No Cuts - a young teenager's youtube minimovie

Video reflection on March 26th protest

Residents get set to march against borough-wide cuts...

Banner for the Alternative!

Bromley Cuts Concern supporter Arthur's D-I-Y agitprop banner. Raw individualized paint & cloth. Not everybody wants to wave a "stick-in-hand, advertise-our-brand" placard on the day.

Does my society look big in this?

Philosophy Football's Mark writes
We have produced this campaign T-shirt for Saturday's march, and beyond, at a not-for-profit price. If you would give it a mention on your website we'll send you a free one!  

SPECIAL CAMPAIGN LOW PRICE. JUST £12.99! Mr Cameron and his, very, junior partner Nick Clegg would have us believe that our society can do just fine with fewer nurses and teachers.  Closing down schools, hospitals, childrens' centres and services for the elderly adds up to a smaller, worse society, neither big nor better. All in the cause of deficit reduction?  How about taxing the bankers' bonuses and closing down corporate tax evasion. Wear Philosophy Football's  'Does my Society Look Big in This'  T-shirt on the 26 March  TUC March for the Alternative, the brilliant direct actions of UKUncut or wherever and whenever the protest takes you. Available in sizes S-XXL, plus women's skinny fitted. From www.philosophyfootball.com

Campaigning petition from Bromley Cuts Concern

'Stop the cuts in Bromley' is new campaign from Bromley Cuts Concern using printed petition for real time local contact and online version (sign here) with aim of placing more pressure on government to respond to alternatives.

Wording on hard copy and ipetition http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bromleyagainstcuts/ is identical.  

To Cllr Stephen Carr, Leader London Borough of Bromley
 
We the undersigned are deeply concerned about Bromley Council's decision to make £33
million of cuts, that will affect many vulnerable people in the borough including services
for the elderly and disabled, youth and children's centres, libraries, park rangers, school-
crossing patrols, help with school uniforms, and loss of public toilets.
 
We therefore call on the councillors to reconfigure their budget decisions and use some of
their £58.5 million reserves as recommended by the Local Government Minister, Andrew
Stunell MP on 2 March 2011.
 
We also urge Tory and Lib Dem councillors to look at an alternative to the public expenditure
cuts by putting pressure on the government to:
 . curb bankers' bonuses
 . tax the banks at a much higher rate
. crack down on tax evasion/avoidance by the banks and other big businesses

London Against the Cuts?

As follow up to post here, Bromley Cuts Concern supporter Judith Wright attended first gathering of Haringey and Hackney's London boroughs alliance anti-cuts initiative. In a personal capacity, Judith writes -

About 13 boroughs were represented - we were 1 of only 2 Tory boroughs there. Each borough gave feedback about what's happening locally. I think the basic idea of this group is to share ideas of how best to oppose the cuts. Some of the local groups have been going since just after the May elections. There were also members of a Latin-American anti-cuts group and although they don't operate at borough level it was agreed that they could join.

The next meeting is planned for Sat 9th April in Camden. Some people thought only members of the anti-cuts groups should be invited others thought it should be opened up to the public and be more of a forum than a meeting. In the end it was agreed that it would be a meeting with representatives of local groups but the day would include some workshops e.g. on community activism, health etc.

Re: The Demo - someone there mentioned that at least 1200 coaches have been booked!

There are a few feeder marches - one is at Lincoln's Inn Fields, Holborn (organised by Camden), one in Kennington (South London Groups) and one in Haringey. - Maybe worth joining the one in Holborn as if the march is really big it could take ages to start?

Apparently the TUC are employing private security guards in Hyde Park....

There's also a Budget Day protest planned for 23rd March.

A rainy day has come

'A rainy day has come' was quote from former Bromley councillor Rod Reed, used by Bromley News Shopper in a story (23/1/11) on Bromley Council's fifty million pounds plus stash of reserves.

Commenting on whether councils should tap into reserves, local government minister Andrew Stunell said: “Good financial planning is about putting a little extra away when the sun is shining so you have some cover during the rainy days. London councils have put away £1.6 billion of taxpayers’ money in their town hall coffers for just such an occasion – the time has come to put it to use..."
(read more here)

Bromley Cuts Concern (Bromley Against the Cuts) plan to tie in petition for Bromley to use some of its reserves with a campaign for local people to join the TUC March for the Alternative on Saturday, March 26.

A second Bromley Market Square protest is therefore planned for Saturday, March 19.

Hold the front page!

This week's Bromley Times provides stats and details of axings, closures, reductions, endings of, plus introduction of new charges...alongside good photo coverage of Monday's protest with excellent forward-thinking analysis including individual residents' responses on page 3.
Check out Bromley Times March 3 E-edition online

'London Against Cuts'?

Bromley Cuts Concern (Bromley Against the Cuts) has received an invitation to affiliate to a wider London boroughs anti-cuts campaign. The founding meeting for this alliance is Wednesday 9th March at The Cock Tavern Euston 7pm.

A formal name for proposed grouping - building momentum towards March 26's national TUC 'March for the Alternative', has yet to be decided.