Brian Haw - follow-up

I heard some dreadful MP on the radiogram today, moaning about what an eyesore Brian Haw was. I don't know what party he represents, or which constituency sent him to parliament, but all I could think of while listening to this pathetic bore was how Brian Haw's protest was a far greater symbol of real democratic freedom than any of the lying money-grabbing leeches who slime their way into the Commons on the other side of the road.

As a symbol of what was possible in a democracy, Brian's presence said more than any MP could muster. It was certainly more powerful than the statue of Cromwell (murdering tyrant that he was) that graces the space opposite. What would a visiting despot have made of Brian's protest? To see a scruffy rag-bag collection of tents and homemade placards, organised by an ordinary citizen, sitting in the shadow of the 'mother of parliaments', the presence of which the courts defended on a number of occasions against the wishes of embarrassed politicians - surely even they would have recognised this as a symbol of true democracy.

So, go and boil your head, Mr MP. Go back to your fat cat friends and your cosy commons bar. You cannot hold a candle to this man and what he represented. That he could do what he did - that's a finer measure of freedom than you could ever express. That he chose to do what he did - that's a finer measure of his love of mankind than you will ever be capable of. And if we don't have all the freedoms that we should enjoy, we know who to blame for that too...