Shame on you UKUncut: Fortnum and Mason will rise again

I don't usually write about politics. This is not for lack of opinion you understand, merely that I prefer to keep this blog design-oriented. However, having been (literally) caught up in the disgraceful behaviour of the moronic UKUncut "activists" yesterday, I wanted to write about Fortnum & Mason. I had no idea that the TUC rally was taking place yesterday and so Mr Lisbonite and I ventured forth intending to visit the Natural History Museum without thinking twice. Upon arrival at Marble Arch, the hordes of people waving a variety of flags (everyone from the Teacher's Union to the "armed" division of the pro-cut direct action group UKUncut appeared to be present) blocked our path. We struggled through the crowds and made our way across Piccadilly, pausing only to look at the huge amounts of litter these people had left in their wake (clearly there weren't enough green activist present) and to stare, horrified, at the mess they'd made of the Ritz. Flowerpots smashed, litter bins from other parts of the streets upended, graffiti all over the walls, windows smashed, the place was a mess. One girl in her twenties laughed gleefully as she jumped up onto a traffic light post that had been ripped down and posed for a photograph whilst flashing the peace sign, oblivious to our incredulous stares of disgust. The crowd were quite rowdy so we moved swiftly on and made our way down to peaceful and relatively empty Jermyn Street which was blocked by cones and so clearly not part of the march path. Imagine our horror when, alerted by shouts behind us, we saw photographers running past and stopping to photograph the wave of black-clad morons with their faces swathed by scarves and masks that broke over the line of cones and started to run down the street, shouting as they threw signs around, broke trees and generally smashed anything in their path. Ahead of us shoppers vanished into stores that were rapidly pulling their shutters down and so we made our way deeper into Mayfair to get away from this breakaway mob. It was terrifying. We paused only when we felt safe and looked back to see a tide of people filling the whole of Jermyn Street being pursued by Police as the helicopters moved into position overhead. Throwing paint bombs, fireworks and lightbulbs filled with ammonia at the shops and police alike, these baying animals made their way to the great British institution that is Fortnum and Mason and invaded it. Pushing past terrified shoppers and staff, they smashed displays, stole and swigged champagne and sprayed graffiti all over the place. Apparently the storming of F&M was just the last in a long series of violent attacks that day, including the smashing up of a HSBC branch and various other shops like TopShop and Boots and the building of a bonfire in Trafalgar Square, not to mention the desecration of various statues in the West End.

I could mention, as many others have, the fact that this kind of violence served no political purpose but caused a huge amount of damage (do these animals realise that the clean up will cost the strapped UK government a pretty penny?) and must have terrified the innocent staff, tourists and shoppers that were caught in the cross-fire. I could also echo the widely and scornfully made point that UKUncut also managed, in the taking of F&M, to attack an institution owned by a consortium that gives circa £40m a year in grants to charitable causes (something of an own goal there, don't you think?) or that their decision to attack HSBC, one of the banks that DIDN'T require a bail-out was moronic. Having seen these idiots up close shouting their nonsensical and often grammatically incorrect slogans, I can only assume that they were a group totally uninterested in politics that decided to use the demonstration as an excuse to wreak havoc, prompted, no doubt, by a nasty envious streak that some people decide to work hard and thus can afford to shop at F&M and similar when they can't. The badly-spelled and (again) grammatically incorrect "press release", if you can use that term for a confused and ranting attack on "the rich" put out by UKUncut stating that the occupation of F&M was pre-meditated, just made this all too clear. It's also worth mentioning that they looked utterly ridiculous on the world stage. When compared to revolutions going on in various other parts of the world as oppressed peoples campaign for the right to free speech and self determination, this petty outbreak of sullen violence makes UKUncut look like spoiled children throwing a tantrum and they ought to be utterly ashamed. All appears to be going back to normal in London today and contractors were hard at work restoring order at F&M early this morning but I'm still left with a really bitter taste in my mouth. I cannot for the life of me understand these people, nor why more of them weren't arrested. They should be made to lick every scrap of paint that they used for their foul scrawling slogans on the buildings that they defaced and spend the rest of their worthless, covetous lives doing community service. As one Twitterer asked yesterday: "Why are they attacking Fortnum and Mason? Because they sell really nice tea and all good tea is theft?".

Image via Royal Academy of Arts