We had a demonstration in Fleet Street yesterday. A bunch of very wet people marching down the road in the pouring rain, escorted by the police, banging a bloody drum and not doing much else. There was a banner or two but they didn’t actually state what the protest was about, nor who the protesters might be. Which is all a bit odd really. In a ‘then what’s the fucking point?’ kind of way.

Surely the whole point of a demonstration/march is to garner support? Or at least let people know what it might be that you want them to support. But this was different. This was a secret. Though marching down a road stopping traffic and banging a drum is not normally how secrets are kept.

Then I noticed that many of the marchers were wearing lanyards round their necks. Attached to which, if you know and have good vision, were Hackney Carriage license badges. As worn by all taxi drivers. Ahhhhhhh, their cabbies. And they’re pissed off about Uber stealing their livelihood. Oh, now I geddit.

So these cabbies, who, in their taxis, will tell you everything about everything, inform you of things you didn’t even know you ever wanted to know about, chose not to advise the good public of their grievances, their aims, their goals. We had to guess. No leaflet saying ‘Boris is a nob’, no placards showing ‘UBER IS THE DEVIL’S WORK’, no nothing. Just umbrellas and their badges.

They ended up in City Hall, where they heckled Boris, indeed called him a nob, and hit a security officer.

And I sympathise with them. I really do. Boris calling them Luddites was perhaps a touch insensitive, but it is rather an accurate metaphor, rather than just a random insult. Because the Luddites tried to stop the industrial revolution, they wanted to revert to the old ways, hold back the tide of progress. A bit like Jeremy Corbyn but without having shagged Diane Abbot.

Sorry, I have to let the nausea pass.

Ok, so Uber. Love ’em or not, they provide a service. And because it happens to be a service that impacts severely on Hackney Carriages, its inappropriate to ‘ban them’ or ‘stop them’ or anything them at all. We live in a free market world where the consumer is the ultimate decider on what grows and evolves and what dies off and becomes extinct.

There are many people who would rather spend ten minutes fucking about with smart-phones, searching for some decent 4G coverage and bumping into pedestrians, than just sticking out a hand and yelling ‘TAXI!!!!’ There’s also price considerations too. Uber are cheap. Mainly because their drivers are terribly exploited. But when you’re on the sex offender’s register you have to compromise something in your quest for work.

There are many sides to this question. None of which I can be bothered to answer. Not today anyway.

Happy thursday

A xxxx