Airport protestor tries to glue himself to Gordon Brown

Airport protestor tries to glue himself to Gordon Brown

news.bbc.co.uk

A campaigner against Heathrow Airport's third runway has attempted to glue himself to Gordon Brown at a Downing Street reception.

Dan Glass, a member of Plane Stupid, was about to receive an award from the prime minister when he stuck out his superglued hand and touched his sleeve.

Plane Stupid says Mr Glass, from north London, then "glued his hand" to Mr Brown's jacket as he shook his hand.

But Downing Street said there had been "no stickiness of any significance".

(visit the link for the full news article)

I find this utterly bizarre... this incident certainly is 'Plane Stupid'.

Aside from a bit of publicity (which will make people think these protesters are daft and will trivialise the issue they want to highlight - much like the Fathers4Justice thing a few years back), what could he have possibly hoped to achieve?

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I particularly like this bit:

Speaking afterwards, Mr Glass said: "My left hand was covered in superglue and I stuck it to his sleeve.

"I just glued myself to him and after 20 seconds he tore my hand off - it really hurt. He had to give it a couple of tugs before it came away.

"He was just grinning about it. He didn't seem to take me seriously."

After the incident Mr Glass was allowed to stay in Downing Street for 40 minutes.

When he left the building he tried to glue himself to the gates of Downing Street but had his hand detached by a police officer.

"I didn't have much glue left by that point," he said.

[edit on 23/7/08 by Ste2652]

*Recalls the classic Blackadder quote,"We're in the stickiest situation since Sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun!"

Pretty lame for an attention grabbing stunt. A worthwhile cause, but i fear these stunts will cause them embarassment rather than positive attention.

CX.

Can you imagine being glued to Gordon Brown? This is a brave man, but I have to say that it's probably for his own good that he ran out of glue before he could complete his mission.

and after 20 seconds he tore my hand off - it really hurt.

I think pulling the poor blighter's hand off was a bit extreme tho.

[edit on 23-7-2008 by unnamedninja]

when Gordon brown inhales when i speaks he looks like he is sucking the soul out of the viewer....lol

Always nice to hear a story that isn't full of doom and gloom.

I'm glad he's not being prosecuted or anything for it, just a bit of harmless fun in a time where such a thing is rare.

Priceless.

[edit on 23-7-2008 by Zanzibar]

Originally posted by unnamedninja
I think pulling the poor blighter's hand off was a bit extreme tho.

Was it?

If someone tried to glue themselves to me, I'd do the same thing!

And I don't think I'd have any sympathy if it hurt them. Should have thought about that in the first place, shouldn't he?

Besides, there's a slight flaw in the plan... if he glued himself to the PM's jacket and his hand wouldn't come off, Gordon could've simply taken his jacket off.

[edit on 23/7/08 by Ste2652]

Well I meant literally tearing his hand off. The article was a bit ambiguous about whether the fellow still has his hands remaining or not. Gordon tore one off, and the police detached the other one. A better approach probably would've been to just put some glue on his hand and cop a sneaky handshake. That superglue really sticks skin to skin in a nasty way.

Seriously though good article, gave me a chuckle. But I think the real reason that the bloke wasn't arrested is to avoid the publicity. These Fathers for Justice are trying to create a stink and the politicians are very sneaky and wont play ball.

A few weeks ago, a couple of them were camped on top of an MPs house. She packed up fast and went to stay with a friend or something. Made up a bogus excuse about health and safety. With her gone it really made it a non story. Politicians understand the game of playing the media better than anyone, Fathers for Justice are up against the pros.



[edit on 23-7-2008 by unnamedninja]