9th October 2022

 Are we heading back to the 1970s?  Yesterday there were no trains running here at all. Also threatening strike action, blackmailing the government and seriously inconveniencing the general public are: barristers, postal workers, nurses, container port workers, BT, teachers, and refuse workers. Yet again, it’s union action over pay and conditions. Unlike the General Strike of 1926, none of the above are on the bread line, average starting salaries being c.£35000 p.a. Listening to union leaders like Mick Lynch, who say that their members are facing real increases in the cost of living, I can’t believe my ears. The fundamental rule is that you get paid for what you do, not what you need. Socialist models of the past too often led to communism, keeping all workers in poverty. Millions of workers in the private sector understand that. Added to the chaos, we’re warned of gas/electric shortages this winter. Remembering 1972, I was 9 months pregnant, with a toddler in the house, having just lost my dear mother, no heating, no electricity, a candle flickering in the draught.  I can’t believe the selfishness, yet again, of union leaders. Google the 1970s and learn from the past.