March

I suppose all my friends not based in London have seen on the news that yesterday there was a protest march against government cuts across the city.

More than 250,000 people marched, the vast majority of the event was peaceful. You'll probably see a lot of footage of a bunch of black-clad twonks taking the opportunity to throw stuff - maybe also of crying, confused people being kettled by angry police.

Whatever you see in the media, this is what it was about. Peaceful protest of the unions, and the people.

The National Union of Firemen on the march. Photo by Alison Sampson

There was also a massive Trojan Horse traveling from near my home across town, and a bunch of people taking over luxury food store Fortnum and Mason - not stealing the very expensive honey, amazingly, but apparently reading poetry. I could just about agree to call that lot anarchists, if they claim to be (I don't know if they do).

The guys in the balaclavas with the bricks are just idiots, plain and simple.

I'm impressed and glad that a protest of this scale could happen in this city, and peacefully so, for the most part.