Extinction Rebellion aim to cause disruption. Obviously they will succeed, if not nearly as much as they’d like. Many Londoners may be made late for work. There will be some economic impact.
Brexitters would rather avoid disruption. Obviously we will not wholly succeed, though the effect may be not nearly as much as Project Fear would like. Many lorry drivers may be stuck in queues. There will be some economic impact.
Between now and the end of the year, which do readers expect to cause more?
(OK, it is not a fair comparison. I’m comparing the disruption caused by an actual no-deal Brexit to the disruption caused by Extinction Rebellion’s mere attempt to make us adopt their policy. If XR actually began the process of shutting down all economic activity in excess of ‘carbon-neutral’ within 7 years, they’d win hands down.)
More generally, how much does disrupting the economy matter in politics? To people who think little about politics except for a few weeks before an election, maybe a lot. To people who think about politics all the time, maybe very little, despite their making a huge song and dance about it.
(I, of course, like to think I have the balance about right – but then, don’t we all. 🙂 )
While both the millenarianist nutters of Extinction Rebellion AND the Remoaners will try and kick up a lot of fuss in and around Westminster, Whitehall and the financial districts, for the most part, the silent majority will not be moved (other than to wonder why the police aren’t arresting the crusty hippies) or even affected by them.
Here in Perth, Scotland there are regular pro-Remain street stalls on Saturday from 10 AM to around 10 PM (weather depending), but apart from that most people are just doing what they always do, working, eating, shopping, etc.
The impending doom of the death cults (both environmental and Euro-political) might make front page news, but the rest of the country outside SW1 and it’s surrounds just go “Tut” and thank god we no longer have to live or work there.
*pro-Remain street stalls on Saturday from 10 AM to around 2 PM (weather depending)*
Thanks for the correction, John. If Remoaners hung around Perth centre till 10pm I’d have had to grant they were committed (albeit maybe also committable 🙂 ).
I’ve not seen a Remoaner stall in Glasgow since the referendum, and I have seen plenty of stalls scattered down Buchanan street – far more often those I despise than those I respect; one Saturday there were three anti-semitic stalls (only please to call it anti-zionism or pro-Palestinian). They are of course ignored by all the passing shoppers. But I do not walk down Buchanan Street that often so I may well have missed them.