'HS2 are wasting public money trying to convict peaceful climate protesters'

So we have these periodic public outpourings when a iconic person dies, may she rest in peace.

The court case that troubled me due to the repeated failure of HS2 to produce witnesses and paperwork over several years putting massive stress and paralysis on the young woman being prosecuted for going up a crane has been resolved with a justified "not guilty".

The tunnellers also walked free more promptly and the defenders in the Euston Square Gardens trees have won on appeal.

All this is good and justified and it is shameful that HS2 are wasting public money trying to convict peaceful climate protesters. However, now we have Esso ExxonMobil gaining some traction under the new legislation, trying to incarcerate those who protest against their infrastructure.

Scott Breen and supporters outside the royal courts of justice (Image: With permission)

ExxonMobil are building a new jet fuel pipeline from their refinery in Southampton to London Heathrow as part of the expansion of air travel and the third Heathrow runway. It beggars belief as we stand before a climate and ecological disaster of their making, that they are squeezing the last profits from fossil fuel before all hope dies.

Esso have taken a peaceful conscientious protester to court over an injunction about the pipeline they are building with an astonishing outcome that shakes my faith in the rule of law: he has been sent to prison for over a 100 days with a tariff of five prison days for each injunction day, plus 21 days each for insincerity, using social media, building a tower, ignoring warnings, wasting court and police time and (inexplicably) increasing the price of fuel in a cost of living crisis, the whole amount then reduced by 40%.

Decades ago Exxon knew that carrying on burning fossil fuel was going to make life on this planet impossible for humans and most species due to floods, fire and famine. But somehow they thought capitalists were exempt and could squeeze obscene profits while now ordinary people in this country could no longer afford the energy they had been manipulated into needing.

So the cost-of-living crisis will be putting intolerable strain on our Foodbanks. Where can we get the donations to feed all the people who will need support? Euston Foodbank has moved into larger premises in Phoenix Road in preparation for the impending disaster, but how long can charities do the work of government in seeking the happiness of the common people?

Dorothea Hackman is chair of Camden Civic Society.