Blogging from the Highlands of Scotland 'From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step' - Diderot
Wednesday 10 June 2009
London Tube 48-hour strike - Bill goes all "Devil's Kitchen"
I had the dubious pleasure of watching Bob Crow, the 'capo' of the union (aka 'gang') known as the RMT, last evening telling poor unfortunate Londoners why they would just have to 'grin and bear it' because members of the union were staging a 48-hour strike for some fatuous reason; not that I'm biased of course, you understand, but watching that 'mockney' lout on my television screen brings a rage-mist down over my eyes, I'm a little embarrassed to admit. Luckily I happened to flick through my RSS feeds tonight and found something in Gavin Whenman's blog that struck me as specially apt. The embedded video relates to a shorter strike a couple of years ago and encapsulates what are I imagine the sentiments of many commuters in London tonight. There is 'profanity' in the embedded video I'm afraid, but it seems to me that when confronted by divisive and offensive eejuts such as Crow some leeway is permitted:
- the title by the way refers to the serial swear-blog known as the Devil's Kitchen of course - even if I find the language used regularly there to be far too strong for my tastes, I read it often because the quality of the writing is otherwise so high and the quality of the arguments deployed is plenty high enough - even if I call a halt when the ranting carries on for screen after screen of obsessiveness in some of the [far too] lengthy articles.
However, amidst all the probable chaos in London over the next couple of days it is pleasing to read in the traditional 'journal of record' that the online blogging community is recognised as providing a valuable level of helpful information and advice for those who will be trying to negotiate their way through Bob Crow's ego-fest in the coming couple of days.
Thanks to the high traffic levels in Hammersmith yesterday caused by the strike some poor lady got dragged under and truck and mutilated as she tried to dodge through. Whilst we can't pin this down directly on Bob Crow or the strike, I was still very angry thinking about all the people who've had to suffer (including myself) for the cause of a small pay rise, to save unnecessary jobs and to protect two *allegedly* incompetent employees who made dangerous/illegal mistakes.
Grr... as a bit of leftie I'm often sympathetic towards union action of certain types. But sometimes they take it way too far. Especially the odious and attention seeking Mr Crow
I read your blog yesterday about the difficulties of your journey to work. No fun; I suppose at least it isn't mid-winter.
When I last lived in London (a long time ago now - late 80s) I had for several days to walk to/from Russell Square from the Docklands area where I lived (Shadwell Basin) during transport strikes - that's in London terms a relatively short distance, but still took about 90 or so minutes if I recall correctly. I was much luckier than one of the others who had to come from Kingston-upon-Thames.
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Thanks to the high traffic levels in Hammersmith yesterday caused by the strike some poor lady got dragged under and truck and mutilated as she tried to dodge through. Whilst we can't pin this down directly on Bob Crow or the strike, I was still very angry thinking about all the people who've had to suffer (including myself) for the cause of a small pay rise, to save unnecessary jobs and to protect two *allegedly* incompetent employees who made dangerous/illegal mistakes.
ReplyDeleteGrr... as a bit of leftie I'm often sympathetic towards union action of certain types. But sometimes they take it way too far. Especially the odious and attention seeking Mr Crow
I read your blog yesterday about the difficulties of your journey to work. No fun; I suppose at least it isn't mid-winter.
ReplyDeleteWhen I last lived in London (a long time ago now - late 80s) I had for several days to walk to/from Russell Square from the Docklands area where I lived (Shadwell Basin) during transport strikes - that's in London terms a relatively short distance, but still took about 90 or so minutes if I recall correctly. I was much luckier than one of the others who had to come from Kingston-upon-Thames.
I hope it is over very soon.