The Londoner: XR election plan: '12 days of crisis'

Climate activists Extinction Rebellion are planning to disrupt the general election campaign with a series of protests, including staging “mock emergencies”, “swarming”, and glueing themselves to party battle-buses in bumblebee costumes.

XR, which shut down London with actions twice this year, has drawn up a manifesto for supporters to make “climate and ecological emergency the defining issue of this general election”.

During the days leading up to the vote — festively dubbed the “12 Days of Crisis” — XR will put pressure on politicians of all parties to back its “Three Demands Bill”. These ask the Prime Minister to declare a climate emergency, commit the Government to net zero greenhouse emissions by 2025, and establish a Citizen’s Assembly.

XR’s “UK Election Rebellion Kitlist”, recently published online, reveals new ways activists are encouraged to engage in “spicy” actions during the election. These include staging theatrical “mock emergencies”, imagining life in an apocalyptic future, “swarming” or road-blocking, and dressing up in bumblebee costumes and staging “die-ins”.

The protest group are planning a co-ordinated protest to mark the start of their election campaign on December 1, involving climbing public landmarks and sounding an alarm with air raid sirens. Its manifesto calls for “a coordinated flag raise... atop town halls, local council buildings and significant public buildings or landmarks... with or without permission”.

Other tactics include a Youth Strategy that encourages young people to ask their grandparents to “lend them their vote”. More traditionally, the group also encourage a voter registration drive, flyering, and letter-writing to candidates.

XR is also organising election hustings in London constituencies, including Vauxhall and Hammersmith, where candidates will answer questions about the environment. Despite this engagement with parties, the manifesto stresses that Extinction Rebellion is a “non-party political movement” and does not endorse any politicians or parties. It plans to make trouble for everyone.

Today's agenda? Yesterday's news

John Humphrys is growing more sceptical with age. The former Today programme presenter says it’s “inevitable” that the BBC is “going to matter less and less” thanks to social media, and raises an eyebrow at his former work.

“I don’t know how much effect a single interview with a single politician on the Today programme has on the democratic process,” Humphrys mused to a 5x15 event in Notting Hill last night. “We must have it, we cannot live without it, but I’m not sure whether we have quite as much influence as we think we have.”

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Steve Hilton’s unexpected journey continues. David Cameron’s former adviser is now a staunch backer of Donald Trump – and finds himself being supported by the President himself. Trump posted a link to a video of Hilton on Twitter yesterday in which the Briton says people ask him how he can support Trump and he responds: “Look at his results.”

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Legendary British comic-book writer Alan Moore has become the latest cultural figure to hit out at superhero films. In a resurfaced interview, Watchmen author Moore says the rise of the genre is “tremendously embarrassing” and even linked them to “white supremacist” tendencies. Expect a brawl.

Dorchester stands in for Pizza Express

The Dorchester hosted last night’s Walpole British Luxury awards, earning the special thanks of David Walliams, who explained the ideal venue wasn’t available: “Pizza Express in Woking is fully booked.”

Thanking the Park Lane hotel for stepping in “at such short notice”, Walliams wasn’t holding back.

The comedian awarded one prize to a florist, telling the audience: “Guys, if you want overpriced flowers in your home, this company is for you.”

More grateful was the night’s host, actor Laurence Fox, who thanked the event for providing his threads: “I don’t own any smart clothes, without them I would be naked tonight.”

James Nesbitt though, who was there with his girlfriend Katy Gleadhill, was on the same page as Walliams, teasing Fortnum & Mason CEO Ewan Venters.

“I wouldn’t say Ewan is a name-dropper,” he said, “although he did once interrupt a conversation with me to tell me that he knew James Nesbitt.”

A host of famous names including director Josie Rourke, designer Dame Zandra Rhodes, presenter Sarah-Jane Mee and model Jade Parfitt also made the occasion.

Prince of Daal-kness

Ozzy Osbourne once panicked staff at one of London’s finest Italian restaurants by ordering a chicken curry. The Prince of Darkness could have picked truffle pasta or carpaccio. TV presenter Dermot O’Leary, who saw the scene unfold, tells Jay Rayner’s podcast he heard the manager say: “We’ve got to get a chicken curry, it’s Ozzy Osbourne.”

“I don’t know where they get [it] from,” O’Leary says, “but half an hour later this chicken curry turns up.” Not the battiest dish he’s ever eaten...

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Tories Esther McVey and Philip Davies grin at the camera in a photo posted by party activist Luke George on Twitter. We can almost hear the voices in the back — “Are we nearly there yet?”

SW1A

Jennifer Arcuri made yet another splash on Good Morning Britain yesterday talking about her relationship with Boris Johnson, but The Londoner hears that the most hair-raising comments were left on the cutting-room floor. An ITV mole tells us a great deal was said on and off tape that they were unable to broadcast, including “graphic descriptions of various role play scenarios between her and Boris”. Bury that tape.​

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Liam Halligan, The Spectator’s Tory-supporting in-house economist, has found an unlikely fan in Jeremy Corbyn. At the launch of his book Home Truths, about the UK’s chronic affordable housing shortage, Halligan told The Londoner last night of Corbyn:

“I was sat next to him on The Andrew ​Marr Show and we started talking about the book and he asked me to send him a copy.” Halligan says Corbyn’s Left-wing strategist Seumas Milne was lurking nearby, but wasn’t looking. Probably for the best.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

‘He certainly wouldn’t have got a visa – unless we’re particularly short of carpenters’

Justin Welby says that as Jesus Christ “was not white, middle-class and British”, he would struggle to enter the UK.