Sky Views: Protesters have gone far enough. It’s time to restore dignity to parliament – Sky News

Views of Westminster from the bridges over the Thames have been celebrated by artists as varied as William Wordsworth, Claude Monet and The Kinks.

There's not much inspiration for any artist coming to parliament these days.

Big Ben is shrouded in scaffolding and dark drapes. The chimes and the clock are out of order.

Westminster Bridge is shut to traffic and strewn with barriers, cones and rarely used cycle lanes. The pavements are cluttered by a motley crew of con artists, illegal store holders and rickshaw drivers looking to separate the throngs of tourists from their cash.

Those who make it as far as Parliament Square have to do so on foot. That is currently the only way to reach the important buildings which surround it including parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the Supreme Court. To protect the few hundred Extinction Rebellion protesters camping out for two weeks the police have closed surrounding roads such as the Embankment, Victoria Street and Whitehall.

Thanks to recent terror attacks, the Palace of Westminster itself stands in a state of siege, protected by high fences and massive blast proof barricades.

Outside, other protesters drift about with their hats, flags, banners and amplification systems. The majority of them are either for or against Brexit but there are a number of other eccentrics who seem to have little to do with the political issues of the day. Glockenspiel Man comes along to play loudly on evenings when live cameras are around. There's the cartoonist who does his mostly scatological pictures as oil paintings. The bloke who dresses as a Roman legionary, the man wearing sandwich boards who claims to be responsible for peace in Ireland, not forgetting the defrocked Irish priest who capers to loud music bare-legged and in a kilt. Stewart Holmes the perennial demonstrator whose causes have shifted from anti-smoking to anti-nuclear to, now, get Brexit done. Such people used to be confined to Speaker's Corner at Tyburn in Hyde Park, London's old place of execution.

Now anyone who wants to conduct business in Westminster has to clamber through an obstacle course of protesters and barriers. No wonder hordes of tourists stand around blocking the pavements looking bemused.

It's difficult not to find metaphors for the current state of British politics in the crumbling buildings and multiple blockages. One thing is certain. This England, "the mother of parliaments", is abusing its baby. There is scant respect too for the politicians trying to make democracy work from the inside.

There have always been protest marches in central London but these are no longer enough for demonstrators who want to draw attention to their cause.

Politicians are partly to blame, falling over themselves to show they are "listening" to protesters and turning a blind eye to the increasingly aggressive tactics they are using. It's no surprise that Extinction Rebellion is both urging parliament to act and proposing to replace it with "peoples assemblies".

Anxious not to be politically incorrect, the police mainly facilitate protests rather than clear obstructions.

Protests used to be banned in Parliament Square back in the 1980s and I witnessed mounted police blocking a student march coming down the Embankment. But by 1998 the New Labour government encouraged those seeking the extradition of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to set up camp opposite parliament.

I am expressing no view on the merits of any of these protests, but I do wish to draw attention to their growing disrespect for other people and their lack of interest in democratic argument. Adam Boulton

A rival pro-Pinochet camp soon turned up, then others with different axes to grind joined in. The Stop the War protester Brian Haw lived in Parliament Square for several years, sometimes accompanied by a small village of tents. The Countryside Alliance installed a pig in a pig sty there and flash mobs, often with political grievances from the Indian subcontinent, frequently crowd the square and Whitehall.

I am expressing no view on the merits of any of these protests, but I do wish to draw attention to their growing disrespect for other people and their lack of interest in democratic argument. Extinction Rebellion are just the latest manifestation of this escalating intolerance.

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Perhaps bolstered by their own anxieties about global warming and guilt at their own consumption, the public have largely smiled benignly at these latest protests. The police have obliged by blocking any roads they have targeted. It looks suspiciously as if they have done a deal to ensure the Queen's Carriage gets uninterrupted passage to parliament for the state opening on Monday.

But if these demonstrators can shut down central London for a fortnight why shouldn't another group such as the English Defence League do the same?

There is no doubt that there is a problem with congestion around parliament. But there is a good reason to have a centre where the pillars of state - parliament, executive, civil service and established church can come together and have direct access to each other. Ensuring this happens should be the priority.

Some populists say parliament should move out of London - but this surely is to relegate it. Government should be at the heart of the nation in the capital, most accessible to all.

Since London has a history of more than a thousand years, the street layout is old. Major transport arteries converge on the city. This week buses and other road transport have not been able to operate on their usual routes. Governments and mayors have considered turning Parliament Square into a pedestrian zone, but no one can find where to put an alternative north-south route away from the Thames which flows in that direction at Westminster because of a bend in the river.

Plans are under way to repair and modernise parliament to make it a building fit for this century. Already some MPs are trying to curry favour by complaining about the cost of the renovation and the "full decant" to a temporary chamber nearby while it is under way. They should have more confidence in the importance of their work.

The last time parliament was this run down and obstructed was in 1834. The building caught fire. Ordinary members of the public are said to have watched and jeered as it burnt down.

In all our interests it is high time we restored dignity and freedom of access to our parliament and the areas around it.

Previously on Sky Views: Ian King - We could do with more US-style philanthropy

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Sky Views: Protesters have gone far enough. It's time to restore dignity to parliament - Sky News