Morning:
14°c
Thank God my student days are over. Otherwise I might have to dig out a filthy parka, dreadlock my hair and hitchhike to Heathrow to be a link in the human chain against airport expansion. But I had to grow up sometime in the past 20 years, get a job, pay more tax than I'd like and find less thrilling ways to contribute to democracy than throwing myself against a police cordon.
Of course, many of those pitching tents under low-flying planes haven't been students for decades either. But some are undoubtedly getting a frisson from stand-offs with the authorities. For days, camp spokespeople have criticised policing levels and tactics, instead of explaining the purpose of the gathering.
The lack of focus is embarrassing. One plummy guy like a grubby Zac Goldsmith rambled on about hitting the consumer (that's you in the departure lounge) where it hurts, before another pundit, John Jordan, contradicted him.
"Our quarrel is with the corporation and the Government, it's not with the passengers," he said.
Just what are they hoping to achieve? Big business isn't renowned for taking advice from middle-class squatters playing techno music outside their HQ. As for the Government they're staying tight-lipped on this one. If the climate-change protesters had any political nous they would know GB is the Zen master of sitting things out.
In the meantime, the populace of Camp Climate can get down and dirty in their makeshift festival, complete with vegan kitchens and solar-powered internet café. One 23-year-old from Brighton said of her mini-break in Staines, "It's a chance to hang out with my friends and spread a message. This village is the kind of world we want to live in." What's going on here is more lifestyle choice than political movement.
How else do you explain people who describe their profession as "full-time protester". Excuse me, what is that? It sounds suspiciously like someone who's opted out of that evil construct, the System. And sure enough, on the official website the underlying message is that capitalism is the real enemy, and "mainstream solutions to climate change are no solution at all". I presume that includes voting.
What a shame. Most sensible people agree with the purpose of this protest, and were appalled by the sneaky and undemocratic attempts to ban it in the first place. The presence of local demonstrators, those silver-haired nimbys rolling up on their bikes, lend credence to the event. They've witnessed first-hand the damage caused by the burgeoning airline industry, after all.
But the only result of this action can be the alienation of most ordinary law-abiding people. They don't want to smash the system. They just want it to work better. And they can smell an anarchist in search of a cause a mile off.
