It's what's called a "grower".  The third, and by far the largest, meeting of Haringey Alliance for Public Services saw the alliance move out of first gear, with the tiny Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green playing host to about 30 assorted trade unionists, community activists and concerned local residents.

People swapped stories of cuts to come, cuts disguised and cuts postponed. Everyone seemed determined to oppose cuts to public services, to put forward a vision of an improved public sector and to counter the general hysteria that significant cuts to services were unavoidable and would lead to societal collapse.

The threat to the Whittington A&E and five other hospitals in north London has outraged tens of thousands of people in all the boroughs affected. It is part of a bigger government plan to enforce cuts in all public services. Across the country, people are taking up the fight, resistance is growing against closures, privatisations and cuts - and in defence of local services that truly serve the community.