Just Stop Oil is “hanging up the hi vis” after three years of throwing soup at paintings, interrupting theatre performances, and blocking roads. It’s 2025. They’ve been racking up arrests - and opponents - and now, the UK government has passed a string of new laws cracking down on disruptive protest.

They say they’ve achieved their aims - a ban on new oil and gas licenses - but were they policed to extinction? With their hardcore campaigning for the climate, did these activists prompt a change in law that made all green activism harder?

Presenter: Justin Rowlatt

Producer: Alix Pickles

Series Producer: Ellie House

Editor: Matt Willis

Sound Design and Mix: James Beard

Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele, Brenda Brown, Sabine Schereck

Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

Archive:

‘Just Stop Oil is Hanging up the Hi Vis’, Just Stop Oil, 27/3/2025

Just Stop Oil Louise M25 protest, Just Stop Oil, 7/11/2022

Lord Deben on Just Stop Oil, ITV Robert Peston, 5/7/2023

Rupert Read talking about The Climate Majority Project, Some Dare Call It Conspiracy podcast, 24/4/2024

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