Be interesting to see what their alternative strategies are for getting us out of this mess other than saying we'll strike if you cut our jobs and we'll strike if you cut our pensions. All countries are in the same boat - in the US they've tried to spend themselves out of their mess and they've spectacularly failed and you only need to look to Greece to see what a bloated public sector does for a country. Last year we spent £176bn more than we earned and probably £140bn this year - interest in those two years alone around £16bn a yeargoing forward which is money we can ill afford to lose. Tories may be cutting to soon, they may not, it's really hard to tell although the support of the IMF towards the policy suggests the former and ensures our interest rates remain some of the lowest in the developed world so at least the cost of the country's borrowing doesn't soar for that reason.

This is because some of us feel so strongly about the fact that whilst our pension scheme has a surplus - this government is still keen to make us pay up to 50% more as a tax towards the deficit whilst making what we get in the end less than we'd anticipated when we signed up. Some of us haven;t had a pay rise for 4 years, we are told we'll have to work longer for less.... is it any wonder that we feel we have to take to the street to make our voices heard?

The cuts the Tories are doing is hitting them back in the face, who is paying for this operation today? Us, who is paying for the conference? Us, our taxes could be going to better places, Why don't they have their conferences in Westminster the house of commons that's cuts instead of paying policing and hotels not to mention the steel barriers they have put up around the city.
Eric Pickles wants bins emptying every week now! has he any idea how much councils has spent getting it fortnightly?

Typical loonie lefties, if you put on the rose tints of socialism you can pretend that the last left wing government didn't run up a huge defecit, and that there's no need for cuts at all. In fact the cuts are just the nasty Tories trying to grab the money for themselves.

The '30,000' figure has been plucked from the air - prove it.

we've had days of glorious weather , these doom mongers and miserys decide to have a march in Manchester and it rains! why could they have marched in London

No point in marching, protesting, having your say, governments will do as they please whatever your views. Anti-war demos for Afghan and Iraq are perfect examples,

I have just posted this on my facebook and asked it to be copied and pasted by everybody - you may see it popping up soon. Any comment Ed? Or will you just not bother to behave like a free press as usual and not publish this?

Facebook comment:

"How long before the Manchester Evening News is reporting the anti-cuts, anti Tory protests in Manchester as riots caused by 'outside agitators' and 'fringe groups' as they kiss Tory ass? Any bets? I say by 3pm today they will have deeply skewed stories about anarchists taking over the streets and 'brave bobbies' doing a fine job of 'robustly' policing the scumbag Tory knees up!!!"

30,000 idiots who still don't realise that you can't spend money that you do not have, not too difficult to understand really.

They have disrupted the trams and the people of Manchester. Why are they allowed to do this. we are all paying

So how much is it costing to accomodate this rally? Somewhat ironic.
But ofcourse. That evil Conservative government that believes everyone should pitch in and no one should get a free ride. And hey. That we shouldn't spend money we don't have ... They're the bad guys.

They would gain more credibility if they were to protest against Manchester City Council!

Protesting is the last democratic tool left at the disposal of the masses who are diametrically opposed to the despotic policies of the polycracy.

Passive acquiescence is the root cause of the problems that the protests are about.

Changing the colour of the rose does not alter the nature of the bush. We need to uproot polycratic party politics and replace it with a system of Government elected by proportional representation that has the common good of the people at its centre, and not personal gain.

“Capitalism is using its money; we socialists throw it away.”
~ Fidel Castro

When you relinquish the need for money and the material things that it brings, you will truly find what it is to be human. When you are human being, there is no greed and no need.

20,000 if you believe gmp and BBC. About 1% of the of greater Manchester. Get a grip. Its time to remove your snouts from the trough and try and see beyond your own little rose tinted world.

Most people realise the cuts are needed. These selfish people take to the streets demanding we are taxed more so they can enjoy their pointless jobs, crazy pension arrangements and cushy employment conditions, they would be better advised to look at what roles they can take to add value to the economy once their jobs go.

BBC Radio Manchester's website has an interesting take, they quote a source from Greater Manchester Police saying they hope the protestors are peaceful and don't step 'out of line' like the rioters.

Firstly the protests have nothing to do with the riots and secondly in my experience it is usually the police themselves who 'step out of line' by resorting to violence. Look at what is happening in New YorK City this week.

Pity there wasn't much effort in protesting campaign out of Euroland gravy train. The more we keep propping up a failed idea, the greater people here in England will suffer from lack of cash. Another call to protest would be for independence from Scotland bleeding us dry. If they want to become republic of Scotland so be it cheerio.

I take it most of the negative comments on here are from people who don't work for a living! So therefore the cuts to jobs won't effect them, but think a bit further ahead, when you won't have your NHS hospitals to go to and waste the time of the people who work there 'cos they social have sent you for an interview and you need a sicknote to get out of it. And as for the pensions, why should we work longer, harder and pay more into a pension to get less at the end of it, while the unemployed reap the rewards of our hard work??????

Maybe Labour's Tony Blair can give us some of his £20m.

Maybe Ed can sell his £1.7m house and live with the real people on a normal street.

And just how many thousands of UNISON members subs has the union fritted away on this demonstration this week.

I dont know why they didn't do a mass sit in outside the Midland Hotel like the idignados in Spain. That would have been quite funny if they'd been there all week getting under the feet of the Tories.

No doubt the far left lunatics will be out in force again.

All you lefties ask why should we (The Public Sector workers) have to pay more intot he Pensions Fund and work longer. Welcome to the real world, all of us millions who don't work in the Public Sector has seen our pensions robbed and having to pay upward of TWENTY PER CENT to get even a reasonable pension unlike all you in the Public Sector who pay SIX PER CENT into a very good pension pot that has so far not been touched like our private pension pots. I paid into it for 20 years and then Labour took all the money to pay for their own needs and left me pensionless, but hey you Public Sector workers didn't give a stuff to people like me did you? So now I have to start my pension all over again thanks to the Labour Party.

Get a real job in the real world and be greatful you have a job that for decades you were safe in for life, whilst the rest of us have to work in the private sector where job security is non existent. You never marched when our pensions were robbed by Labour did you? So why should I feel sorry for Public Sector workers now you are facing the same problems the private sector have faced for decades.

Also the Unions were given money from the public purse by Labour, that money is money paid for my private sector workers taxes who have no use for the unions whose sole aim is to bankrupt the country and give their fat cat union bosses a nice cushy job for life.

These marchers were never bothered about private sector pensions being slashed or the much greater redundancies in the private sector.

But now their own cosy little world is threatened they expect the rest of us to dig deep in our pockets and keep them in a style which we can't afford for ourselves.

How selfish.

Why don't the socialists sit back and add up where all the money has gone, and on what? They don't care where it comes from, but are aggrieved when suddenly their ideals can't be financed any more. This should be an anti-Labour protest because they spent it all, and it is their local Labour Councils who are deciding on where the cuts will hurt. The real truth is that there are too many people wrongly sitting on their backsides leaching off the State when they could be working and paying into the system (like good socialists). I really do hope that those days are over for all the fraudulent claimants. (A few times I've been called a mug for working and paying tax etc - would anyone care to defend that?) And this is not just something I read about. I see it every day. It is a detestable state of affairs (but possibly not when it brings in votes). I'm glad the party's now over, and a lot of people are going to have to face reality like many hard working people have had to for years. And I include bankers and other non-working-class parasites. The march is against reality as far as I'm concerned.