Action and reaction

Historians quarrel about why French protests descend into such lawlessness. They can't still be blaming Louis XVI.

- JANE CLIFTON

There's always a danger of perverse circularity with high-minded social movements, which is how Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters found themselves being bundled off the road recently by an indignant London cyclist.

Here was someone trying his best to live a low fossil-fuel life being penalised along with the gas guzzlers. The acclaim accorded cricketer Jonny Bairstow, who also uplifted a protester, plonking him on the Lord's boundary during the Ashes test, suggests protester removal is now gaining social cachet as a sport. Bonus points for a full fireman's lift, and league-table promotion if the protester uplifted proves to be a trust-fund dilettante.

During this wretched spate of ridicule, US entrepreneur and multimillionaire Trevor Neilson, co-founder and bankroller of Climate Emergency Fund, declared the protests counterproductive. Having a "pink-haired, tattooed and pierced protester standing in front of their car, so that their kid is late for their test that day, that does not encourage [people] to join the movement", he said.