Outside the main entrance to the Houses of Parliament in the UK there's a guy with a gun. A very big gun. Earlier this year I used to walk past him every evening on my way home from work - the hardware makes him look pretty scary.
Admittedly the impression is belied by the fact that he's happy to pose with tourists but on the whole I think scary is a good look for him. If you're going to stand around all day toting an Uzi, I think you're supposed to look a bit menacing. Anyway I'd rather the gun acted as a deterrent rather having to be used.
So I'm getting a bit hacked off by all the usually conservative commentators who have suddenly turned civil rights advocate. They're trying to excuse the antics of the bunch of hoorays who invaded the House of Commons this week. These weren't heroes, these were a group of overprivileged spoiled brats who had just been told that - for once - they weren't going to get their own way and they couldn't charge around the coutryside inhumanely ripping apart the local fauna in order to assert their class superiority.
Their response to this was not to respect a democratic majority - like the rest of us would have to - but to invade the Commons in order to make their point even more forcibly (while their fellows were doing the same outside in a slightly more bloody fashion).
They did this safe in the knowledge that they were not likely to be hurt in the process. They believed that although the guys with guns would come running, and even though the whole of Westminster is on Black Alert, it would be clear that this was just a harmless prank. Luckily for the yahoos, they were right - this time.
But that's putting an awful lot of responsibility on the guys with the guns. The reason the guards are armed is because there's a fair chance that one day the apparent frat-boy racing towards them will actually be a terrorist. It's a tough call if you have to tell the difference.
We armed the guards and told them to protect their charges - it's a bloody cheek to then undermine them like that. And we have no right to complain if next time they do exactly what they've been told to do.
So, if Batman goes visiting Buck House again, I think there's a good chance he'll get his head blown off.
posted at 6:35 PM
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