I can't say I have much empathy for the demonstrators at St Paul's Cathedral. But, I do have much more sympathy with their right to demonstrate.

Of course, it is a shame that this beautiful Cathedral has been disturbed in this way - but it is a tribute to our long-standing democracy that such demonstrations are allowed.

In classic British muddle, the law is quite confused on this sort of thing - which also explains why it has been so hard to remove the protesters around Parliament Square. In some ways it shows the strength of our democratic values, that it is so easy to stand outside the House of Commons and scream abuse at politicians.

That is why, if the law is changed to stop permanent encampments, we should be careful not to turn this into a means of prohibiting demonstrations.

One of the reasons why Britain has a stable democracy - and avoided the twentieth century fascism and communism of much of our European counterparts - is because we are a very tolerant nation. Our freedoms have evolved over many hundreds of years.

Whilst we may not like the disruption of St Paul's - it is the price we pay for living in a free society - and avoiding something far worse.

Posted By Blogger to Rob's Blog at 10/30/2011 10:22:00 PM