LIVE 24-SEVEN


morning .......and then sleep in tents, wear waterproof clothing and travel around the country using fossil fuel or its derivatives. “Do as I say, not as I do” or what!


I finally made it out of Demo Hell and passed through the police cordon to the Proper World. A world where next day people tried to get to work in monster traffic jams and clouds of pollution directly caused by the inconsiderate selfishness of a bunch of self-indulgent demonstrators bent on having a great time for a couple of weeks caring not one jot about the misery and stress caused to thousands, the cost to the nation and the increased pollution. Closing down an airport for three days is so hypocritical and I do wonder why the Police weren’t straining every sinew to keep it open and the country on the move.


Later that week I engaged a demonstrator in conversation. He was polite and I did not feel insulted or threatened in any way, but he and deodorant were clearly total strangers. Their numbers had dwindled and not just because of the arrests by police, which were well over a thousand. I observed that the root cause was that there were just too many people on the planet. He asked me why I didn’t join them. I said I “got” the issue (and felt more angry about the proliferation of single-use plastic than anything), but was very much against their way of going about it. It smacked of a selfish middle-class jamboree to me; he didn’t disagree.


But the clincher for me was when I asked him why they didn’t go and demonstrate in Beijing. After all, nothing the UK does to deal with man’s contribution to Climate Change will help the planet unless China sorts itself out. “Go and glue yourselves to fences, block roads and camp out in Tiananmen Square,” I said. “Then I’ll believe you’re serious.”


“They lock up demonstrators for a long time over there...or worse! Why would we go there?” he said.


“Because they’re doing the real damage,” I said. “But it’s easy to do it here and it’s fun,” he said. “Case proven,” I reflected and went on my way.


Lord Digby Jones of Birmingham KB


Lord Digby Jones is former Director-General of the CBI & UK Trade Minister; a non-aligned, Crossbench Member of the House of Lords & a Businessman (chairing six companies), author & broadcaster. He works closely with Cancer, Military & Educational Charities.


Find solution on page 96


Fill in all the squares in the grid so that every row, every column and each of the nine squares contain all the numbers 1-9!


91


LIVE24-SEVEN.COM


BUSINE SS LORD DIGBY JONE S


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164