When ACE became NCU

December 21st, 2011 by Roger Darlington

In 1985, I was a national official with a trade union called the Post Office Engineering Union, although most of our members did not work for the Post Office (they were then in newly-created British Telecom) and they were not engineers (they were technicians who liked to think of themselves as engineers).

We were about to merge with another group of trade unionists with the snappy title the Civil & Public Services Association (Posts & Telecoms Group). What should we call the new merged union?

We employed consultants at some expense who came up with the idea that we should be called the Association of Communications Employees. Then we could be known as ACE – the No 1 union.

Predictably the activists were having none of this fancy thinking. Instead we went for the most boring name we could find: the National Communications Union. A decade later, the union merged again and became the Communication Workers Union.

I recall this episode because, when I hear about trade unions these days, most of them have names as modern or obscure – depending on your standpoint – as Community, Prospect, Unison, Unite. How times change.

Posted in British current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

When the front door was underground

December 21st, 2011 by Roger Darlington

In the mid 1980s. the bitter miners’ strike was over and the headquarters of the National Union of Mineworkers had moved north to Sheffield. At the time, I was a negotiating official with the then National Communications Union and had a meeting at the new NUM offices in Sheffield.

When I reached the building, I was astonished to find that the front entrance was suspended in space with no means of access. Instead we had to enter the building through the darkness of the underground car park. Somehow this seems a metaphor for the failure of the NUM to win the strike and block mine closures.

I was reminded of this experience by today’s story that the building, after standing empty for 20 years, is now to become a 24-hour casino. Again this seems like a metaphor for how our economy has increasingly moved from real work like mining coal to speculation based on little more than chance.

And, as for miners, today they are almost as rare in Britain as chimney sweepers.

Posted in British current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

Farewell to our special cat

December 20th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

In this year’s Christmas letter sent out over the last couple of weeks, we wrote:

“In February, our cat Honey will be 20 years old – that’s 96 in human years! She is clearly feeling her age and is happiest when she is within stroking distance of Vee – very high maintenance.”

Well, sadly, Honey didn’t make it to her 20th birthday or even to Christmas. She had become so frail that we decided that the kindest thing was to have her put to sleep.

This morning, two women from our local vet came round to our home to perform the act. The young Israeli vet gave her the injection and Honey was out almost at once – eyes open and tongue out. Both Vee and I had tears welling in our eyes.

We have buried her in her favourite flower bed covered up with the kitchen towel on which she used to rest on Vee’s knees each evening in front of the television.

She has been wonderful companion. You can see how she entered out lives and view my favourite photograph of her here.

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The human cost of the Euro crisis

December 19th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

Like us, a number of our friends enclose newsletters with their Christmas cards. We enjoy catching up on events in the lives of friends whom we may not have seen for some time – but some of the news can be sad.

The most tragic news this year has been from an old friend from university days explaining that a young relative in Italy has committed suicide because of the collapse of his business. When I read this terrible news, I wondered how often this story is being repeated around Europe as the economic crisis hits so many people so hard.

In the newspaper this morning, there is a piece on the economic travails in Greece. Before the crisis, Greece had the lowest suicide rate in Europe; now it has the highest. The rate of suicide in the country has almost doubled.

This Christmas, let’s spare a thought for all those challenged by new economic hardships and especially those contemplating the ultimate price.

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)

Remembering Vaclav Havel

December 18th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

As reported here, the playwright, dissident and statesman Vaclav Havel has died aged 75. He was a remarkable man who went from prisoner to president in a matter of months when then Czechoslovakia overthrew communism in the ‘Velvet Revolution’.

My wife Vee met him in 200o during his term as President of Czechoslovakia. In a ceremony in Prague Castle, he presented to her a medal commemorating the wartime exploits of her Czech father Karel Kuttelwascher.

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Labour and unions in the movies

December 18th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

I love the movies and, like everyone, I enjoy the escapism that they provide. But some cinema at least should – like all art – reflect reality and show people as they are, so a work that features working people and perhaps even trade unions is to be welcomed.

This weekend, I saw a rare example of this specialist genre: “The Navigators” by Ken Loach [my review here].

In fact, over the years I’ve managed to see some 26 films about labour and/or unions and you can see all my reviews here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

Would you like to receive my Thought For The Week?

December 17th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

I’be been sending out an e-mail Thought For The Week for around 13 years now – short, positive aphorisms. It started with a dozen colleagues at work and the circulation has grown and grown, so that this week it reached 1,800 all around the world.

You can check out all my previous Thoughts here.

If you would like to receive it, e-mail me

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My night in prison

December 16th, 2011 by Roger Darlington

This morning, I attended a meeting of the Nominet Policy Stakeholder Committee on which I represent consumer interests. The meeting took place in the Saïd Business School in Oxford and we were accommodated in the city overnight. The venue for the overnight stay was the Malmaison Hotel at Oxford Castle which used to be a prison.

A hotel that used to be a jail? Check it out here.

Footnote: I’ve escaped and I’m home now.

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