On Saturday, after attending the inspiring anti-austerity demonstration organised by The People’s Assembly, I went to Tate Britain, my first visit there. I was stopped from entering because I had a few badges pinned to my clothes. These badges said “I love the NHS”, “Against the Cuts”, “Against Austerity”, “Keep Calm and Carry On”. I assume that many people visit Tate Britain wearing T-shirts emblazoned with all sorts of slogans and are not stopped from going in. However (oops, sorry Mr Gove), small, female, arthritis-riddled, badge-wearing pensioners must be a terrible danger to society. I would like to say that I’ve been banned from better places than Tate Britain but I have never been banned from anywhere in my life. I had not fully realised that to enter an art gallery wearing a few badges is a subversive act. Is this yet another example of what we, laughingly, call British democracy?
Lorna Wright
Colchester, Essex
