‘Just Stop Oil is so mind-numbingly dumb’

On Tuesday morning I debated one of them on Nick Ferrari’s LBC show. She was defending her group’s law-breaking, of course. But unlike the incompetent oaf from Insulate Britain last year, she was decent, effective and even likeable.A dreadful thought occurred to me: have these loud-mouthed lefty law-breakers learned their lesson? Have they realised that sounding reasonable and polite might actually be effective? Is that why they’re getting away with outrageous criminality? I shuddered.But, as I listened, I realised why they will never, ever win. It’s not just that they should never win. It’s that they will never win. It’s impossible.Here’s why. They say they want to prevent our ‘criminal government’ from issuing new oil licences. Well, okay. We might think UK oil licences won’t make a pin prick of difference to overall global warming (we’d be right), but at least that would be a specific and even achievable objective. Just Stop Oil can never win, why on earth do they do it? Are they just stupid? (Image: GETTY)But then look at their tactics. They’re attempting to blackmail us. By breaking the law. By causing massive, sometimes life-threatening delays for thousands of people. By grinding the nation to a halt. Day after Day. Week after week. On the country’s busiest arteries.Now imagine, further, that our ‘criminal government’ was stupid enough to give into this blackmail. Imagine if they said to these protesters, ok, you win, we’ll change policy and promise never to issue any more licences. Please now desist. What would happen then?Why, every campaigning group would block the M25. And the M6. And M1 and A303. And B7564. And the Z999. You name it. Because they would know that the government would bow to their demands as long as they committed enough criminal havoc.And some of these protesting groups might have not just unrealistic objectives, but completely vile ones. There are still people in Britain who have a genuinely racist agenda. Well, what’s to stop them committing criminal actions to blackmail the government? Answer: nothing. And Just Stop Oil would be to blame.This is why Just Stop Oil is so mind-numbingly dumb. No government will ever give into them. Because it would lead to anarchy.Meanwhile, if the protesters cared to think about it, they could take inspiration from the many ground-breaking campaigns that achieved massive change within the law. Like the campaign to exit the EU.Like the campaign for gay marriage. Like the campaign to ban smoking in pubs. Did those campaigns indulge in criminality? Of course not. They were much cleverer, and actually achieved something.So, if Just Stop Oil can never win, why on earth do they do it? Are they just stupid? No. That woman I debated was smart.They do it because they are addicted to a gigantic self-righteous virtue-signalling adrenaline rush. We’re decent, well-behaved, sensible, caring people, they tell themselves. If people like us are prepared to break the law, then our cause really must be super just.That’s how they persuade each other to climb some wretched gantry on the M25 in the freezing rain and grind tens of thousands of vehicles to a halt. Never mind if some ambulance gets stuck. We must be right, because we are prepared to do it. And because we are prepared to do it, we must be right.So, any time we ask ourselves why a bunch of criminal lefty hippy loons can cause mayhem while lily-livered police, government and judiciary give them a mere wrist slap, we can console ourselves with this: yes, these people are a menace, and wrong-headed. Yes, they are tactically insane. Yes, it is crazy that they get away with it day after day, week after week, only to come back for more.But they will never win. Because they cannot. And one day, once they climb down from their monstrous adrenaline high above the M25, they’ll realise that too.