The Spectator’s Notes | 2 April 2011

People are right to worry about the royal wedding. The violence at the TUC anti-cuts demonstration on Saturday showed yet again that all large gatherings are now vulnerable to the malice of a few. Friends of mine walking with the marchers noticed how the people causing trouble were allowed to wear masks, and were unmolested when they attacked shops and banks, sometimes smashing them up for 15 minutes. They were often armed with fireworks loaded with coins which they threw among the police. These activities were all well-planned in advance on the internet. UK Uncut targeted specific businesses online in advance. Why should it be immune from prosecution? When this happens with football hooligans, the police know exactly how to interdict it; but when it comes to protests, a misapplied attitude to human rights prevails, and the officers are frightened off. Tolerance of such behaviour gives hugely disproportionate power to the extremists. This will be doubly so at the royal wedding, which is, if you think about it, a mass, peaceful demonstration of support for the monarchy, young love and good old Britain. It will be unforgiveable if elite timidity prevents the police from making sure that none of these yobs can spoil the day.

By the way, it would be a public service if the Office for National Statistics would find a way of counting crowd numbers properly. Numbers are a huge propaganda tool and they are almost always wildly guessed by march organisers and the media. One paper says that Saturday’s march was attended by 250,000, another by 450,000. No one knows. The only large protest where a proper count was made was the second countryside march, in 2002. Official tellers ticked people off as they crossed a line in Whitehall. Obviously, you might get counted twice, but in practice, it was not easy to turn round against the tide.