After it was leaked to anti-cuts campaigners that Tory Baroness Stowell of Beeston would be visiting Parliament Street JobCentre today, a picket was held from 2-4pm. Claimants, anarchists, PCS members and UK Uncut activists made sure that Baroness Stowell, a representative of a welfare slashing government, was not welcome in town. Despite a police presence, including a Chief Inspector, the Baroness decided to call off her visit.

Other claimants coming to sign on were very supportive of the picket and a few stopped to chat for some time about their disgust with the government's cuts agenda. "It's no suprise people are rioting" said one young lad. There were a fair few hoots of support from passing motorists as well. JobCentre security looked a bit nervous and a police van was parked down the road. Even the manager spent a bit of time on the door today.

According to Tory Minister Eric Pickles, 40,000 families will be made homeless by the government's cap on housing benefit. Meanwhile, the reassessment of millions of people's incapacity benefit has caused untold suffering for them and has even resulted in suicides. The march towards workfare, where job seekers will lose their benefits unless they take on compulsory full-time work, continues unchecked. There seem to be no limits to how hard the government is willing to squeeze those on benefits, probably because the right wing press are foaming at the mouth to punish us harder. It's no surprise that the latest reactionary e-petition calls for those caught in the riots to have benefits denied to them for life, even though the majority of them have work or are in education.

So a no show for Baroness Stowell but apparently Nick Clegg was in town today to inspect the damage at Canning Circus police station (as a convicted arsonist himself, I'm sure he's an expert!) I'm sure our group would have had a word or two for him if he'd bothered to pop by.