Perhaps it's my mildly radical upbringing, but I know a demonstration when I see one. As soon as I walked out of the ICC and saw four boats abreast across the canal I knew something was up.

On the way to the rather fantastic Tumbling and Trampoline World Cup, came upon a canal blockcade. It all seemed very good natured, and smelt pleasantly of coal smoke and steam. DEFRA is cutting the inland waterways budget by £7 million quid, a fact which upsets rather a lot of people.