Brian Haw

I'm torn on this subject.

Brian Haw is the one-man anti-war protester who has been demonstrating outside Parliament for five years now. He sits in Parliament Square with metres of banners and shouts (a lot) about how wrong the war is. In response to Mr Haw's presence the Government brought in its shameful legislation banning unauthorised protests in a 1km square radius of Parliament. Yet another example of how this Labour Government is desperate to stifle opposition and freedoms in Britain today.

I believe it is a fundamental indicator of democracy how free the population are to speak out against the government, in Britain it's getting harder. We can't protest at our Parliament anymore, one woman was arrested just for reading names of soldiers killed in Iraq; if you speak out against the government in any way they will find a way of discrediting you - like the child abuse victim who was called "extremely disturbed" by government minister Margaret Hodge. Britain is sleepwalking into a loss of civil liberties and we don't seem to care.

But back to Brian Haw, his banners have been removed and they are still trying to get rid of him. And despite everything I said above, I'm really pleased. He is nothing more than a blot on the bloody landscape and a damn nuisance. I agree with most of his sentiments but really, one man with his shabby little tent and scraggy 40foot of banners isn't a protest, it's littering and vagrancy. Five years? Bugger off and get a job mate.