Events

World Cup Boycott?

by | 11th June 2026 | Events, History | 0 Comments

The 2026 World Cup My mate says he’s going to boycott the World Cup: He says he’s not going to watch any of the matches; I said you have to set your alarm clock then, Because sleeping through the night isn’t a boycott, That’s just sleeping – if you’re going to boycott, You have to get up in the middle of the night, Trudge downstairs and sit, sanctimonious, In front of the telly without turning it on. Now I admit I have some sympathy With his proposed abstemiousness: The reasons for a boycott are legion, So obvious, evident and embarrassing That they don’t need mentioning or listing – But let’s slip in good old Baudrillard: ‘Power is only too happy to give football a diabolical responsibility for stupefying the masses’ … But … If we vacate that space then who takes it over? If we flag, who takes over the flags? Speaking as a quietly patriotic citizen (Grandfather fought throughout the four years from 1914; Father fought at Tobruk, and in the jungle behind Japanese lines; I appeared as Cupid at the Coronation street party in 1953), I think we should remember our history, And try to reclaim the flags from the angry, So as to rescue the poor and anonymous From ‘the enormous condescension of posterity’: Instead of war and empire and aggrandisement, Instead of kings and queens and admirals and generals,             The Peasants’ Revolt, the Diggers, the Levellers, John Ball! Robin Hood! Gerard Winstanley! The Maroons! Olaudah Equiano! The gypsy liberty of John Clare’s vision! Democratic pirate ships and a freed Man Friday! Thomas Spence! John Thelwall! Robert Wedderburn!...
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The Importance of Paddington

by | Apr 5, 2026 | , | 0 Comments

The government knew that if it were to defeat the unions and end the strike, it had to guarantee food supplies reaching the metropolis. The Docks were problematic from the government’s point of view: working-class, unionised and well picketed. But the Docks were...

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The Ghosts of Strikemas Past

by | Apr 5, 2026 | , | 0 Comments

The Ghosts of Strikers Past As a boy, I grew up with parents and aunts and uncles and grand parents periodically moaning about strikes on the railways. We were a Daily Express household. But I thought no-one goes on strike at the drop of a hat, and, as a teenager, I...

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Stroud Library and the General Strike

by | Apr 4, 2026 | , | 0 Comments

The Stroud Journal May 7 1926 The General Strike Jottings by Jonathan   The general strike hit Stroud Public Library a blow from which it will recover, but which for the moment has left it almost breathless, or speechless.   No more, do the out-of-work enter its...

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Football and the General Strike

by | Apr 3, 2026 | , | 0 Comments

Football and the General Strike Plymouth Strikers v Police The 1925-26 football season ended on May 1st 1926 with Huddersfield Town, once under the tutelage of the legendary Herbert Chapman, league champions for the third year in a row. Chapman, of course, would...

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