which remind me, the people that man the permement anti-war (and bolt
on a load of unrelated issues) protest outside parliment - what do
they do for a living and how come they get so much time off?



Actually, from what I have read, it is "protestor" (singular noun) and
Parliament is about to pass an Act of Parliament to get rid of him (why they
just don't sweep it all away when he is absent - which seems to be most of the
time) I do not understand.

To answer your subsidiary questions: he is undoubtedly unemployed /
unemployable and people like me, law-abiding taxpayers, are funding his
indolent and useless lifestyle.

Marc.