Well I have arranged my travel for Saturday to journey to London for the TUC March for the Alternative. I have thought about what I will need to take in case of kettling (unlikely if you stick with the main event I think) and other supplies.

This will be the biggest march I have attended so far in my career as an activist. Arguably it is the most important. What is the alternative? In short:

• a crackdown on tax avoidance
• a Robin Hood tax on banks and finance
• policies and time to let economic growth and full employment raise the tax that will close the deficit

I am not a deficit denier – I just don’t think that the Tory-led coalition are tackling it in the right way – it is too much, too soon. The retail price index is at 5.5%. Youth employment is massively high. People I know are living in fear that there job will be cut by councils forced to make hard choices by the government, destroying services for communities. This all set against a back drop of £1m missiles being launched and a Royal wedding being planned.

So my message on Saturday to the government will be to stop, collaborate and listen to, and work with, the people of this country – no one voted for the level of cuts and change we are seeing. We need to apply the brakes before we break Britain.