Protesting the prez in the UK

Students in the UK, organizing through text messenging and online message boards, are warned that missing school to protest George W. Bush's visit will be treated as truancy. The protests, which will culminate with a toppling, Saddam-style, of a statue of Bush in Trafalgar Square, was met with mixed opinions from political figures. Seeming to miss the point of peaceful protest (and the real source of antiwar activists' concerns about the Iraq invasion), Conservative education spokesman Tim Collins said, "Anti-Americanism is not on the national curriculum." His Liberal Democrat counterpart, Phil Willis, said, "[T]he arrival of the President at such an important time is an issue that is of interest to schools. If young people choose to attend these demos I hope that schools will look at that in a positive rather than a negative way."

Also: a survey by readers of The Independent (UK) suggests Brits aren't pleased about Bush's official state visit--by a 10-to-1 margin.