Back to the Past - am I a Cynic or What ?

Rocke

Mr McCarthy talks about his involvement in the strike, both financially by paying a £2 a week levy to fund the Transport and General Workers Union, and physically through his presence at demonstrations.

I thought it was the NUM on strike ?

Foreword by Paul Murphy ?
He's a well-known literary critic isn't he ?

[i]“He writes of the personal tragedies, the politics, the personalities, the bravery and fortitude of the miners themselves and of the women who played such a major part in that year.

“He has done us all a great service by reminding us about what took place 25 years ago.

He's done well to imply that we're so stupid and/or with the memory of a goldfish that we can't remember what happened.

“He writes from the heart, but also with the experience of being an active politician in the Gwent Valleys.

Note the absence of the adjective 'adept' ( and any of the other myriad of adjectives he could have used, had he any regard ).

“This book is truly a labour of love and no-one can but be moved by his remarkable skill in recounting the difficult and, in some ways, tragic months.”

I think he's mixed his phrasing up.
Sounds to me like the book is a love of Labour.

Finally, Blaenau Gwent's very own scandal coming up ?
What will the public think of Council Libraries being used as bookstores for Councillors' literary offerings ?

Oh, really finally - doesn't this have rings of politicians going into print once they've left office ?

I wonder...... I just wonder............

IAN(boco)jones

CLLR, ROCKE.
PLEASE DO NOT MENTION THE MINERS OF WHICH I WAS ONE.
AND THE LABOUR PARTY IN THE SAME SENTENCE.
AS THEY GAVE NO POLITICAL SUPPORT TO THE MINERS IN THE 1984 STRIKE, AS YOU WELL KNOW.
CERTAIN HIGH PROFILE FIGURE'S CHOSE TO FURTHER THEIR CAREERS, RATHER THAN SHOW SUPPORT TO THE GRASS ROOTS OF THEIR VERY EXISTENCE.
THEY TOOK THE EASY OPTION, PUBLIC DISSENT OF ARTHUR SCARGILL, WHOM WAS PROVED RIGHT ALL ALONG.
OTHER THAN THAT KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK ROCKE!

martyn142

Well I will be buying a copy. It may well simply be a vehicle for promoting the Labour Party but I doubt it. If it is written from Hedley's experience of the time then it should be a valuable contribution to the history of the area.

Carolyn

If it is written from Hedley's experiences at the time I doubt that it wil be an unbiased account of the Miners Strike. I agree that it will be a valuable contribution to the history of the area its importance is undoubted - it kicked the teeth out of the trade union movement if nothing else, the Tories were meticoulously well prepared for the fight well before and threw everything they had to beat it. After the strike's defeat, the employers had a gun to the head of every worker in the country. They still do.

In retrospective,Scargill and the striking miners we're substantially right to fight the government for their jobs, to defend their industry and their communities in the interests of trade unionism? The absence of a ballot is nothing more than a get out clause used by people like Kinnock to justify their own political dereliction at that time in organising effective solidarity action. kinnock was only offering part support sitting on the fence buttering his bread on both sides. It was a terrible betrayal by Labour's leaders and by some other trades unionists.

Hopefully the account will concentrate more on heartwarming side of the story and the response by ordinary people,the willingness of working-class men and women to struggle to change society, who from whatever background, poor and middle class,colour or creed saw the strike as a necessity and retaliated so unpredictably to the injustice of their treatment.

Rocke

Back to the Past - am I a Cynic or What ?

Witness to history tells of his year of turmoil