Wednesday briefing: Just Stop Oil fuels up for a long fight

In today's newsletter: They're climbing bridges, clogging traffic and vandalising a Van Gogh. But are protesters on the right road to a climate revolution - and how far will the government go to stop them?Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. Over the past week, the climate action group Just Stop Oil has been hitting the headlines for a series of protests, the latest of which involved blocking a major motorway between Essex and Kent yesterday. That prompted the home secretary, Suella Braverman, to attack you, dear reader, as responsible for disruption to traffic, saying: "I'm afraid it's the Labour party, it's the Lib Dems, it's the coalition of chaos, it's the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating, wokerati - dare I say the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption we are seeing on our roads today."Luckily, you're off the hook for what was perhaps Just Stop Oil's most high-profile action so far, when two activists threw cans of Heinz tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers and proceeded to remove their jackets to reveal their Just Stop Oil T-shirts before they glued their hands to the wall of the National Gallery last Friday. "What is worth more," said Phoebe Plummer, one of the activists, "art or life?"Fracking | Analysis of House of Commons Library data by the Liberal Democrats found that between 2018 and 2019, a fracking site near Lancashire, the UK's only active site, was responsible for daily earthquakes.Strikes | Trade union leaders have intensified their warnings of a synchronised strike this winter to cause maximum disruption. "If we win those ballots, we stand prepared to take action on the same day as any other union to show the government we strike together," said Mark Serwotka, the head of the Public and Commercial Services union.Protest | A British MP has said that one of China's most senior diplomats was involved in the violence against pro-democracy protesters at China's consulate in Manchester.Criminal justice | A study by the University of Manchester and barrister Keir Monteith KC has said that the judiciary in England and Wales is "institutionally racist", with discrimination particularly directed towards black court users.Music | The 28 year old rapper and actor Little Simz has won the Mercury Prize for her fourth album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. Continue reading...