Services at airports, hospitals, job centres, tax offices, colleges, driving test centres and museums are all being affected by the 24-hour walkout by some 400,000 of Britain's public sector workers today in a long-running dispute with the government over pensions.

Last November members of the Unite union came out in force on the streets in two-days of protests on the issue. Unions reckon proposed changes will mean their members will be paying more, working longer getting a smaller pension. But government says it's too heavy a burden to go at the current pace because people are living much longer now. John Cowie is a Unite rep who works at St Thomas's Hospital, he and his colleagues have been manning the picket line today.

Around 20,000 off-duty police officers are also rallying in London today – they're unhappy about cuts to their services. Under British law policeofficers are not allowed to strike and so they are marching on their day off instead.