Solidarity 118, 27 September 2007

Sacha Ismail reviews a play about the general strike, produced by New Factory of the Eccentric Actor. A couple of months ago I went to see a play at the Globe Theatre about the Chartists, called Holding Fire! It was disappointing despite some interesting elements and the basic thrill of seeing one of the major dramas of British working-class history acted out on stage. On 22 September, I got a similar thrill, but much more satisfaction and lasting enjoyment, from a play at Conway Hall about the 1926 General Strike. The play was free, clearly attempting to match its appeal to its message by...

Some questions and answers on the Northern Rock collapse Why did Northern Rock collapse? Not directly because people couldn't meet their mortgage payments, but because of the knock-on effects from the US mortgage bubble bursting. Those knock-on effects are as wide-ranging and unpredictable as they are because of the dramatic, historic expansion and restructuring of global financial markets in the last two decades or so. The rich do a lot more trading of bits of paper representing (ultimately) entitlements to future profits or interest payments than they used to, and they do it more globally...

GREG Charles is branch secretary of South West London Postal Communication Workers’ Union . SI: With the attacks on pensions, Royal Mail management seems to be stepping up the fight. GC: Once new dates for action were announced, we knew this would happen — the intensity of our action in October has obviously alarmed management, and they are striking back. They have retaliated not just through the attack on our pensions, but with executive action to push us harder on a number of fronts — start times, night duties, workload and so on. What’s the CWU’s response? Is it adequate? Yes, the union is...

Our postman is a poet Today, I found that out. No, it’s not that unusual - There’s loads of us about. And he’s not any old poet - He’s a hippie poet for sure I found that out as well today. I’m going to tell you more… He knocked to give me the junk mail And pass the time of day. He talked about the postal strike And warned of the delay. Began apologetically Explained about their action - A great big smile lit up his face When he saw my reaction…… I told him I’m a leftie poet And if there’s one thing I like It’s people fighting for their rights And going out on strike! I gave him solidarity A...