TV host takes aim at climate activists, love media sees ‘enormous success’

Decidedly fishy ... Extinction Rebellion participant David Whitson was at Belmore Park near Sydney’s Central Station yesterday. Picture: Damian Shaw

Ten Network morning show host Kerri-Anne Kennerley takes off the gloves. Charlie Moore, Daily Mail Australia, yesterday:

Kerri-Anne Kennerley has launched a blistering rant at climate change protesters as a week of demonstrations paralyses the country. The Studio 10 pundit said protesters causing disruption should be used as speed bumps or starved in jail. The panel was discussing the Queensland government’s plan to allow tougher sentences for protesters breaking the law. Kennerley said she supported the move, adding: “Personally, I would leave them all super glued to wherever they do it.” Kennerley’s co-host, Sarah Harris, put her head in her hands and said: “Kerri-Anne, god, you’re going to get us into trouble.” Kennerley remained defiant and asked: “Is that wrong?”

Hospital would be disrupted, Hayley Dixon and Christopher Hope, London’s The Telegraph, Sunday:

Extinction Rebellion has been warned by the police and a government minister that the tactics of their two-week shutdown of London risk alienating the public. Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said disrupting the lives of ordinary people risked “turning people against” the cause while the Metropolitan Police warned that elements of the “un­precedented” protest are “hugely ­irresponsible” … The action could disrupt emergency care at St Thomas’s hospital, activists admitted.

Demo to die for? Elizabeth Paton, The New York Times, Sunday:

Gathering behind a band and giant painted coffin, they slowly processed en masse down the Strand, shutting down traffic … as they chanted and handed out leaflets, leaving gridlock and chaos in their wake. It was just the latest in a series of efforts designed … to disrupt the most visible British fashion event of the year. First, protesters covered in fake blood performed a die-in and demanded fashion week be cancelled on opening day. Then outside the Victoria Beckham show, activists had lined up, brandishing posters.

The Extinction Rebellion costumes didn’t get much better in London. Picture: AFP

Leo Barasi, Guardian Australia, Monday:

Extinction Rebellion’s April protests were an enormous success. Together with the BBC’s Attenborough documentary and the school climate strikes, they created a surge in public concern about the environment. The climate emergency is now established in the top five most important issues facing the UK today, at around the same level as the economy.

Stuff and nonsense, Zane Small, Newshub, Monday:

(New Zealand National leader) Simon Bridges is telling Extinction Rebellion protesters in Wellington to march on the “woke” government doing “nothing” about climate change. (He) described the Monday morning protest … as nonsense. “I think climate change is real and think we’ve got to act,” ­Bridges told Magic Talk. “But this emergency rebellion stuff is nonsense, it scares a lot of young people, and it doesn’t achieve anything.”

Apocalyptic cult bent on radicalism or a dance for Gaia? Sumantra Maitra, The Federalist, September 26:

Extinction Rebellion is an apocalyptic cult that wants to radically end everything around you, from your private cars to the burgers you eat and the plastic chairs in your yard. It is a cult formed after its founder took psychedelic drugs and prayed for ­“social change”. Members have blocked Washington and London inter­sections, “twerking” the way people in a pre-civilised era would perform a fertility dance to pray to Gaia.