Aug 2009 27

What would Wat Tyler have done?14

The Climate Camp, which has been the focus of much overblown angst amongst the police this week, has finally revealed its secret location: Blackheath. The site has apparently been chosen for its historical connections, as the place where Wat Tyler rallied his army during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. But is Wat an appropriate figurehead for what the Climate Campers want, or is he being hijacked wrongly?

Ironically, the two issues over which the Peasants revolted in 1381 were:

  • Excessive taxation of the poor.

  • Centralised state control of prices – in the aftermath of the Black Death, the number of farm labourers was reduced, so the price for their labour rose. The state sought to set prices artificially through legislation, and the peasants opposed this.

What is it that the climate campers want? Well, let's see:

  • Higher taxes on: petrol, air travel, production of goods, electricity and gas.

  • Centralised state control of prices.

Hmm. I get the impression that if Wat and the Campers were on Blackheath together rather than 628 years apart, they wouldn't all be signing Kumbayah together and making each other friendship bracelets, there would be an almighty scrap probably involving pitchforks.

The Climate Camp movement is part of the really extremist end of the environmentalist movement, who would happily impose vast increases in the cost of living for some of the poorest in our society. Already, as a result of green policies the average domestic energy bill is 14% higher than it would otherwise be. Millions of people who need to drive to work pay huge bills, far in excess of the social cost of their carbon emissions, of which the vast majority is taxation. (If you want to find out your own green tax bill, our Green Tax Calculator is here.)

Is this a new Peasants' Revolt? No, it is a small movement of political extremes and wealthy individuals who given half a chance would do the real poor immense harm. If they were in charge, then the real Peasants would be on the march.

PS: It's also been pointed out to me that the first action of the campers when they arrived on the Heath, which has been common land for a thousand years, was to erm fence it off.

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Mark is a writer and political campaigner, ardent libertarian and eurosceptic.



  • MandyMoo

    I disagree – a lot of the people at Climate Camp are acutely aware of the effects of climate change on the poor – such as displacement of people in the third world due to loss of land through desertification or flooding, and, on a much more local basis, support the workers of Vesta Wind Turbine factory on the Isle of Wight who stand to loose their jobs because the government is not doing enough to promote the green economy.
    Your blog, sir, smacks of being all opinion and no fact -I suspect if Mr Tyler was alive today he would recognise elements of his own campaign in that of the climate campers; that is to say he was prepared to ‘do the unthinkable’ in the face of the government in order to get them to act on something he believed in.
    Furthermore, if Climate Camp is a consensus-based organisation with no published manifesto, how do you know that they want “centralised state control of prices”??? Did you just make that up?!
    Poor show Mr Wallace, poor show.

  • Chris T

    Ah well. Democracy is a real pain at times. The number of logical fallacies in your rant is astounding. I personally am not a Green/ecologist/hippy etc but since i live in SE London and am on benefits and one of the poor i will go to the camp, on the 202 bus and make up my own mind.
    So. How about some positive proposals re: climate change ?

  • Hardeep Singh

    Modern day terrorism to hold to ransom anything and anyone who doesn’t conform to the green agenda. People have a right to express opinion and pass comment on what the so called green taliban are upto in Blackheath there’s nothing untoward or unnecessary about that.
    Extremist views of the climate campers is not where you’ll find the solution just like it’d be unwelcome for some standing on Blackheath calling for Jihad, why would your notion of climate change be any different. Having a woodstock feel to your actions doesn’t make you cool or more aware than the rest of us. There are no doubt numerous individuals out there who have both an academic background and awareness of Meteorology and climatology. The last thing they need is people at the climate camp who can’t make their grade elsewhere in life and therefore seek to impose their mantra on everyone else.
    As a theme of climate camp why didn’t all of the ‘campers’ walk it just to see what it feels like to walk with a heavy ruck sack the last 10 miles or so …? Attempts to burden a vastly overstretched population with further taxation so that you can feel all warm and glowy inside is nothing more than expensive arrogance. Why not take a look at just how desperate some households have become where they’re clinging on to their home, job, paying bills and family for dear life. They can’t afford your juvenile notions of taxation so you’d devise a way of becoming green WITHOUT it costing people. Besides squeezing companies here in the UK will simply mean they’ll go elsewhere just like slippery soap.
    The next government is going to hit the UK extremely hard with massive tax rises please for the love of God don’t add a further green tax layer to that too.

  • http://www.the-daily-politics.com/ Swiss Bob

    I apologise if this is a dumb question but who is actually going to be paying off the National Debt?
    Where does the money actually come from, private sector workers? corporations? (I understand that all Income Tax collected only covers social security benefits) Has anyone worked out how long it will take to pay off each trillion of debt given certain taxation rates?
    I’m working on a piece that considers all commitments and liabilities and want to show that the National Debt is significantly larger than any current estimates. It would be nice to be able to illustrate it with some charts showing how long our children, grand children etc will be paying for Brown’s incompetence and malice.

  • Hardeep Singh

    Good point SwissBob though composing such bad news I’m not sure how well I should wish you. Oh well best of luck, better that we can all see the obstacle in order to scale it successfully.
    The only sorry point is the mindset cycle … by this I refer to the next generation that will have forgotten about Labour’s imposed ills on the nation and vote them back in again. In the past the economy had usually recovered by this point but this time round it’ll take decades. However most people will have forgotten way before then and we’ll be starting this whole project of laying the UK to waste all over again. Though this time round it’ll be from a far weaker position than usual.

  • http://www.taxpayersalliance.com Mark Wallace

    Thanks for your comments.
    Mandymoo – what are your views on the financial burden on ordinary people of the green measures already in place? Do you think the 14% extra paid on energy bills by the average household should rise even higher, despite the problems of fuel poverty?
    On the topic of the third world, your movement opposes the industrial and economic development that is essential to raising poor countries out of poverty. An improvement in wealth is key to saving lives and alleviating suffering in those countries.
    Chris T – I’m entirely in favour of democracy, which is why I oppose the excessive green taxation the campers support. In every poll, people are overwhelmingly opposed to higher fuel duty and higher flight taxes, and in favour of expansion of nuclear energy.
    As for positive proposals on carbon emissions, the solution must be a technological one. Tax breaks for doing the right thing are far better than tax hikes to punish perceived sins that are unavoidable for most people.

  • Stefan

    The third world is indeed vulnerable, but how did the first world escape poverty (real poverty) ? We should study our own history and development. We should learn about all the social, economic, and technological changes that allowed us the internet, medical care, universities, sanitation. We have gone through several major social and economic changes over the course of a thousand years.
    What any activist forgets is the complex rich and turbulent developmental path we’ve trodden. Activists forget that it takes a long time. They imagine that Africa will rise in just a few years of activism. They imagine we’ll just end poverty. They imagine that the Middle East, a deeply tribal and feudal collection of societies, will simply be sorted by a peace deal here and there. These are old lands and old cultures. They will develop at their own proper pace, when and how their own people want to.
    Western activists are mostly useless. But they do muddle up our own politics, but I suppose only we will suffer for it.

  • Kathryn

    I am very impressed with the quality of comments posted. Watt Tyler would have loved to be alive today, and have the communication facilities we now have.
    Its frightening that ‘people at the top’, get away with so much underhandedess. Fortunately we can all now find this out in many ways.

  • gary sumption

    Maybe he would have loved the ease of communications, but he would have despaired at the general apathy of the populace.
    The ‘people at the top’will continue to get away with their bare faced theft because public shaming has never stopped a thief! Only real action, such as taken by Tyler et al, will ever bring about real change. The modern ‘opiate of the people’, so called reality tv, has effectively stopped that from happening.
    Add to that our rigged electoral system, and the criminalisation of most forms of direct protest by the labour government…..
    Now I’m really depressed!!
    Gasump

  • gildedtumbril

    The Commons consists of 650 or so shysters, charlatans, scumbags and scalliwags, all of whom it appears are scoundrels. Since they all operate at the behest of foreign powers and are therefore traitors they desperately need dancing lessons with Madame La Guillotine or up a lamp post courtesy of piano wire. Where the hell is a Von Staufenburg when you need one?

  • Bob Roberts

    What a load of tosh in this article.
    Climate Camp do not want increased taxation on items which cause pollution, that is one of the current policies they actively oppose – why should people be allowed to pay to pollute our world? Instead we should aim to develop more sustainable means of living, invest in alternative energy sources etc.
    I suggest that in future, rather than posting your own opinion and coming across as rather ill-informed/educated/an attention seeker in the process, you should strive conduct at least a small amount of research to inform your comments.

  • http://manicbeancounter.wordpress.com/ ManicBeancounter

    The comment you make is a fair one. Before proscribing a painful and potentially harmful course of treatment, an ethical doctor would
    - check the diagnosis is accurate – both in type and to the extent.
    - Make sure that the treatment is likely to improve the condition of the patient.
    In a similar vein
    - The assessment of the extent of the climate change is not helped by failing to examine validity of the data or statistical analysis.
    - Nor by ignoring contrary science.
    - Nor by ascribing every bit of extreme weather to anthropogenic factors.
    - Nor by ignoring the benefits of warming (e.g. less old people dying in the winter cold)
    - Nor by assuming that a global policy is both the best available and that it will improve the situation.
    - Nor by ignoring the harmful effects of oppressive taxes and regulation. You could reduce economic output and bankrupt the government. This could lead to the collapse of public services (with many dying as a consequence) and millions permanently unemployed. In the emerging nations, reduced output will lead to the mass hunger from which many have just escaped. It will also lead to an increase in wars.

  • Lord Lindley

    I have no interest in global warming and stupid initiatives / taxes enforced on the English people when the worst offenders are India, China & USA. Go and start sorting them out you jobless unclean hippies. I wish I had the time and inclination to wander off causing trouble all over the country in the name of a minority. Oh, I do, white English workers!

  • http://www.taxpayersalliance.com Mark Wallace

    Fascinating that Bob Roberts criticises my article on the basis that the Climate Campers have a manifesto, and MandyMoo attacks it on the basis that they don’t…which is it?
    Bob, if you’re telling me that the abolition of Fuel Duty would go down well on Blackheath with the Campers then that is very different to what they are saying publicly!