Why are two girls going to prison for putting some soup on a picture frame?

Personally, I thoroughly admire the couple of young ladies, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland who threw tomato soup over Vincent van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers". They are brave. They going to go to prison for putting a bit of tomato soup over the frame to this painting. Yes, the frame might be quite valuable but £10,000? That's what we have heard it's going to cost to repair it. I think that's highly inflated.

We're not criminals by Michael Broad

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And the reason why this particular painting is so valuable - worth hundreds of millions of pounds probably - is because billionaire investors invest in paintings. The day it was painted it was pretty well valueless. The only reason why iconic paintings have very high value is because they are effective investments and the only people who can invest in them are billionaires. Not great, is it?

They don't have an inherent value other than there are nice pictures to entertain us. This couple of young ladies don't think that they are criminals. I agree with them. What they've done is to highlight climate change which people like to shove under the carpet and forget about. They want to shock people into thinking about climate change and be shocked by it.

Why are we fretting about the frame to a painting? What's the big deal? Even if the painting was damaged which it hasn't been it still wouldn't be a big issue because we are talking about an existential threat to the planet about which the politicians are still arguing 30 years after the COP meetings began. It's all talk and no walk.

It's no wonder you get intelligent ladies like these who want to actually kickstart politicians into doing something. I can add a further quotes from Phoebe Plummer.

"That painting was protected by glass. But the fact is millions of people in the global south aren't protected. As young people our own futures aren't protected. That shocked reaction is because it is something beautiful, and you have that feeling of wanting to protect something beautiful, something valuable, of not wanting to see it be destroyed. Where is that sentiment when it's our planet? When it's our environment? When it's people whose lives are being destroyed?"

They chose this particular painting for the shock value. They needed to get into people's heads; to create some anger and to engage people.

The judge said that they "came within the width of a pane of glass of destroying one of the most valuable artworks in the world". That statement is pointless. It's stating the obvious. We know the painting was protected by glass. These girls knew that. The painting wasn't damaged. I don't see the issue. I just think the whole thing's been overhyped and it's been reactionary by the establishment.

And the establishment is failing people. The establishment is failing young people particularly because they have to live with climate change. Most of the establishment is older people who probably won't suffer from climate change that much. Certainly far less than young people and the children of young people today. It's about the future. It's about protecting the future.

The problem is that the establishment like short-term fixes. They cannot get their heads around long-term policies and long-term problem solving. Perhaps it's because it's not politically expedient. It's not politically effective to think long term. And therefore they brush the problem under the carpet. And there's far too much self interest between countries. The whole thing is bogged down in human deficiencies and stupidity. That's why I support these ladies. They have got people talking and that's their objective. Don't punish them for that. Praise them.

And what about cats? Well, what about us? What about cat caregivers? If climate change is an existential threat to the planet it is an existential threat to nature and the wildlife that lives within nature. It's a threat to all of us including our companion animals. It's the single most important topic to discuss on the planet today but it is not happening enough.

"The world’s climate, particularly in Africa, has changed substantially during the past few decades, contributed by several human activities. Africa is one of the continents that is most vulnerable to climate change globally. Since the beginning of 2022, extreme weather events in Africa have affected about 19 million people and killed at least 4,000 individuals. Cyclones, floods, heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, and famine were among the severe weather occurrences. Natural disasters and extreme weather events brought on by climate change may compromise access to clean water, sanitation systems, and healthcare facilities, making people more vulnerable to a number of illnesses. Floods and drought can lead to both communicable and non-communicable diseases. The African population is more likely to experience more mental health disorders than before because of natural disasters, which result in the loss of property and sometimes loss of lives more frequently. We, therefore, call for an improved implementation of strategies to prevent the health effects of climate change so that the health of the people in Africa can be maintained." - Health effects of climate change in Africa: A call for an improved implementation of prevention measures.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.