I've just been to the MoD to interview Bob Ainsworth. On the way there and back I had the dubious pleasure of seeing the Greenpeace protesters on the roof of the House of Commons. What a terrible lapse in security. It's not as if it is the first time this sort of thing has happened. I have absolutely no confidence in the Commons authorities to prevent a serious breach, which could lead to a terrible tragedy.
If you were an Al Qaeda cell in the UK, wouldn't you now be planning which organisation you could infiltrate to be part of a future protest like this? And then wreak your terrible havoc...
Greenpeace should be ashamed of itself.
Legitimate protest is one thing. Invading the parliamentary estate like this is quite another. Just leaving them up there on the roof with no intervention by the Police sends a simple message to others who might have the same idea: come on in, we're too worried about negative press reaction to do anything.
I wish I had suggested to Bob Ainsworth that he send the army in with a water cannon. It's the only language they understand.
UPDATE: For the humourless left, perhaps I should have added a smiley after that sentence. They really don't do tongue in cheek humour do they? Po faced idiots.
I don't agree with Greenpeace in respect of their stance on nuclear.
ReplyDeleteBut climate change is killing more people than Al Qaeda, and in future it will kill more people than lots of wars. Not to recognise the right of Greenpeace to shake people out of their monumental complacency on the most important issue of the day is a bit silly.
Of course, plenty of people just want to bury their head in the sand on this issue, or claim that people are 'panicking' [if only that were true...] but this is one area where the adage that 'big government is a problem' may not necessarily be true.
Perhaps we should be grateful to them for exposing the holes in Parliamentary security
ReplyDeleteIain
ReplyDeletethere is no way Al Qaeda go after parliament. The govt are doing a much better job of destroying the UK than a bunch of half @rrsed fundamental loons could ever manage!
A bit harsh Mr Dale. Sure, it's a lapse of security and I dare say 'lessons will be learned' but they're not Al Quida are they? They're just a bunch of lentil eating tossers who permanently complain about trivial pointlessness.
ReplyDeleteSorry Iain but the fat idle plods are to blame. I used to be in the forces, those protesters would have had a good kicking if they tired to get into a military base.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the fat idle plods at the Commons, most of them look so stupid and unfit they wouldn't get a job serving fries.
Terrible tragedy?
ReplyDeleteIt's easier to prosecute grannies who take on 18yr louts than it is to remove these people!
ReplyDeleteAinsworth would have sent the Army in with a waterpistol (but no water) and claimed that they were fully equipped.
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit worrying that they can get up there so easily but I assume that the security procedures are - rightly - concerned with people carrying things that they shouldn't be that they could do damage with.
ReplyDeleteBetter than a water cannon would be a hose. Water cannons make martyrs. Hoses just make people damp, cold, and dispirited.
Send in the water cannon, low fly a vulcan bomber aircraft over head, low fly the Red Arrows. Do anything just remove them and leave them for a while in soaking clothes to repent.
ReplyDeleteThese people are a waste of space and are a disgrace to GreenPeace.
They could be paintballed off the roof, they could be gunged off the roof- where are the police the army, airforce, and navy.
What the devil is the point of surrounding everywhere with concrete security bollards and armed police when this sort of thing goes on.
It is outrageous, we are just a walkover for a nasty event. It will not do.
Did I really say that? Time for a cuppa.
The police always flatly refuse to forcibly move people off a roof. They refuse on the grounds that it's too dangerous, they don't have the proper training, the protesters might get injured and then sue the police, they're not actually doing anyone else any harm etc. Plus, one suspects that in many instances they have some sympathy with the protesters. I've seen all this first hand.
ReplyDeleteAll total claptrap, of course - just more excuses for not actually doing their jobs.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
ReplyDeleteDammit.
Wrong country.
As much as I dislike Greenpeace, it's hardly their fault that the commons authorities are so piss poor. It is those in charge of protecting parliament who should be hanging their heads in shame - or better yet should be facing investigation so that it cannot happen again.
ReplyDeleteI can't agree with Iain that Greenpeace should be ashamed of exposing how bad security is. If its that bad sweeping it under the carpet is harmful.
ReplyDeleteHowever it may well be that some MP has signed them in or otherwise helped. If Zac Goldsmith, who has testified in court in favour of letting eco-vandals off, gets in the Tories may regret it.
Breenpeace have, for 20 years, been little but an advertising agency for donations - what actual work do they do. They claim not to accept government money but if so they must be about the only part of the eco-fascist movement that isn't a government funded Fakecharity. Even the fascist thugs of UAF turn out to be taxpayer funded.
The degree to which the overwhelming majority of organisations reported by the media turn out to be government funded in the background can hardly be overestimated & is a serious threat to freedom.
I would not trust Ainsworth with a 3 item shopping list at Tescos.
ReplyDeleteIan I disagree, Greenpeace have pointed a flaw in the security, that flaw should be plugged and the persons responsible for the lack of security should be sacked. Its about time anyone connected with incompetent government of any kind should be sacked and not given a place in the house of lords.
ReplyDeleteHow about preventing them from coming dowm for six weeks? A period drinking only rainwater should fit with their ethos.
ReplyDeleteYeah and when they have finished they can go inside and wash out the filth from there because they certainly do not understand the language of the Publicrestimpe
ReplyDeleteRemember to put green dye in the water.
ReplyDeleteIn Germany and in the European Parliament, the Green Party are keen to decriminalise paedophilia.
How about the ones in the UK?
Are they into kiddy fiddling too?
If they're worried about global warming, why is it so bloody cold?
Knocking people off a roof with a high-powered water cannon might sound like fun, but I do not think we really want to see deaths in order to defend the Parliamentary estate.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what they are protesting about though - they realise the Energy Act and Climate Change Act came in to force last year right?
Is deploying a water cannon to knock people off the roof of a tall building a good idea?
ReplyDeleteCan we expect more good ideas like this if you're elected to the House of Commons?
Oh get off your high horse Ian.
ReplyDeleteThe labour government made legitimate protest near parliament illegitimate.
The only way that people with a genuine grievance can protest these days is to pull off stunts like these.
A lot of our freedoms including the right to protest have been taken away from us in the so called name of anti terror measures.
Mp's are not worth assassinating. They don't do anything. Its all done in Brussels or behind closed doors by the Council of Ministers.
ReplyDeleteApart from the money and expenses and perhaps the easy life, why else become an MP?
Be grateful to Greenpeace. At least they have pointed out the weakness in security without doing anything more than making the commons authorities look like berks.
ReplyDeleteIf Al Qaeda invaded the Commons and started sorting out the crooks that infest the place they'd probably get a standing ovation from the rest of the country.
ReplyDelete"... I have absolutely no confidence in the Commons authorities to prevent a serious breach, which could lead to a terrible tragedy."
ReplyDeleteWith Jacqui's two-fingered response to honest taxpayers, there are an awful lot of people in this country who might consider the consequences of another breach, not so much a 'tragedy'
I think they should force them to stay on the roof.
ReplyDeleteUntil the spring.
Why the indignation over the House of Commons Iain? Westminster shouldn't get any special protection and no one would notice if they were hogging the roof of Westminster Abbey.
ReplyDeleteIf protesters were allowed to demonstrate in front of the buildings - permit needed these days - then perhaps rooftop actions not needed?
Just trying to understand why you would want to interview Bob Ainsworth
ReplyDeleteSadly the Army is not equipped with water cannon and in any case the civil police have primacy in such matters in Great Britain. Perhaps the reason that nothing has been done to evict the protestors is that, as usual, Gordon cannot make up his mind what to do.
ReplyDeleteI cannot quite agree with all of that, Iain!
ReplyDeleteSecurity concerns have to be weighed up with the right to protest. Labour's constant hatred and distrust of any protest has meant a complete curtailing of any kind of legitimate protest without all sorts of agreements signed in triplicate.
Greenpeace has maybe gone too far, but there must be a right in this country to protest without the threat of watercannon (or worse). There are other nations within the EU, never mind further out, where far worse treatment by "the establisment" against protesters is common place.
Yeah and while you are at it get the Chinese army to shoot them or lets have tanks in Parliament square. Either way they are dead - they would not survive a fall from the Commons roof. Those stories about Conservative links to far right parties make a bit more sense. A sign of things to come? Or do you want to reconsider this?
ReplyDeleteThis government and your party will not listen to anyone about anything - whatever language they speak. Unless of course they talk money and power. I'd sooner set the Fire hoses on MPs as would most of the British Public. Including those you want to vote for you.
Yes, it is a bit strange that a Registered Charity should be behind this. Take away their charitable status - why not?
ReplyDeleteOn first glance this looks like an extreme position to take, especially to the softly softly left (of which I am a cohort of), but in actual fact you're right Dale. Having said this, would it not be the case that the MOD knows who they are, and has it covered, in other words, is it not clear by the very fact that nothing has happened to the protesters, that they are nothing to worry about, whereas if it were al quaeda, they would be nowhere near, since the authorities would have them marked?
ReplyDeleteGreenpeace has made great propaganda and raised vast funds by eyeballing the physical representatives of authority.
ReplyDeleteAl Queda seem to be rather dim over here thankfuly, and the authorities would prob welcome them signing up to Greenpeace, AND know about it before your Islamo-fascist equivalent blogged about it too . . .
Ainsworth prob un-amused.
Its the Princes on Buck House roof . . . again . . .
"But climate change is killing more people than Al Qaeda..."
ReplyDeleteQuick! Nurse! One's escaped. Get the butterfly net and the jacket that does up round the back...
Blair's picture on page 17 of The Daily Express today fills me with horror.Nothing good will ever come from this 'man'.
ReplyDeleteMake martyrs of them. Genius.
ReplyDeleteSo what language do MPs understand?
ReplyDeleteJackie Smiff and Gorgon are THIEVES in my opinion - where are the police?
Lousy security at Westminster Iaian? Good grief, does that means a reprobate like you might get in therre one day.
ReplyDeleteps
ReplyDeleteComment #1
WHAT GLOBAL WARMING?
Unfortunately for the climate melons, Briffa's data cherry picking has been exposed...
The hockey stick is DEAD
The warmest year was 1998, your lies and distorted science are going to be exposed
Anon 5:17
ReplyDelete"The only way that people with a genuine grievance can protest these days is to pull off stunts like these.
"..a genuine grievance"? Pardon? What "genuine grievance" is that then? That we wont bend our knee in the face off their laughable misbeliefs? No warming since 199: CO2 is innocent.
Greenpeace are eco-facists who think their lunatic warming beliefs make them above the law.
You know - not unlike some MPs below them
Why would we care about an attack on politicians - it would just save us the work of raising gallows and giving the current shower their just deserts.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely sign of any of the government (at least) having any degree of competence, honesty, integrity or any positive qualities.
This may sound overly cynical, but frankly I am just past caring about politics and I want the useless idiots dead.
To anonymous (1st post). Where exactly did you get the figures that climate change is killing more people than Al Qaeda?
ReplyDeleteThe "evidence" that current climate change is real has been debunked regularly over the last year by distinguished scientists. That "evidence" was apparently created by a professor at the University of East Anglia who was highly selective in his choice of data and actually destroyed the raw data to prevent the normal scientific method being applied.
The latest learned study debunks that evidence and indeed the BBC are showing tonight I think evidence that the earth has been COOLING for the last 11 years or so.
NOR is there any evidence that "warming" is man made. If and when it happens it is a natural earth cycle which we cannot stop.It has regularly happened in the past and long before the Industrial Revolution.
Governments are using the fraud of man-made Global Warming, and the fantasy that we can stop it, as a tax raising move. Ably assisted by the industrial sectors who stand to gain.
Greenpeace are just total hippy idiots (I saw them in Auckland Harbour NZ) who regularly, by their antics, put the lives of others at risk. In short they are terrorists. I shall never support them.
Dear, oh dear, Iain. You sound like some old Colonel Blimp Tory from the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteNot quite the impression Dave wants to give, is it, though I suspect there are many more like you waiting in the wings.
Any more of this nonsense and the public will soon wise up to the fact that you're just the same old, same old, nasty party.
I'd put the idiots in charge of Commons security on the roof and leave them there with no food and water for three days..
ReplyDelete"These people are a waste of space and are a disgrace to GreenPeace."
ReplyDeleteTrue Belle, You do understand that Greenpeace ARE a protest organisation don't you ? And this is their modus operandii ?
They are not some kind of 'Greenpeace Provos' or a splinter faction..
In France the Greenpeace protesters would have been brutally beaten by the CRS. In the US, they would have fared little better. Why do we tolerate this?
ReplyDeleteIt matters not whether their cause is just. Their action is intolerable and extraordinarlily dangerous.
Ah yes, any comments on Michael Heseltine's little fancy with The Mace?
ReplyDeleteOr are such shennigans acceptable by a Tory MP in the Chamber, but unacceptable by real rebels on the roof?
What did those Labour morons expect when they banned demonstrations in Parliament Square?
ReplyDeleteWater cannon + high building = dead people.
ReplyDeleteCan you confirm that you actually want these people to be subject to extra-judicial killing by the state?
In addition to the water cannon, may I suggest soap be deployed as well? Or would that class as "Cruel and Unusual"?
ReplyDeleteTTFN :)
(Sorry, too bone idle to register...)
@ General Zod
ReplyDeleteIn France, the Greenpeace protesters would have been murdered by the French security service.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior
Not exactly behaviour I'd want to encourage here.
We've had enough authoritarianism from the Blair gang. Can't say I'm massively impressed with the many similar authoritarian views on here.
I was hoping for a more libertarian approach. Looks like I'm going to be disappointed again. You need to loosen up and see protest as a positive thing.
Next thing you'll want to be banning free speech. Oops. Blair's done that already....
In another couple of hundred years the 'Scaling of Parliament' will be a traditional event, just like Trooping the Colour or Morris Dancing.
ReplyDeleteLet them come down under their own steam, arrest them, and if found guilty give them a conditional sentence or an ASBO. Job done, minimal attention generated.
Huffing and puffing about Greenpeace climbing on the roof of pampered and allegedly above the law ruling class - neither clever or attractive.
Presumably, the good voters in Brighton Pavilion will no longer be considering electing Caroline Lucas as the first 'Green' MP.
ReplyDeleteYou sound like a wannabe MP Ian.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a good start if you do get elected would be to campaign for people's right to protest again in this country (certainly in and around Westminster)
Gordon told GMT that he goes on a 3 mile run every day perhaps that is why their is a complete lock down in the area. Not exactly a good advert for the health aspects of jogging is Gordon.
Al Quaeda would be instantly recognised, because they are apparently white little old ladies. Well, that's what the police would have you believe according to their "profiling" criteria.
ReplyDeleteForget the water cannon and trying to get them off the roof - brick up the fire escapes and put barbed wire round the drainpipes. Keep the silly bastards up there.
ReplyDeleteThey'll soon run out of tofu and a cold snap is just around the corner.
F*ck 'em.
Sorry Ian - but your post is sanctimonious crap of the worst order. We fight terrorists so we can have the democracy that allows Greenpeace - Fathers for Justice - Hunting nutjobs or anti polltax people to protest
ReplyDeleteMartin
Completely agree with you on this Iain, except I doubt if Bob Ainsworth would have been any help. Are there any troops left here? Oh yes we have the Territorial Army, but oh, they're being stood down for six months in order to save money.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you'd have to ask the fire service to hose them down. :)
The security at Westminster is sadly lacking.
Surely a job for the elf n safety officer.
ReplyDeleteif you really want to talk to MPs, you can use our robot which is in the upper waiting gallery of Parliament right now. Send it a message via the website below and it will write it out for MPs to read. loads more useful, and easier than climbing roofs.
ReplyDeletehttp://bit.ly/17S2j4
Same thing with the Tamil protesters in Parliament Square. No action taken against them - whereas any UK citizens get dealt with quickly and harshly.
ReplyDeleteAs for Smith, she embezzled from the public purse, and lied. Why is she not in court?
UK FUBAR.
Nice thread Iain - job done. I hope you don't mind but if I lived in Barking (is it?) i'd vote for the Stewart lad. He's not too clever but he is accurate about strategic stuff and that voice isn't heard enough. There was a poll done of Pakistani sentiment to their immediate threat and it was over 60% India! Sorry bud, if Cammo can parachute Zac (good grief) Goldsmith then Stewart should kick down the doors.
ReplyDelete@ Martin said...
ReplyDelete//
Sorry Iain but the fat idle plods are to blame. I used to be in the forces, those protesters would have had a good kicking if they tired to get into a military base
//
You mean, like the Greenham Common Women got when they danced around the nuclear bunker there?
Oh, of course, they didn't get a good kicking, did they?
@ bewick said...
ReplyDelete//
Greenpeace are just total hippy idiots (I saw them in Auckland Harbour NZ)
//
Exquisite non-sequitur. Hope my Kiwi partner doesn't get to read your comment.
Anyway, children, The EU won't let this sort of happen for long
ReplyDelete@Anon 7:41pm
ReplyDeleteYou miss the point. Many see Greenpeace as being as authoritarian as New Labour. Eco fascists/political fascists. What's the difference? Like protesting against like - you'd be pushed to make it up. I'm inclined to ignore them and leave them up there. And to ignore Parliament as well, the lying thieving bastards.
10 minutes with a Dragunov..
ReplyDeleteOn my blog I mentioned the idea of having them shot. But obviously using eco-friendly lead-free rounds.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous @ 7.41 pm
ReplyDeleteWe all know about the Rainbow Warrior. Even the French have learned from that, but they still beat up people like this and, given the risk to Parliament (which although filled with shysters is sovereign), I think that a similar reaction is entirely justifiable here.
I speak as one appalled by thePolice reaction to the G20 protests.
Does anyone really think that these 'greenshirts' would have got within a mile of Westminster if the Benn & Milliband etc hadnt been 'in the loop' about the protests?
ReplyDeleteIts clearly a setup job between Greenpeace and the government that provides generous funding to them, newlabour have learned the lessons of the EU which learned the same things from the USSR!
The regime buys off arms length 'grassroots' groups which then sends out their rent a rabble mobs to create a visual stir that enables the regime to create unpopular laws/tax hikes and other unpopular measures.
Its all a creepy con job, its a fake construction to enable the likes of Benn and Milliband to say there is public opinion behind them when they go to Copenhagen and ruin even more of our economy.
Groups like GP/FoE/met office(headed by a eco fanatic)/Hadley CRU and many others have been created/bought off with taxpayers cash,some act like the regimes bullyboy thugs and rent a rabble protesters while others offer a fake front of reasoned authority, it gives the regime a veneer of credibility to enact ever more ludicrous laws based on a wholly discredited global warming theory.
Its all a faked up fraud, the puppets are being manipulated into dancing to the tune of the regime and its supporters, the MSM and the campaign groups and the lowly rent a rabble fools all being manipulated to give a false impression to the public.
Its frustrating to see all this while many still seem blind and deaf to the huge fraud being perpetrated against ordinary people.
Iain,
Next time you see Benn or Milliband just let them know that you know just what these frauds are upto, just look them in the eye and ask them about their role in the rent a rabble goings on, you are smart enough to recognize when someone lies!
Iain said
ReplyDelete"If you were an Al Qaeda cell in the UK, wouldn't you now be planning which organisation you could infiltrate to be part of a future protest like this? And then wreak your terrible havoc..."
Sound like a very good plan to get rid of the troughing lot of them.
Cassandra's point is reasonable. It is difficult to believe that 60 Greenpeace protestors managed to climb onto the roof of Parliament without government help & the police turning a blind eye.
ReplyDelete"We do not discuss matters of security in this chamber but I wanted to say to the house that I have had a preliminary report and the full circumstances are now being investigated urgently and thoroughly," Bercow said.
That will be interesting to see. Interesting to see if any government employee complicit gets arrested like Damien Green was.
When the UAF government funded thugs attacked Griffin outside Parliament it was also difficult to believe there were no policemen in the vicinity then. Interesting times for the rule of law.
You needn't have bothered with the update, Iain - most of us knew it was a joke. I mean, a water canon would probably have damaged the roof tiles would it?
ReplyDeleteProtest should be banned because some people might use it as a cover to do heinous things. Clear-thinking as ever, Mr Dale. I too am worried that Al-Qaeda might infiltrate the Countryside Alliance.
ReplyDelete