Extinction Rebellion is on the right side of history, whatever you think of the group’s style

Editorial: Change requires persistence – so if some people are getting tired of endless climate protests, that means the young rebels are doing something right

The UK is reducing its carbon emissions almost as fast any developed nation. It also represents just 1 per cent of the global population. In the international fight against climate change, which is not being fought with anything like the urgency it should, its power is extremely limited.

Still, the Houses of Parliament, the building around which the climate change direct action group Extinction Rebellion has tried to build an effective barricade, has, for some years, been way ahead of the curve in the fight on climate change. Its parties are, to a great extent, on the same side.

So for protesters to shut down such a large swathe of the capital in an act of deliberate disruption might seem at best pointless and at worst counter-productive.