Stop the War Demo

As I arrived in Trafalgar Square I sent a text to my mate Dave to ask if he was there yet (we might go for coffee rather than listen to speeches we'd both heard so many times before). He texted back - he hadn't left Hyde Park yet. I tell you what, I think the Stop the War demo was big. Maybe 100,000, although I worry about my estimate because it is the same as the StWC, a worthy organisation often weak on its arithmatic.

Having only just arrived in time due to a bout of over sleeping, for which there is no excuse, I was a bit all over the place but still managed to spot fellow blogger Liam who posts on the demo here (and has spotted possibly the greatest ever banner, pictured), and a number of other friendly faces from round the country.

I hadn't been on one of these things for a while so was surprised by i) how quiet it was, ii) how big it was, iii) how sensible Permanent Revolution are, who are a split from ultra left delusionists Workers Power.

Oh, I almost forgot, there was a naked protester too. Although this one kept her bra and pants on thankfully, which means that technically she wasn't naked, but it's the tedious thought that counts. When these things were a bit more common I'd thought about making a banner saying "put your clothes on!" and racing after any of these people that dared show their faces (among other things) - next time...

Jolly good. Although I'm still concerned at the lack of discussion on Afghanistan it was worth going, worth getting up for and, whilst the political effectiveness of each individual march is minimal, the cumulative effect of keeping the anti-war movement on the streets does allow us to show that the concern over the criminal foreign policy of this government goes beyond the editorial room of the Independent, God bless them.