Ben
I was away last week
So I wasn't here for the pomp of the latest Extinction Rebellion protests
and I don't follow the news as closely when I'm on holiday as I do when I'm not on holiday
as I'm sure you'll understand
so I've got sort of edited highlights in my memory bank
they shut bridges, they were going for Tower Bridge I think while I was away
and then London Bridge yesterday
and what is weird about this
can I confide in you briefly?
the... five minutes after 11 is the time
When I started doing this job, if you weren't listening
God knows hundreds of thousands of people weren't who are now
but the temptation to do the lazy stuff was almost irresistible
I didn't realise it was lazy, I've got to be honest with you
I mentioned to you I think on Tuesday
where we used to sit on obesity conversations
and it was very much where most healthy, middle-aged, white journalists or columnists sit
and it's all about shouting 'Eat less, exercise more' without having the first idea what you're talking about
or any understanding whatsoever of how complicated the issue is
and how much harm you are doing, not just to the issue itself but to people
struggling with mental health issues, struggling with poor diet, poor information
so I carry a burden of embarrassment for that position
I did it with this as well, I don't know why
I'm not anti-... what's the word? I'm not a climate change skeptic
never have been by any stretch of the imagination
but I think the resentment I felt
What is it? What is it that makes us resent?
You can pretend that you are deeply concerned about ambulances not getting through
but frankly, unless you're in the ambulance, that's a bit of a reach you know
because the number of people who's health is going to be damaged or who's lives are going to be ended
by failing to address the climate crisis is going to, I think it is fair to say
is going to dwarf the number of people who's medical treatment might be delayed or disrupted by a protest on a bridge in London
to a factor of several million
that presumably is the trade-off for the protestors
So 10 years ago, if you tuned in to this program
I suspect I would have been banging the drum about, what did I used to call them?
Petulia oiled, muesli munchers who knit their clothes out of their own armpit hair
or something like that, you're familiar with this
sadly in the English media, it's a very well-rewarded mindset
If you've got a way with words and you have an ability to bully people with a smile on your face
then there's not limit to the amount of success that you can enjoy in the English media
particularly if you are directing your ire and your bile at either voiceless or largely vulnerable individuals or groups
and your average climate change activist, historically, was typified as swampy
he was a fella who dug himself under a mooted motorway and stayed there for a very very long time
and he became a sort of totemic figure
and I went the wrong way on that
I was being honest, it was what I felt
and I took that nasty feeling, and what was it a feeling of?
Is it the resentment of being told what to do?
Is it the same as the anti-mask Wombles, actually that's not fair on Wombles
the sort of anti-mask characters
Is it just that you feel that you haven't got much control in your life?
because, I don't know, you can only see the kids at weekends
and therefore when someone else comes along and tells you that you've got to wear a mask
it's got nothing to do with the mask
it's got everything to do with the fact that you can only see the kids at weekends
Is that what it is? It's the 'I've got no control over my life'
and now these people are telling me that I've got to wear a mask as well
Is that what it is?
So you don't have much control over your life and now someone's parked a bloody great bus in the middle of London Bridge
and it's going to take you eight minutes longer to get to work than it would have done otherwise
or 80 minutes, I don't want to minimize the impact on your life
I don't know but I'm talking about myself now
so I'm trying to work out why did I rail against, why did I bridle?
Muesli munching, nare do, flip flop, flipping sandal-wearing, muesli munching, armpit hair knitting numpties
I was obsessed with Petulia oil
I was like they always smell of Petulia oil, probably younger listeners don't even know what Petulia oil is
and we used to use the word crusty, do you remember the word crusty?
Some of my best friends were crusties
but that word was used as a terrible pejorative to describe people who, I don't know
cared about the environment before it was cool, might be one way of putting it
So I had that, I suffered from that
and the weirdest thing about it was the way that it crossed over into rave culture
which I was very much a part of, very very much a part of rave culture
and it crossed over with the sort of new-age crusty culture
yet I still managed to muster up this performative disgust of people who were prepared to dig themselves under motorways
to stop developments or to stop ancient trees being chopped down
and that's a different, obviously a slightly different proposition from the Extinction Rebellion protest today
but it's part of the backdrop, trying to understand all the angles
but before we hear from the Mayor of London, Keith just keep the clock ticking
and be nice to texters who need my help rather than my anger
So you remember I said a moment ago
of course, you can pretend to care about an ambulance that can't get through because of a protest
but unless you are actually in it, or your loved ones are actually in it
It's not a very convincing flex is it?
Because you don't spend the rest of your life worrying about the health of complete strangers
Paul has been in touch to say 'I wonder if you'd feel the same thing if it was one of your children in that ambulance trapped in traffic
Yes that is exactly what I said Paul
If it is someone you love it is a very powerful image, that's why tabloid journalists use it
They don't want you to think, they just want you to feel
but of course, all of our children, all of our grandchildren and all of our great-grandchildren potentially face oblivion
if we don't fix this problem, so unless you've got a better idea than what this lot are doing
I think it might be best to observe a brief period of silence
LBC Leading Britain's Conversation