Around 30 years ago, when I spent more time than was good for me driving round the west country watching student teachers work in schools, I developed – tentatively – what I called the Tamsin Tristram Tamara Index. I'd check the names on class registers to see how often Tamsin, Tristram, and Tamara (and a good few non-alliterative others) cropped up. Depending on the score, I'd form a rough and ready view on the social catchment of the school – which I'd then check out with the teachers. It tended to work.
I was reminded of this the other day as I wandered past St Pauls and had a good view of the anti-capitalist protesters out-staying the cathedral's hospitality. I wondered how well the index would work here, and was pleased to see at least one Tristan recorded by the Daily Mail. I suspect that Tamara and Tamsin were there as well. Maybe they were in that bastion of anti-capitalism – Starbucks – along with Ev.
It's not an anti-capitalist protest! Don't let the media misinform you! 🙂
Yes – always a risk – even with blogs! Looking at this again, it seems clear that there's a huge range of motivations and critiques on show in these protests: from cathartic banker-bashing, to reasoned complaints that the system ought to live up to its promises about prosperity for all (and not just the 1%). Heres to that. There was a piece in this week's Economist which looked at these protests across the globe. I was interested to see that some of the USA ones seemed to have set up their own parliaments.