I chance to be passing through London today. Picked the wrong afternoon for it. Every sleepy side-street in this normally agreeable corner of Mayfair is awash with union heavies and other unlovely types who’ve wandered loose from the supposedly half-million-strong protest march against alleged government “spending cuts” – of which, in fact, there are distressingly few.
As I write, I am approximately fifty feet from the scene of this balaclava-ed anarchist’s heroic stand. Looks rather less exciting in close-up, I have to report. The livelier lads have already rampaged through Fortnum & Mason, the upscale Piccadilly emporium, and attacked the Ritz. Obvious targets, you might say. But I found it more poignant earlier in the day when I went to a favorite coffee place hoping to enjoy a beverage outside on a pleasant spring day as the massed ranks of British layabouts marched by. Instead, the Polish and Balkan baristas were hurriedly dragging in all the sidewalk tables and chairs before the Socialist Workers’ Party chaps showed up in search of projectiles. Nobody in the Socialist Workers’ Party actually works, which is one reason why it’s Mitteleuropeans frothing your coffee rather than any of the natives.
Still, on balance I prefer the class-war thugs trashing the joint, who at least have the courage of their convictions. The “nice” people bussed in from the shires struck me as some of the most stupid people I’ve ever met anywhere on the planet. One elderly lady from Yorkshire told me she was there because her grandson’s university fees were likely to go up. I was in a cranky mood because I hadn’t had my coffee. “You can protest all you like,” I said. “But this country’s broke, so all you’re doing is postponing its reacquaintanceship with reality, and ensuring that your grandson and his contemporaries are going to be stuck with the tab because you guys spent their future.” I pointed out that in her part of the world – northern England – as in Wales and Northern Ireland, the state accounts for three-quarters of the economy. And it’s still not enough for the likes of her and her pals.
She stared at me blankly. “Well, I don’t want to argue,” she said politely. “I just think it’s a disgrace.” In a democracy, there are not many easy ways back from insane levels of “social” spending, and certainly not when the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition panders to the mob by comparing them to anti-apartheid activists. Judging from the many marchers partial to robotic, pseudo-ethnic West African drumming, the British left’s plan is presumably for the entire country to relaunch itself as the world’s least rhythmic percussion ensemble.
PS This was yesterday’s big march in Central London.
Mark, it isn't "suspension of reality," it's Magical Thinking. Believing that protesting will make more money materialize in a Government budget is akin to believing that throwing a virgin into a volcano will ensure the tranquility of the volcano and fertility of the island.
The protesters aren't suspending reality, they are only denying that it has power over their lives. The Western world needs a Canute to show that merely standing at the edge of the rising tide of government deficits and commanding it to stop has no effect -- and that therefore stopping it requires other practical measures (like, oh, say, cutting government spending).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAt least her generation knows it's best not to argue when you have no argument. Her son's generation does not even consider that a requirement in order to march, protest and vandalize.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseStuiec, it's not Magical Thinking. There is no magic involved. The anarchists simply are the front men for the commies, the socialists, the whatevers, the people who want to replace free republics with totalitarian states in which *they* would be the powers. Breaking the national bank accelerates that process.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNobody is better than Mr. Steyn at putting out consistently funny posts/articles, always brilliantly mocking the absurdity of the multi-culti and economic left. You make it look easy.
Thank you and keep up the good work.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMark, Mark, Mark-- it's no use talking reality to these types. Admittedly, once or twice in extermely cranky moods caused by repeated train cancellations allegedly caused by intemperate weather ( it snows in Southern New England? -- shocking) I've attempted to discuss public pension costs with public union conductors, but that was a total waste of both our time. Talking to these people who are complete wards of the taxpayer is like trying to talk sense to a street lamp-- worse, at least the street lamp doesn't talk nonsense. Cheers.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThese Bread and Circus riots will be more and more common as austerity measures kick in.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"'We come in the tradition of movements that have marched in peaceful but powerful protest for justice, fairness and political change,' he said.
'The suffragettes who fought for votes for women and won. The civil rights movement in America that fought against racism and won.
'The anti apartheid movement that fought the horror of that system and won. The cause may be different..."
No, please... you can stop there, Mr. Miliband.
But seriously-- what a delightful litmus test this is! Just read those words to any American you meet: if they're offended, you've met a potential conservative voter. If they accept those words as true, then you've met someone you should walk away from... slowly, backwards, with your hand on your wallet.
How terrible I feel... for those Poles. To leave communism only to end up in the British socialist nightmare is a true tale of Job if I've ever heard one.
Sigh. When do we get a GOP presidential candidate who can point to this and actually EXPLAIN how dangerous this all is? Not just in sound bites, but really walk the average American through the concept of, "We are out of money, and unless we seize this LAST CHANCE to change our ways, the chaos that is happening over there is destined to happen here-- indeed, there are people in America right now HOPING it happens here, you may have seen them occupying the Wisconsin State Capitol..."
Last. Chance. Portugal, Greece, Spain, now even Britain have all lost their chance, but America has one last chance to turn this all around...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think a major problem we have is that we believe these people can be convinced.
Back in 2008 when I was still a tentative Democrat, who voted for Obama over Clinton in the primaries because I wanted a 'fresh face', I started actually learning about economics and politics (a large part of my conversion was Mr. Steyn's writing). And I foolishly believed that these people who could recite Bush's "war crimes" chapter-and-verse would want to discuss actual issues. The general response I received was "I don't want to argue."
Nobody wants to argue. But worse, nobody wants to think about it. Like the war in Afghanistan, enough of us are shielded from the day-to-day reality that we don't have to think about it. And when someone brings something up, they face all kinds of mental blocks.
Obama's election and his rock-steady approval rating are symptoms of a disconnected, comfortable society that's happy to slide down into decline as long as nobody talks about it. In Europe, as long as they have 'free' health care and a government check, nobody cares about 'the future'. Frankly, I don't think anything will make them care.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe Mail Online article that you link to has photographs that look like the protests were nasty and violent.
You are right about the stupidity of the protesters.
Stay safe over there.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"The Human Right to Suspend Reality" sounds like what the madison protesters were going on about this year.
Have the london protesters selected a Hitler du jour for their signs?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhen citizens stop taking responsibility and transition to childhood--wards of the state--reason loses its clout. The subjects have "want" not ownership.
Perhaps if the UK had been made more responsible for their defense since WW2 they would have remained adults. Observing the tumult is definitely a lesson in civics though. Mark, thanks for sharing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't understand how it's particularly anarchic to be lobbying for bigger government. Or at least protesting the rescission of big government.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePerpetual toddlers, throwing a temper tantrum because Mom won't buy them any more candy. Unfortunately, these adult-sized brats are capable of destruction and mayhem. And sadly, we let them vote.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOy. Pre-traumatic flashforward to Madison, Wisconsin in the next several weeks as the state legislature debates the biennial budget & spending cuts.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMark,
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"relaunch itself as the world’s least rhythmic percussion ensemble". Buahahahahahahaha. Great line. Best laugh I've had in a month. Keep up the good work !
Darn, saw someone other than me make the perfect comment about this: "anarchists" are protesting government budget cuts?
ANARCHISTS? REALLY?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt is a disgrace that people think they should not have to pay for a service they receive, and that they are saddling future generations with immense debt rather than paying now.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou sure you weren't looking for that coffee on State Street in Madison?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs Thatcher said, and I paraphrase, "It's all fine, but eventually you run out of money..." Something like that, and oh so true.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThank you, as always, for your post, Mark.
I was amazed by one of the captions to a photograph in the article you linked to in the Daily Mail. "Civil disobedience" was the description given to an individual caught smashing a window. If we assume that the government is going to bandage all the wounds and clean up all the messes after such riots, then I guess we're free to smash up whatever we can get our hands on? Otherwise, you just destroyed some piece of another person's livelihood and welfare: that's disobedience all right, but it's anything but "civil". Of course, in either case, someone pays who ought not to have.
We really are near the end if spoiled children running through the streets smashing windows is tolerated as a form of political discourse.
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