Let the people speak: or not? In a new report, Might is Right?, the Right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange has polled on protests in urban areas. It says that 71 per cent of people would not travel with small children if a protest is planned; 69 per cent would not travel with an elderly or mobility-impaired relative; 62 per cent wouldn’t visit a tourist attraction; and 58 per cent wouldn’t go shopping or eat at a specific restaurant.
Women are more affected, of course, because women are more easily scared, being physically weaker. I think I knew that when I walked down the Strand with a small “F*** Hamas” sticker last summer, after reporting on a Gaza protest. It felt like an act of subversion to condemn Hamas: even among people calling for Palestinian liberation. Two young women stopped me to say they liked the sticker. They whispered it.
