Bristling but Hushed Liberals,

Security Reasons. It’s the reason given and blamed for the many absurdities and inconveniences that are forced upon people in all walks of life. In truth, many of the measures are just to keep us in our places.

I have never seen any of Mark Thomas’ stand-up comedy performances but I applaud him for leading a small protest against the “demo ban zone” around the Houses of Parliament. It’s never clever to quote anyone else, in fact, there’s a quote about that – “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” or maybe, “Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them.” – but it’s further vindication of an observation on "democracy" by Karl Marx, “The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.”

Mark Thomas only had around 100 people in his protest, but London is very far away and not many people want to go there for fear of being affected by its corruption. People protested on a range of issues including war, Goth pride and Pluto. They deserve a right to protest. There are few other channels by which to demonstrate the opinions of the people and show the level of support for a cause than a crowd. People can send letters or emithers to MPs but there’s a high probability that some unelected secretary will discard any correspondence that looks slightly awkward. The people that we elect to parliament don’t really represent us; they pander to their party superiors – people in other constituencies over which we have no say. I’d like to see Parliament full of independent members, who’d vote with their conscience. The Referendum Party were a single issue party, concerned only with the position of the UK in the EU, but the concept of the party was that they would let the public decide its country’s fate via a series of referendums. I’d argue that referendums aren’t really necessary to decide the direction of a nation, there is only one right way, and if the all the facts were available to everyone; people – even the politicians - could see right from wrong and act accordingly, it’d save time and paper.

The Parliament building wouldn’t require stringent security if its incumbents didn’t act so erratically and thoughtlessly. They could all benefit from being closer to the public - they might learn something. Why do they deserve protection anyway? The rest of us aren’t being protected from the villains that roam the streets. They deserve two big burly blokes on the front door and any additional security can be provided by a House of Lords peace-keeping force.