I should have taken my coat today, but it looked so nice and dry when I left for the  protest  this morning that I didn’t put it on. I got up to parliament  square at about half passed eleven, and the place was already filling up with my fellow Anti-Trump protesters. I try not to go up there too often these days for fear of getting too angry, but today I thought I’d chance it: it’s not every day that the buffoon currently calling himself the President of America comes to town, and  I just had to go up there to show my revulsion for him.

Seventy-five thousand other people had the same idea, apparently. In  spite of the weather, it was a massive event in parliament square, with a very carnivalesque atmosphere. I spotted one or two pro-Trump people, but the vast, vast majority were there to oppose the embarrassment to humanity. I tried to engage a few people in conversation, but kept finding that as soon as I had typed my sentence into my Ipad things had moved  on. That happens sometimes, especially at high energy, fast moving events like today’s.

I was  there for a few hours, first watching the crowds gather then  listening to the speeches. Luckily, they let me go to the front  so I got an excellent view  of the speakers; I especially liked David Lammy’s. Of course, it’s anybody’s guess what effect, if any, a protest like today’s will have, but we nonetheless have to try. What is now happening in the world vis a vis  things like Trump and Brexit can be seen as the return of a form of fascism. If that is true, then surely we must do something – anything – to try to stop it.