I’ve never met Marcus Decker, though I did speak to him once on the phone from his prison cell. On Wednesday I saw him again. I was in the ornate mock-gothic surroundings of the High Court in London, listening to m’learned friends picking over arcane points of law. Decker, bearded and wearing a colourful T-shirt, was scribbling notes on Zoom. Still in prison.
I should explain, since it’s a near certainty you won’t have heard of Marcus Decker. Last October—nearly 10 months ago—he and a man called Morgan Trowland shinned up the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at the Dartford Crossing in London. They rigged up a banner drawing attention to climate change. And there they stayed, swaying gently in their hammocks, for around 36 hours.