The money-no-object Metropolitan Police had helicopters whirring non-stop over Central London during today’s mass hallucination (they’re still overhead as I write), but, as usual, not a lot of competent policing on the ground. As is their wont, they did little to prevent property damage – or the general intimidation of visitors to the capital by so-called “anarchists” (an odd term for pro-government welfare-funded thugs). I saw ski-masked yobs fire a firework into a group of startled shoppers (including young children) who hadn’t expected the coppers to lose control quite so easily. This evening I strolled down Piccadilly, where not just the Ritz but humdrum sandwich chains have had their windows smashed, to Trafalgar Square, where the “anarchists” were cheerfully setting fires, lobbing bottles and desecrating my old pal Boris Johnson’s 2012 Olympic Clock.
Very fittingly, if coincidentally, all this took place just about time the ecochondriacs were supposed to be marking “Earth Hour”. So was this London’s all-time greatest “Earth Hour” or what? Massive disruption of commercial activity (doubtless heartening to the famously anti-consumerist eco-Prince of Wales) and normally glittering storefronts darkened except for the reflected glow of burning garbage. If Earth Hour is indeed a celebration of “ignorance, poverty and backwardness“, then all three made great strides in London today.
The collapse of the Entitlement State is not going to be pretty.
Some us are old enough to remember the riots in Watts, CA in 1965. It went on for 6 days. Things quieted down quickly when when police started doing what they are supposed to do: use deadly force if necessary to stop a felony in progress or to apprehend a fleeing felon.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFirst Madison Wisconsin, then Portugal earlier this week, next...where? The party is really over. The mobs are loose.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseReminds me of Oakland, CA during the Merhsele riots. Oakland cops were so tickled with themselves because destruction was confined to just several blocks.
Your business was in that area? Should have stocked up on 4X8 plywood.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Earth hour" just struck here on the East coast of the USA. I celebrated by turning on the lights in the kitchen and spare bedroom, and firing up the surround sound system even though I'm just catching up on TV shows on the DVR rather than watching anything special. I love mocking these meaningless zero-sacrifice gestures, so beloved of the Left, whose sole purpose is to make the participants feel better about theselves, since they actually have zero effect on whatever problem they're supposed to be solving. (See also boycotting gas stations on given days, wearing ribbons or shirts of the designated colors and any campaign designed to "raise awareness" about something.)
Regards,
Joe
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseQuick question:
Were there counter-protests?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMark- all the violence was related to an anti-cuts march nothing to do with Earth Hour.
(Though i also happen to think that earth hour is abit of a waste of energy - so to speak- for those involved and that it actually tends to be counter productive to a legitimate and worthy cause than otherwise.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"...all the violence was related to an anti-cuts march nothing to do with Earth Hour."
Oh come on. Nihilist anarchist groups like A.N.S.W.E.R. or H.U.B.R.I.S. or G.R.I.E.V.A.N.C.E. or whatever their apt name is show up exactly at events like Earth Hour. Ginning up the entitlement-dependent was their way of making the turnout massive enough to cause panic when their window-smashing, fire-lighting tactics started.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat do we want? Handouts! When do we want them? Now!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThank goodness mark steyn is back on the corner! Thanks to all responsible for this!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWas there even ONE journalist in London who asked any of the anarchists about the irony of anarchists marching for MORE government?
"We demand anarchy...but only if it's funded by a government grant."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is the anarchists of London and there is an ironic similarity to Wisconsin union protesters who did 7 million in damage to the capital. You will notice violence and anarchy rule among leftists only. When they can't achieve their goals in the government, they riot, loot, and set fire to business. They should be fined, jailed, and made to pay damages for what they did. The US left is only slightly less violent but if their power is threatened, they will do whatever it takes to intimidate opposition. We had better stand up and fight for our country if we want to save it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSeeing the thugs with the government's wink-and-a-nod approval of their destruction and terroristic tactics is sad and disgusting.
You want to know what the faces looked like under those masks & balaclavas? They were wearing the same malevolent, violence-loving grin Malcolm McDowell had at the end of A Clockwork Orange.
And it seems the government basically thinks what they are doing is juuuust fine, since it is to keep the government bloated and in denial on its way to bankruptcy and failing at its most fundamental functions.
But the heck with its basic functions... it has put self-interest and special interest groups first. Before its responsibilities to the citizens.
Sad to say, but it's not surprising.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou think this is bad, wait till the checks stop coming.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr. Steyn's last line is sadly prophetic - for Great Britain, the European Union, and even more sadly, the U.S.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDidn't the police pretty much lose control in Wisconsin, in the face of people who were tired of behaving like civilized people? I mean, we conservatives were called uncivil when we launched tea party protests, and said to incite violence when some suggested that government could get so bad that you might have to rise up against it -- but isn't that what is happening around the world right now?
Libya, Egypt, other countries in the middle east, across europe, in the united states -- people who are scared, or tired, or fed up, or whatever their excuse is, have decided that the peaceful resolution of problems is not going to work for them, so they are taking matters into their own hands.
And like it or not, if enough people do that, there's nothing a government that won't wantonly kill people can do. It's why the rich give up so much of their power, especially in a democracy -- because they don't want the peasants to revolt.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's the coming Zombie Apocalypse.
Buy more guns.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDid the West really win the Cold War? It sure doesn't feel like it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExpat ASIA re:
"Mark- all the violence was related to an anti-cuts march nothing to do with Earth Hour.
(Though i also happen to think that earth hour is abit of a waste of energy" -
You should have added 'anti tertiary education funding' cuts. Still, your contribution won't be appreciated, after all it is much more exiting to talk about the oxymoron of government supported rabble and anarchists.
Agreed, earth hour is a waste of time and effort because it distracts people from the core purpose of making the GHG emitters pay for the damage they cause and hopefully change their ecologically irresponsible behaviour.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@Beau Jangles
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFrom the TV pictures, it looked like the journalists/photographers outnumbered the protesters 10:1! :-)
Some odd connections being made here. What did the violence or the much larger peaceful protest have to do with Earth Hour? And the few that did behave violently (who I condemn 100% for their actions) were not asking for handouts. They were asking for big corporations to pay their share of taxation, like ordinary people in the UK do. Many in the UK - not just people on the left - blame the deep and destructive cuts on the bankers' bailout (and we now see bankers in part-NATIONALISED banks taking immense bonuses - from OUR money) and on the big companies who are not fully contributing to the UK yet benefiting from a presence here. The anger is in response to a perceived lack of fair play, NOT because people are demanding entitlements and big government.
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