Prior to the 12 May demonstration in London, the Trade Union Congress had publised the results of a research: "The current period of wage stagnation is the worst for two centuries. Not since the beginning of the 18th century (when it took 24 years ) , has it taken so long for real wages to recover from a slump." Britain's 17-year real wage squeeze
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” —Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisation and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996, p. 51