Protesters need to be listened to

Even when I was a student, living off toasties and Super Noodles, I really couldn’t ever get too excited about anything which involved tearing me away from the pub.

But I have always had more than a healthy respect for people who are so committed to a cause that they make huge sacrifices to stand up for what they believe in.

During my career, I have met hundreds of campaigners who believe that their cause trumps all others; some are motivated by the fact that their way of life is under threat while others believe they are acting in the greater good.

More often than not, the protestors usually have a vested interest in standing up to the ‘establishment’, especially when it comes to cuts to public amenities or developers wanting to build housing estates on their doorsteps.

Although such issues do provoke an outpouring of emotions from large numbers of people, they do not unite everybody because their reach isn’t universal.

There is one issue which should unite us all and that is the future of our planet. Last week Extinction Rebellion protestors paralysed parts of central London by blocking bridges and chaining themselves to fences.

During the week-long campaign, the Met Police arrested nearly 1,000 people, aged between 19 and 77, and many of them looked like you or I and were moved to descend on our capital city because they truly believe that we are close to an environmental tipping point. Among their demands, they want world leaders to tell the truth about the true scale of global warming and they also want net carbon emissions to be zero within the next six years.

People like me have a lot to do if we are going to make a difference but I strive to buy local wherever I can and am by no means a frequent flyer.

Although it is unlikely that I will ever join them on the frontline, I am on side of the environmental protestors. We all should be.