austerity | >Re-PHOTO

Budget Day – 2010

Budget Day: Tuesday 22nd June 2010 came after the May general election which had resulted in a hung Parliament, with the Tories winning 306 votes, 20 short of the number needed to for a majority. It had been a defeat for New Labour, in power since 1997, who only achieved 258 MPs. The Lib-Dems were the third party with 57 seats. Theoretically an anti-Tory coalition might have achieved a small but workable majority, but instead Nick Clegg decided to join a coalition government with the Tories which would have a clear majority – and lasted until the 2015 General Election.

Their decision resulted in a programme of austerity and cuts along with increases in tax which began with George Osborne’s budget on 22nd June. This included a rise in VAT from 17.5% to 20%, cuts in public services and a 2 year pay freeze for workers in the public sector, freezing of child benefit for 3 years, pegging state benefits and public service pensions to a lower price index, capping of housing benefit , cutting research and development and more.

Most of these changes had been widely signposted before the budget speech and opponents had made clear that they were likely to stifle growth and to have a disproportionate effect on the poor, women, disabled people and ethnic minorities. It was the most controversial budget in recent history and so it was unsurprising that so many came out to protest. And later the changes it introduced were probably a major factor in both the disastrous Brexit vote and the succession of hopeless Tory governments that led to the 2024 Labour landslide.

Brian Haw’s Parliament Square Peace Campaign was also still in Parliament Square, although Brian himself was in court on the morning of the budget. But they had been joined there at the start of the previous month by the Democracy Village who were still camping there, and though relations between the two groups were not positive, both were still protesting, and on Budget Day others including the PCS union, ‘Can’t Pay Won’t Pay’, Stop the War and CND also came to protest at Westminster too.

I missed what was probably the largest protest of the day opposite Downing Street, having been held up photographing the Democracy Camp calling for an end to the war in Afghanistan.

The PCS were protesting outside the Treasury. Democracy campers went with their banner to the media village. ‘Can’t Pay Won’t Pay’ campaigners arrived with a coffin and a little street theatre (it even got them a short mention on the BBC) and I followed them back to Parliament Square, missing two attempts to make citizens arrests on Labour politicians.

You can read more about the events on My London Diary, as well as a police incident involving gun violence campaigner ‘King David’ who was holding a brass ornamental pistol – clearly not a weapon – but was stopped and searched under terrorist legislation.

*King David was searched under the Terrorism act for holding this brass ornament*

More protesters arrived with placards and masks protesting about the housing crisis and the lack of affordable homes, and there was a man with a megaphone lampooning the whole thing and getting some attention from the police who today seemed clearly did not want to make arrests.

The final event I photographed before leaving Parliament Square was by Stop the War and CND, pointing out that the war in Afghanistan had cost more than £20 billion, and that a large saving could be made by deferring or cancelling the replacement of our Trident nuclear deterrent, for which there was no longer any possible military justification.

More on My London Diary: Budget Day in Westminster

Admiral of the Port’s Challenge

*The race starts in several waves from outside the Houses of Parliament*

As I walked back across Westminster Bridge towards Waterloo Station I noticed a number of boats being rowed upriver in what appeared to be a race.

The Admiral of the Port’s Challenge, a “historic tradition”, appears to have started around 2008 by the London livery companies, liverymen rowing “traditional” Thames Waterman’s Cutters, 34 feet long and 4 feet 6 inches wide, with fixed seats for 4 rowers and a canopy over 2 passengers, to the rear of which the cox sits. The boats start in waves from outside the Hoses of Parliament and row around a mile and a third to a boat club in Pimlico.

These boats, though based on those shown in 18th century paintings, are actually a modern design, adapted and built to be fast and stable for modern use for the Thames ‘Great River Race’ which started in the 1980s. Unlike modern racing craft they can cope with choppy waters on the river or even in coastal waters. And at the end of the race there is a champagne reception for those taking part.

More about this race at Admiral of the Port’s Challenge.

And more about the budget protests at Budget Day in Westminster.

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End Austerity Now & Class War – 2015

End Austerity Now & Class War: On Saturday 20th June 2015 I sent to photograph the march organised by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity from the Bank of England to Parliament Square. Class War came to protest calling for direct action rather than marches which changed nothing and after photographing them in the City I went with them to Downing Street – and they paused for a brief protest at the Savoy on the way.

End Austerity Now at Bank

Bank

Large crowds gathered around the Bank of England for the start of a massive march against austerity organised by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity and supported by many groups including CND, the Green Party, People’s March for the NHS, Global Women’s Strike, Basic Income, Revolutionary Communist Group, Clapton Ultras and many other groups and individuals from around the country.

So many were being affected by the cuts which had forced down incomes, cut benefits and the welfare state, cut education, destroyed youth services, made massive cuts to the NHS and public services while supporting the bankers whose actions had led to the crisis.

The programme of austerity introduced by the coalition government and continued under the Tories had seriously harmed the country and slowed its recovery from the financial crisis and seemed to be a punishment for the crimes of others, which had been made possible by the changes to the banking system introduced under Thatcher in 1986.

As usual estimates of the number of marchers varied hugely, with the organisers claiming a quarter of a million, while the BBC contented itself with ‘”thousands”. From the time it took and the density of the crowds I think it was at least a hundred thousand. Parliament Square was well filled with others still arriving, but like many others I went home rather than listen to the speeches.

More pictures of the marchers at End Austerity Now at Bank and in Class War and End Austerity Now.

Class War at End Austerity Now

Queen Victoria St

Class War had come to the protest to call for end of A to B marches to rallies and call for direct action. They succeeded in diverting several hundred of the marchers to make their way to protest at a squatted pub near the Elephant which Foxtons want to open as an estate agents.

Class War had brought several banners including the ‘Political Leaders’, a new version of that seized by police at a ‘Poor Doors’ protest, the ‘Lucy Parsons banner with its quote “We must devastate the avenues where the wealthy live” and ‘We have found new homes for the rich‘, with its rows of crosses on graves extending into the distance which police were then still pressing charges against Lisa McKenzie over.

Lisa was there along with the others including Adam Clifford who stood for Class War in the Westminster constituency, today wearing a top with fake exposed breasts and holding a fairly lifelike looking baby. As well as those above the protest others protested on the side of the street below.

Many marchers raised fists and shouted in solidarity with Class War as they passed, though some shook their heads, while others tried to ignore them. This wasn’t easy as they made a fair amount of noise and let off several smoke flares.

Around 30 police gathered around them at one point and it looked very much if they were going into action, but after a discussion between several senior officers on the scene, most rapidly walked away.

I stayed in the area either with them above the march or down below on the densely crowded wide street for around an hour, making many pictures both of Class War and the marchers.

*They sit in the pub and police wait for them outside*

When the end of the march appeared to reach them they joined in for a couple of hundred yards then peeled off to go to the Olde London pub on Ludgate Hill

More pictures at Class War and End Austerity Now.

Class War at the Savoy

Strand

*Class War insist on the right to protest outside the Savoy*

After a rest in the pub Class War walked down towards Westminster with their police escort to carry out more protests.

Approaching the Savoy Hotel some broke out into a run to get ahead of their escorts but found that there were more police already waiting there.

But they unrolled their banners again and briefly blocked the entrance with ‘New Homes for the Rich’ and ‘Lucy Parsons’ banners. After minor scuffles and arguments with police they marched on.

More pictures at Class War at the Savoy.

Class War in Whitehall

Whitehall

*A woman talks to Adam Clifford of Class War holding a baby and a banner outside the gates of Downing St*

Class War continued their protests in Whitehall, displaying their banners, setting off flares and dancing with others to a sound system which joined them briefly.

They then moved off towards Downing Street where they posed for photographs with all three banners – and threw a flare over the gate.

Their protest continued there with short speeches and more dancing. People were still coming down the street to join the People’s Assembly Against Austerity protest in Parliament Square and some stopped briefly to join in.

Eventually Class War decided it was time to roll up the banners and leave before police intervened – and it was time to go to the pub again. But for me it was time to go home.

Many more pictures on My London Diary: Class War in Whitehall.

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Lawyers Funeral for Legal Aid – 2013

Old Palace Yard, Westminster

Lawyers Funeral for Legal Aid: On Wednesday 22nd May 2013 the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association organised a protest with a mock funeral, rally and mock trial outside Parliament against government plans to severely restrict legal aid.

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) had already cut huge areas out of legal aid, including many family, employment, housing and debt problems. This was a cost-saving exercise which greatly reduced access to justice for the great majority of people.

The government were now proposing to end the right of legal aid clients to chose their solicitor with the work going to the cheapest bid under ‘price-competitive tendering’. As well as bankrupting many smaller law first this would open up “provision of legal aid to large non-legal companies, including Eddie Stobart and Tesco, and remove the ability of those in need of legal aid to chose appropriate specialists in the legal area involved.”

The event began with a parade by a marching jazz band leading a coffin with the meassage ‘RIP LEGAL AID’ carried by black-clad pallbearers wearing legal wigs, with the Scales of Justice in attendance.

Then came the speeches – very many of them, but at least there was a time-keeper ensuring they kept to a 5 minute limit – and some were quite amusing.

Among the speakers were politicians including Sadiq Khan, Jeremy Corbyn, and Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, senior legal figures and some who had benefited from legal aid, including Gerry Conlan, one of the Guildford 40, a member of the family of Jean Charles De Menezes, Susan Matthews, mother of Alfie Meadows and Breda Power, the daughter of Billy Power, one of the Birmingham 6.

Others included Clive Stafford Smith, the founder of Reprieve, Blur drummer Dave Rowntree (a qualified solicitor) and QC Helena Kennedy. There are pictures of most of the speakers on My London Diary

After all the speeches there was a summing up by leading barrister John Cooper QC after which the whole assembly delivered its verdict on Grayling, ‘guilty as charged’.

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Many more pictures at

Boycott Workfare, Million Women Rise & Greece – 2012

Boycott Workfare, Million Women Rise & Greece: On Saturday 3rd March 2012 I photographed a protest outside companies using people forced into free labour under the government workfare scheme, then a women-only march against male violence against women which I left to go to the Occupy meeting on the steps of St Paul’s which supported the protests in Greece against austerity measures imposed by the EU.

Boycott Workfare – Oxford St

Oxford St

Boycott Workfare, Million Women Rise & Greece - 2012

The group Boycott Workfare came to Oxford Street to lead a protest against companies who use unemployed and disabled people forced to work without pay but just a small allowance under the government workfare scheme.

As the protesters emphasised, workfare reduces the number of real jobs available in the workplaces, giving workers to the employers by forcing the unemployed to do work at no cost to the employer on an allowance roughly one quarter of the minimum pay – and around a fifth of the London Living Wage.

The event began with some good news when they met outside BHS near Oxford Circus by praising that company for having withdrawn from the scheme since the protest had been planned before moving off to protest elsewhere.

Around a hundred campaigners had arrived and were being carefully watched by police who went with them, guarding shop doorways and keeping a path along the crowded pavements clear when they stopped to protest.

The organisers had kept their route secret and had come with two ‘Boycott Warfare’ flags on long poles, white with the letters BW, and those taking part were told to follow the flags.

Police were also guarding some shops which had previously been targeted by UK Uncut over their failures to pay tax, though most of these were not involved in workfare and so of no interest to this protest.

The first stop was a Pizza Hut, where police managed to stop any of the protesters entering – but the protest put off a number of customers entering while there were a few speeches. There we were handed a map showing the locations of some of the other businesses on Oxford Street taking part in workfare, including McDonalds, Holland and Barratt, Superdrug, WH Smith, Argos, and a little way north of Oxford St, Holiday Inn and Barnado’s.

Police just managed to arrive at Holland and Barratt before the protesters, who only paused briefly there before rushing on to McDonalds, where a few managed to go inside. Police soon ejected them into the noisy crowd protesting outside, most of whom soon moved off towards Argos, with police following them.

I soon realised that not all the protesters had left for Argos, and hurried back to see another group being ejected from McDonalds. Another small group had returned to Pizza Hut – where again they were ejected by police.

The main body of protesters turned into a shopping arcade, but were not sure which of the shops were using workfare and hesitated, allowing police to rush in and form a barrier. After a few noisy minutes they left and held a rally on a street corner with a few short speeches – including at least one by someone passing by.

At the Holiday Inn on Wellbeck Street a few protesters again beat the police and were rather forcibly ejected.

Some at least of the police who I and the campaigners talked with clearly shared their disgust at a scheme which forces people to work without payment, and were also worried about leaked plans to part-privatise the police and other cuts, but insisted that it was their job to keep order and protect property.

More on My London Diary at Boycott Workfare – Oxford St.

Million Women Rise March

Oxford St

Women were gathering in the street on the west side of Selfridges to march through the centre of London calling for an end to domestic abuse, rape and commercial sexual exploitation. They called for prevention of abuse and support and protection for women.

They came from various womens groups and organisations around the country for this all-women march calling for and end to male violence against women.

Some of London’s more active women campaigning groups, including those that have been the leaders in previous celebrations around International Women’s Day were absent from the protest, and I was shocked to learn that they had been told they were not welcome at this march, despite the coalition’s aim to be non-partisan and to bring “together women who want to highlight the continuation of all forms of violence against women and demand that steps are taken to put an end to this.”

Among those marching were women from a number of political groups from London’s ethnic communities present, including Kurds, some in traditional dress and some holding posters calling for the release of their leader Abdullah Öcalan from prison in Turkey, as well as groups opposed to the Iranian regime.

The Million Women Rise Coalition has a statement of demands for government and societies here and around the world. They demand the recognise and reflect in policies the discrimination faced by all women and those from black and other minority groups in particular. They demand that domestic abuse, rape and commercial sexual exploitation are linked together in a definition of violence against women and that support is given to support organisations for women in the not-for-profit sector.

Their long statement called for support for various groups opposing violence against women, and end to child prostitution and pornography and proper support for trafficked women and children.

They called for International Women’s Day to be made a Bank Holiday in the UK and Ireland, and oppose “the continued misrepresentation, misappropriation and abuse of the female body throughout all forms of media.”

Their statement also made clear that wars and conflicts around the world perpetuate violence against women, and on the march a group carried a banner ‘Raped, Abused, Widowed and Forgotten – Tamil Women in Sri Lanka Still In Tears’ and others highlighted the ongoing abuses against women in DR Congo.

More on My London Diary at Million Women Rise March.

Greeks Protest With OccupyLSX

St Paul’s Cathedral Steps

I left the march at Bond Street Station to report on a protest at St Paul’s Cathedral against the terms of the Eurozone rescue package for Greece at Occupy meeting on the steps there and to show solidarity with the protests in Greece.

Much more about this and more pictures on My London Diary at Greeks Protest At St Paul’s,

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Dance Against Cuts & Solidarity With the Thessalonaki 4 – 2011

Dance Against Cuts & Solidarity With the Thessalonaki 4: Two protests on Friday 14th January 2011 had little in common except that both were in part against the violence, lies and deception of the authorities, both here in the UK and in Greece.

Dance Against The Deficit Lies

Royal Exchange, Bank

Campaigners against the savage cuts in arts and community funding by the Tory-led coalition government in the UK came to perform outside the Royal Exchange and Bank of England in a way deliberately planned to avoid confrontation with police, limiting their protest to exactly and hour and making it “playful with purpose, (so) that any aggression whatsoever (police kettles or the tiny few protesters who throw stuff) will simply look preposterous.”

The location was one “with resonances for many protesters, where some of the worst excesses of police violence and over-reaction took place at the protests against the G20, and close to where Ian Tomlinson was attacked by a police officer and died.”

At the centre of the City of London it was also appropriate for cuts that reflected the huge rescue package given to bail out the banks after their irresponsible behaviour, and to protest about their continuing excessive salaries and indecent bonuses.

It was a relatively small protest, with almost as many spectators and photographers as the hundred or so taking part, and enlivened by performances and dance rather than angry chanting. And the police for once simply stood back and watched.

The organisers pointed out that Britain is still revered for around the world, and that it brings in money to the country. “Cuts to the arts are idiotic and short sighted.” They questioned why the levy on banks was “being reduced, and why the government is not imposing measures such as the Tobin or Robin Hood tax on financial transactions that would not only being in much-needed income to reduce the deficit but would provide a beneficial stability by dampening speculation.”

Dance Against The Deficit Lies

Solidarity With the Thessalonaki 4

Greek Embassy, Holland Park

Back in June 2003, a number of protesters were arrested in a violent police attack on an anti-capitalist protest against an EU summit in Thessaloniki, Greece. They included the English anarchist, Simon Chapman, a supporter of various anarchist groups including Class War.

Seven of them, including Chapman, had later gone on hunger strike against their arrests and were finally released at the end of November 2023, following a huge solidarity campaign across Europe. Among those calling for their release were 28 EU MPs and Amnesty International. All charges against the prisoners were dropped and Simon came home to England.

Photographic and film evidence proved beyond and doubt that Chapman had been framed, charged with having three black bags containing Molotoff cocktails and dangerous weapons (a hammer and a pickaxe handle.) Photographs showed that when arrested he was carrying a blue bag, and a film clearly showed Greek police planting these black bags on him after his arrest.

But despite this the Greek state was not prepared to drop the cases, and after “repeated appeals from the Greek state prosecutor the charges against four of the original seven were re-instated.” And despite the evidence in 2008 all of these four were found guilty.

“Under the threat of a European Police Warrant … Simon was forced to return to Thessaloniki in 2010 to appeal the conviction.” But this time the evidence resulted in all the major charges being thrown out, with all four instead being found guilty of a “minor defiance of authority” to justify the time they had previously spent in jail. And Chapman came back to England and Class War.

But the Greek experience had scarred Chapman and he never really recovered from being arrested and his treatment in prison, and the health effects of the lengthy hunger strike, dying at only 40 in 2017.

*Class War with their banner in memory of Simon Chapman – May 1 2017*

Class War came to the May Day march that year at Clerkenwell Green with a new banner in his memory, and also copies of a new Class War newspaper to sell. When the march set off for Trafalgar Square they “marched only the few yards back to the pub, where I joined them later” to celebrate Simon’s life.

Solidarity With the Thessalonaki 4

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Leveson & Cold Homes – 2012

Leveson & Cold Homes: On Thursday 29th November press and protesters were outside the QEII centre waiting for the publication of the Leveson inquiry report, and were joined briefly by people who had been protesting outside the treasury over George Osborne’s cuts and energy policies and later moved to protest outside parliament where Energy Secretary, Ed Davey was to introduce the Energy Bill.

Leveson Comes Out

QEII Centre

Lord Justice Leveson had been appointed in 2011 to lead an inquiry into the culture, practices, and ethics of the British press after the News of the World had been found to have illegally hacked into the phones of celebrities, politicians, royals and others since the 1990s.

Of course the News of the World which had been closed down by Murdoch’s News International in 2011 over this was not the only newspaper to have used illegal hacking. As well as other papers in the Murdoch Press it was said to be fairly widespread across the tabloid papers.

The Leveson Inquiry was to be in two parts and the report on Part 1 was due to be released on 29th November 2012. Part 2 which was to examine the extent of phone hacking in News International and other media as well as the complicity of the police in receiving bribes and other ways was shelved in 2015 and then scrapped in 2018.

Leveson found that the Press Complaints Commission was toothless and ineffective and recommended that a new voluntary independent body be set up. There are now two press regulators; Impress, which largely follows Leveson’s proposals and IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation which as its name says remains independent, and which more publications have signed up to, while others, including The Guardian belong to neither.

This was a small but visually interesting protest, and ss I wrote in 2012:

Avaaz had brought large puppet heads of Murdoch and a gagged Cameron with placards ‘End the Murdoch Mafia’ and a flaming dustbin into which Murdoch lowered the Leveson report.

Political artist Kaya Mar had brought one of his paintings with the judge and a cart-load of people, though I couldn’t recognise them all.

And a protester from Kick Nuclear was walking up and down with his dog which was wearing a poster about Fukushima warning of the dangers of nuclear power.

More pictures at Leveson Comes Out.

Cold Homes Kill Treasury Protest

Westminster

Fuel Poverty Action along with others including Disabled People Against Cuts, the Greater London Pensioners’ Association, Single Mothers’ Self-Defence, Southwark Pensioners’ Action Group and WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities) had come to protest against the cuts to come from George Osborne’s energy bill which they say will cause 24,000 extra winter deaths.

The protest which began outside the Treasury and then moved on pausing briefly at the Leveson protest outside the QEII centre to Parliament Square in front of the House of Commons where Secretary, Ed Davey, was to introduce the Energy Bill later that day.

“The protesters had brought plastic silver reflective coated ‘space blankets’ to wear and had three ‘tombstones’ with the messages ‘George Osborne Your Cuts KILL’, ‘Gas Power = Killer Bills’ and ‘24,000 Winter Deaths – Big Six Profits up 700%’.”

They say that already because of the government cuts many people were going hungry, with food banks being set up and kept busy even in the more prosperous areas of the country, and now with winter coming many have to chose between ‘eating or heating’.

*A protester with a hot water bottle tries to walk into the Treasury but is stopped by the police*

Cuts will mean more people suffering from “hypothermia, and the disabled in particular are hard hit, both because of the ruthless removal of benefits by poorly designed tests adminstered by poorly qualified testers with targets to meet and also because they often have special needs for heating.”

The protesters ignored police requests to leave the steps up to the Treasury and police then pushed them down, “usually with minimum force, but just occasionally rather more than necessary, but both protesters and police generally remained calm.” The rally continued on the pavement with speakers including Green Party leader Natalie Bennett.

After this the group of 50 or so protesters moved to the pavement in front of the Houses of Parliament, pausing briefly on the way for photographs in front of those waiting for the Leveson report.

Police again tried to get them to move on when they stopped in front of the Houses of Parliament, at first telling them they had to move as “a Royal movement” was about to take place, an announcement that cause much hilarity and comment but no movement. A little later they were told they could stay, but decided instead to cross onto the grass in Parliament Square for some final photographs.

More pictures at Cold Homes Kill Treasury Protest.

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Tories Out March – 2017

Tories Out March: Around 20,000 met outside the BBC in Portland Place on Saturday 1st July 2017 to march to Parliament Square demanding an end to the Tory government under Theresa May.

Most were supporters of the Labour Party and in particular of the then Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who had narrowly failed to win the recent general election, defeated not by the Tories but by sabotage within the party by the Labour right who controlled much of the party mechanism.

The Labour right had been shocked and appalled by Corbyn’s victory in the leadership contest and had done everything they could since then to get rid of him, with orchestrated cabinet resignations and the stoking up of false antisemitism claims combined with behind the scenes actions to ensure the failure of his attempts to improve the way the party tried to deal with such allegations.

We had seen on television the relief felt by some of them as the results came out when after it had begun to look as if Labour had a chance of victory it became clear that the Tories would hang on to a small majority. The last thing they had wanted had been for Corbyn to have won.

Theresa May had scraped in but had then had to bribe the DUP, a deeply bigoted party with links to Loyalist terrorists to give her a working majority.

Her austerity policies had been largely rejected by the electorate and the recent Grenfell Tower disaster had underlined the toxic effects of Tory failure and privatisation of building regulations and inspection and a total lack of concern for the lives of ordinary people.

*A woman poses as Theresa May with a poster ‘We cut 10,000 fire fighter jobs because your lives are worthless’*

The protesters – and much of the nation – knew that the Tories had proved themselves unfit to govern. The marchers and the people wanted a decent health service, education system, housing, jobs and better living standards for all.

But not all were happy with Labour policies either, although the great majority of them joined in with the sycophantic chanting in support of Corbyn. But there were significant groups who were also protesting against the housing polices being pursued by Labour-dominated local authorities, particularly in London Boroughs including Labour Southwark, Lambeth, Haringey and Newham.

Huge areas of council housing had been demolished or were under threat of demolition largely for the benefit of developers, selling off publicly owned land for the profit of the developers and disregarding the needs of the residents and of the huge numbers on council housing lists.

*Class War protest the devastation of the estates where the poor live*

One example was “the Heygate at Elephant & Castle, a well-designed estate deliberately run down by the council over at least a decade, but still in remarkably good condition. It cost Southwark Council over £51m to empty the estate of tenants and leaseholders, and in 2007 had valued the site at £150m, yet they sold it for a third of its market value to developers Lendlease for £50m.”

The estate had been home to over a thousand council tenants and another 189 leaseholders. Around 500 tenants were promised they would be able to return to to homes on the new estate – but there were just 82 social rented homes. The leaseholders were given compensation of around a third of the price of comparable homes in the new Elephant Park – and most had to move miles away to find property they could afford.

In 2017 Haringey was making plans to demolish around 5,000 council homes, roughly a third of its entire stock under what was known as the Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) with developers Lendlease. Plans here prompted a revolt in the local area led by Labour members in the pro-Corbyn Momentum group who gained control of the council in 2018 and scrapped the HDV.

*A giant-headed Theresa May outside Downing St*

Among those leading protests against Labour’s Housing Policy was Class War who have been active in many of the protests over housing. I photographed them having a little fun with the march stewards, but unfortunately missed the scene at the rally in Parliament Square when Lisa Mckenzie confronted both Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite the Union and Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn asking them the simple question ‘When are you going to stop Labour councils socially cleansing people out of London?’.

*Class War lift up their banner in front of a police officer videoing protesters*

Both men ignored her, walking past without pausing to answer and “the small Class War group was surrounded by Labour Party supporters holding up placards to hide them and idiotically chanting ‘Oh, Je-re-my Cor-byn! Oh, Je-re-my Cor-byn!’. But eight years later, now in power led by Starmer and Angela Rayner, Labour seems determined to make much the same mistakes in its housing policy.

More at Tories Out March.

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TUC ‘March For The Alternative – 2011

TUC ‘March For The Alternative – On 26th March 2011 between a quarter and half a million people marched through London against planned public spending cuts by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in the largest demonstration since the 2003 protest against the plan to invade Iraq.

The TUC argued that what the country needed was not austerity but policies that would grow the economy, and that we should raise income from those more able to pay rather than by measures that had the greatest impact on the poorest in society.

It was the largest march and rally organised by the trade union movement since the Second World War, and like other major trade union marches was perhaps largely worthy but not exciting – and like others it achieved nothing. The cuts went ahead and we all suffered – except of course the wealthy – who continued to grow richer and richer, helped by government bail-outs and the deliberate failures to tackle tax evasion, stop tax avoidance loopholes and raise taxes on those with excessive wealth.

The cuts particularly hit the public services, including teachers, nurses and other medical professionals – and eventually helped drive these areas into the critical conditions that they are now in. They resulted in financial problems and excessive workloads and also meant that those of us who rely on public provision for health and education often failing to get proper treatment. The gap between those who could afford private services and those who relied on the state provision increased.

Particularly hard hit by the cuts were the disabled and for them the situation continues to worsen with our now Labour government announcing huge cuts which will leave many considerably worse off – and greatly reduce their ability to lead normal lives and contribute to society.

As well as the TUC, other groups contributed to the march, announcing various feeder marches and other activities, many of which added a little life and colour to the day’s events. They also resulted in over 200 arrests and a number of injuries.

Too much was happening on the day for me to rehash it all here, but you can read my seven posts on my London Diary for my account of events. I started with the feeder marches from South London, disowned by the TUC. The ‘Armed Wing of the TUC’ brought its street theatre Trojan Horse, Spitfire, Tank and armed Lollipop Ladies produced by Camberwell art students to Camberwell Green where they marched to Kennington where the South London Feeeder March was gathering for a rally before the march in Kennington Park – the site of the final “monster meeting” of the Chartists on 10th April 1848 from where they marched to Parliament to deliver their final petition.

I left there to take the tube to Trafalgar Square where I found that the main march had started early and was well on its way to Hyde Park and I stayed around there for over an hour as marchers filed past, including photographing the Morris Liberation Front, an idea of Henry Flitton specially for the TUC demonstration, with music, provided by a couple of mandolins playing the Clash’s ‘I fought the Law’ and the Smith’s ‘Panic.

Later in the day Trafalgar Square was the site of bitter fighting as police made a largely unprovoked attack on a partying crowd, but when I was there things were peaceful.

I left the square to follow several hundred anarchists, dressed in black and mainly wearing face masks making their way up past the National Portrait Gallery, many waving red and black flags. I went with them through the back streets to Piccadilly Circus and then up Regent Street where they turned off into Mayfair and were held off by police when they attacked a RBS branch – one of the main banks to receive a huge government handout.

At Oxford Circus they attacked Topshop, then owned by the prominent tax avoider Sir Philip Green. As I went to take photographs of police arresting one of the protesters and holding him on the ground I was “hit full on the chest by a paint-bomb possibly aimed at the police, although many of the protesters also have an irrational fear of photographers. My cameras were still working and I continued to photograph, but I had also become a subject for the other photographers.”

It wasn’t painful, but it was very messy and bright yellow. I scraped and washed the worst off in a nearby public toilet for around 20 minutes, then went out to take more photographs, joining UK Uncut supporters who had come to hold peaceful protests at tax dodging shops and banks around Oxford St and to party at Oxford Circus.

Eventually I followed them down to Piccadilly Circus where 4 hours after the start of the official march people were still filing past. I stopped there and photographed until the end of the march passed, rather than going with UK Uncut into Fortnum and Mason. Inside the story they sat down and occupied the store peacefully. if noisily calling on them to pay their taxes. After an hour or more a senior police officer told them they were free to leave, promising they could make their way home “without obstruction”. 138 were arrested as they left the store, charged with ‘aggravated trespass’. Most of the cases were latter dropped but at least 10 were found guilty, given a six-month conditional discharge and a £1,000 fine.

Even after the official end of the march there were various other groups following the march route – including a group of Libyans with green flags, marching in support of Colonel Gaddaffi. I walked back to Trafalgar Square where there were still plenty of people around but everything was pretty quiet, so I got on the tube to come home and try to wash more of the paint off.

I think it was later when police made a charge to try and clear Trafalgar Square than almost all the arrests on the actual march took place – according to Google “Further clashes were reported later in Trafalgar Square. 201 people were arrested, and 66 were injured, including 31 police officers.” Had the police simply gone away people would have eventually dispersed and there would have been no trouble.

Back home I spent hours trying to scrub out yellow paint, but the rather expensive jacket I was wearing was only ever really fit to wear for gardening. The also expensive jumper underneath still has some small traces of yellow 14 years and many washes later, though I do sometimes still wear it around the house. Until my Nikon D700 came to the end of its life, beyond economic repair, a few years later I would still come across the occasional speck of yellow paint.

Much more about the day and many more pictures in the following posts on My London Diary

26March: Armed Wing of the TUC
26March: South London Feeder March
26March: TUC March – Midday
26March: Dancing in Trafalgar Square
26March: Black Bloc Goes To Oxford St
26March: UK Uncut Party & Protest
26March: The End of the TUC March

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Press Inquiry & Cold Homes Kill – 2012

Press Inquiry & Cold Homes Kill: On Thursday 29th November 2012 people protested outside the QEII centre as part 1 of the Leveson inquiry into the general culture and ethics of the British media was being published. Later there was a protest outside the Treasury and Parliament against government cuts in benefits and services that were leading to 24,000 extra winter deaths.

Leveson Comes Out

The Leveson inquiry had been set up in 2011 following the News International phone hacking scandal and after a long series of public hearings came to the obvious conclusion the existing Press Complaints Commission was a total failure – and praised Private Eye for refusing to join it. A subscription to that magazine and the many articles it had published over the years could have saved the £5.4 million that Leveson cost.

Leveson was not of course set up to address the overriding problem of the UK media which is the narrow range of its ownership. As the Media Reform Coalition argued “we couldn’t just rely on better press regulation to improve standards are newspapers – we also had to challenge the disproportionate power these corporations held because they so much of our news media.”

The MRC stated in 2023 “Just three companies—DMG Media, News UK and Reach—dominate 90% of the national newspaper market” and go on to show similar resticted ownership of local newspapers and online news platforms.

The news which almost all of us are allowed to hear is controlled by a very few companies and their billionaire owners such as Rupert Murdoch, and Avaaz had brought to the protest large puppet heads of Murdoch and a gagged Prime Minster Cameron with placards ‘End the Murdoch Mafia‘ with a flaming dustbin into which Murdoch lowered the Leveson report.

The industry response to Leveson was to establish in place of the Press Complaints Commission the almost equally toothless Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) which my union, the NUJ labelled a “pointless so-called regulator” and the Hacked Off campaign described as a sham “owned and controlled by the very newspapers it is supposed to regulate” which does nothing to stop them.

The Press Recognition Panel (PRP) was set up by Royal Charter in 2014 with the duty to establish whether any press regulator met the standards set by Leveson. IPSO declined to apply for recognition but an independent body IMPRESS founded in 2016 has gained recognition.

IMPRESS thas been rejected by all the major national papers and most regional and local papers but now regulates “more than 100 publishers, publishing over 200 publications across the UK.” Most of these are small and local independent print or on-line publishers including many on the left. Among them are Novara Media, Skwawkbox and The Canary.

As well as failing to legislate on setting up the independent regulatory body which Leveson concluded was needed, the Tories later quietly shelved the second part of the inquiry into extent of unlawful or improper conduct within news organisations and the extent of police complicity. It was a clear demonstration of the power held by Mudoch over our government.

Leveson Comes Out

Cold Homes Kill Treasury Protest

Over 50 people turned up outside Parliament and the Treasury to protest against the cuts made by George Osborne and the government’s energy policies which are leading to 24,000 extra winter deaths.

The protest on the day that Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, was introduing the Energy Bill to Parliament was organised by Fuel Poverty Action along with Disabled People Against Cuts and the Greater London Pensioners’ Association.

Other organisations taking part include Single Mothers’ Self-Defence, Southwark Pensioners’ Action Group and WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities).

Many came with plastic silver reflective coated ‘space blankets’ to wear, and there were three ‘tombstones’ with the messages ‘George Osborne Your Cuts KILL’, ‘Gas Power = Killer Bills’ and ‘24,000 Winter Deaths – Big Six Profits up 700%’.

As speakers at the open mike in front of the Treasury on Horse Guards Road said, many were now having to choose between keeping warm and eating – heat or food – and could not afford to do both adequately. Food banks were now common but often unable to keep up with demand, and libraries where many went to keep warm were being closed.

Hypothermia, even among children, was on the increase, had doubled among pensioners and many disabled people had special needs for heating – and some were suffering from having their benefits removed by unfair Atos work capability tests – often to have them eventually restored on appeal, but with no or inadequate means for months before this happened.

Police tried to keep them off the steps of the Treasury but they declined to move and eventually police came and pushed them down, sometimes with rather more than necessary force, but the rally continued on the pavement. Among the speakers was Green Party leader Natalie Bennett.

There were some further confrontations with police as the protesters moved around the area and protested on the pavement in front of parliament, where there was some hilarity as police came to tell them there has to move as “a Royal movement” was about to take place (they didn’t) and the protest ended with photographs on the grass of Parliament Square with the House of Commons and Big Ben as background.

More pictures on My London Diary at Cold Homes Kill Treasury Protest.

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Occupy London Begins – 2011

Occupy London Begins: On Saturday 15 Oct 2011 over 2000 protesters came to St Paul’s Cathedral as a part of a world-wide ‘Occupy’ protest “Inspired by Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring, and answering to the call out made by the Spanish Plataforma ¡Democracia Real YA! in May 2011 for a Global Day Of Action” and Occupy London began.

Similar protests were taking place in “Spain, Rome, New York, Portugal, Chile, Berlin,Brussels, Zageb, and many more … inspired by the example of Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring.”

Although people from various groups were present, including the Education Activists Network, Socialist Workers Party, Anonymous, Right to Work, UK Uncut, South London Solidarity Federation and there were several well known figures present who spoke including Peter Tatchell and Julian Assange, the whole movement deliberately lacked overall organisation with all decisions being taken by General Assemblies with the slogan ‘No Leaders, No Hierarchy’.

The event had actually come about from one such assembly on Sunday 9th October at the end of the ‘Block the Bridge NHS Protest‘ when a ‘General Assembly’ of several hundreds had come together at the north end of Westminster Bridge to discuss and endorse a planned occupation of the London Stock Exchange area.

In response to this the Stock Exchange obtained a High Court injunction to prevent public access to Paternoster Square, one of the increasingly large areas which appear to be public space in the city but are actually now privately owned, although previously Paternoster Row was a public street and police were present in force to enforce this injunction.

Most of the several thousand protesters were intent on an entirely peaceful protest, calling for a democratic revolution to “fight for a new political and economic system that puts people, democracy and the environment before profit.” They saw that “Our political elites have chosen to protect corporations, financial institutions and the rich at the expense of the majority.“

After a few short speeches a few hundred protesters, led by the banner of the Education Activist Network made and attempt to enter the square through Temple Bar, but police on foot and horses were waiting for them, and the relatively narrow entrance of the Bar, moved here a few years ago, was designed to be easily defended.

They then made a tour around the block containing the Stock Exchange but found the narrow passages leading to Paternoster Square heavily defended by police. When finally they found one with only a thin line of a thin line of police, the protesters hesitated for long enough for the police to bring up reinforcements. It was probably for the best as they would have immediately been easily kettled inside the square had they got in.

Eventually a General Meeting began on the steps of St Paul’s. There were a few minor scuffles when police pushed protesters around, which could probably have been avoided had police explained clearly that they only intended to clear a path to clear a path into and out of the cathedral at one end of the steps. Several people were arrested then and later.

I decided to leave, as it really seemed unlikely that anything much more would happen for some time. As I was leaving, police decided to block Ludgate Hill, but along with a group of several hundred protesters I managed to get through their line as it was forming.

*The General Assembly takes a show of hands to remain at St Paul’s*

Police continued to clear protesters from the steps of St Paul’s and urging people to leave the area, but many set up tents on the level area of St Paul’s Churchyard and the occupation had begun – and was to remain in place until finally removed on 28th February 2012. You can read a great deal about the occupation in the Occupy London web site which includes the various statements agreed by consensus at Occupy London General Assemblies. Unfortunately Wikipedia’s article on Occupy London is unusually poor and misleading about the events of 15th October.

More at Occupy London Kept Out Of Stock Exchange

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