Does anyone else ever wonder...

...why it is that leftish demonstrations across Europe are populated, more often than not, by tens of thousands of trade unionists, whilst in the UK anti-war demos seem to be dominated by students and, more crucially, loons, goons and buffoons? There's a place for all those I suppose, but really it would be nice to see something more substantive.

Looking around Saturday's gathering in Manchester, the people who immediately stood out were the 9/11 rapper guy who was going on across a sound system about Tony Blair receiving anal sex from members of staff, a supply teacher member of Socialist Resistance telling an anecdote about someone punching a Spart on a previous demo, some pillocks from the "Clown Army", dressed as... err... clowns in military uniform, some Maoists (with real Mao stuff!) and a woman with a placard saying "war kills animals too".

I mean really, I do know that it takes all sorts, you can't control who turns up on a demo, etcetera. However, when the right characterises the left as a gaggle of misfits who'd make a convention of Spock-ear-wearing Trekkies look politically credible, this is kinda what they're talking about.