Your response apparently lays out the manifesto of the yobbo-ism I allude to. I find that demonstrations against "shameless attention-grabbing" are usually more shameless and attention-grabbing than the original act itself. Of course, any society has folks who can manage no higher form of self-expression than flailing about and roaring incoherently. When I find this tendency among reasonably literate Englishmen, I try to cut them a little slack because I figure it stems from their frustration as victims of a failing public educational system and economy, which increasingly prepare people to do nothing useful and then offer them little more than nothing as occupations. We have the same problems in the U.S. But even when stressed, people need not waste time and energy trying to disturb others who aren't infringing on their space at all. A person of sophistication and point might note that Mr Blaine is in a box and then go on to more profitable or constructive activities than clambering up into a building and launching paint balls. I mean, I've always thought that part of living in a "great and ancient city" is learning to appreciate others and their eccentricities. You seem to be saying that London's greatness stems from having its citizens go about assaulting persons engaged in legal occupations. Next time I visit London, may I come to your place of work, assuming you have one, or accost you in the street and pelt you with odds and ends because it offends me to see someone earning a living? I hope not.
