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'Not All Heroes Wear Capes': How Activists Are Responding to London's Radical Push for Cleaner Air

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  August 23, 2023 12:45 PM

Speculation has been growing recently that government leaders in the U.S. are planning for a second lockdown. With COVID cases trending upward (a point media are doing their best to highlight), mask mandates are creeping back onto some college campuses and in Hollywood, and medical contributors are being rolled out on the networks, telling viewers that “a mask can be your best friend.” Then you have former health bureaucrat Anthony Fauci justifying lockdowns just last week, fueling suspicions that a second lockdown could be on the horizon. 

But conservatives have rightly pointed out that all of this will only happen again if Americans allow it. Mask mandates have to be ignored, we need widespread resistance to any future vaccine mandates, and there must be noncompliance with efforts to lockdown society again.

While all this is in response to a virus, the underlying theme is about control, and it’s one that could just as easily be done in the name of other crises—like climate change.

In London, the government is embracing dystopian policies in the name of clean air, cracking down on those not driving electric vehicles by installing cameras to monitor residents entering and exiting the city’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone. 

Mayor Sadiq Kahn argues that air pollution is a public health emergency, and that there are 4,000 premature deaths a year from toxic air in the capital.

The highly-contentious cameras monitor the motorists entering and exiting the ULEZ, and through automatic number plate recognition technology, charge drivers a daily £12.50, or about $16 per day, if they do not conform to the standards.

To meet the ULEZ standards, vehicles must meet the required Euro emissions standards for each vehicle and emission type. 

Kahn noted that most vehicles under 16 years old or diesel vehicles under 6 years old already meet the emissions standards. 

The Labour party mayor promised to soften the blow by providing eligible residents with non-compliant cars and motorbikes with funding for £2,000 towards a new less-polluting vehicle, while businesses will receive a scrap page fee for vans of up to £7,000. (Fox News)

Activists known as the "Blade Runners" are fighting back, however, as an Aug. 29 expansion of the program to all of London's boroughs is implemented. 

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So far, about 1,900 cameras have been installed and another 2,750 are being put in the areas covered by the expansion, according to the Independent. 

As of Aug. 1, London’s Metropolitan Police said 387 cameras have been stolen, damaged, or obscured.

The vast majority of respondents said they are heroes.