Why the UK needs a constitution and electoral reform.
On Saturday the London police authorities claimed that over 150 people were arrested with regards to the demonstrations. What they failed to mention was that 138 of these people were those which were peacefully and quietly demonstrating as part of the Fortnum & Masons sit in with regards to their corporation tax avoidance. See UKUncut pie chart (1). The 138 protestors were promised that they would be allowed to leave F&M by the police and that they would not be kettled or arrested (2).
I am not sure whether there was any political pressure involved, as it is very easy for the government of the day to set the agenda and style the protests as lunatics bent on causing violence, and some of the minority fringe elements of the demonstrations were just that. But the vast majority over 99.9% of the quarter of million people attended protested peacefully, and that is the true story of the day. People are fed up with with the poor and lower classes taking a job, benefit, or livelihood cut, whilst the rich get to shift their money from tax haven to tax haven. Let us all experience the cuts required and let us all pay our fair share of tax.
At present we don't know whether we have free speech, nor a right to protest, nor the right to be considered equal under the law. We don't know because our rights are a hodge-podge rulings and laws passed over the past 1000 years. What we need is a simple consitution outling our rights and responsibilities as citizens. Electoral reform is part of this pacakge as we chuck out the right-by-birth and right-by-religion aspects of our outdated democracy.
My recommendations? Vote for AV reform to change our democracy to respresent the will of the people rather than the will of the few. Get involved with UK Uncut. And cheer on the Dutch, from political pressure they managed to enact a law to 100% tax bonuses on bailed out companies.
(1) http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z129/agent_unbreakable/piechart2-1.jpg
(2) http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2011/mar/28/fortnum-mason-protesters-uk-un...