Grunwick changed Britain too - but not the way Radio Four thinks
BBC Radio four has just broadcast an unbelievably one-sided account of the industrial dispute at Grunwick in the late 1970s called "Grunwick changed me."
If it had been one half of a programme and balanced by the other side of the story I would not have had a problem with what was said, but the lack of any such balance was an absolute disgrace.
To listen to what thus effectively became taxpayer-funded left-wing propaganda, you might imagine that the people on the Grunwick picket lines were all heroes of the community fighting for gender and race equality and for a fairer society.
Well, I dare say from the perspective of some of the people involved from the beginning that may have been their view, but that certainly isn't how I remember it and it was not the whole story. I think that, for example, the police officers who were injured while trying to do their job might have a different perspective.
Once the likes of Arthur Scargill got involved, the Grunwick dispute became an attempt by violent left-wing mobs to overthrow the rule of law by force.
It showed that the power of militant trade unions had increased to the point where it had become a serious threat to stability and democracy in Britain - and if the reaction against the Grunwick mobs and the even more appalling display of trade union vandalism in the "Winter of Discontent" which followed had not thrown up a leader capable of defeating them, I shudder to think what would have become of Britain.
Yes, Margaret Thatcher was absolutely right to describe the likes of Arthur Scargill as "The Enemy Within" - and thank God she defeated them.
If it had been one half of a programme and balanced by the other side of the story I would not have had a problem with what was said, but the lack of any such balance was an absolute disgrace.
To listen to what thus effectively became taxpayer-funded left-wing propaganda, you might imagine that the people on the Grunwick picket lines were all heroes of the community fighting for gender and race equality and for a fairer society.
Well, I dare say from the perspective of some of the people involved from the beginning that may have been their view, but that certainly isn't how I remember it and it was not the whole story. I think that, for example, the police officers who were injured while trying to do their job might have a different perspective.
Once the likes of Arthur Scargill got involved, the Grunwick dispute became an attempt by violent left-wing mobs to overthrow the rule of law by force.
It showed that the power of militant trade unions had increased to the point where it had become a serious threat to stability and democracy in Britain - and if the reaction against the Grunwick mobs and the even more appalling display of trade union vandalism in the "Winter of Discontent" which followed had not thrown up a leader capable of defeating them, I shudder to think what would have become of Britain.
Yes, Margaret Thatcher was absolutely right to describe the likes of Arthur Scargill as "The Enemy Within" - and thank God she defeated them.
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