Friends welcome hunger striker’s success
'The fifty-two-year-old heard on his thirty-seventh day of fasting that the scientific advisor Patrick Vallance would give a public address to MPs and ministers.'
Quakers have said they are delighted that the hunger striker Angus Rose has achieved his aim for MPs to be briefed on the climate crisis. The fifty-two-year-old heard on his thirty-seventh day of fasting that the scientific advisor Patrick Vallance would give a public address to MPs and ministers. The all-party parliamentary group on climate change said that ‘the event would be held in the new parliamentary session, likely May-June… the briefing will also be recorded, sent to all MPs after the event and made publicly available’.
Quaker Jo Hindley, from Cotteridge Meeting, supported Angus Rose after protesting beside him for a fourteen-day fast outside the Houses of Parliament to raise awareness of the need to move away from fossil fuels. She told the Friend she was ‘delighted and relieved’. ‘Angus has been resolved, focussed, and clear throughout. He has remained cheerful, never suicidal. It is a fantastic result. He should never have had to fight for it. It has always been a no-brainer. But having won – at such personal cost – it is seriously worth celebrating. Grateful thanks to behind-the-scenes negotiators. I look forward to the televised address. I hope it will be a game changer.’
