I was approaching London's Parliament Square on a night bus as Big Ben struck 1a.m. when I noticed a troop of police vans parked at the roadside.
Intrigued as to what so many police would be doing in this almost personless part of central London at that time of night on a Sunday, I decided to try and get a better look as the bus I was on swung past them.
To my horror I discovered that they were dismantling the small collection of peace banners that have been a semi-permanent fixture in front of the houses of parliament for a number of years.
I can only assume that the government/police have finally found some legal grounds under which to abolish this form of sustained free speech.

A new date in the historical calendar of dark days for British law has been added, May 9th 2004.