The national march started in Malet St, outside the University of London Union. Many of the marchers were from around London, but there were also banners from Hull, Huddersfield, Birmingham and elsewhere. Many were students and most but not all were young. Some of the slogans chanted as they made their way through the crowded streets of Central London represented a disillusion with both the current government and politics generally:

Labour Cronies
Tory Snobs
Fight their cuts
Fight for jobs

but others were aimed specifically at Labour – or at least ‘New Labour’:

Mandelson's a Tory
He wears a Tory Hat
And when he saw our top up fees
He said I'll double that!

Some contrasted the billions made available to rescue the failed bankers with the stringencies being imposed on students and the poor:

Gordon Brown, stop the rot
Give us what the bankers got,

and

Bail out the workers
Not the bankers!

The billions wasted on ill-conceived and probably illegal wars - currently the subject of yet another enquiry expected to state the clearly obvious - also came in for noisy and enthusiastic criticism.

What the marchers want is the right to education rather than it becoming a privilege for the wealthy, and for decent jobs. They oppose privatisation, which has so often led to lower standards, replacing a pride in work and a social responsibility by cost-cutting, minimum standards (often not achieved) and part-time working, short term employment and loss of rights and pensions for workers.

The march halted for a few minutes outside Downing St, where, after a speech that only a few could hear as restrictive laws prohibit the use of megaphones in the area, a small delegation went to take a large petition to the Prime Minister, before continuing past the Houses of Parliament. I left the marchers as they crossed over the Thames on Lambeth Bridge on their way to their final rally.

More pictures on My London Diary in a day or two.
 http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2009/11/nov.htm#youth