Islam4UK march on Wootton Bassett perhaps it can be stopped

05 Jan 2010 2 Comments

by Clare Macnaughton in Blogging, Defence, Opinion

In 1992, at the tender age of 20 years young, I jumped in big, rusty, transit van, with a drug dealer that looked like Mick Jagger called Jim, with my mate Sar T, and we drove (rattled more like) down the motorway from Sheffield to the Malvern Hills in search of the last ever free party.

Although, I did wash, and I didn’t have dreadlocks, I did wear baggy pants, a sweatshirt and my trusty Palladium shoes. I loved to take illegal drugs and dance my pants off. About year earlier, I had rang my father and screamed down the phone, “Dad, dad, I know what I want to be when I grow up, I want to be a hedonist.” I was delighted by my new chosen career. The dedicated pursuit of pleasure to me seemed to be a very worthy occupation indeed.

It was very exciting. I wasn’t very cool. Jim, the drug dealing, Mick Jagger look-a-like, he led the push and made the calls, and talked to the other posses that were also in pursuit of the venue. At first, we were headed for Chipping Sodbury common, but the police got wind of it and formed a blockade. We were unstoppable, the convey changed direction, eventually the influx of 40,000 people couldn’t be stopped and the party settled onto Castle Morton Common.

It was an incredible five days. Some of the most unforgettable of my life. To be honest, I don’t want to give too much away, but lets just say it certainly helped me channel my more creative side. Ultimately, we all knew that it had to end. We knew the Criminal Justice Act, the last nail in the coffin of unlicensed events, and a Draconian piece of legislation, was aimed directly at suppressing the activities of certain strands of alternative culture.

At 20 years young, I felt like I had lost a piece of freedom that I adored, but now 18 years on I am thinking maybe that Draconian piece of legislation can be used to protect the sanctuary of something I now hold closely to my own heart.

My husband is a serving RAF pilot. I support the military. Wootton Bassett is a ceremonial route to the graves of those soldiers who have bravely sacrificed their lives for the British people. If Islam4UK have a problem with UK foreign policy, they should march on Westminster. For the grieving families, and for those, who want to show respect, leave them alone, in peace, to mourn.

If the police can blockade the nomads descending on Chipping Sodbury to peacefully, party their pants off, when the Act wasn’t in existence, surely now they can use this Draconian law to prevent a grave violation of the memory and journey to rest of Britain’s deceased soldiers. In my view a much more worthy cause. Enough is enough. This march must be stopped. I don’t think that the Islamic regimes of the nations of Islam would tolerate such an offensive act by their non-Islamic citizens; quite frankly neither should we. The police and the Government have an obligation to protect the innocent people of Wootton Bassett. I think they can under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994