What a strange day … or at least parts of it were very strange. Other parts were reassuring, dramatic, peaceful, noisy, powerful … oh, and deeply depressing.

There, that about covers all the bases …

There are loads more photographs - and a chance to comment - on the Substack version of this article ...

I spent Wednesday (4th Feb) at the Birmingham NEC - taking some photographs of and offering support to the protesters who had gathered to raise awareness about the arms fair taking place inside.

The Specialist Defence and Security Convention describes itself as,

“…an active touchpoint for leading-edge technology and strategic thinking, bringing together the UK's leading innovators to create a forum for mutually beneficial commercial discussions …”

So far, so innocuous! 

“…between industry, armed forces, government, law enforcement and emergency services.”

This is a place where people who make things that can be used to kill children meet with the express aim of making money … 

I have long struggled with the idea that people actively design, build, and sell weapons that they know can be used - and are used - to kill the innocent. ‘Oh, if we don’t, someone else will … and at least ours are fair-trade and carbon neutral …’ okay - I made that bit up, though not as much as you might imagine!

The global war machine killed, according to ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data … an impartial global monitor) over 240,000 people in 2025 - and that is a very conservative estimate. 

The climate change impact of armies is something that is rarely looked at - they account for around 5.5% of all global carbon emissions - greater than the aviation industry … and this is only the impact of the standing armies - not the impact they cause when let loose on the world.

So the protest against and arms fair at the NEC brought together both the peace groups - Quakers and other religious groups - Campaign Against the Arms Trade - groups protesting against the terrifying and ongoing assault on the Palestinians, and environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion. I have always felt that these worlds should spend more time in each other’s company.

Watching people enter the building from the pen that had been erected to keep the dangerous radicals (see above!) out of the way, it became easier, over time, to work out who was heading into the arms fair, and those heading into the two other events taking place … one of which was an Ice Cream Show … run by the Ice Cream Alliance (new to me!) and also the Spring Fair. 

There was a Quaker meeting - a circle of quiet and contemplative people - there were drums and chants, there were banners and baby’s clothing - those going into the arms fair will have been very aware that there was a protest.

This became even more dramatic with the arrival of the Red Rebels. Established in 2019, these iconic rebels moved slowly all the way through the NEC, from the railway station to the protest outside the arms fair. I like to think that this intersection of performance and protest would have appealed to Derek Jarman. 

Will this have changed the minds of anyone at the arms fair? I imagine that is unlikely. But - it certainly did have an impact on other people using the space - one person asked me what I was there for - thinking I was going into the Spring Fair - I said, no, I’m here for the arms fair … and their face dropped … until they realised what I meant! I really don’t think people liked the idea of sharing the NEC with people trading in death and suffering.

But - going back to the question at the top … which is the biggest killer? Ice cream … yum (??) but … mostly a product of the dairy industry which is 3.4% of global emissions of climate change gasses … along with health impacts! Or maybe it was the Spring Fair? 

I registered for my free ticket to one of the most terrible circles of hell as the protest outside wound down. This was both overwhelming and staggeringly depressing - imagine the gift shop area of a garden centre … a fairly sad garden centre … and then scale it up enormously.

Over 1,200 exhibitors brought over a million products to try and sell to the 38,000 visitors (well, that is what the promo said - as I walked around there was hardly a single person - and those that were there looked so sad) - there were so many varieties of scented candle that they all merged into a soup of evil. There was a bounty of terrible AI art attached to any imaginable thing. There were plastic flowers (oh, and an injunction against taking photos) - and possibly the winner - someone selling plastic daisies on bits of string from which you can make your own daisy chain … because …. AAARRRGGGHHH …. Oh, I just checked … not plastic … but still … AAARRRGGHH!!!

Of course it is easy to see the arms trade as evil - but I fear we miss the quieter death that is brought down on us in the form of a withering of spirit gifted to us by the tat-dump of the Spring Fair. And then, on a more serious note, the vast resources that are poured into this eruption from the loose bowels of the capitalist machine … these are resources that could have been put to good use and the acceptance of an event like this as just normal is an acceptance of the slow death of life on earth.

Oh, and to bring this back to hedgehogs … if we want to have the pleasure of seeing hedgehogs visiting our or trundling along the hedgerows in the countryside, we need to see the interconnected nature of all things. This is why it is vital we consider the complexity of ecosystems - and not imagine that war, ice cream, or tat, can just be left in their own little boxes. It is all connected.