Anyone free this weekend?

I saw in tonight’s Evening Standard that the usual suspects are planning on occupying the London Stock Exchange this weekend. Given how the city is always a ghost town on a Saturday I really have to wonder what they hope to achieve, though it will be interesting to see how the media coverage compares with that of rally against debt in the summer.

Still, even though they are misguided they do have a point (as Alister Heath put it brilliantly in his column today,

bailouts helped launch the Tea Party (which wants more capitalism and fewer bailouts) as well as Occupy Wall Street (which wants less capitalism and fewer bailouts) – one on the right, the other on the left

Given that there is indeed a fair bit of overlap I’m tempted to pop along on Saturday for a bit of a chat with them. Anyone else up for it? If so drop a comment here and we’ll see where this goes.

I doubt will be very receptive, in which case can always have a laugh then head down the pub.

Tags:

Banks, Events, St Pauls

Date:

October 12, 2011

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Before:

7 responses to “Anyone free this weekend?”

pavel

October 12, 2011 at 7:53 pm

Andy, do you want to convert lefties into someone responsible and sensible? OK, I want to see it 🙂
Or may be I’m too pessimistic after I read http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/.

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Simon Gibbs

October 13, 2011 at 10:03 am

Not sure I can make it, but I like the idea.

Just don’t waste your time arguing with anyone who looks scruffy* or hippie. In day to day life, I find scruffiness *is* a reliable indicator of entrenched left wing opinion.

Look for sensibly dressed people who can be swayed by the argument that bailouts are not capitalism, that capitalism makes most people wealthy, and please don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Plumbers and odd job men are good honest capitalist stereotypes, in my opinion, and that might get traction.

A posted a video in Seen elsewhere of a Ron Paul fan speaking in Washington, by way of inspiration.

* scruffy is perhaps the wrong word, but they do dress and look after themselves in a consistently and carefully irreverent manner, the polar opposite of the banker stereotype. Ayn Rand was right to pick up on this.

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Andrew Witcombe-Small

October 13, 2011 at 3:15 pm

If they’re still there on Sunday, I might drop in, but otherwise I have a prior engagement on the South Coast.

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Tim Carpenter

October 13, 2011 at 3:30 pm

Was that Ron Paul fan “Adam”? He seems to have got a little under the skin of a few of the more Statist/gimme types.

In the UK I think the scene will be even more Statist than in the States. I expect there might be attempts to riotize* the event. SWP with their usual B&W NO and STOP posters.

* just made that word up, folks.

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Simon Gibbs

October 14, 2011 at 7:40 pm

After discussing lunchtime today we decided that we would wait and see how it goes Saturday, and if no riots/kettling occurs we’ll head down Sunday to chat, give out some flyers and try and get some media coverage. Then heading to a pub. It is supposed to be in Paternoster Square, so I suggest meeting outside St Paul’s at 11.

Please if you are interested come along, alternatively any promotion to like-minded individuals by your faceboook/twitter.blogs etc would be much appreciated..

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Richard Carey

October 16, 2011 at 1:17 pm

It’s a good idea, and I feel slightly guilty not to be there.

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November 5, 2011 at 3:17 pm

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