'The billionaire-funded group is an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, and as the name suggests, they have just one aim; to see the UK stop using oil entirely.

He still hasn't bothered to look at their website, where we immediately read:

'Just Stop Oil is a nonviolent civil resistance group demanding the UK Government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects.' - https://juststopoil.org/

Admittedly the ambition is to use this as a starting point, and:

'In eight years we need to end our reliance on fossil fuels completely. The transition will require massive investment in clean technology, renewables and energy storage but it cannot be done at current levels of energy consumption. We need to cut energy demand by insulating Britain and rethinking how we travel including providing free public transport everywhere. This starts by switching government subsidies from dirty fossil fuels towards clean energy, transport and insulation.' - https://juststopoil.org/background/

So yes, plenty of points to be made about the feasibility of this programme, but it's unfair to portray them as simply being against one thing without being for something else to replace it, or to accuse them of ignorance about the dependence of society on fossil fuels. A read of their research doc quickly disproves this strawman, and shows they have thought about at least some of the issues relating to the equity of their proposed transition, eg:

'A transition based upon the most basic necessity of Justice

We need to move rapidly, but no-one should be left behind. We need a well planned and managed fair transition for workers, suppliers, communities and consumers so no one is left behind - but this should not be an excuse for slowing action. We need the government to develop, with the involvement of workers, a plan for the provision of free, comprehensive, accessible and integrated support and training for all workers in the UK Oil and Gas sector to transition to jobs in the clean energy and transport sectors. The transition plan needs to also consider the needs of workers and communities that are heavily dependent on carbon intensive businesses. As the transition picks up speed, the location of job losses and employment gains will be critical and the need to avoid ‘stranded workers’ and ‘stranded communities’ as well as to make sure that new green jobs are also quality jobs.' - p.16 in this doc: https://juststopoil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/JSO_research_public_v1_27022022.pdf

You could say it's pie in the sky stuff and that the possibilities of 'clean' (sic) energy have been overstated, all of which is fair criticism IMO, but it's untrue to say that they have no plan of how to get there. If their plan is shite, what's the alternative - keep burning the stuff until we cook the planet, and it runs out anyway leaving us in a worse position?

Also, on this:

'Although, tellingly, the one thing the group seem determine to avoid disrupting is the flow of oil from Britain’s handful of remaining oil refineries… something which would serve to emphasise just how dependent a complex industrial economy like the UK is upon a steady flow of oil and oil products.'

er...

'Earlier this morning, Extinction Rebellion and groups in the Just Stop Oil coalition blocked 10 major oil facilities across the UK, calling on the Government to stop all new fossil fuel investments immediately. Extinction Rebellion blocked 3 oil terminals: Esso’s West London terminal, ExxonMobil’s Hythe terminal, and BP’s Hamble terminal.'

That's from March last year: https://www.facebook.com/XRebellionUK/posts/-breaking-extinction-rebellion-and-just-stop-oil-block-fossil-fuel-infrastructur/287081240262519/ (also the article that started off the thread Ken linked to)

Anyway, I agree with most of his analysis, he could just spend 5 mins to get his facts right and give JSO the credit they're due rather than lazily repeat cheap daily mail-type smears.

cheers,
I