Welcome to Within Reason. My name is Alex O'Connor. Just stop oil are one of the most controversial

political organisations in the United Kingdom. They're an environmental activist group

with a focus on pressuring the British government to completely end new fossil fuel licensing

and production. The controversy surrounds their methods. The group is well known for taking

part in direct action and disruptive protests which have brought them considerable media attention

and inspired volumes of backlash and anger from members of the public and media personalities.

Their methods have previously included things like in 2022 throwing a tin of soup over Van Gogh's

sunflowers in the National Gallery in London, which was importantly behind a layer of glass.

They disrupted the 2023 World Snooker Championship with an astonishing video showing a protestor

climbing onto a snooker table mid-game and covering the felt in orange powder.

Protestors also invaded the track at the Grand Prix in 2022, sitting down on the asphalt

before being pulled off by security. Most famously, the group regularly physically blocks traffic

on busy roads in London, causing that traffic to come to a standstill. A video of one such protest

features a woman who gets out of her vehicle, claiming she has a baby in the car and needs to get

to the hospital. The protestors do not move out of the way for her. Stunts like these will be

discussed in what you're about to hear. I reached out to Justop Oil to see if there might be

somebody willing to speak with me about the ethics and the efficacy of such protest methods as these.

I was introduced to James Skeet, a member of the organisation's media team who has appeared on

television numerous times to defend the mission and behaviours of the group. I wanted an opportunity

to see how far this organisation is willing to go, whether they recognise the ethical scandal

of potentially blocking a mother from taking her child to the hospital and whether they have

any functional policies in place to prevent physical harm from befalling people in situations

...