(Written 5/10/2010)
I lost the last vestiges of any faith I may have had in the political process with the Blair administration.
I spent most of the 80's and early 90's trying to persuade the public not to vote for selling off absolutely core industries that would be snapped up in a trice by foreign companies, did they listen? No, they grabbed the shares, sold them the next day, took the money, had a holiday on it and now they're complaining that the bills they pay go out of the UK and enrich foreigners. When they find that I was a Trade Union official in one of the utilities, they say "Well, you should have fought a bit harder for them, if you ask me."
In 1983/4, I tried to get more left-wingers to fight for the miners, not necessarily because they were right, but because it seemed that only organised labour could defend the manufacturing base of Britain against cheap imports and lower-quality products, and breaking the miners was the first step along the road of destabilising collective bargaining. I raised money, wrote many newsletters, even wrote a pro-miner song that I sang in folk clubs to raise a few bob, went to many a demo, and one of my proudest possessions is an "Orgreave - we were there" enamel badge. The parliamentary party sold us out, though (don't start me on Scargill) and now I hear people moaning about how "all our electrical goods come from China, why can't we manufacture anything these days, I'll tell you why, mate, it's because the unions wrecked it all.
Then, from 1995 on, I worked like stink to get a reforming Labour Party elected and served, with others, as an unpaid adviser on the electricity industry and company pensions, probably spent more evenings in the House than I did on union committees - even though I was Secretary of my Branch committee, a member of several regional ones, and one of 12 members of the National Electricity Committee - handed out leaflets, wrote yards and yards of promotional material... and went back to the House two weeks after the election to see a newly-elected MP who I'd previously called by his first name, driven him to and from places where he gave speeches, even written a few of his jokes... only to be told by some civil servant that "Mr (I won't name him) can spare you 45 seconds, so be quick."
And then they took us into Iraq.
So, and please do forgive the cynicism, I gave up on political action at that point, because it doesn't bloody work. The British public are their own worst enemy, they prefer grumbling and having a chip on their shoulder to actually doing something, and if they ever get around to doing anything, they can be bought off for far less than you'd think. "It is completely wrong that our water is owned by the French and the Germans, someone should do something about it!" they'll say. Soon, the Govt will ask "Would you like to make some cash by buying cheap shares in Royal Mail, then selling them a week later for a quick profit?" Will they narrow their collective eyes and say "Selling them to who, exactly?" No, they'll say "Oooh, yes please!" while reserving the right to blame everyone but themselves in five years time when they have to collect their post from the nearest Mail Centre, which is owned and run by the Spanish, for fuxsake, and how did that happen, eh, I'll tell you, it was all the fault of them unions.
I've done my time, I've not only bought the T-shirt, I picked the cotton, bleached it, wove it, stitched it, printed it, and then had to pay for the sodding thing, too. These days, I tend to sit on the sidelines and pour scorn on all of them, knowing from experience that I can shout my head off, be ignored or ridiculed, and then eventually blamed for not shouting my head off at the time.
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