Esther Rantzen spoke for the pea-brained, dimwit minority when she defended the action of the arrogant ignoramuses at Plane Stupid who ruined the holidays and travel plans of thousands by blocking the runway at Stansted Airport.

Rantzen was speaking on BBCTV’s Question Time programme. She sought to defend the self-righteous commissars at Plane Stupid’s right to protest, as though the politics of violence like this have any relation at all to democracy and freedom of expression. There was a small ripple of applause for her cringingly embarrassing stupidity. I suppose the BBC can’t be expected to perform IQ tests on all of the audience as they troop in. If anyone thinks Plane Stupid and the fascists who support it – no doubt recruited from Greenpeace and Fiends of the Earth (forgive me, every since the FT made this Guardianesque typo I can’t resist repeating it) have a point, let me try and put the facts to you.

If you use your body to physically stop others from going about their lawful business, this is the politics of violence. There is no right in this free country to force your opinions on others in this way. This is what the street-fighters of the German Nazi party did during the 1920s and 1930s. Even the BBC, in its news reporting of the incident, let Plane Stupid get way with calling its violence a peaceful demonstration.

“Peaceful” means arguing, writing, broadcasting, meeting, and demonstrating. As soon as you disrupt, you become violent. This is muscle flexing, not political discourse. If some people have strong views on climate change (see my global warming story), why can’t they start a political party, or join one which matches their views? After all, there’s no shortage of those who repeat the mantra that humans are changing the weather, even though the science is painfully thin. 

Senate report
The action by Plane Stupid certainly caused a huge amount of aggro for the innocent public. Probably the same group under a different name laid siege to the Kings North power station in Kent. I heard an “environmentalist” on BBC Radio 4 saying that they would not allow any new coal fired power stations to be built. In a way it’s not surprising that these arrogant ignoramuses feel they have such power.

Our courts and political leaders must act to nip this political violence in the bud.

I expect those convicted of wilfully trespassing at Stansted to pay a heavy price. I expect them to be forced to pay the full cost of their action, from making good the damage to the Stansted fence, to compensating the police and security forces for their time. They should also be forced to compensate the airlines for their disruption costs, and the individuals for their extra expenses. I shall be looking with interest to see what kind of penalties the courts hand down. If the demonstrators can’t afford to pay compensation, in jail with them I say.

Unelected nut jobs
We need some exemplary sentences here. Otherwise these unelected nut jobs will have some kind of veto over energy policy. It might help too if some of our politicians stood up and reminded Plane Stupid that they don’t have science on their side. There is an overwhelmingly strong case that human activity is not changing the climate. After you’ve read my front page story on global warming, take a look at a report from the U.S. Senate which says more than 650 high-powered scientists disagree with the likes of Al Gore and and George Monbiot http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=37283205-c4eb-4523-b1d3-c6e8faf14e84   

I fear, though, that given the cowardice of the hand-wringers who reign over us, this isn’t likely to happen. Expect a little light wrist slapping.

Neil Winton – December 12, 2008

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