What was the point of Just Stop Oil’s Magna Carta stunt?

The eco-activists of Just Stop Oil have often been caricatured as a group of middle-class students with too much time on their hands. Their latest stunt at the British Library today shows how wrong that is. Middle-class pensioners with too much time on their hands are also well represented in this group, it seems.

Earlier today, a duo of octogenarians made their stand against fossil fuels, with comic results. Reverend Dr Sue Parfitt, an 82-year-old Anglican priest, and Judy Bruce, an 85-year-old retired biology teacher, walked into the British Library’s Magna Carta exhibit and began hammering at the glass protecting the historic document. When they didn’t manage to break it, they recited pre-prepared statements. ‘As a Christian’, Parfitt said, ‘I am compelled to do all that I can to alleviate the appalling suffering that’s coming down the line and is here already, whatever it takes, whatever the costs.’