Life of Brian

David Amess (Southend West) asked Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith this week how many arrests and convictions there had been for protesting in Parliament Square. The answer was 22 arrests leading to 16 convictions. What the answer did not reveal was that it was always the same person - the ever-present peace protestor Brian Haw (pictured).
It is a testament to the man that, despite efforts from the Government, police and the Mayor, his protest camp has remained opposite the Palace of Westminster for so long. Maybe our police are a bit soft, in the US or France a similar protest would have been quelled in minutes with customary brutality.
The majority of the electorate have now come to realise the Iraq war was something of a tactical error. Our Brian stands, if not on the moral high ground, at least on a moral hillock. He's been ensconsed in his tent since June 2001, which is, urm actually before 9/11 and any plot of a war in Iraq.
You may ask why such a public figure has not been interviewed regularly. Let's put it this way, given Brian's slightly eccentric manner, any interview could risk putting the cause of peace back some years. Simon Hoggart of the Guardian tip-toed around a fuller description of him when he said, "I doubt whether many people have had their minds changed through the power of Mr Haw's thought".
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I was having a beer in the Westminster pub opposite 'Big Ben' about three years ago. It was crowded but one small table had a space and so I sat down. My perusal of the racing page was interupted by my companion on the other side of the table - the front page of the paper had a headline about the recent Tsunami in the Indian Ocean and he began pouring forth his views. Even possessing only a modest knowledge of geography, I still found it hard to agree with his analysis of the real cause of the earthquake was global warming and Man's incessant greed for oil.
I said I was sure plate techtonics and climatology were not so closely related. His mood darkened at that stage and we moved on to the history of the solar system. Again, I found his assertion that the Earth was a 'dark star' and was, in fact, older than the sun, hard to square with the counter claims of those gifted amateurs, Gallileo and Einstein. He decided by then he didn't like me, drained his glass and reached for his hat covered with peace badges. It was only then I realised my drinking buddy was Mr Haw himself.
It may take a few more years but one day Brian will give up his protest and go back home. But where is home? Brian's family, one may have predicted, are all from Barking.