Not so very long ago the Mac Uaid clan lived in smoke-filled stone cabins which they shared with their pigs. Even my ancestors would have found the Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel a bit squalid. It’s one of the most run down public buildings you will ever see and its waiting room are filled with people suffering the diseases of the overcrowded urban poor.

There was a march earlier today from the hospital to Hackney town hall. About 150 people participated and several of them weren’t selling papers. There’s this funny paradox that villages in rural England that no one has ever heard of see demonstrations about the health service several thousand strong yet in an important part of the country’s biggest city the demonstration is much more modest. Here’s an account of the paralell event in Birmingham.

Participation from the health unions was on the light side. One Labour councillor stood briefly at the side of the road and three Respect councillors were in the demonstration, though the organisation itself had virtually no public presence. As can be seen from the photo the SWP had by far the largest profile at the event and there was a significant SP turnout. In view of the fact that they had nothing to do with organising the event this is slightly cynical since the campaign group Tower Hamlets Keep Our NHS Public is absolutely open to everyone. Its principal organiser Anna Livingstone (pictured) makes sure of that.

The march converged with Hackney campaigners and there was a rally of 3-400. Yet you couldn’t help feeling that given the way this issue impacts on virtually every working class family that it should have been bigger. I’m guessing that UNISON’s bureaucracy may have had something to do with that.