Climate change activitists invade book festival event!

At the Joseph Stiglitz event on Sunday - yes, I know I also attended it on Saturday but blame Edinburgh Book Festival for not making it clear that it was the same event! - his address was interrupted by four young climate change protesters who invaded the tent. As three of them started dropping newspapers entitled "Never Mind The Bankers", the young female spokesperson demanded two minutes to speak out against the sponsor of the event, the RBS. Needless to say, the audience were not entirely sympathetic to their viewpoint and booed and jeered the proetesters as they were escorted from the premises by Book Festival staff.

With the protests against RBS escalating in recent days, perhaps it was just as well that the protest was peaceful and they left with minimum fuss. There didn't appear to be adequate security to deal with the problem and the onus fell on the young, mainly female, staff to deal with a situation surely outwith their remit. There was also a sense of irony that the protesters should invade an event in which the speaker was berating the banks, including the RBS, for their role in the economic downturn and the need to change the way the finance sector works.

Thankfully, it made my second viewing of the event quite interesting!