A very English revolution

A disturbing article was written up on Bloomberg this morning about planning for protests around the G20 Summit in London next week. Most of you know that I love passing comment on protests, and am very tolerant of even the most uneducated bored Arts students. I think protesting can be done well, like the Sri Lanka demonstration in London in February and it can be done poorly:


One of the protest organisers, Mark Barrat, is a professional tour guide and obviously full of quality information. He claims he wants a 'very English revolution'. I wonder how many people will queue for that.

The issue I have with one of the upcoming demonstrations is that they are protesting against Carbon Emissions trading and they "want a space to discuss these issues and to take action to see some changes being made for the benefit of people across the world, not just a couple of bankers". Right. So one would expect them to have done their homework on Emissions trading then. They would, no doubt, understand that this form of trading financially rewards those who pollute less and financially penalises those who pollute more. They should also understand that banks can profit from this because they are often an intermediary between participating companies. And like all financial transactions banks are integral. How else do these protesters expect to receive their dole cheque? I look forward to hearing their gripes toward this practise. I'll stroll down there with a camera and my own bag of molotovs in case I don't like what I'm hearing.

If this "very English revolution" takes hold I might start my own against the tax department. I was recently told I have an unpaid £5,609 tax bill from 2006/07, and a £450 interest charge for the unpaid amount.

But it's ok, I got the Inspector onto it.

Queen Libby's merry band of bumbling tax collectors cashed my cheque on 17th March 2008, just 5 days after I sent it to them. Don't be sad, contact with the fun loving tax office doesn't end there. There's still the matter of the £19 discrepancy between what they said I owed them in January last year versus what they now say I owed them in January last year...

I hear so many stories of the the UK tax office making mistakes, but I bet they don't get as many official complaints as Home and Away's recent lesbian kiss. Pro-Family Perspectives director, Angela Conway said "The plot lines that young kids and teenagers should be presented with should be about really authentic relationships that are not just sexualised." C'mon Angie, who's to say that this wasn't true love between two school girls? On behalf of the Australian Family Association, Ange has also had a stab at schools placing "undue emphasis on sex by formalising it in the curriculum" and berated companies offering decorative children's underwear which "contributes to the premature sexualising of children". Maybe it also helps children understand the enormity of particular decisions that need to be made throughout life, and teaches kids to have confidence in themselves and pride in their appearance. Classes you may have skipped.


Anyway, the Home and Away article goes on to say that some mothers contacted the network to say they didn't want their children exposed to same-sex relationships in a family show.

The fathers, however, have taped the episode if you missed it.