What do they want? Victory for Saddam

I’m bursting with excitement. I can hardly get the words down fast enough. There was an amazing occurrence in Hackney last week at a meeting of the Stop the War coalition. I swear this happened. A protester said something perceptive. You don’t believe me? No, really, I was there. He was an old guy with white hair and a lovely crinkly face. ‘The bigger the march,’ he said ruefully, ‘the bigger the insult when they ignore us.’ I almost fell off my chair in astonishment.

Nobody at the meeting disagreed. No one suggested a change of tactics. And none of that surprised me at all. For several months, out of curiosity rather than conviction, I have attached myself to the peace movement. An atmosphere of defeat hangs over its members. You’d almost be forgiven for thinking they’re content to let Bush go ahead.

Last Saturday I attended a warm-up demo at a cemetery in Stoke Newington.