I have had a quiet, pleasant day: a peaceful walk around Canary Wharf, and then a beer in nearby Kidbrooke with my neighbour Eddy. Not much to blog about, really. However, part of me thinks that perhaps I should have gone up to the massive demonstration noted here. “Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through central London on Saturday, reiterating calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.” All in all, though, I was probably right to stay away.

It’s not that I’m not deeply concerned about what is currently happening in the Middle-East, or not appalled that so many people are dying unjustly; yet the conflict there has become so muddied, and opinions on either side have become so heated, that perhaps it’s best that I stay clear of such demonstrations altogether. I would only have wound myself up if I had joined such a demonstration; while most people on the march will be concerned by what is happening in Gaza, I also get the impression that there are rather disturbing anti-semitic components to them too. The world is becoming so fractured and divided that perhaps the best idea is to step back, go for a quiet trundle, and have a beer with your mate. Nonetheless, it worries me how angry and antagonistic people are becoming about this issue.