Slightly too incapacitated to attend today's Durham Miners' Gala, alas. I'd have liked to have seen the new banner from Burnhope, and the dedication of it and several others in the Cathedral. Though not, of course, the dedication of the new banner from Chopwell, still bearing the images of Marx and Lenin, and still borne by those who will not partake of the opiate of the masses. (For those who understand what this next bit means, I do not know whether or not that refusal extends to their staunchly ABC parish.)
But Ed Miliband was quite right to withdraw rather than appear on a platform with Bob Crow, whose union has not been affiliated to the Labour Party for some years and whose closest connection to any political party is now to that of David Cameron. The same individuals seem to have been running that event since the dawn of time. After they lost the Leader, whose appearance would have been the first for more than 20 years, for the sake of Bob Crow, how much longer can they be left in office?
And at least Miliband did not fail to attend for any of the reasons that Tony Blair consistently did, on at least one occasion because he had instead flown off to America, or Australia, or wherever, to pay court. Court, that is, to Rupert Murdoch.
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Big meeting was... big. Crow called for re-start of mining industry, but coal is our heritage not our future - (I expand on this in 'coal-ition' blogpost)
ReplyDeletePeople go on about Union leaders wages. I dont, but flying a plane dragging a massive RMT sign behind it did seem rather ostentatious and not not much like sustainable transport.
Highlight of the day was crowd singing "A Miners Life" to the Chilean Miners on the balcony of the County Hotel. Very moving.