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Those evil corporate puppet-masters pitched up in Byers Road on Saturday, to promote their plan for TTIP – the latest corporate power-grab. They want to manipulate our laws and public services for profit. But we were there to stop them – 40 people turned up to take action against TTIP, talking to 1000 people and gathering a host of new signatures on the EU-wide petition. Time for the EU and US negotiators to come out from behind their closed doors and start listening to public opposition!

We had a really interesting wee tour around the banks in the centre of Glasgow on Saturday, highlighting the madness of their continued investment in fossil fuels all around the world. Whilst the arguments go on about whether UK, EU and global carbon emission targets are tight enough, the UK banks are burning the future for a quick buck. Between 2010 and 2012 , the top five UK banks underwrote £170 billion in bonds and share issues for fossil fuel companies – more than eleven times what the UK contributed in climate finance for developing countries in the same period.

See more pics of our bankrolling tour on Facebook, and you can take action here.

It’s hard to give a real sense of the energy on Buchanan Street on Saturday morning, when 70 people pitched up to take action on TTIP. We were just one of over 1100 actions taking place across Europe against this crazy trade deal. It’s just a corporate power grab, which is why it’s being negotiated in secret, and why everyone we spoke to was horrified. We added more than 200 names to the Europe-wide petition and there are now more than 600,000 signatures, in just a week! If you haven’t signed already, you can do so here.

We can stop the madness of TTIP before it’s too late!

Those corporate lobbyists might think that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a good idea, but the people of Glasgow certainly don’t. Talking to people in Byres Road today, it’s clear that the public hate the idea of our public services being forcibly privatised, or the notion that corporations should be able to sue governments. And it’s no surprise that people are suspicious of a deal that’s being cooked up behind closed doors!

It’s not too late to stop TTIP – www.wdm.org.uk/trade

And the pressure is building – great to be working with The People’s NHS campaign and others today.

OK, so it rained all afternoon, but that didn’t stop the crowds at the Gibson Street Gala and it certainly didn’t dampen the lucky dip enthusiasm. People were queuing up to try the lucky dip and have a go at our new educational jigsaw. Who knew that the whole of China, the US, India, Europe and Mexico would fit into the same area as Africa? That’s the madness of colonial mapping for you.

Oh, and 180 people signed our petition to Justine Greening MP, the Secretary of State for International Development, telling her to stop using aid money to fund the corporate takeover of African agriculture. Not to mention all the people who signed cards to send to their MPs. Time to sit up and listen, Justine – people don’t huddle under brollies to take political action unless they mean it!

Serious quiz-based fun was had by all in O’Neill’s last night. The place was packed, the competition was fierce and it all came down to a tie breaker at the end. We learned lots of useless facts – who knew that the only word in the English language which has 5 consecutive vowels is ‘queueing’? Or that Andy Murray’s middle name is Barron? Or that tunnels near Invergordon hold the record for the world’s longest echo?

Lots of like-minded people and organisations were there to battle it out and we raised nearly £250. So the next time you see us dressing up as penguins to highlight climate change, you know where the money came from to hire the suit! Thanks guys.