A FEW years ago during a pub quiz tie-break, the question was asked: “Who was the suffragette that died after throwing herself under the King’s horse during the Derby?”
One of my team-mates blurted out Emeline Pankhurst, which is, of course, the wrong answer, but before we could correct him the damage was done and we lost.
Not that I’m bitter about it, 20 years on.
I’ve no idea what happened to the team-mate either as none of us speak to him anymore – there was a prize of £40 which he cost us, after all.
The answer, of course, is Emily Wilding Davison, who died after being hit by George V’s horse Anmer at the 1913 Epsom race.
It was arguably the most high-profile incident in the battle for women’s right to vote, one which was partially won in 1918 when women over the age of 30 were allowed at the ballot box.
It took until 1928 for women to finally be given equal voting rights as men – which seems a staggering state of affairs now, less than 100 years later.
The suffragette’s’ heroic campaign is in stark contrast to the recent spate of protests carried out by eco-yobs in a bid to save the planet.
Whereas the suffragettes had a valid cause and a single-minded, winnable aim, the protestors from groups such as Just Stop Oil have a vague, woolly goal that has no real chance of being achieved.
Read More: Training bar staff to drive night buses is worth considering
It is also extremely difficult to gain public support for a non-defined goal, particularly when people are being disrupted as they go about their daydaily business.
The whole thing has now taken on a farcical twist when eco zealots were seemingly rounded on and “kettled” by a group of “counter-protesters” who called themselves Just Stop P***ing Everyone Off.
Of course, by staging a counter-protest on the streets of London, the group were doing exactly what they claimed to be wanting to stop – namely, p***ng people off.
Regardless of the farcical scenes, it’s hard not to feel a degree of sympathy for the new group as the people of London must be getting pretty fed -up with constant disruptions.
Of course, the right to protest is a basic right in a democracy and people should be allowed to do it whenever they like, whatever the cause.
Where it becomes difficult to justify is that, when innocent members of the public are disrupted by those protests, then it becomes a matter for the police, which puts them in a difficult situation.
Read More: We urgently need more police - even if they're afraid of the dark
That climate change is happening is impossible to argue against, but as are the great strides that have already been taken made across the developed world in combating the problem.
Much more, of course, can be done but eco zealots chaining themselves to oil tankers is not solving anything.
It only annoys people.
Everybody is aware of climate change and many will be doing their own small bit to combat it, such as recycling, buying an electric car, shopping locally, et cetera.
Oil companies are also – slowly, admittedly – coming around to the fact that they too must be part of the solution. Many have published their routes to net zero, including Ineos, owner of Grangemouth refinery which was targeted this week by climate group This Is Rigged.
Some activists blockaded the Grangemouth site and the Nustar Clydebank oil terminal early on Wednesday.
Activists blocked gates, climbed on pipes and sat on top of tankers, vowing to “shut down the Scottish oil industry”, with the disruption forcing the closure of a tanker terminal at the Ineos refinery for several hours.
Quite how the group intend to shut down the Scottish oil industry is unclear but thankfully they failed in what was in any case a futile bid.
The simple truth is that we will need oil for the foreseeable future, regardless of where it comes from.
It is used in virtually everything we need on a daily basis, from cosmetics to white goods and it has to come from somewhere.
Read More: Never underestimate a woman with poly pocket in a thunderstorm
Until the day that someone very clever indeed finds a viable alternative then we’re stuck with it, whether we like it or not.
We can all drive electric cars, travel on electric trains and never fly anywhere but we will still need oil.
That is the part of the eco zealots’ argument I just don’t understand: they offer no alternative, just desperate hyperbole about how bad things are.
There is very little point in spraying orange stuff on the snooker tables at the Crucible, disrupting the Lord’s Ashes test match and defacing the courts at Wimbledon.
We get it – most government’s get it, too – so there is no need to disrupt folks’ lives any longer for a cause that has no achievable aim.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel