Anyone see the latest Greenpeace campaign? They claim to have shut down every BP petrol station in London for the day. (BP claims they shut down about 20.) Interestingly, the plod made no arrests, despite BP bleating about "irresponsible behaviour". I suspect the police knew that in the current popular mood it would just make heroes of the protestors. Can't have that, now, can we?
Not that this kind of protest action will do much good - but it does bring a smile to your face. They are trying to get the new CEO to take a more environmentally friendly line. Some hope! Do they have any idea of the financial forces acting on companies like BP? I'm not at all defending them (heaven forfend!

), but if Greenpeace think they will change the world by asking nicely and closing down a few garages, they will be disappointed. Campaigning groups like Greenpeace and the Green Party have always struck me as extremely naive.
It's not really about BP, is it? This won't be the last incident of this kind we'll see, and once we pass peak oil and the oil wars start to hot up, we'll probably see a lot worse. Corporations round the world will resort more and more frequently to these expensive and environmentally risky drillings. And when competition gets hot enough out will come the guns and bombs. Eleven people died in the explosion and thousands more have had their livlihoods destroyed. It's a drop in the ocean of what we are likely to see in the future!
