AS Marie Antoinette might have said, the English are revolting. You name it, we'll rebel against it - but just lately it seems to be fathers' rights and fox-hunting that get our goat and raise our dander. Or some of us, at least.

Sorry, but I can't get too stressed about middle-aged blokes dressed as cartoon super heroes perched on ledges outside Buckingham Palace or climbing Clifton suspension bridge.

Sure, there probably are some great dads who, through no fault of their own, don't see as much of their children as they'd like.

But it's a sad fact of life that parents often split up and the results can be messy. What has been overlooked, though, is that it's usually the children who suffer when mum and dad are consumed by bitterness and spite - and that for every aggrieved father there are many, many more dads who couldn't care less about their offspring.

And if Fathers4Justice were so concerned about their families, wouldn't you think they'd find ways of expressing those concerns that were less embarrassing, nay humiliating, to their kids?

As for hunting, maybe there's a case to be made for it, although I haven't heard it yet - and personally I can't summon much sympathy for the spoiled rich kids who stormed the Commons last week (with five of the eight having "close links" to Princes William and Harry).

Otis Ferry, for example, may well be a decent young man, but his lounge lizard dad Bryan's slimy sneer and greasy hair always made me feel a bit nauseous - so I'll stick to my prejudices, thanks very much, because Otis will sure as hell stick to his.

"Ah", the hunting and shooting lobby will reply, "but there are plenty of common people who will be affected by that nasty Mr Blair's ban on our innocent pastime".

I suppose just like the ones who were, coincidentally, at the front of the queue when the police started cracking a few skulls with their batons, (in response, it has to be said, to cop claims that they were being pelted with fireworks.)

Many of those involved in Tuesday's demo would, a couple of years ago, have been manning the barricades protesting at fuel price rises - and the PM's plea for a greener future earlier this week will doubtless have cut little ice with them either.

Maybe there is a genuine surge of resentment at the way this country's heading, but I doubt it.

Where were all these people when the pits, steelworks and shipyards were being shut? Right behind Maggie, that's where, cheering on the boys in blue as they waded in.

Now, we're told by the Countryside Alliance's pals in the press, "ordinary people came from all walks of life to defend their right to uphold a British tradition ... from a jockey and a polo player to an auctioneer."

All walks of life? They're having a laugh. Only it's not funny, not really. They're saying democracy is under threat, because to say it's the Establishment that's under threat wouldn't quite have the same ring.

Yet surely chucking condoms filled with purple flour, wearing pants outside your tights and generally behaving like sulky brats every time you disagree with the duly elected government isn't going to strengthen the democractic process - just the opposite. But maybe that's exactly what the rioters want - and the conspiracy theories about the under-fire Tories trying to whip up a pre-election mini-civil war are spot on.

First published: Sept 21