I‘m a democrat. I believe in democratic elections. I don’t believe in attempting to topple governments, unless it is *absolutely* necessary.

We had an election in 2019. We lost. We may not like it, but that’s democracy. We need to understand why, and work out how to win in 2024.

So, when I see things like this, I think: WTF?!

It’s an insult to the people of Lebanon and the people of Belarus.

Not going to reply to individuals, as I really can’t be bothered to argue.

Look, I am not against protest - I’ve been on more marches than I can remember - but what I am against is protest without achievable aims. Protesting because you lost an election is futile.

The reason the Suffragettes were (partially) successful, was because they campaigned solely for women’s suffrage. Had they protested broadly to bring the government down, they would have failed. It would have been an unachievable aim.

Is our democracy under threat? Absolutely. However, unless we maintain perspective, rather than helping the situation, we run the risk of making it worse. We didn’t lose the election in 2019 because of vote rigging. We lost because enough people voted Tory for them to win.

Instead of protesting to change that election result, we need to ask ourselves why the Tories won. They won because opposition parties in England and Wales were deemed to be a worse option than them - which only goes to show how bad the opposition parties were.

Did the Tories win in Scotland? No. They got absolutely hammered. Why was that? Because the SNP was a credible alternative to the Tories (and Labour). What we need is a credible alternative to the Tories in England and Wales (Northern Ireland is more complex).

One of the complaints against Labour, in recent years, is that they resembled a protest group more than a government in waiting. That era is now over. Labour now has a leader capable of doing very well in 2024, and hopefully Lib Dems will too, soon.

In democracies, protest is good for highlighting opposition to specific policies - austerity, Iraq war, Brexit etc. - but the ballot box is how we get rid of governments, and we get rid of governments by making the alternative a better option to the electorate.

We have over four years until the next election (yeah, it’s a painful thought). Our most useful role in that time is to convince people who voted Tory in 2019 to not vote Tory in 2024. That is an enormous challenge, but it is the *only* way we will get rid of the Tories.

The Tories currently have an 80 seat majority. They are in an incredibly powerful position. The idea that they will be toppled by a few thousand people protesting, because they’re ‘jolly upset’ that they lost in 2019, is for the birds.

Of course we should remain highly critical of this Tory government and hold them to account. Of course we should protest against policies or groups of policies. But if we really want them gone, we need to focus on winning an election.

While they may be useful for bringing some like-minded people together, protest groups - like 3.5% - won’t get rid of this government. Going around with a piece of chalk writing ‘3.5%’ may make you feel empowered, but it’s not going to start a revolution.

I don’t mean to upset people with my criticism of their protest groups, but the only game in town to change power in Westminster is played at the ballot box. Personally, I’m going to focus most of my time and energy improving our chances of winning there.

Protest, by all means, but please don’t get lost in the idea that it will topple this government or start a revolution, because it won’t. Protest worked in countries like Czechoslovakia and 80s Brazil - and may work in Belarus - because they were dictatorships.

In dictatorships - or farcical, rigged democracies - it is much easier to galvanise public opinion, because when people are oppressed and brutalised, there is a tipping point where they say ‘no more’. We don’t live in a dictatorship, we just have a dreadful government.

As I said at the start of this rambling reply, I’m not against protest. I’m all for it, when it can achieve something - or even sometimes when it can’t, such as Trump’s visits - but protesting because you’re upset we lost an election won’t win over the electorate.

Ramble over.