TRY comparing these two events and see what you make of the vastly differing outcomes. They both occurred roughly about the same time in English counties yet you would think we were talking about separate planets.

Last week, hundreds of riot police pushed back protestors at the Kingsnorth coal power station ‘climate camp’ in Kent, as officers raided the site and made eight arrests.

Scuffles broke out as shieldcarrying officers surrounded demonstrators after the arrival of five campaigners who were trying to breach a court order banning them from entering the site.

Police also stopped their deliveries of food.

Meanwhile, 200 miles to the north-west, travellers virtually destroy a paddock in Powick, near Worcester. Trees are felled and piles of refuse left behind.

The landowner is left with a hefty bill. Yet nothing is done to prevent it.

The police tell your Worcester News that they must consider the impact on travellers if they are moved on.

A county council spokesman says: “Any encampments on district council or private land are the responsibility of the landowner.”

Right, so that’s that, is it?

Predominantly middle-class green warriors get the full cops treatment when they protest about perceived threats to the environment, while hard-case travellers are quietly ignored and left to destroy a man’s property.

It’s one law for some, another for others. What else can it be?

So when is someone with guts going to do something about this minority of people who are now routinely imposing their dubious lifestyles on ordinary citizens?

Just what will it take?

The police know full well that there are powers are their disposal. It is all a question of interpreting existing laws, something that policemen have been doing since the days of Robert Peel.

I remember as a youth being told to move on. I protested and was promptly told that if I didn’t hop it I’d be booked for assault. I needed no further bidding.

If it’s a case of the police being worried about the EU Human Rights Act – legislation that supersedes our own laws, by the way – then they should voice their concerns. And they need to do the same if they’re concerned about travellers playing the race card.

One thing’s for sure. Travellers will continue to destroy and terrorise communities until action is taken. Doing nothing is not an option