anyone gonna riot tomorrow?

[southeast]

i think i'll rob the local tesco as most of the police will be in london

our esteemed leader

[chortle] [choke][sick] [passes out]

I actually feel sorry for the guy.

Other countries are now lining up to take a pop:

The Brazlians think it's all our fault

The Argies want the Faulklands

The Indians think we're not doing enough

The French think we should relax our borders

Falklands

It was tongue in cheek . This man's complete lack of political nouse (sp?) continues to amaze me. Not everyone working in the City works in finance (I don't) but we are all tarred with the same broad brush and I know many colleagues who are worried about going to work tomorrow.

I think it is utterly ridiculous and I have NO CLUE what the protestors feel they are going to achieve, you can bet your arse that the seven figure bonus bank bosses will be mainly "working from home" tomorrow or getting a taxi to and from the office (if not helicopter ).

The people who they are potentially going to be harming are in the main going to be normal hard working people who are just as pissed off at the state of this country as everyone else.

Oh and dressing down? That clever idea splashed all over the press. As if the protestors can't read the papers.

(Can you tell I needed to get that off my chest?)

DH's office overlooks the Bank of England so there have been mutterings about working from home. However, this evening he arrived home (an hour early) having been given 45 mins notice to leave by 5.30 p.m. and they are not allowed in to work for the next TWO days! I am more annoyed about him being under my feet for two days, hogging the PC while I want to Mumsnet, than I was ever worried about his safety!

mollieO - Yes, I realised it was a joke! I was laughing with you, not at you!

tbh i'm more concerned at the amount of police that will be attending.

they seem to have the capacity to inflame any sort of protest

I've heard of quite a few city workers taunting the protesters by waving tenners and twentys out of the office windows.

I am torn between thinking it's quite funny and totally immature!

"he normally gets to work at 7am so very unlikely to be any protesters there that early"

exactly the work shy scruffs will still be asleep under their hemp quilts till mid-day.

and the bankers waving tenners is both immature and funny.

immature.

There is a lot of anger bubbling away. Many people have lost their jobs and are facing poverty.
There is anger at the bankers who keep their bonuses.
Anger at the government for claiming millions of pounds a year in expenses.

I mean ffs! Some people are genuinely struggling now to pay their bills. Families have had their houses repossessed and are homeless and these pathetic individuals think it's funny to wave twenties out of their office windows?

The majority of people going to London to protest will do so by peaceful means. But wankers like those goading them on are just going to inflame the situation.

I'm sorry for the workers who are scared. I'm sorry for the people at home worrying about their partners and children.

But what else can we go but protest? What else is there left to do?

Protest by all means Rhubarb, but peacefully. There are plenty of those people in those offices who have financial problems too and are innocent of causing the finacial situation we are in. Why should they have to disguise themselves and not go about their usual daily routine and be concerend for their safety?

The majority, as I said, will protest peacefully ffs! They are families, people who have lost everything, people who want to eradicate poverty, people who are concerned about trashing the planet.

You cannot hold the majority responsible for the minority of people who use it for their own purposes.

Perhaps if the bankers didn't behave like such wankers and if the police didn't aggravate the situation....?

all the talk out of the g20 protestors in the build up has been designed to intimidate bankers and other city workers.
what else would you call plans to burn effigies of bankers?
i don't think it's a particularly classy response but it's a big two fingers up to the protestors and a definite message that they won't be intimidated.
if it had been an entirely peaceful protest without the inflamatory talk from some of the protesters involved in the media this week then i'd agree that they were being knobs and rubbing peoples economic woes in their face.
as it is i think both sides are pretty classless so i just think at least these workers are giving as good as they get.

alot of the people at these protests dont even know what they are protesting about.

i particularly like the anti capitalist/anti consumerism gang - ok so we get rid of capitalism, what do we have instead - their answer - eer dunno.
and as for anti consumerism, well thats just what the country needs at the moment, lets close all the shops, thats only a few million people out of jobs in retail, as well as those involved in manufacture.

i have twice been caught up in the mayday riots, i worked in a shop next to a mcdonalds, i was so glad to see the capitalist pigs that work there for £5an hour getting their comeuppance, they really deserved to have chairs thrown at them and windows smashed around them as they tried to earn a living.
protest is our right in this country, but unfortunately this right is frequently taken advantage of by a bunch of idiots that just want to cause trouble

Oh yes, the media are bound to interview perfectly sensible and sane protestors aren't they? That would sell newspapers wouldn't it?

What are you lot, Daily Mail readers?

I agree the money waving is immature. But breaking windows etc isn't protesting (which is what is already happening). I also agree the police are bloody awful at handling these situations.

The protest is laughable. Just laughable. Who exactly is meant to take this massively disparate group of people seriously - a group which ranges from seriously concerned protestors, to people dressed as clowns, to faux bowler hatted city workers, to jugglers, to anarchists, to (FFS) an action group ridiculous enough to find the acronym WOMBLES amusing.

With agendas ranging from climate change, to overthrowing capitalism, to anti arms. Christ, they can't even agree with what replaces capitalism - some want traditional socialism, some want neo-socialism, some want social democracy, some want anarchy. So what exactly does this achieve and who does it influence?

High earners in the city? Um, no, they're either working from home, out with friends having a drink or in the dealer rooms with their mates flicking 'V's at the protestors (just like in 2000) and planning an early exit.

Other city workers? Um, no, they're all seriously pissed off by either having to take a day's holiday for nothing or having spend the day trapped inside the office as an alternative to running the risk of getting assualted.

Other people and businesses in the city? Um no, because with us being in a recession an' all, they really need a couple of days without money like a hole in th head

The government? Oh please.

The rest of the population of London? Um, probably not. As far as I can tell people are broadly split between mild annoyance and mild amusement at their antics.

Rest of the country? Um, 'fraid not again. Are these people are raising points that no-one was previously aware of? No. Are they making these points in a new and compelling fashion? No. Are they articulating a new and better way forwards? No. Will they get any credible news or media coverage? Dammit, it's no again! Are they going to end up look like idiots carrying banners with ridiculous slogans ("Eat the Bankers", I mean, seriously) - aaaaaand BINGO!

Oh so let's just give up and stay at home watching This Morning shall we?

We won't make one iota of difference so why bother getting up from our chairs?

Well when your fecking partner's been made redundant and can't find another job, when your home is being repossessed and you are being taken to court for non-payment of your bills we'll see how apathetic you are then shall we?

Oh fuck off, I should not be Mumsnetting today.

agree'd

rhubarb, if my husband were to be made redundant and our home about to be repossessed i dont think i would be too happy if he decided that dressing as a clown and marching down threadneedle street was the best way to deal with it.

Clown Rebel Army - genius. The vanguard of social reform.