Protest should not infringe on the rights of others

The definition of hero, by British standards anyway, seems to be changing. In 1916, there might have been a hero or two at the bloody Battle of the Somme. Ditto at the “Gold” and “Sword” beaches of Normandy on D-Day in 1944.

In 2023, apparently, you qualify as a hero if you manhandle a weedy, long-haired protester away from a cricket pitch.

WATCH: Bairstow wrestles protester as climate activists disrupt Ashes Test

England cricketer Josh Tongue labelled Jonny Bairstow a “hero” for protecting the Lord’s pitch after the wicketkeeper forcibly removed a climate activist during the second Ashes Test on Wednesday.

By preventing damage to the wicket which may have led to the abandonment of the test, Bairstow might be considered, by some, to be a hero. By others, he might be regarded as a businessman defending his livelihood…

The protest was another in the series conducted by the Stop Oil group, which has daubed paintings and statues with orange paint and disrupted traffic across the UK by sitting down in groups in busy intersections.

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Perhaps Bairstow was standing up for the Englishman’s divine right not to be disturbed.

Protest is acceptable as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others. If that is so, there may be another battleground looming in that country.