Thug LIFFE

Well, it's the International Petroleum Exchange, rather than Euronext/LIFFE. But we won't let such details get in the way of a crude Tupac reference.

Greenpeace protestors invaded the IPE yesterday to celebrate the Kyoto Protocol's coming into effect. According to the Times, however, they were unprepared for the ultraviolence that followed.

You see, some traders in the UK still like to drink BOOZE at lunch. And they do not like environmentalists, or anyone else that went to university, to be honest. So marching in and setting off rape alarms and all manner of hullaballloo at a time when oil prices are going through the roof is not likely to be received that well by the oil traders. Here's the Times:

“We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs,” one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. “I’ve never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view.”

Another said: “I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot.” Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: “Sod off, Swampy.”

"Swampy" is a reference to a briefly famous environmental protester from 1997 who used to live in trees. Anyway, don't mess with traders, especially when they're drunk. Or trading. Or both.

All this via, we must confesss, Instapundit.