Occupy London

[Rudi Luftwaffe]

I was quite impressed by the number of tents outside St Paul's this morning but is anyone else puzzled as to why the main event was scheduled for a Saturday?

 

[osymandus]

Probably get as many people as possible ? Its about letting everyone from every walk of life to protest . Not just nutty lefties or soap dodgers .
Intresting blog on this http://matthewrichmondmccondo.tumblr.com/

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

These ****ing no marks should try occupying some gainful employment for a change. Stop blaming the ****ing bankers and accept the roll back of the welfare state.

 

[southend4ever]

Why would anyone go and join a group of pathetic no hopers who have decided to deface what I consider the most amazing piece of architecture in the UK - St Pauls? No thanks!

Stay at home with your Jeremy Kyle and benefits and leave the workers, be it bankers or not, out of this!

 

[osymandus]

Why would anyone go and join a group of pathetic no hopers who have decided to deface what I consider the most amazing piece of architecture in the UK - St Pauls? No thanks!

Stay at home with your Jeremy Kyle and benefits and leave the workers, be it bankers or not, out of this!

Deface ?? The Canon has given them permission to be there .

Rusty . Nice try but employed people are also protesting . Its not the welfare system or state is a combination of stupidity , greed and short sightedness . And teh most important point is people are realising its not a simply left or right issue any more.

 

[johnlattimerssponge]

Walked past there at lunchtime and wether unemployed or not they are making one of iconic buildings in London look awful with there cardboard banner's and chalked pavements along with the pop up tent's.
Whilst they seem to be trying to organize themselves to stay for a few months personally I feel they will achieve very little other than perhaps a few getting a criminal record and running up a very big policing bill for the tax paying public.

 

[Rudi Luftwaffe]

Deface ?? The Canon has given them permission to be there .

Rusty . Nice try but employed people are also protesting . Its not the welfare system or state is a combination of stupidity , greed and short sightedness . And teh most important point is people are realising its not a simply left or right issue any more.

Didn't you used to work for JP Morgan?

 

[pickledseal]

Obviously edited for purpose, but this is an interesting video illustrating some of the police brutalitly shown to protestors in NYC:

[video=youtube;zjfhOPCPJnE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjfhOPCPJnE[/video]

 

[steveo]

I wonder how long they would last in the Peoples Republic of China.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Didn't you used to work for JP Morgan?

'used to work' is the key phrase here

 

[Reg Martin]

Obviously edited for purpose, but this is an interesting video illustrating some of the police brutalitly shown to protestors in NYC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjfhOPCPJnE[/video]

If the NY police are anything like the UK Police then their leaders will see themselves as the military arm of the left-wing thought police and the poor plods in uniform will generally come from the less well-off end of society and have to put up with no end of provovation from protestors who tend to come from the richer end of the spectrum

 

[MK Shrimper]

Funny how the "right wing" section of SZ are knee-jerk an anti a peaceful demonstration. Billions of ££'s of your taxes have been paid out to bail out the banks, but still they refuse to loan to first time buyers and small businesses whilst awarding themselves vast bonuses.

Billions more of your taxes are going to be used to bail out the catastrophe that is the Euro - this at the time when we're all supposed to be paying off our debts and cutting our spending.

It is a fact that the gap between rich and poor is growing ever more, and the opportunities for our children are becomming less and less - a life time of debt for a university degree? Many will think "what's the point", and an educated, skilled workforce will have to come in from overseas. But hang on, aren't you anti-immigration as well?

I agree that "rent a mob" crusties, and the idiotic anarchists are about as useful as a chocolate teapot and play straight into the hands of the Tory Dail Mail brigade, but when do you start to think that something is wrong with the system and say enough and make a stand?

 

[Rudi Luftwaffe]

I walked past the Occupy London camp this morning at around 7:15 and the only sign of life was a **** practicing circus skills.

If I had established a beach head in the heart of the financial district and was serious about my cause I might have got myself out of bed and be making an effort to engage bank workers like myself in conversation and try to get my message across.

Most of us realise the system is unfair and would like it changed but dont I think this lot are the bunch to back - I have seen better organised protests on Grange Hill.

Finally if these people really are the ones wronged by the system I can only assume Apple has made a large donation to the cause because there were an awful lot of Mac Books and iPphones on display when I walked home last night.

 

[MK Shrimper]

If I had established a beach head in the heart of the financial district and was serious about my cause I might have got myself out of bed and be making an effort to engage bank workers like myself in conversation and try to get my message across.

Would they listen? Or would they see them as a hinderance on their way to work?

Finally of these people really are the ones wronged by the system I can only assume Apple has made a large donation to the cause because there were an awful lot of Mac Books and iPphones on display when I walked home last night.

Do you neccesarily have to be poor to stand up and make a protest?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Funny how the "right wing" section of SZ are knee-jerk an anti a peaceful demonstration. Billions of ££'s of your taxes have been paid out to bail out the banks, but still they refuse to loan to first time buyers and small businesses whilst awarding themselves vast bonuses.

Billions more of your taxes are going to be used to bail out the catastrophe that is the Euro - this at the time when we're all supposed to be paying off our debts and cutting our spending.

It is a fact that the gap between rich and poor is growing ever more, and the opportunities for our children are becomming less and less - a life time of debt for a university degree? Many will think "what's the point", and an educated, skilled workforce will have to come in from overseas. But hang on, aren't you anti-immigration as well?

I agree that "rent a mob" crusties, and the idiotic anarchists are about as useful as a chocolate teapot and play straight into the hands of the Tory Dail Mail brigade, but when do you start to think that something is wrong with the system and say enough and make a stand?

Billions of pounds of our taxes are spent year on year on entitlements, breeding an entitlement society, which these feckless individuals represent. They want to reap the rewards of an imagined superiority, without ever raising a finger. The big issues to my mind are the welfare state, idiotic education policies, ridiculous immigration policies and the environmental lobby, all working together to choke our nation's potential. The bankers are just a soft target for those unwilling to notice the elephant in the room.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Billions of pounds of our taxes are spent year on year on entitlements, breeding an entitlement society.

In comparison to what WE paid out to the banks, it's a tiny percentage. I also have no time for the feckless, but sometimes, through no fault of their own, some people need a safety cushion and our society is richer for it.

 

[Neil_F]

Funny how the "right wing" section of SZ are knee-jerk an anti a peaceful demonstration.

As someone who considers himself on the right of the political spectrum, I'll do the honours. I don't support the protest but I am not against it either. People are entitled to protest within the confines of the law about any subject they please.

Billions of ££'s of your taxes have been paid out to bail out the banks,

I didn't support this at the time and I still don't. It has been a total disaster yet still our global political elite persist. The banks were bailed out such that liabilities were taken on by states, now some of those states are bust but we keep bailing them out as well.

but still they refuse to loan to first time buyers and small businesses whilst awarding themselves vast bonuses.

Please don't interpret this as defending the banks, but there is a distinctly conflicting message from the government, IMF and regulators. Banks are required to increase their capital ratios and lend more at the same time; they are conflicting objectives and the former is a regulatory requirement so which do you think will prevail?

Financial services remuneration has been out of control for a long time. The solution to this comes naturally from a market based economy in that those companies that are insolvent (by virtue of bad business strategies, a lack of risk management or stupid remuneration policies) go bust. The problem was started by permitting drastically reduced competition in the banking sector such that policy makers felt they had to bail them out (which they didn't).

Billions more of your taxes are going to be used to bail out the catastrophe that is the Euro

See above. Greece is going to default, it is only a question of timing. France and Germany are treading a dangerous path at the moment, especially if they proceed with a leveraged EFSF. This will start a run on France, which would almost certainly lose its AAA rating.

It is a fact that the gap between rich and poor is growing ever more,

This is a question of definition rather than fact. It is certainly true that the richest 5% are increasing their wealth faster than the rest of society, but that is not limited to Britain. It is a result of globalisation where talent can command a bigger premium as the labour market expands. In all honesty I don't really care much if the richest 5% get rich quicker provided it is legitimate. If Bill Gates moved the the UK tomorrow I wouldn't be poorer.

and the opportunities for our children are becomming less and less

I agree entirely. Decades of systematic damage to our education system by teaching unions and the education elite has lead us to that position. I work for a multinational company headquartered outside the UK. About 60% of UK positions are now filled by non-UK labour as there is a skill deficiency in the local labour market. This is in technical, finance and IT roles.

a life time of debt for a university degree? Many will think "what's the point", and an educated, skilled workforce will have to come in from overseas.

Agreed - see above.

But hang on, aren't you anti-immigration as well?

Nope, not me. I'm in favour of economic migration where the immigrant is high skilled or filling a skills gap. Putting a limit on it is pointless.

but when do you start to think that something is wrong with the system and say enough and make a stand?

I'd quite like the system that we are supposed to have (capitalist, free market) rather than the one we actually have (corporatist). The problem is that our political elite are too close to vested interests (big business, unions) because they need them to finance their political activities. It comes at a cost to the taxpayer and the consumer.

Why do you think so many financial institutions have been bailed out? Because the political elite were too close to the board (half of which are former politicians) of most of them because they needed their money. Gordon Brown asked Victor Blank (Chairman of Lloyds) to buy HBOS when they met at a cocktail party! We're now bailing out countries because the banks and bondholders would take a huge hit if the country defaulted.

My policy prescription is ending the need for political financing by capping donations at a low annual level (say £5k) for every individual and organisation. Then we need some seious trust busting along th lines of the US in the 1920s to enforce some competition in the market.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Nice one Neil, a very balanced viewpoint. :thumbsup:

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Funny how the "right wing" section of SZ are knee-jerk an anti a peaceful demonstration. Billions of ££'s of your taxes have been paid out to bail out the banks, but still they refuse to loan to first time buyers and small businesses whilst awarding themselves vast bonuses.

Make you mind up, do you want the banks to continue with the practices that got them into trouble last time or not?

Surely it's a good thing that they are being more discerning about whom they lend money?

Billions more of your taxes are going to be used to bail out the catastrophe that is the Euro - this at the time when we're all supposed to be paying off our debts and cutting our spending.

It is a fact that the gap between rich and poor is growing ever more,

It's also a fact the standard of living for the poor is growing ever more.

and the opportunities for our children are becomming less and less - a life time of debt for a university degree? Many will think "what's the point", and an educated, skilled workforce will have to come in from overseas. But hang on, aren't you anti-immigration as well?

As a capitalist, I'm pro-immigration. I welcome the competition.

Also the opportunities for our children are becoming more and more. Far more kids go to university now than my parents or grandparents' generation.

I agree that "rent a mob" crusties, and the idiotic anarchists are about as useful as a chocolate teapot and play straight into the hands of the Tory Dail Mail brigade, but when do you start to think that something is wrong with the system and say enough and make a stand?

A sit-in protest isn't a stand any way you think of it.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Focussing on a similar mob of cretins in Oakland, CA:

I Am Radically Repeating What I Was Told