Walk like an Egyptian, Dave…

I just couldn’t help noticing something yesterday, and the more I think about it the more I feel the world needs to be shown what I saw:

Cameron, November 2010, re London:

“People long in our history have gone to marches and held banners and made protests and made speeches and that’s part of our democracy. That is right.

“What is not part of our democracy is that sort of violence and lawbreaking. It’s not right. It’s not acceptable and I hope that the full force of the law will be used.”

In practice, the “full force” of the law has so far meant prosecuting Edward Woodward under a piece of legislation that doesn’t apply to what he was doing but which, conveniently, carries a greater sentence; and then letting him off a little bit of that sentence “in view of his age [18] and the fact that he didn’t mean it” or something.

This next bit of Cameron’s quote, by the way, is not directly applicable but as an aha! moment it is quite inadvertently revealing:

Mr Cameron said that as he watched footage of the Conservative office under attack, he was worried for the safety of friends and colleagues inside.

“I was worried for the safety of people in the building because I know people who work in there, not just the Conservative Party but other offices as well,” he told the BBC.

Note that little word “because;” this is the critical word in this sentence. Reading comprehension test: why was he worried for the people inside the building? Because they were people? Or because…

Cameron, January 2011, re Egypt:

David Cameron, the Prime Minister, last night spoke to President Mubarak and expressed his “grave concern” at the violence on the streets. A Downing Street spokesman said: “He emphasised that violent repression of peaceful protest was wrong and counterproductive.

“The Prime Minister urged the president to take bold steps to accelerate political reform and build democratic legitimacy, which should be reflected by an inclusive government with the credibility to carry this agenda forward.”

Very interesting…

Now, I’m not comparing the current Tory, I mean Coalition, government with thirty years of Mubarak’s repressive rule. But come back in thirty years and we’ll talk. In the meantime, here’s what our boys were up to yesterday, and it seems that while they Con-Dem out one side of their mouth, they are also picking up tips…

Police used CS spray on protesters at an anti-tax avoidance demo today after an activist was arrested while pushing leaflets into an outlet of Boots.
Officers detained the woman on suspicion of causing criminal damage during a sit-in demonstration at the store in Oxford Street, central London.

Demonstrators said she simply bent the rubber seal between the doors of the premises as she attempted to force leaflets through.

Of course, they haven’t yet killed scores of people, and the Met declined their offer of water cannon; and if you read the rest of that last article – also in the Telegraph, by the way, tellingly – you’ll see that the shop under protest, Boots, gave the victims free eyewash – and even Ben’s Cookies, down the road, gave them milk to wash their eyes with. Maybe that’s what we mean by Big Society.

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