This made me laugh

In the previous issue of The Week, they published two letters from The Times offering for and against arguments over the recent protests during the G20 summit. Now naturally I’m going to come down in favour of the right to peaceful protest, and one thing these protests should have done is highlight how our civil liberties have been eroded by this Labour government, but the gentleman writing in to oppose the idea of peaceful protest must surely have seen the irony of his words? To quote:

Sir, While my sympathies go to your correspondent (April 3) for the discomfort she had to suffer, surely people should know by now that protests achieve nothing other than allegation and counter-allegation. It is not the democratic right of people to assemble in large numbers in an attempt, however peaceful, to bring a city to a halt to get across their point of view. The democratic right is to protest via the ballot box, and if that does not achieve the desired effect for you then what you want is not what the majority want.

Walter Houser, London SW14

Link to letter here

I think Mr Houser has forgotten that our electoral system does not reflect the will of the majority, unless he considers a paltry 35% of the popular vote a majority one. And since when did our constitution – unwritten or otherwise – expressly forbid the right to peaceful protest by means other than voting in elections that are effectively rigged from the start? Oh yes, since the laughably titled Human Rights Act of 2000…