While I ordinarily hesitate to link to or believe anything the daily mail publishes, Alan, father of my friend Ricardio, just sent me this link. It concerns the student protests in the autumn, and the fact that there were thieves and trouble-makers disguised as protesters there. This certainly rings true: until quite recently I was a student and I think I know their defining characteristics. By and large, students are peaceful, like a bit of music and fun, and the occasional joint. I therefore went to the protest pretty much expecting to find similar people to my friends at university, if slightly more politicized; and indeed that is what I found when I first got there. But as the day wore on, things began to change, and the dynamic of the crowd turned from that of a carnival to something far more hostile. I believe strongly that there were people in the crowd manifestly intent on causing trouble, and that their hostilities began long before the police did anything to provoke them. The daily mail article bears out that there were people there who had nothing to do with the protest, but were just there to steal, pick pockets and ruin things. Indeed, I was one of their victims. My concern now, however, is that this will detract from the very real anger felt by the majority of protesters; Mail readers can now claim that the protest had nothing to do with the government, and that the anger on show was merely caused by a bunch of hooligans. The truth is, people feel very angry at what the Tories are doing, angry enough to go out onto the streets and protest, but those protests are being hijacked by trouble makers, causing their message to be diluted and impact to be softened.