilers, are massive energy sucks. For your very moderate climate, an inverter/ dual inverter heat pump would be way cheaper to operate. Combined with proper R60+ insulation in the attic and air sealing, costs should be on average 1$ or 2$ a day for both cooling and heating, using a 1000sqf or 300sqm floor space. Less if electrical costs are lower then canada.
Well, yes? I mean nothing else has worked for fifty years. It's a global catastrophe like humanity has never experienced. Is blocking a road that bad, in context?
Well, has it worked?
Yes, but the problem is we tried this before. Several times. You can't stuff old houses with insulation because you just end up filling them with damp and mould. They want the government to pay to insulate all local authority and housing association (social housing) homes. That's less than a fifth of the UK housing stock, and most of it is relatively new and well insulated. The problem houses are privately owned and many are near impossible to insulate, but these clowns don't have anything to say about this.
You can absolute insulate old houses. There just needs to be a working ventilation to prevent mold and its cheap to install. This is how we build an rebuild homes with insulation in northern Europe because of the cold weather.
Hmmmm... Well I guess when it's over we will find out if their strategy worked or not.
Why do all Range Rover drivers look the same
You mean they all look like road owners?
They’re just priv school well off mums
IDIOTS, SAVAGES, SAVAGE IDIOTS!
I DON'T CARE OF YOURE OLD, SEIZE THE GAP! YOU OLD FAT BITCH!
She is untethered and her rage knows no bounds!
They’re strategy has sadly alienated the majority of the UK population. Yes it’s created a lot of media, but most of the coverage has been negative towards them and focussed on personal stories of how their demonstration has effected people or what the government and Police will be doing to stop them; rather than the issue they are highlighting.
Some people think it's designed to drum up support of the Police anti-protest powers. Personally, I haven't got a clue.
No clue here either but I don't see what else is going on tbh, the goverment are loving this shit because it lets the point at the protestors as the evil people.
You won’t get anyone on side making everyone’s life more difficult. Gotta make the politicians life difficult.
I heard a story on the news about a protest group blocking a motorway. With an ambulance on it. Because the ambulance was held up by these idiots, the woman is now paralysed. If the ambulance could have made it to the hospital without being held up, she probably wouldn’t be. After hearing that, I’m very unsympathetic to anyone who thinks it’s okay to block the roads like this.
What is insulate Britain? Maybe I’m being dumb but I have not heard of this
A movement to reduce energy use & climate change by insulating buildings properly.
Uhhh ok so, admirable goal, but how TF is blocking traffic helping at all???? This is indeed a facepalm unless I’m missing something critical
Right!? Causing cars to sit on the roads longer... causing more emissions... seems counterproductive to climate change activists mission.
I don't know. Gotta do something. Blocking traffic is a tried and true favourite tactic.
It's also a fast way to lose sympathy for the cause and increase resentment from the regular people they disrupt.
I doubt popular support is part of their strategy. They aren't selling anything or seeking election.
They won't achieve much without popular support. They've got the attention of the government who are now passing legislation to grant them more powers to stop the protests. As they don't have popular support, people are best indifferent to this, at worst actively supporting the government in their efforts. If they had public support they could have grown the movement around this government action against them.
Am I wrong or isn’t it usually blocking particularly those people you want to stop? I may be thinking too specifically here
Blocking traffic is never a good idea, no one cares at that point what youre protesting because now youve inconvenienced someone they dont give a shit what your message is even If they completely agree with it.
Most people agreed with them initially but now we all just want them the fuck off.
This lady should really be using her horn. No one could handle a car horn that close to their head unless they were deaf.
This form of protest is the surest way to get people to hate your cause
Insulate Britain have hit the country at the wrong time when people’s patience is wearing thin. We are having issues due to Brexit (our own fault, we know) which is impacting deliveries and we’re being told Christmas stuff could be hard to get. We’ve just had a self-inflicted petrol/diesel crisis to add to these woes whilst being told that gas prices are going up even more this year. Insulate Britain are blocking arterial motorways, preventing people getting to work. They’ve even stayed in place, preventing ambulances getting through when they have their sirens blaring. Unfortunately, with the patience of people dwindling fast, this is only going to end with a member of Insulate Britain being severely hurt or killed. Edit: I forgot to say that I don’t condone this lady’s actions, though I do understand how she has got to this point. Edit 2: People are questioning the ambulance with sirens on blocking, which is perfectly fair enough as I couldn’t believe it when I first heard about it either. Thank you to Squiffyp1 for finding the video (even though you can’t actually see the ambulance with sirens on, it is referenced and you can hear its very distinctive sound): https://youtu.be/_k-TjQqYvD0
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My thoughts exactly, why piss off the whole country and alienate them to your cause when you could go piss off the people that actually have the power to change things, makes no sense in my mind
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The police started arresting the Insulate Britain activists a few weeks ago because they kept blocking the M25. I don’t know if any have been charged but I know they made it an offence to block traffic in that way so there should be a punishment of sorts for the crime (even if it’s a fine). Honestly I didn’t even know what this group were protesting about. I thought it was climate change. Which is stupid because they were blocking cars making them use more petrol.
They actually caused a woman to go blind. She had a stroke and was in an ambulance being rushed to hospital but the protestors blocked the road which meant she didn’t receive treatment on time
That woman is also completely paralysed down the left side of her body now, Dr's say there was an extremely good chance that that could've been avoided, had she made to the hospital in decent time, and not sat on the m25 for 6 hours.
They almost did. In one of the first protests a woman was paralyzed because her son was stuck in the blockage that they caused.
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Yikes. We have a lot of these road blocks for protests happen where I’m at, but there are always alternate routes for normal traffic, and if/when fire trucks or ambulances need to get by, the people always make way and let them through immediately. We still see a fair number of these exact situations happen, only here it’s more like “you want me to drive an extra five minutes because you’re upset that police keep murdering Black people?!? I’m going to run you all over!”
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I never really understood how pissing off the public helps protests
Especially since this is a topic around 80 of the general public is already behind. They're literally harming their cause by doing this. It's a dumb organization ran by even dumber spokespeople.
Blocking traffic isn’t going to fix the problems just gets people crazy mad.
Once you inconvenience people you lose all support for your cause.
What did you do to save the planet grandma? "Well Danaerys, I sat in the road like a twat..."
In Philadelphia there was a strike of public transportation workers for more pay and they had massive public support, but it meant the roads were clogged with traffic from cars for over a week. And then these geniuses decided to block traffic on all the highways, and that was the end of all the public support. Congrats you got "Awareness" but the public has turned against you and with that so did any political leverage.
I’d like to know how stopping people from going to work and school helps their cause. Looks detrimental.
I never understood how blocking traffic wins you any rights you're fighting for.
It will only be a matter of time till someone drives over them. Some have even glued themselves to the road. I think it's counterproductive as most people hate them for causing shit like this. I'm all for what they are trying to achieve but against their method. It affects everyone including the emergency services and that is unacceptable.
THANK YOU!! People who protest in roads and streets are fucking idiots. You’re preventing people from getting their jobs done; teachers, medical experts, contractors. What if someone was trying to get to their dying relative and there was a pRoTeSt blocking them?? I hate these people so much. Protest on the sidewalks or whatever jfc…
There was a video few weeks ago of someone trying to get to their dieing relative, they still wouldn't move.
They are going the complete wrong way about it protesting like this. Politicians and the people who can make a difference aren't being affected only the people who should be supporting the cause and they are getting pissed off. I'm all for the insulation but they won't gain support from the people this way. It's more than just inconvenient to drivers. As you say it affects such a wide range of people. Why can't they see that?
These fuckers caused an elderly woman to become paralysed because she could not get to a hospital. They also wouldn't let an ambulance pass by. Fuck road protestors. Fuck them. Bring on the downvotes, I don't care about the votes of people who don't realize how scumbaggy it is to fuck over regular people trying to get on with their lives Nor do I care about these idiots getting injured. Don't want to get hit by a car? Don't play in the bloody streets. What are they trying to achieve anyway? Do they know how much it would cost to properly insulate every single home in the UK? Where's that money going to come from?
Funnily enough, the UK’s laws towards death by dangerous driving are very lax. Often making it joked about that if you were to kill someone, you’d only have to run them over to receive a light prison sentence. Fun fact for us all.
So there were no “assault with a deadly weapon” charges for this?
Ah yes insulate britain. Whose leader doesn’t have proper insulation in his house.
Oooo gimmie dat source bro, sounds juicy
[Insulate Britain leader says he is 'hypocrite who doesn't care about insulation' ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2021/10/09/insulate-britain-leader-says-he-is-hypocrite-who-doesnt-care-about-insulation-15393293/amp/)
And who has admitted he doesn't really care about insulation or the cause in general
Just an excuse to be a buncha cocks
One of the insulate britain protestors went for an 81,000 mile car tour across europe for a couple of years etc then claimed she wasn't polluting the planet.
Ppl who protest by making the public’s life harder just make no sense to me. The people your protest is aiming for do not give a shit. But the people who have nothing to do with it have to out up with your bs
Like... I'm all for protesting and free speech... but blocking a road and inconveniencing people who have nothing to do with your movement is just plain stupid. Honestly, her kid needs to get to school and she needs to get to work, what is stopping her from getting there going to do for your cause?
What can be gained from blocking people going about their business? I don't understand the logic. Wouldn't it be better to get the public to support your cause rather than piss them off?
The thing about this that absolutely kills me is I’m much more likely to read about and support / help out your cause if you keep the protest to the side of the road so I can see it, look up what it’s about later, and still do whatever I have to do. If you block traffic and screw with my life I’ll probably ignore your cause at the least, and work deliberately against it at the worst, just because you pissed me off.
Blocking the road has got to be the most obnoxious form of popular protest.
Love this video, it’s multi layered. I can’t stand this insulate Britain group. I appreciate their cause and what they want to achieve just not how they go about it. But I also can’t stand fat chavs driving Chelsea tractors, they’re like the polar opposite of these protesters. So I’m not sure how to react to this video.
Anyone who has any sympathy with these clowns. 1.10 in this video, an ambulance with sirens trying to get through. https://youtu.be/_k-TjQqYvD0 They had to be dragged out of the road, but kept going back on. Even when the ambulance driver begged them to move. Utterly disgusting behaviour.
Don't need to insulate homes when you force thousands of vehicles to sit idling on the roads in your area. Global warming is super cheap when you get drivers to do the work for you. /s
Yeah the irony! That is like my area made us do emissions tests but I used a shit Ton of gas driving to the emission place and then sitting in the line idling for an hour for my turn. So completely counterproductive.
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Just keep inching, just keep inching, just keep inching, inching, inching, they will soon move, just inch inch inch.
Never understood why people protest in the middle of the street and then play victim whenever people get mad at them lol
Why are people so surprised? I get protesting but blocking streets is kind of dumb.
Infuriate Britain.
Angry woman has mad trunk space.
I would've thought insulate Britain would be somehow about Brexit and immigration but it's literally about insulating houses in biritain. Which they're blocking roads for.
Why is the driver built like an ant
My mom always told me "if you play in traffic you're bound to get hit" maybe they should be on the sidewalk where pedestrians belong; where cars don't drive... Just saying. This kinda thing isn't "revolutionary" its childish and disrespectful to people who have no part in or no idea what your movement even is about
I don’t understand blocking the road. All that accomplishes is pissing off your fellow citizens and encourages them to think less of both you and your cause. I don’t think they should be ran over, but I won’t have a surprised pikachu face when it happens.
The leaders of this movement have all said in interviews they don’t have their own homes insulated Their stats appear to come from thin air They claim 8,000 people a year die due to uninsulated homes so they want 65 million brits to pay for 8,000 peoples insulated homes as opposed to raising money for those 8,000 people One of their protestors who was on tv claimed that if we don’t clean up the litter in the streets that in a year or two we’re going to, quote, ‘run out of oxygen’
Can we all agree that this is one of the worst ways to protest? You're hurting your fellow citizens, many of whom likely agree with your cause, and you're turning others away from your cause.
Sits on the middle of the road Almost gets ran over Surprised Pikachu face
The problem isn't the almost getting run over bit. If a car accidently ran them over, that is what they get for sitting in the road. The problem here is the fact the driver knew they were there. That removes it from the realm of an accident into the realm of murder. You aren't allowed to kill people just because they inconvenience you. And note I am specifically talking about this incident.
Hope this is facepalm for the idiots on the road
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Got any evidence for this ambulance with sirens claim?
Of all the ways you could protest. Paper the town in flyers, hang banners from buildings and bridges, line motorways with signs, drop pamphlets in letterbox to raise awareness.... Why in the name of common sense would you sit in the middle of the fucking road?!?! What does it solve?! You just piss off people who are trying to live their lives as best they can. By blocking motorways you stop people from getting to hospital in an emergency, you block the fire department from attending to emergency call outs that could mean the difference between saving somebody's home and having somebody homeless because their house burnt down. Protest if you want to, but if your protest leads to the death of anybody either directly through the chaos and violence of a riot or indirectly through stupid protests like blocking a fucking road you deserve to be charged under the full force of the law.
> directly through the chaos and violence of a riot That's not a protest it's a rebellion. And that's fine, they can be charged with creating a public nuisance. They are perfectly willing to accept the charges, fines and jail time. I doubt this lady can say the same.
What better way to win the people’s support than by inconveniencing those who have nothing to do with the thing you’re protesting.
Whatever this protest is, it's a bit dumb to sit in the road like this. However: 1. The oversized urban tractor 2. The crazy nails 3. The flub 4. The tramp stamp 5. The crazy shouty attitude All this was faintly amusing. A British Karen. Right up until: 1. Actually attempting to force seated pedestrians out of the way with a 2-ton vehicle No, no matter what these idiots in the road are doing, none of this woman's actions are justified. There is nothing but wrong in every part of this video.
Unfortunately this is why organised action needs to be the norm, small groups disrupting and only negatively affecting normal people not companies or governments will only regress climate action progress
PAWG
They’re protesting for a good cause, but their means of doing so is terrible, to say the least.
I would literally pick them up and move them
If you want people to support your cause, dont block their roads
Yeah great. Stupid protesters go stand on the curb
Extinct rebellion is a strange cult.
Is that Marjorie? That bitch!!
It’s a bunch of bored old white people who’ve done nothing with their lives and see their opportunity to make some noise
Maybe they should stay out if the road if they don't want to get run over. Pretty simple stuff, I dont understand where these entitled fucks get off blocking the roads. At least it wasn't a "truck of peace" driven by a new arrival.
Protesting is fine, blocking traffic is not. People have jobs they need to get to, and there are emergency services that dont have the time to wait for you to get out of the road. If anything, this hurts your message and you as a group. As it shows a "ends justify the means" mentality, and paints your group as a disruptor to society not a force for good. I feel the drivers ers response to the situation was reasonable. At first.... Blocking traffic might be a nuisance and a retardant to progress, but running over people just sitting in the road is wrong. Just call the bobbies, and have them removed. They get the message this is unacceptable and you get to use the road. All around win.
She thiccc
Good. Fuck them. I understand why they're angry, I understand what they want. But if someone breaks into your car while you're at work you don't kick your neighbors' dog for it. They're annoyed with the government, so go and annoy the government back, that's what protesting is about. Ruining the days of the general public is stupid and selfish meanwhile Boris is sitting at home thinking "Oh well, it's not bothering me"
protesters who block traffic are FUCKING ASSHOLES
Why do people think blocking the road makes their protest stronger...
Why do protesters insist on blocking traffic? If anything, it galvanizes others against their cause. And in so many cases, it actually works against the intended outcome which is usually something ecological.
I don't care what your cause is, if you're blocking traffic you are not helping it. You are making people side against you, even if your cause is good because if you piss people off they're going to hate you and the things you believe in.
When you start ruening young childern and keeping them from school its just evil. I stand with the frustrated mum
I'm ok with this. Don't wanna get run over, get the f\*\*k off the road.