James O'Brien's powerful assessment of Insulate Britain coverage
25 October 2021, 12:52 | Updated: 25 October 2021, 13:00
'Don't talk about the real ambulances!'
'Don't mention the real ambulances! Here's a theoretical ambulance that may at some unspecified point in the future suffer a theoretical problem!'
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Climate action group Insulate Britain took to the streets of London today, bringing traffic to a standstill at a busy junction in the centre of the capital.
James O'Brien read out a text on the issue which got him thinking.
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George wrote "there's no one blocking more ambulances than this government, why aren't these people raging at Boris Johnson?"
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James then argued that Insulate Britain protests have been "inflated to epic proportions by the media", but recent images of queues of ambulances outside hospitals across the country don't get as much coverage.
He was baffled that "the actual failure of ambulances to get their patients into hospitals because hospitals are full is hardly being reported at all."
James O'Brien ponders on Insulate Britain dissonance
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James then asked listeners to wonder "why are you being encouraged to get angry about the theoretical ambulance not being able to get to the hospital than you are about the real ambulances queuing up outside hospitals because of the state inside?"
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"Who is it that's manipulated you into that particular position?" He claimed that right-wing media were looking to deflect from how the NHS is being set up to fail by demonising another group.
"Don't mention the real ambulances! Here's a theoretical ambulance that may at some unspecified point in the future suffer a theoretical problem.
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"Don't mention the real ambulances outside the real hospitals full of real patients who can't get into real beds!"
He poked fun at listeners that think he goes too far from time to time in his wonderings: "You sit there and you think 'James is exaggerating' but there you go, there it is."
"What does the right-wing media tell you to get cross about? the theoretical ambulances."
