In 2018, four mates sat in a Stoke Newington pub, bemoaning the political chaos gripping the nation after the Brexit referendum. They doom scrolled through their Twitter feeds, and then they had an idea.
An idea which, some weeks later, would lead them up a ladder on the A10, armed with a bucket of sloppily mixed wallpaper paste, slapping a giant tweet from David Cameron onto a billboard in the dead of night.
The stunt went viral. By the next day, they had 30,000 Twitter followers. Led By Donkeys was born.
The project, which was originally anonymous, was set up use satire to call out lies and hypocrisy over Brexit, but has gone onto target the Conservative government, Donald Trump’s state visit and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Most recently, the group have made headlines by lowering banners during speeches by Nigel Farage and Liz Truss – of Vladimir Putin and a lettuce above the words ‘I crashed the economy’ respectively.
If there was ever a perfect encapsulation of ‘Just Doing Something’ – it may well be Led By Donkeys. Join Priyanka and Isaac as Led by Donkeys co-founder Ben Stewart unpacks their journey in the first episode of season 2 of People Just Do Something.
Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your audio. And check out our other shows.
Comments
Related content
Listen: People Just Do Something, with Palestinian activist Iyad Burnat on the power of nonviolent resistance in the face of genocide
In the first episode of a new season, Isaac talks to Iyad Burnat, head of the Bil'in Popular Committee against the Wall, about the decades he’s spent peacefully resisting Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
Listen: Bristol Unpacked with ACORN’s Wesley Bear on activism, the Barton House evacuation, and frosty relations with the council
Relations between Bristol City Council and community union ACORN have become increasingly fractious, with recent clashes over council tax and the evacuation of a Barton Hill tower block. Neil asks Wesley why, and whether there's a way back.
