Bugger the Bankers

"Bugger the Bankers and Politicians,

Bugger the Bureaucrats Too."

Suzy Davis - Bugger the Bankers from Epidemic

This week I protested. Without marching, without chanting, without carrying placards, without setting up camp; myself and a few good friends registered out anger in the best way possible - through song. The wonderful people at the City of London festival (click here) positioned pianos for all to use; to play for free, for sing around, to bring the power of music to the stuffy, finance obsessed world of the city. And we; a group of singers united by a musical, decided to take advantage of this opportunity and sing a protest song (among others) entitled 'Bugger the Bankers' - I think you get its message!!

Now, I'm not going to pretend to you that I went along solely to protest. It was a lovely opportunity to see friends, to sing in public, to entertain people and to say farewell to a good friend. But as we sang ourselves hoarse through our fourth rendition of Bugger the Bankers, outside of St Paul's cathedral, the power of this song to grip audiences and make an impression really came to the fore. Apart from a few grumpy men in suits (Bankers or politicians probably) passers-by stopped, smiled, and listened. And enjoyed. And applauded. This spurred us on; louder we sang, more obnoxiously, more forcefully. Because it wasn't just about singing and enjoying ourselves any more - we had a point; and we wanted everyone to hear.

I'm a pragmatic socialist. I understand, if not the need for, the benefits of wealth creation, free market economics and big business. I understand that some people are going to be paid more than others; and that in order for the economy to run we need people at the bottom doing menial jobs. What I will never understand, however, is the disgusting behaviour of those who are at the top. Power and money corrupt. They always have and they always will. If the past couple of weeks, and the scandal of rate fixing by Barclays (and probably most other banks) says anything about our financial system; its that far from needing less regulation, it needs more. More control from the people who rely on its services to get by. To survive. The Conservative Party doesn't understand this, or at least aren't willing to give it an airing. Without the Liberal Democrats as a slight (if weak and sometimes insignificant) check on them, I don't believe we'd even be talking about ring-fencing, or judicial reviews, or financial regulation. The modern Labour party aren't much better. When companies whose sole purpose it is to make money have a closer ear to MPs than organisations that help real people, have real social functions, then there is something brutally wrong with the society we live in. 

Condemnation of this is hijacked by the media, by politicians trying to show they are 'in-step'. We need to stand up and take it for ourselves. Show that we feel, we believe, we are united in anger. We've had Occupy (hijacked by hippies), pension protests (hijacked by unions) and tuition fee riots (hijacked by wealthy students wanting to have a go at police). We need something for real people to unite around and show our discontent. 'Bugger the Bankers' could just be that. Its light-hearted, its funny, but its also got a serious point. Christmas Number One 2012? I think so.

As we sat in a pub, congratulating ourselves on the fun we had and the point we made, someone mentioned that there was a piano outside of the Bank of England. We couldn't turn this opportunity down. And so we sang, we stuck two fingers up, we danced. We protested this vile state of affairs. You should too.