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Just Stop Oil demonstrators are considering slashing famous works of art as they threaten to “escalate” their protests.

The controversial climate activists have also issued a call to England captain Harry Kane to wear an armband carrying their message at the World Cup in Qatar.

The group is planning more disruption in the run-up to Christmas in its campaign of direct action, which has included blocking roads, spraying orange paint on buildings and defacing famous artworks.

Among the protests, demonstrators have thrown soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting and glued themselves to the frames of several masterpieces, prompting one art critic to brand them “morons”.

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Soup thrown over Van Gogh painting

Alex De Koning, a spokesman for Just Stop Oil, said it was “insane” that “more people are outraged” about the activists targeting artwork than the devastating floods in Pakistan, which displaced millions of people.

The 24-year-old – who describes himself as a “climate scientist” – told Sky News that the protest group may follow in the footsteps of suffragettes who “violently slashed paintings in order to get their messages across”.

In 1914, Mary Richardson attacked Diego Velazquez’s painting The Rokeby Venus with a meat cleaver in a protest against the arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst.

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Later that year, suffragette Anne Hunt entered the National Portrait Gallery and hacked away at a painting of Thomas Carlyle, one of the gallery’s trustees.

Mr De Koning said targeting famous art had “marked an escalation” in Just Stop Oil’s action and warned it will “continue to escalate unless the government meets our demand” to stop future gas and oil projects.

He told Sky News: “If things need to escalate then we’re going to take inspiration from past successful movements and we’re going to do everything we can.

“If that’s unfortunately what it needs to come to, then that’s unfortunately what it needs to come to.

“We’re fighting for our lives, why would we do any less?”

Asked directly whether future protests could involve slashing artwork, the spokesman replied: “It could potentially come to that at one point in the future, yeah.”

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Oil protesters glued to masterpiece

‘Not intimidated by jail’

Two Just Stop Oil activists, Hannah Hunt and Eden Lazarus, are due to face trial on Tuesday accused of causing criminal damage to John Constable’s The Hay Wain.

The pair glued themselves to the frame of the painting and attached their own image of an “apocalyptic vision of the future”.

Last week, a Just Stop Oil protester was jailed for gluing himself to the frame of a Van Gogh painting in a London gallery.

A judge said the 18th-century frame had been “permanently damaged” by the stunt, as Louis McKechnie was imprisoned for three weeks and fellow activist Emily Brocklebank received a 21-day sentence, suspended for six months.

Louis McKechnie and Emily Brocklebank. Pic: Just Stop Oil
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Louis McKechnie and Emily Brocklebank glued themselves to the painting. Pic: Just Stop Oil

Mr De Koning said Just Stop Oil activists were “not going to be intimidated by potential prison time”.

“At least in prison you get three meals a day and shelter and water,” he said.

“In 20 years’ time, who knows if that’s still the case for millions of people.”

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Mashed potato thrown on Monet painting

Why are protesters targeting art – and are they gaining support?

Climate activists have been targeting famous artworks around the world in recent months.

In Germany, demonstrators threw mashed potatoes at Monet’s Les Meules painting in a protest against fossil fuel extraction.

And in Australia, two climate activists were arrested after gluing themselves to the frame of Picasso’s Massacre in Korea.

After Just Stop Oil activists threw soup at the Van Gogh painting, art critic Waldemar Januszczak branded the stunt “pathetic”.

“Take it out on the oil companies you morons, not on innocent art,” he wrote on Twitter.

However musician and activist Bob Geldof voiced his support for the protesters, saying their actions were “1,000% right” and it was “clever” to deface the famous 1888 painting while it was covered with a glass screen.

Mr De Koning said the stunt had “sparked international conversations” and the protests targeting artworks were “probably” more effective than blocking roads.

“It really got a lot of people talking about the climate crisis in a way that other protests in the past have not done,” the PhD student at Newcastle University said.

“We’ve tried protesting outside the Chinese embassy and doing other things and it just doesn’t get coverage.

“Because there was no damage (to the Van Gogh painting), there was a lot of support that actually came out as well as a lot of controversy.”

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Just Stop Oil: ‘Do you love your children?’

Who is organising the worldwide art protests?

Mr De Koning refused to say who first suggested climate protesters should target works of art, saying he couldn’t discuss it for “legal reasons”.

The groups involved, including Germany’s Last Generation and Just Stop Oil in the UK, operate independently and no one person is believed to be directing the actions.

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Activists target Klimt painting

According to TIME, clinical psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon is perhaps the closest thing to a global mastermind of the protests.

She is the executive director of a group called The Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), which distributes money from wealthy donors to “support disruptive protest”.

She told the magazine that the CEF does not fund anything illegal with its grants, which generally range from $35,000 (£29,000) to $80,000 (£67,000).

But Ms Salamon added that disruptive protests are like a fire alarm to “shake us awake”.

“Playing by the rules, going step by step through normalcy, we’re walking off a cliff,” she said.

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Activists dragged away after gluing themselves to painting

Just Stop Oil considers ‘new tactics’

Asked whether the activists felt any guilt over defacing art, Mr De Koning said: “It’s obviously terrible. Yes, of course, we don’t want to be doing things like that.

“The question you need to be asking is why on earth would students, grandparents, engineers, doctors, nurses, do something like that? It’s because our government is behaving criminally.”

He added that if action isn’t taken to stop new oil and gas projects then “millions more people are going to die and can’t appreciate that artwork”.

Protesters from Just Stop Oil climate protest group glue their hands to the frame of a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's, The Last Supper inside the Royal Academy, London. Picture date: Tuesday July 5, 2022.
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Protesters glue their hands to the frame of a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper

“We’re not even going to have a habitable planet for this artwork and for us to live on,” Mr De Koning said.

The Just Stop Oil spokesman confirmed more disruption is planned in the run-up to Christmas, saying it would be “mostly road blocking” but it was “always good to have new tactics”.

The group has said it will stop its direct action if the government announces it will immediately halt all future licences for the exploration and production of fossil fuels in the UK.

Read more:
Who are Just Stop Oil?
Just Stop Oil ‘should be named a terrorist group’

Harry Kane wears the UEFA One Love armband

Call for Kane to wear Just Stop Oil armband

Just Stop Oil has now urged Harry Kane to wear a captain’s armband displaying its message at the World Cup in Qatar, which has one of the world’s largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves.

Kane was due to wear a OneLove armband in support of the LGBT+ community at the World Cup – with homosexuality illegal in Qatar – but England abandoned the plan after FIFA threatened to book players who wore it.

Mr De Koning said: “A lot of people really respect Harry Kane… so a lot of people would be swayed by (him wearing a Just Stop Oil armband).”

The spokesman pointed out that Gary Lineker tweeted a message about Just Stop Oil after a protester disrupted a Premier League match and Formula One star Lewis Hamilton defended the activists after they invaded the Silverstone track during the British Grand Prix.

“These people have such a platform they can use so I would ask them to consider their responsibilities to future generations and do something as simple as put on an armband,” the Just Stop Oil spokesman said.

“It’s not going to make a massive difference to (Kane’s) everyday life but it could have a great effects for people down the line.”

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MP tells Sky News she was attacked online by Tate brothers after Commons contribution

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MP tells Sky News she was attacked online by Tate brothers after Commons contribution

An MP has told Sky News she was attacked online by the Tate brothers after she participated in a debate in the House of Commons about violence against women.

The controversial duo, Andrew and Tristan Tate, are facing charges of rape and human trafficking in the UK – all of which they deny.

But they are still very active online, and according to Sorcha Eastwood, the MP for Lagan Valley, are targeting her.

In a document seen by Sky News, Tristan Tate has highlighted one of the MP’s tweets and writes in private correspondence: “MP, nice target, can we sue her?”

Sorcha Eastwood says at first she thought the replies were from parody accounts and not the Tate brothers.

Her original tweet was about Elon Musk, not the Tate brothers. The MP said Musk’s tweets should be looked at through a counter-extremism lens.

“I was really concerned, I was concerned because to me that is a direct attack for want of a better phrase on me serving my constituents.

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“I couldn’t believe that they decided to pick this random Northern Irish MP. The fact that it wasn’t even about them. This is something I didn’t go looking for.

“I think from my perspective, it’s a very, very sinister attempt to shut down important voices in public life, political discourse.”

It was only when she started noticing an uptick in abuse from other accounts she realised she had encountered some of the brothers’ followers.

“I had rape threats. I had death threats. I had people saying I should be hung from a lamppost. I had people saying I should be chopped into liver. I also had people then who were like we’ll waste 15 minutes raping Sorcha Eastwood.”

Andrew and Tristan Tate
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A representative for the Tate brothers told Sky News that there was no targeted campaign against Sorcha Eastwood

A representative for the Tate brothers told Sky News that there was no targeted campaign against her.

They said: “Ms Eastwood has a distorted view regarding social media if she believes one is required to ‘invite or ask’ people to interact.

“Tristan Tate is entitled to his view in relation to her tweet regarding Elon Musk.”

The self-styled “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have both been charged with human trafficking, face allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering in Romania.

There is also a European arrest warrant for them as they are facing separate, unrelated charges of rape and human trafficking in the UK. They deny all charges.

Ms Eastwood now worries for others who don’t have a platform like her and who may not feel like they can speak out.

“If this is what has happened to me I have absolutely no doubt that this has happened to others where they have been attempted to be silenced.”

Keir Starmer has previously commented on the Tate brothers’ case in the Commons saying it is “a live issue”, but adding that “the principle is absolutely clear” in relation to whether the brothers should face justice.

Sorcha Eastwood says she wants to see the government do much more to protect against abuse online.

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Tate brothers deny wrongdoing

“I think ultimately the government has taken the wrong course on this. They need to step up.

“This should be an issue of national security as far as the radicalisation of young people online. It should be an issue in terms of the levels of misinformation, disinformation and the lack of trust that is had in our politics right across the UK and Europe.

“I want the government to help me, help every other person to crack down on this and get serious about it. And the only way they’ll be able to do that, is by hitting these tech companies in the only language which they understand, which is money and via robust legislation.”

A government spokesperson said: “Violence against women and girls is a scourge on our society which is why we have set out an unprecedented mission to halve these crimes within a decade.

“Tackling illegal abuse both online and offline is central to supporting victims and preventing harm in our communities and we will not hesitate to strengthen laws to deliver this mission.

“Last month, parts of the Online Safety Act came into force meaning companies must take action to protect users from illegal material including extreme sexual violence.

“Further protections from this summer will require platforms to protect children from harmful, misogynistic, and violent content.”

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UK

‘It’s just nasty’: Birmingham residents ‘overwhelmed’ by foul stench and massive rats as bins strike rumbles on

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'It's just nasty': Birmingham residents 'overwhelmed' by foul stench and massive rats as bins strike rumbles on

In parts of Birmingham, the stench is overwhelming – enough to make you heave.

At a block of flats in Highgate, in Birmingham city centre, we find a mountain of bin liners full of rubbish spewing out of the cavernous bin store, which is normally locked.

Mickel comes out to speak to us, while all around bin liners lie open, with the contents for all to see, including used nappies and rotting food.

Birmingham
strike bin workers
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Mickel says they’ve had ‘foxes and rats, literally the size of cats’

Outside Mickel's flat in Highgate, bin liners lie open, spewing out rubbish, including used nappies and rotting food
Image:
Outside Mickel’s flat in Highgate, bin liners lie open, spewing out rubbish

We both find it hard to keep talking amid the awful smell.

“We’ve had foxes and rats, literally the size of cats, flies, it’s just nasty, something needs to be done,” he says.

Birmingham
Birmingham
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Chris says the situation is ‘overwhelming’ as she’s ‘terrified of rats’

Around the corner, I meet Chris, in her dressing gown, popping the bins into her bin store beneath her flat before work.

She unlocks it, and although it isn’t bursting out on to the street yet, it is getting full.

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She says the situation is “overwhelming” as she’s “terrified of rats”. But, even so, she has sympathy for the striking bin workers.

“It’s not an easy job; they must have a heart of gold to do that job,” she says.

“Pay them whatever they need, they deserve it.”

Striking bin workers in Birmingham
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Striking bin workers at Lifford Lane tip, south of the city centre

a mountain of bin liners full of rubbish spewing out of the cavernous bin store, which is normally locked.
Image:
There’s an awful smell coming from a mountain of bin liners outside Mickel’s flat in Highgate

At Lifford Lane tip, south of the city centre, Brigette has pulled up alongside picketing workers. The back seat of her car is full of rubbish.

She apologises for the terrible waft, mixed with air freshener.

Read more:
Pest controllers ‘feel like an emergency service’
Bin workers strike explained

“It’s very pungent, isn’t it? Not nice,” she admits.

“It’s unfortunate, I have some sympathies for all the parties, but, equally, we have a duty of care to stay clean and tidy.”

She says she has her rubbish and that of her elderly aunt and plans to make weekly trips to the tip until a resolution in this pay dispute between the council and the Unite union is found.

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‘US is our closest ally’, Jonathan Reynolds says in reaction to Trump tariffs – but ‘nothing off the table’

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'US is our closest ally', Jonathan Reynolds says in reaction to Trump tariffs - but 'nothing off the table'

The US is “our closest ally” but “nothing is off the table” in response to Donald Trump’s 10% tariffs on imports from the UK, the business secretary has said.

In a statement following the US president’s nearly hour-long address to the world, Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers.

“That’s why, throughout the last few weeks, the government has been fully focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States that strengthens our existing fair and balanced trading relationship.”

Follow the latest following Trump’s tariffs announcement

Mr Reynolds reiterated the statements from the prime minister and his cabinet over the past few days, saying the US is “our closest ally”, and the government’s approach is to “remain calm and committed to doing this deal, which we hope will mitigate the impact of what has been announced today”.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds arrives in Downing Street, London, for a Cabinet meeting. Picture date: Tuesday January 28, 2025.
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Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says “nothing is off the table” following the tariffs announcement. Pic: PA

But he continued: “We have a range of tools at our disposal, and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to engage with UK businesses, including on their assessment of the impact of any further steps we take.

“Nobody wants a trade war, and our intention remains to secure a deal. But nothing is off the table, and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”

More on Donald Trump

‘Get back round the negotiating table’, say Tories

The Conservative Party’s shadow business and trade secretary described the US president’s announcement as “disappointing news which will worry working families across the country”.

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Sky’s Ed Conway examines how economies across the world are impacted by tariffs

Andrew Griffith hit out at the government for having “failed to negotiate with President Trump’s team for too many months after the election, failed to keep our experienced top trade negotiator, and failed to get a deal to avoid the imposition of these tariffs by our closest trading partner”.

“The chancellor’s emergency budget of just a week ago with its inadequate headroom is now at risk, casting uncertainty about more taxes or spending cuts,” he continued. “Sadly, it is British businesses and workers who will pay the price for Labour’s failure.”

He called on ministers to “swallow their pride” and “get back round the negotiating table to agree a fair deal to protect jobs and consumers in both the UK and the US alike”.

Relief in Westminster – but concessions to Trump to come

It has been quite a rollercoaster for the government, where they went from the hope that they could avoid tariffs, that they could get that economic deal, to the realisation that was not going to happen, and then the anticipation of how hard would the UK be hit.

In Westminster tonight, there is actual relief because the UK is going to have a 10% baseline tariff – but that is the least onerous of all the tariffs we saw President Trump announce.

He held up a chart of the worst offenders, and the UK was well at the bottom of that list.

No 10 sources were telling me as President Trump was in the Rose Garden that while no tariffs are good, and it’s not what they want, the fact the UK has tariffs that are lower than others vindicates their approach.

They say it’s important because the difference between a 20% tariff and a 10% tariff is thousands of jobs.

Where to next? No 10 says it will “keep negotiating, keep cool and calm”, and reiterated Sir Keir Starmer’s desire to “negotiate a sustainable trade deal”.

“Of course want to get tariffs lowered. Tomorrow we will continue with that work,” a source added.

Another source said the 10% tariff shows that “the UK is in the friendlies club, as much as that is worth anything”.

Overnight, people will be number-crunching, trying to work out what it means for the UK. There is a 25% tariff on cars which could hit billions in UK exports, in addition to the blanket 10% tariff.

But despite this being lower than many other countries, GDP will take a hit, with forecasts being downgraded probably as we speak.

I think the government’s approach will be to not retaliate and try to speed up that economic deal in the hope that they can lower the tariffs even further.

There will be concessions. For example, the UK could lower the Digital Services Tax, which is imposed on the UK profits of tech giants. Will they loosen regulation on social media companies or agricultural products?

But for now, there is relief the UK has not been hit as hard as many others.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has reacted furiously to Mr Trump’s announcement of a “destructive trade war”, and called on the government to stand up against “Trump’s attempts to divide and rule”.

“The prime minister should bring our Commonwealth and European partners together in a coalition of the willing against Trump’s tariffs, using retaliatory tariffs where necessary and signing new trade deals with each other where possible.”

Speaking on Wednesday evening at a White House event entitled ‘Make America Wealthy Again’, the US president unleashed sweeping tariffs across the globe.

Mr Trump held up a chart detailing the worst offenders – which also showed the new tariffs the US would be imposing.

The UK’s rate of 10% was perhaps a shot across the bow over the 20% VAT rate, though the president’s suggested a 10% tariff imbalance between the two nations. Nonetheless, tariffs of 10% could directly reduce UK GDP by between 0.01% and 0.06%, according to Capital Economics.

A 25% duty on all car imports from around the world is also being imposed from midnight in the US – 5am on Thursday, UK time.

Read more:

World reacts to Trump’s tariff announcement
Tariffs will have consequences for globalisation, the US economy and geopolitics
Trump’s tariffs explained

The UK government had been hoping to negotiate an economic deal with the US in a bid to avoid the tariffs, but to no avail. The government says negotiations will continue.

The Confederation of British Industry said “negotiating stronger trading relationships with all like-minded partners will be foundational to any success”.

The business secretary is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons on Thursday, and we are also expecting to hear from the prime minister.

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