preotests in london

So as I suppose everyone knows by now, we have had some excitement in London.

Angry (but generally good natured) mobs took to the streets in the square mile (many of them right outside my office). They proclaimed, among other things, that consumers suck and capitalism kills. Many were young anarchists from all over Europe. Some were recently unemployed middle age workers. Clearly all were frustrated by the state of things. The police warned City workers in advance to “dress down” for the day, and sure enough most did turn up to work in jeans, myself included. In the office there was lots of talk arguing the protestors were just “little school children who just need to grow up” or “just jealous.” But the two groups actually deserve each other. Obviously the protesters were there to provoke City workers. But looking up and seeing a guy in a suit, waving a fist full of 50 pound notes from his glass and steel box…well it is provocative as well. By lunchtime the whole area around bank tube station was so crowded that it was impossible to get in or out of the area. Effigies of bankers were hung, graffiti generously sprayed, while the four horsemen of the apocalypse rode around with megaphones. The weather was unusually pleasant and the police presence was overwealming.

The question is: how are we all going to get out of this mess? People are loosing their jobs at alarming rates all over the country, and the end is not yet really in sight, even as some recent indicators suggest “green shoots.” It doesn’t appear that anyone has the answers