29th? It could have been worse.

Those old cynics who thought that the student anti-cuts protest would by now be reduced to the usual boring marches policed by teachers pet stewards might have been wrong after all. Although yesterday's demo had nothing like the air of rebellion about it of last year's outings, there was still a lot of spontaneity with groups going off and doing their own thing and generally trying it on.
I ended up walking from Aldwych to Millbank and then on to the Egyptian Embassy via Pimlico and Hyde Park Corner; all at a cracking pace that kept the police on the hop. Outside the Park Lane Hilton a smallish gathering of Hizb Ut-Tahir were calling for the return of the caliphate. Apparently this Islamist group had turned up earlier at the Egyptian Embassy to join the secular Egyptians demonstrating outside and promptly been told,"thanks but no thanks". Small self imposed kettles are not that unusual but Hizb Ut-Tahir actually had two - one for the blokes and another for girls. On a more optimistic note, when I am handed leaflets I usually shove them in my pocket to read later when I get home and find my reading glasses. When I did that this morningI found that I had been given an interesting read by a group I've never heard of called Freeschool. Up until yesterday I'd never heard of Hizb Ut-Tahir either!