yesterday afternoon, artist karen barnes and nine other art activists bared their bottoms in front of parliament. the event was part of a ten day festival entitled 'E.R my arse... enough is enough' which comprises an extravaganza of music, art, photography, cabaret, obscurity, and frivolity.

karen began her 'ER my arse' project after continually coming across royal mail bags discarded around london and the countryside. this litter bore the queen's crown symbol, and karen wondered how it could be that the queen gets away with littering on a grand scale, while her citizens get fined for small scale offences.

as an artist, karen saw the parallels in society generally, where big corporations, big government, and big military all get away with crimes on a huge scale that are unlawful and punished when performed on a small scale.

she decided to show her disdain for a criminal government by organising yesterday's 'mass moon' right in front of parliament.

she let police know ahead of time of her intentions, and found the events team surprisingly co-operative. while officials in westminster raised concerns and tried to have the event stopped, police resisted interference and told karen to go ahead. indeed they claim that when an official said that someone looking out of westminster might be offended, they replied that perhaps parliamentarians should be told not to look out of the window that lunchtime.

and so, yesterday, shortly after one o clock, ten people, some men, some women, some older, some younger, stood infront of the george V statue opposite westminster, and dropped their pants and wiggled and slapped their arses.

no-one appeared to be offended. tourists took photos. people laughed, whistled and cheered, and no-one was arrested.

the ten day project finishes tomorrow night. for info on tonight's events and the closing day, see

www.ermyarse.webs.com