GREAT BRITAIN THE ANGRY ONES HEY NONNY NO ! TRILLED THE TORY 
DAILY MAIL ONE MORNING LAST WEEK . AFTER THE BITTEREST WINTER 
IN 50 YEARS, DAFFODILS WERE BLOOMING IN LONDON'S PARKS, AND GOVERNMENT 
OFFICIALS REPORTED WITH RELIEF THAT THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE HAD DROPPED, FROM 
3.9 PER CENT TO 3.1 PER CENT , FOR THE FIRST 
TIME IN MORE THAN SIX MONTHS . THEIR JUBILATION WAS SHORT-LIVED 
. IN A RITE OF SPRING SUCH AS BRITAIN HAS NOT 
WITNESSED SINCE THE DEPRESSION, MORE THAN 5,000 JOBLESS WORKERS CONVERGED ON 
LONDON TO PROTEST THEIR PLIGHT, TOUCHING OFF AN UGLY, ROCK-THROWING BATTLE 
AT THE VERY DOOR OF PARLIAMENT . RAISING THE FLAG . 
IT ALL BEGAN PEACEFULLY ENOUGH WITH A BANNER-WAVING PARADE TOWARD WESTMINSTER, 
WHERE WORKERS' LEADERS WERE DETERMINED TO CARRY PERSONAL PROTESTS TO THEIR 
M.P.S . AWKWARDLY AT FIRST, MANY FINGERING THE CLOTH CAPS THAT 
ARE THE TRADITIONAL BADGE OF THE BRITISH WORKINGMAN, THEY STOOD TALKING 
UNTIL THE HOUSE OF COMMONS' BIG CENTRAL LOBBY WAS JAMMED, WHILE 
A SURGING MOB OF WORKERS STILL OUTSIDE JOSTLED IMPATIENTLY TO GET 
THROUGH ST . STEPHEN'S DOORWAY . WHEN 500 HASTILY SUMMONED FOOT 
AND MOUNTED POLICE TRIED TO FORCE THEM BACK, THE PROTEST DEMONSTRATION 
EXPLODED INTO A SAVAGE, THREE-HOUR MELEE PROVOKED PARTLY BY COMMUNISTS IN 
THE CROWD . CRYING " FASCISTS " AND " GESTAPO, " 
THE WORKERS DROPPED LIGHTED CIGARETTES INTO POLICE HORSES' MOUTHS, TRIED TO 
DRAG THE COPS FROM THEIR MOUNTS, HURLED HORSE MANURE AT THEM 
. SOME YOUNG WORKERS CLIMBED ONTO THE STONE FIGURES AROUND THE 
ENTRANCE, AND ONE COMMUNIST AGITATOR EVEN HAULED UP A RED FLAG 
. WHEN A POLICE CORDON FORCED THEM AWAY FROM THE BUILDINGS 
AFTER SIX CHARGES, HUNDREDS OF DEMONSTRATORS STAGED A SITDOWN STRIKE IN 
THE ROAD . THE CROWD INCLUDED KILTED SCOTSMEN AND OLD-AGE PENSIONERS, 
APPRENTICES, MILL GIRLS AND GRIZZLED STEELWORKERS . MOST CAME FROM THE 
NORTHERN SHIPBUILDING AND STEELMAKING CITIES OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND, 
WHERE THE MISERY OF THE 1930S IS NOT FORGOTTEN . LAST 
WEEK, BY CONTRAST WITH THE HUNGER MARCHES OF THAT ERA, MOST 
ARRIVED BY TRAIN OR BUS ; SOME EVEN CAME BY PLANE 
. SAID A SCOTTISH MINER : " WE ARE NOT HUNGRY 
MEN ASKING FOR FOOD . WE ARE ANGRY MEN ASKING FOR 
SELF-RESPECT . " GETTING INTO POLITICS . THEY POINTED OUT THAT 
THOUGH WARM WEATHER HAS BOOSTED EMPLOYMENT IN HOMEBUILDING AND HEAVY CONSTRUCTION, 
THE ACTUAL TOTAL OF UNEMPLOYED (702,000) IN BRITAIN WAS STILL 250,000 
HIGHER THAN IN THE PREVIOUS MARCH, AND WAS ACTUALLY RISING IN 
THE WORST-HIT NORTHERN AREAS . ANOTHER RALLY NEXT DAY BY SOME 
5,000 TEACHERS DEMANDING A WAGE RAISE SHOWED THAT DISENCHANTMENT WITH HAROLD 
MACMILLAN'S CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT IS EVEN MORE WIDESPREAD . IT WAS FAR 
TOO EARLY TO PREDICT THE IMPACT OF ALL THIS ON THE 
COMING ELECTIONS, WHICH WILL PROBABLY TAKE PLACE NEXT YEAR . BUT 
MACMILLAN HARDLY WELCOMED THE DEMONSTRATIONS ON TOP OF ALL THE OTHER 
RECENT BAD NEWS : THREE BY-ELECTION REVERSES IN A FORTNIGHT, AND 
A NEW GALLUP POLL REPORT ON VOTER PREFERENCE SHOWING THAT THE 
LABOR PARTY HOLDS A RECORD 16.5 PER CENT LEAD OVER THE 
TORIES . 