Fair play to The Cannon, but I can’t help feeling that all this St Paul’s stuff is contrived, and that Occupy needs this contoversy to stay in the news.

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/11309/

Easy way to save him – the occupy LSX people to leave St. Pauls.

What are the chances of that happening though?

Do they know that St. Paul’s has nothing to do and is not even that near the LSX?

Save from what? Isn’t it his decision to resign?

Who knew that when people said they were going to protest against capitalism and OccupyLSX that it would come to this…?

A Canon, not The Canon.
If you want to support him, join a prayer vigil, not a Facebook page.

For a comparison with how the Police deal with an Occupy Protest in the land of the free, try this report from the Guardian of recent events in Oakland, California:

More than 36 hours after an Iraq veteran was seriously injured by a police projectile, Oakland PD chief Howard Jordan has said the incident will be ‘vigorously investigated’. Here are 10 questions police must answer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/27/occupy-oakland-scott-olsen-questions?newsfeed=true

Oakland is across the bay from San Francisco. US Berkeley is situated in Oakland, which means that there are lots of students around. In the recent world league table of universities, Berkeley rated in the top 10.

@6 – Meanwhile we have Boris Johnson calling for laws against protesting in London.

@7: “Meanwhile we have Boris Johnson calling for laws against protesting in London.”

I’ve long ceased to be surprised at anything Boris says or does. Moreover, I suspect David Cameron and Conservative Central Office aren’t either. It’s more likely a case of: There goes Boris again. But then, as we’ve come to know, mayors of London tend to be regarded for their lovable eccentricities – try the Wikipedia entry for John Wilkes.

In San Francisco, right across the bay from Oakland, California:

Five members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and other city and state officials were at a protest early this morning in support of the “Occupy SF” movement, as demonstrators anticipated police activity sometime this morning at the San Francisco plaza.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/baycitynews/a/2011/10/27/occupysf27.DTL

As that old song from hippie time in 1967 goes:

If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you’re going to San Francisco
You’re gonna meet some gentle people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair

@8 – Yea, I might end up holding my nose and voting for Red Ken at this rate.

@9 – I voted for Paddick last time and will probably do so again. His career experience with the Metropolitan Police in Lambeth and at New Scotland Yard is useful background with the coming of elected police commissioners. With his experience, I tend to read carefully news reports of his public comments on police issues. Besides, Paddick has impressive academic credentials. But all that shouldn’t be construed as a general endorsement of the LibDems on my part.

I certainly would expect fewer hiccups with a Paddick administration than we had with a Livingstone administration – especially in respect of business development grants to obscure groups. At one point, I became embroiled in some forum thread about proposed lawsuits against Livingstone over the grants but the fact is that the mayor has wide discretionary powers – too wide and too unchecked by the London assembly in the opinion of some informed commentators. There is a “democratic deficit” in the government of London IMO but that doesn’t seem to be a live political issue with the electorate. Unlike Blair and Heseltine, I have no enthusiasm at all for executive mayors in local government.

@10 – Oh I have no enthusiasm whatsoever for elected mayors either. It has the same problems as an elected head of state, at smaller scale…

As someone pointed out, he’s resigned. He’s a grown-up – or is he?

Following the news about occupations in Oakland and San Francisco, California, I was suitably impressed by the enthusiasm of the respective Police Departments to restore law ‘n’ order.

In the case of San Francisco, that enthusiasm appears to have been constrained by the SF Board of Supervisors and other city and state officials joining the occupiers. News reports suggest that a planned raid by SFPD early in the morning was stood down.

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