Last Friday Zoe published, in defiance of the McCarthyite leftie-bashing tone set by this alleged newspaper (Ed Max Hastings) one of the best defences of the Mayday action. Pointing out that the only mass actions which achieved anything at all against Thatcher in the 1980s were not non-violent, Zoe Williams has, in her small way, moved above the ranks of dingy "penny a line jounos" and craven, discredited ex-socialists, and joined the noted few who dare to state the truth according to their conscience, such as John Pilger. Entitled "Protest and Be Damned" Zoe clearly had in mind the original aphorism "Publish and Be Damned"... We can only hope she wont be. Keep a close eye on the Evening sub-Standard to see that she has not suffered for her initiative, as Pilger and Mark Steel did at the hands of The Guardian in 1999. For their critique of the NATO war, Steel was sacked (he's now with the Independent) and Pilger was accused of lying (which he wasnt).

Areopagitica !