Just Stop Oil vow to keep causing disruption – and have this message for people who are affected
Just Stop Oil protesters are the latest group of climate activists to hit the headlines by gluing themselves to things and delaying traffic.
The group was born in the first few months of this year – out of disillusionment with 2021’s COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow and in response to the government decision to expand oil and gas production in the North Sea and lift the ban on fracking.
Starting to take “direct action” in April, campaigners “locked on” to roads, tankers and other infrastructure at 10 oil facilities across Essex, Hertfordshire, Birmingham and Southampton, which led to hundreds of arrests.
But in recent weeks, they have expanded to disrupting sport fixtures, vandalising artwork and public institutions like New Scotland Yard.
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Who are Just Stop Oil?
Protests at oil facilities ‘didn’t work’
“It didn’t work,” Just Stop Oil (JSO) spokesperson Emma Brown told Sky News.
“When we did the most obvious, common sense thing of targeting oil companies – that didn’t break through.
“Activists across the world have been taking direct action against oil and gas companies for decades. But they’re out of sight of the public eye and the media.
“We’re causing visible disruption in our capital city. Disruption works because it puts pressure on the police, which puts pressure on the government.”
When two JSO activists scaled the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge 200ft above the Dartford Crossing this week, it had to close for 36 hours and caused six-hour delays around much of the M25.
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Just Stop Oil use hammocks on shut bridge
One of them, Morgan Trowland, a 39-year-old civil engineer, said the demonstration was helping to “reach the social tipping point we so urgently need” on climate change.
And when asked about those who had been disrupted, he added they should “have a thought and empathy” for the 33 million people displaced by floodwater in Pakistan caused by melting ice caps this year.
Ms Brown, who got involved with JSO in March, said it’s “really unfortunate people get caught up in the disruption” and there’s “no such thing as a perfect protest that doesn’t offend anyone”.
She stressed the group have a “blue light policy” whereby they let emergency services vehicles through traffic blocks.
Asked whether they are disrupting people’s daily lives to make them see the gravity of the climate crisis, she replied: “I’m not going to be patronising and say to people ‘we’re trying to change your mind’.
“We’re trying to raise this in the public consciousness. And that happens in the media, by literally seeing disruption on the streets of London.”
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Just Stop Oil spray paints Harrods
Experts say protests get visibility – but no support
Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti, director of the University of Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability, said JSO may have succeeded in getting publicity – but that won’t translate into changes in policy.
“When it comes to this sort of activism, we need to differentiate between garnering visibility and garnering support,” he told Sky News.
“What they’re trying to achieve in putting climate change on the national debate is commendable.
“But the strategies they are using are backfiring in terms of garnering support. And advancing the ecological cause only happens when the public is on your side.”
The protest that appears to have generated the most criticism is when two women threw tomato soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery in London.
Just Stop Oil activists throw tomato soup over Sunflowers at the National Gallery
Professor Fioramonti commented: “To be successful, what you’re trying to stop has to be the enemy.
“The price of what you do has to be paid by the opponent – in this case the oil and gas companies. What doesn’t work is when that is paid by someone else, then the lay person won’t understand it.”
It also risks “dividing the ecological front” and “tainting the cause” of groups who are engaged in constructive dialogue with governments, fossil foil producers and big business, he added.
“The public may rear-end their view of the overall cause because they think all these groups are the same.”
But Ms Brown insists “that initial outrage” over the Sunflowers is what is having a real impact.
“We wouldn’t have had that impact if we just calmly explained the rationale behind moving to a clean energy future.
“We have to do something – and I would advise anyone who is angry or annoyed at us – or thinks they could do better – to come and join the group.”
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Just Stop Oil ‘antagonising people’
Francois Gemenne, researcher on climate governance at the University of Liege and lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, argues that we are “beyond the point” of needing publicity.
“Actions like this are a thing of the past,” he told Sky News.
“The question is how to mobilise people to take action and to help them to do that.
“Getting media attention for the sake of media attention is a little problematic.”
He added that many of his peers are concerned copycat movements could happen across the global south where people on the frontline of climate change are less able to cope with infrastructural damage or disruption caused by protests.
Gave up library job to ‘mobilise full-time’
Having formed off the back of talks at universities across the country, JSO is now thought to have thousands of supporters.
Among them are a team of people who focus on organising protests – and another who deal with strategy. Several hundred are currently involved in the protests themselves.
Ms Brown, a 31-year-old artist from Glasgow, is part of a small group being funded by JSO to work for them full-time.
Ms Brown is pictured centre left
She signed up after being handed a leaflet saying “We’re f*****. Come and see what we’re going to do about it” while working at a university library.
Convinced, in April she took part in blockades of oil refineries in Birmingham and London, as well as gluing herself to the frames of famous paintings in Glasgow.
Two months later she quit her job to “mobilise full-time”, claiming her rent, bills and living costs from JSO after they secured thousands in funding from the US-based Climate Emergency Fund.
“Now I do this 50 hours a week,” she said.
“I do talks around the country, leafleting in the street, non-violent direct action training – talking about the principles of non-violence and preparing people for the hostility we might face.”
She isn’t formally employed but is given an allowance, she added.
“It’s just enough to live on. The media likes to portray us as rich kids – but we’re not – we couldn’t do this if we didn’t have any sustenance.”
Just Stop Oil protest through Westminster, with Emma Brown right
Another group necessary to ‘tell government exactly what to do’
Just Stop Oil’s “civil disobedience” strategy is similar to the ones of fellow climate groups Extinction Rebellion (XR), Animal Rebellion and Insulate Britain.
Many XR activists are now involved in JSO.
“XR isn’t part of Just Stop Oil,” Ms Brown explained. “But there are XR people in the group.
“The Insulate Britain campaign has ended – so some people from there have moved on to be part of this campaign.”
Quizzed on why separate groups keep forming, she added: “With XR governments have declared climate emergencies, but they’re not doing what they need to do.
“So we’re having to tell them exactly what to do – which is ‘Just Stop Oil’ and ‘Insulate Britain’. Having focused campaigns mean we can get those demands won.”
JSO says it wants a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in the UK over the next eight years – and will stop all protests when this is secured.
COP26 agreed on various targets to “phase them down” between 2030 and 2050.
Until their demands are met, JSO has daily action planned throughout this month, which results in around a dozen or so activist arrests each time.
In response, the government is pursuing a new Public Order Bill to crack down on demonstrations that target essential infrastructure, creating bigger risks of being arrested, fined or imprisoned for JSO members.
Road protest in central London. Pic: Just Stop Oil
‘Listening’ to minority groups over arrest risks
Ms Brown has been detained on four occasions.
Many have criticised JSO and its predecessors for their relative privilege of being able to “just get arrested” without any serious, long-term consequences.
Ms Brown says such criticisms are “very valid” and the group is “listening to people of colour”.
But she added: “I think that kind of criticism is often levelled at us by people who also have that privilege but aren’t doing anything about the climate crisis.
“I would take umbrage with people who are also white and middle class – and trying to discredit us.
“I’m a mixed-raced woman from a lower-middle class background.
“If I get arrested, I do have family support, I have people’s sofas I could stay on, I wouldn’t be made homeless.
“But I had to look deep into myself to establish if I could do this – and I think more people need to do that.”
So what’s next for Just Stop Oil?
Ms Brown says the group is “definitely continuing”.
But beyond October’s month of action, “conversations are still being had” about what else is on the agenda.
There is likely to be coordinated action around November’s COP27 in Egypt, but nothing concrete yet.
“It’ll be a year on since COP26 and they’ve done nothing. It’s outrageous. So we’re not going away,” she says.
UK
David Fuller: Offences committed by hospital worker who sexually abused dozens of corpses ‘could happen again’
BBC director-general Tim Davie has said MasterChef can survive its current scandal as it is “much bigger than individuals” – but the corporation must “make sure we’re in the right place in terms of the culture of the show”.
On Monday, it was revealed an independent review into “inappropriate behaviour” by MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace had upheld more than half of the allegations against him.
A few hours later, Wallace’s former MasterChef co-presenter, John Torode, said an allegation he used “racial language” was upheld in the report as part of a review.
After the report was published, Wallace, 60, said he was “deeply sorry” for causing any distress, and never set out to “harm or humiliate”.
Torode, 59, said he had “no recollection of the incident” and said he “did not believe that it happened,” and said he was “shocked and saddened by the allegation”.
Mr Davie said the BBC’s leadership team would not “tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values,” while BBC chair Samir Shah acknowledged there were still pockets within the broadcaster where “powerful individuals” can still “make life for their colleagues unbearable”.
They said several BBC staff members had been dismissed in the last three months, following an independent review into workplace culture.
Wallace, who was sacked from MasterChef last week, is not included in that count as he was not directly contracted by the corporation, but employed by independent production company Banijay.
The corporation has yet to decide if the unseen MasterChef series – filmed with both Wallace and Torode last year – will be aired or not.
BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London. Pic: Jordan Pettitt/PA
News of the findings in the Gregg Wallace report came just hours before the BBC was deemed to have breached its editorial guidelines by failing to disclose that the child narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas official.
Media watchdog Ofcom subsequently launched its own investigation into the programme.
While the 2024-25 annual report showed a small rise in trust overall for the corporation, Mr Davie acknowledged it had been a year which saw the reputation of the BBC damaged by “serious failings” in the making of the documentary.
The BBC boss acknowledged: “It was important that the BBC took full responsibility for those failings and apologised for them,” and later in response to a question, called the documentary – Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone – “the most challenging editorial issue I’ve had to deal with”.
He went on: “The importance of fair balance reporting, the need for high-quality homegrown programming in the face of massive pressure, I think has never, ever been greater. And I believe my leadership and the team I’ve assembled can really help the BBC thrive in that environment and very competitive environment.”
BBC Director-General Tim Davie. Pic: PA
BBC boss has chair’s ‘full support’
Despite a series of failings in recent months – including livestreaming the controversial Bob Vylan set at Glastonbury last month – Mr Davie insisted he can “lead” the organisation in the right direction.
When asked if he would resign, he replied: “I simply think I’m in a place where I can work to improve dramatically the BBC and lead it in the right way.
“We will make mistakes, but I think as a leadership and myself, I’ve been very clear, and I think we have been decisive.”
He said the organisation was setting a “global standard” for media.
Mr Shah, reiterated his support for Mr Davie.
“Tim Davie and his team, and Tim in particular, has shown very strong leadership throughout all this period and he has my full support.”
The report also revealed its top earners, which saw former Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker top the chart once again.
Meanwhile, Australian children’s cartoon Bluey proved a boon for the broadcaster, and was the most watched show in the US across all genres – with 55 billion minutes viewed.
The top 10 shows watched over Christmas 2024 were also all from the BBC.
Recent annual reviews have been overshadowed by the Huw Edwards scandal and allegations of a toxic environment around flagship show Strictly Come Dancing.
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The iconic Sycamore Gap tree “can never be replaced” but its stump is showing signs of life, the National Trust has said, as the two men who felled it face sentencing.
Adam Carruthers, 32, and Daniel Graham, 39, drove 30 miles through a storm from Cumbria to Northumberland on 27 September 2023 before felling the landmark in less than three minutes.
Prosecutors said their “moronic mission” caused more than £620,000 worth of damage to the tree and more than £1,000 worth of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, where it fell.
They took a wedge as a trophy, which has never been recovered, and seemed to revel in the media coverage, exchanging messages and voice notes about the story going “wild” and “viral”.
Footage of the moment the tree was felled was played during the men’s trial at Newcastle Crown Court, where they both denied but were found guilty of two counts of criminal damage.
Adam Carruthers and Daniel Graham. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
A picture of the tree taken hours before it was felled. Pic: CPS
In a victim impact statement read at their sentencing hearing, National Trust general manager Andrew Poad, said the “iconic tree can never be replaced”.
“While the National Trust has cared for it on behalf of the nation, it belonged to the people,” he wrote.
“It was a totemic symbol for many; a destination to visit whilst walking Hadrian’s Wall, a place to make memories, take photos in all seasons; but it was also a place of sanctuary – a calming, reflective space that people came to year after year.
“While what was lost cannot be replaced, the stump is showing signs of life, with new shoots emerging at the base – as the decades progress, there is hope that some may grow and establish.”
Mr Poad said the “outpouring of emotion” to the felling was “unprecedented”, with one message from a member of the public described it as “like losing a close family member”.
Pictures were shown in court of a “celebration room” in memory of the tree, including a note which says: “How dare he steal our JOY,” while another reads: “Nature at it’s best over 300 years. Humanity at its worst over one night”.
Mr Poad added: “The overwhelming sense of loss and confusion was felt across the world.
“When it became clear that this was a malicious and deliberate act the question was why anyone would do this to such a beautiful tree in such a special place, it was beyond comprehension.”
The pair were found guilty of criminal damage
Graham has a previous caution for theft after he cut up a “large quantity of logs using a chainsaw”, the court heard.
He also has convictions for violence including battery and public order offences, which were said to be “relationship-based”, while Carruthers has no previous cautions or convictions.
The tree, which had stood for more than 100 years in a dip in the landscape, held a place in popular culture and was featured in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.
It also formed part of people’s personal lives, as the scene of wedding proposals, ashes being scattered and countless photographs.
A 6ft section of the trunk is now on public display at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre, around two miles from where it once stood, while 49 saplings taken from the tree have been conserved by the National Trust.
Graham and Carruthers, who were once close friends, gave no explanation for why they targeted the tree, and since their arrests, they have fallen out and come to blame each other.
At their trial, Graham claimed Carruthers had a fascination with the sycamore, saying he had described it as “the most famous tree in the world” and spoken of wanting to cut it down, even keeping a piece of string in his workshop that he had used to measure its circumference.
Carruthers denied this and told the court he could not understand the outcry over the story, saying it was “just a tree”.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said the pair have now accepted they went on the mission in pre-sentencing reports.
But Carruthers claimed he was “drunk” and didn’t realise what happened until the next day, while Graham said it was “only when the blade made contact with the tree he realised it was serious,” the court heard.
Mr Wright added: “The court can be sure they were sober, prepared and planned to do exactly what they did.”
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