Lewisham Mayor vs Climate Camp

He’s my local mayor, but I won’t be voting for Sir Steve Bullock again. Staggeringly he compares the Climate Camp protesters occupying Blackheath for a week with football hooligans, before saying:

The problem with the Campers is that no matter how well intentioned and nice they are what they are doing is counterproductive.  It will be seen as self indulgent by lots of people who are struggling through the recession and could even make it harder to win support for some of the difficult measures that will have to be taken in the future.  And who do you think is going to have to pay to take the rubbish away, provide water and repair the Heath when they’ve gone?  That’s right you and me – the taxpayers of Lewisham who were never asked and never agreed to the camp being here.

Being angry with the Climate Change Campers doesn’t mean you don’t care about the issue – for me they are a distraction from the real task of changing how we behave and persuading ever more of our fellow citizens to change the way they behave too.

I’d say Bullock is part of the problem. Speaking as a resident of Lewisham their ‘measures to reduce the impact of climate change’ are undetectable. It’s the same mentality which permeates the top level of the entire Labour Party – protest and you’re a hooligan – it’s only those in authority who can (read: ‘should’) make change, except they never seem to. It’s a cheap political shot, which I suspect most of his constituents won’t agree with. Is he really claiming Lewisham’s council tax will go up as a result of climate protesters occupying common land for one week? Speaking as someone entirely happy with my new, temporary neighbours, I know who’s really coming across as patronising and selfish!