DIRECT action is becoming an increasingly popular form of protest. Frustrated by the dominance of global business and excluded by traditional party politics, more and more people are adopting a hands-on approach. Campaigners take to the trees to delay road schemes, and to the streets to vent their anger at corporate capitalism.

When it comes to direct action, few organisations are more experienced than Greenpeace. Its activists have clung to the sides of oil tankers to make a point.

Theirs is a high-risk, high-profile strategy - and it is extremely effective at attracting national attention to an issue. Before many people had finished breakfast this morning, a Greenpeace member was on national radio explaining how she was chained to a water tower at the Menwith Hill base to protest against US missile defence plans.

Tony Blair has tried to keep British involvement in Son of Star Wars off the agenda. To have raised such a crucially important issue during the election campaign might have allowed the voters to register their opposition at the ballot box, and that was the last thing he wanted.

An unelected, unaccountable spokesman for Mr Blair has already hinted that the Prime Minister is broadly in favour of the scheme. A scheme that, in principle, would make the United States more secure by encouraging so-called rogue states to aim their missiles at the North Yorkshire monitoring bases. No wonder people feel they need to take direct action. It is the only way to register their anger at this dangerous folly.

By marching into Menwith Hill this morning, Greenpeace activists have manipulated the news agenda in a way that the Government's many spin doctors can only admire.

If this remains a peaceful protest, it will draw a lot of support from North Yorkshire residents. But local people must make their opposition heard too. Ministers might try to dismiss Greenpeace's laudable demonstration as a stunt from a group of adrenaline seekers. A tenacious protest by ordinary householders could not be treated so glibly.

Updated: 11:11 Tuesday, July 03, 2001