As someone who went to the Strike4youth rally in the Guildhall on Friday, I could perhaps be called ‘irresponsible’ as the Echo used in its headline. I would be very proud of my four children if they came out as part of the student strike, as I am sure that they would have done so without harming their education.

But they are all already university graduates, so are no longer students.

However, I would like to say that those who are truly irresponsible are those who say that we should carry on as usual and not seek to get the youth of today involved in protests.

I have been fighting for Green issues for at least the last thirty years and we are still heading for climate, species and pollution devastation so serious that it could destroy the future of humanity.

We face the most serious threats to our future and yet people seem intent on carrying on as before, maybe with a few minor tweaks here and there.

We have to change course radically and we have to do it now. Scientists keep saying this with increasing urgency and dire warnings. To change we have to have politicians who will legislate to do this, but they give no indication of doing so.

We must have change now which means that we must change our politicians now. Wake up before it is too late and vote for candidates who are committed to Green change!

Do not condemn those who protest as ‘irresponsible’, they are the opposite.

There will be further rallies soon. If you are a responsible person, it is your duty to drop everything else and to be there to demand that change happens.

John Spottiswoode

The Green Resistance