I've never been personally affected by the protests Robert, and the basic principle behind the protests is one I concur with. The issue I have is that the reality is that these protests won't make a jot of difference in the grander scheme of things, and the people who suffer as a result of these protests are the average person in the street. And no, as a result of being inconvenienced the average person in the street doesn't align with the protesters, arguably precisely the opposite.The world is, quite simply, 'f**ked' because of what humans have done to it. The imbalances in the world, be it at global, national or local level, are all down to two things, greed and selfishness. We live in a world where some people haven't got access to a fresh water supply, and in that same world footballers earn £865k a week. We live in a world where sporting events (and I'm not just on about the World Cup) will take place wherever the highest bid comes from, and/or clubs can be owned by companies directly linked to the ruling elite of countries that will happily assassinate their critics. We live in a world where a significant minority of people, because they don't want to graft, will do whatever it takes for their greasy pay-cheque, be it appearing on I'm a Celebrity, having sex with as many professional athletes as possible in order to sell their story to the tabloids, or becoming a social media 'influencer' using platform populated by amoebas who live in a world of instant gratification where they can pick and choose precisely what to watch (so they struggle to cope when they can't have what they want) and rather than cooking for themselves rely on 24/7 food delivery services. We live in a world where the public sector is totally bankrupt and struggles to provide any level of service, be it the NHS, the police, Councils and so forth. To give an example, Havering Council has to find £44 million of savings by next year. Meanwhile, private companies (including the likes of BP) are raking in billions of profit.As I said in my earlier post, China has over 1000 coal-fuelled power stations and that number keeps on increasing. The UK will have 0 by 2025 (I can see one of the remaining 3 out my window as I type). The powers that be might go along to COP and give their little spiels about doing something now, but they've been rolling out those spiels for over 30 years and the situation has only got worse (coal usage in China has more then trebled since 1990).So the sad reality is that, and it's an unfortunately ironic saying, these protesters are protesting against something that is a drop in the ocean compared to be bigger picture. Unless and until the world becomes more 'even', in every respect, nothing will ever improve. To me the start of that process would be a salary cap across every profession, taxing the absolute hell out of the uber-rich, sporting teams and ruling bodies turning their back on chasing every penny and so forth.Yes this post is totally negative, but it's also the reality, a reality which people don't want to face up to because it might depress them.
Adam Beamish ● 320d