Are their lofty ideas sending a chill through the wintry halls and corridors of UK’s eco-hopes?

An NHS worker pleads with members of Insulate Britain to allow him to ‘get home’ to his ill child.

The dad tells the so-called eco-warriors – who apparently just want us all to be warm and cuddly in our own homes – to move out of the road in London.  He says over and over: ‘Don’t block the road! I need to get home to my child.’

But the warriors have a metaphorical gun to his head … he has become a publicity puppet of what must be the most middle-class and peevish protest of them all.

The dad’s plea came after hundreds of Insulate Britain activists forced Lambeth Bridge to close for five hours. 30 protestors were arrested.

The demonstrators had eaten their packed lunches – or ordered in pizza – sang a few songs and chanted a slogan or two. Then they went home and turned the central heating on.

Cheers had broken out earlier as campaigners told the crowd that the nine jailed Insulate Britain climate activists are “political prisoners” and won’t be the last to be locked up.

Well, I’ll go to the foot of our chilly stairs! Maybe they should be all locked up.

The activists had been jailed for breaching High Court injunctions. They must now pay £5k each for National Highways’ claim for legal costs.

Ana Heyatawin and Louis McKechnie were jailed for three months. Ben Buse, Roman Paluch-Machnik, Oliver Rock, Emma Smart, Tim Speers and James Thomas received four-month sentences. Smart went on hunger strike.

So what is the problem with these middle-class, arrogant, glue-eared idiots? Do they actually have a valid point?

Are they in fact people with lofty ideas – but a very bad attitude and Press?

So, let’s look at the facts:

There are about 30 million homes in Great Britain and 23.3 million of these have lofts. 18.9 million have cavity walls. 7.8 million have solid walls. Because of Government schemes since 2008 3.8 million lofts insulated, 2.0 million cavity walls and 58,000 solid walls.

Oh, and quite a few million home owners – like me – have, without protest, stuck their hand in their pocket (instead of their ear to the ground) and stumped up for it themselves. For instance, there is so much pretend sheep’s wool up there in my 250 year old loft it bleats.

But, according to recent figures, more than one home every minute will need to be refurbished in the UK between now and 2050.

The authors of a report to Parliament say 25 million homes will not meet the insulation standards by mid-century.

The government said it would come up with new policies as soon as possible.

But critics say ministers have been too slow in doing anything to save on bills and improve health, comfort and happiness.

Successive governments have been criticised for failing to tackle the UK’s poor housing stock – we apparently have some of the worst in Europe. I can’t vouch for that – I’ve spent years travelling in Europe and believe me I’ve seen far worse in Berlin, Slovakia, Croatia, Poland etc etc.

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So, what is it about these cold-hearted, comfort demanding, smiley, get-lost-you-can’t-see-your-child-cos-we’ve-glued-our-heads-to-the-ground luvvies and chumps?

The truth is, to be honest, one bloke glued his face to Liverpool tarmac but then said he regretted it as he attempted to cut himself free.

He said: “It’s not one of my better moves. I wanted to have an extreme action to reflect the extreme nature of the emergency we are facing.”

Another stormed out on that middle-class, middle-of-the-road Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley after he challenged the protester over the behaviour of Insulate Britain.

Liam Norton, aged 36, who is a leading member of the environmental group, was detained by Scotland Yard detectives a short time later on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.

Well, is that what they are then, a bit of a public nuisance who just want everybody to have a toasty little house to go home to? And they feel the way to do it is by shutting down the motorways so nobody can actually deliver home insulation materials in the first place!

The police have recently been exploring whether they could bring conspiracy charges amid concern that low-level offences would simply result in “slap on the wrist” sentences.

Senior officers from Hertfordshire, Surrey, Kent, Essex and the Met have been exploring whether they can bring more serious charges carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

But let’s not lose site of their goals – insulating homes is an essential part of getting to net zero and they have a simple demand: insulate all UK homes by 2030 to cut carbon emissions and end fuel poverty.

They say: “Providing the funding to insulate homes is a no-brainer: it rapidly cuts CO2 emissions, keeps people warm and reduces the amount they need to spend on heating, and could create thousands of new jobs in the process. In fact, the best insulated homes require virtually no heating at all. Instead of faffing about with heat pumps, the government could be taking the steps right now to reduce our dependence on heating in the first place.

“So why isn’t the government already doing this? To answer this question, you need to think about who benefits from uninsulated homes. Energy and fossil fuel companies are the main beneficiaries of cold, poorly insulated homes in which people are forced to spend more on heating. And, unlike heat pumps or electric cars or hydrogen boilers, insulation isn’t “sexy” – it’s simple.”

And they are right when they say Britain is a nation of old, poorly built homes that are becoming more expensive to heat. And many of the homes being built now are not fit for the 21st century.

​Upgrading the thermal performance of the UK’s draughty and inefficient homes is an essential part of a wider strategy to decarbonise the UK.

But the much-promoted grants scheme to help householders insulate their home was scrapped

The Green Homes Grant (GHG) reached just 10pc of the 600,000 homes the chancellor promised would be improved.

But the cash was re-allocated to a separate insulation fund run by councils.

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So, we can still apply for help … but has this regular, monotonous almost laughable and particularly irritating protest actually garnered some respect? Motorists have railed against the campaigners for causing danger on busy roads and creating obstacles which could delay emergency services.

Boris Johnson said the group’s method, which disrupted commuters in rush hour traffic, would detract from their message. And Priti Patel, the home secretary, slammed the group’s “guerilla tactics” and called the demonstrators selfish.

There are four positive reasons to protest – the first one is to show people they are not fighting alone.

The second is that, By protesting, we alter the agenda and start a debate.

Three – in an electoral democracy, protest provides an essential voice for minority groups.

And four, sometimes protesters win!

But do these silly old boilers who radiate bad feelings and pipe up in all the wrong places think that stopping traffic, keeping builders from their business, stopping mums getting their children to school and keeping working dads from their ailing children is the way to create a heated debate?

#oldboilers #borisjohnson #radiators #insulationhome #homeinsulation #insulatebritain #m25