Tuesday 1 November 2011

a field student of temperature checks



St Paul's Cathedral - Protest Site, 31/10/11.

St Pauls Cathedral has an 'offer of the moment' of over 600 posters, each for sale at £2. The poster view is of a scene decidedly less busy than it was this afternoon as protesters and tourists flocked about the west end of the cathedral. Perhaps there will be a souvenir protest issue.   


The video features one of the protesters involving all and sundry in the art of protest camp management and media relations. There were several speakers who delivered briefings on various aspects of the protest. Some of the national newspapers are reporting on the situation as a fiasco, farcical, a laughing stock and a national joke.
I imagined for a moment one of the speakers calling out, 'Afternoon campers. Hi de hi'. Of course they didn't. The protest is motivated for some by serious issues. Some people have lost/resigned their jobs because of the handling of the protest, and the protest is addressing much more serious issues further afield. So it should be no laughing matter. 'Sit-in-com' it is not or so I thought. I chuckled a little as the speaker asked 'anyone here from supplies, can you put your hands up, anyone here from shelter...?' as some characters in Halloween garb emerged from a tent, and a man posed with some saucily satirical paintings featuring David Cameron et al. The police were in attendance around the protest camp site; many of them, it seemed, judging by their yawns, were thoroughly bored with the site admin' briefings. I left thinking the situation has the makings of a very British carry on.
   

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