Chris Blackhurst is a former editor of The Independent, based in London
December 06, 2022
The postman was most apologetic. He’d been told to prioritise tracked letters and packages — the backlog at the sorting office was so enormous.
For weeks now, regular mail, such as magazines, has not been reaching us. We’ve been subjected to postal strikes so the post is coming in dribs and drabs. This, in the run-up to the busiest time of the year for sending and receiving greetings cards and presents.
It’s the same on the trains. There, the service is, at best, sporadic. On strike days, the railway ceases to function. But even on the days before and after a strike, the network is still struggling as the trains are in the wrong places.
On train and tube strike days in London there is a double whammy. Good luck with getting on a bus or finding a mini cab.
Britain is being battered by a flurry of public sector strikes. They come at a point when the country is facing the economic pain of climbing inflation. Energy bills are soaring and we’re not even experiencing the coldest weather.
Public services were creaking well before the unions staged walkouts. The post was fitful, cancelled trains were common, hospitals would call to delay a planned procedure.
Yet, the strikers enjoy widespread public support. My wife, who would not normally show her approval, said she hooted her car horn as she passed a picket line outside the post office and received a warm acknowledging wave in return.
Lynch is not to blame. That lies with the Tories, with 12 years of Conservative misrule
Mick Lynch, the rail union leader, is a celebrated figure, appearing on the TV panel show Have I Got News For You. In the past, the idea of the likes of the miners’ boss, Arthur Scargill being so feted would be unthinkable. He, like many of his colleagues, was viewed as a treacherous wrecker of the economy, a socialist firebrand who did not care for his country.
Not Lynch and co. He is spoken of as a future Labour leader, such is his calm, reasoned, manner. Lynch is not to blame. That lies with the Tories, with 12 years of Conservative misrule. They were the ones who gave us “austerity” and sent the public services plunging further downwards, with their cost-cutting measures, and that was because of the excesses of their wealthy banker friends.
Any doubt where the cause lay was put to rest by the brief reign of Liz Truss. Those seven weeks of utter chaos showcased the Tories’ incompetence and lack of fitness to govern. The mini-budget of her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, which was skewed towards benefiting the wealthy, only served to underline where their true instincts belonged.
Postal workers on the picket line at the Kilburn Delivery Office in north-west London. Members of the Communication Workers Union are holding a 48-hour strike in a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions. PA
Teachers on the picket line outside Oxgangs Primary School in Edinburgh, Scotland, during in a protest over pay. PA
Postal workers protest outside the Kilburn Delivery Office in London. PA
A child holds a placard as lecturers join the protest at the University of Birmingham. PA
Placards stacked by postal workers at the Camden Town Delivery Office in north-west London. AP
Lecturers hand out leaflets outside the University of Birmingham. PA
Postal workers are also protesting in Birmingham. PA
Lecturers join the picket line outside King's College London. PA
Postal workers light a fire outside the Central Delivery Office and Mail Centre in Birmingham. PA
Britain is steeped in inequality. The strikers are popularly regarded as representing the downtrodden ordinary folk. Incredibly, as we attempt to get about our lives, as mail, transport, health all come to shuddering stops, you will rarely hear any criticism of the unions. There is respect, too, for the sacrifices their members are making, forfeiting their hard-earned pay to go on strike.
Any doubt as to where responsibility lay was highlighted by last week’s Chester by-election result. Labour increased its majority, with a percentage rise which if it was repeated nationwide in a general ballot would see them sweep to power. There was no protest vote against the party’s alignment with the strikes. Arguably, the opposite occurred, with people voting for Labour against the Tories.
Faced with the knowledge that it’s seen as their fault, you might expect the government to leap into action, to actively seek solutions to the various disputes. Rather, however, there is a sense of inaction coupled with briefings suggesting troops are on standby and High Street pharmacies will be prevailed upon to cover some of the duties of striking nurses.
Partly, Truss’s successor, Rishi Sunak, is anxious to be hailed differently, that he is a sound, competent manager of the national purse. Therefore to be handing out pay rises when he is calling for thrift and care, sends a contradictory signal. He knows, too, that if the public workers achieve their demands, the private sector employees will follow suit. His prime objective is to bring inflation under control, not force it upwards.
A near empty platform at London Euston train station on Thursday morning, as Britain's railways were hit by further strikes. PA
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, on the picket line outside London Euston train station. PA
Commuters wait on a platform at Clapham Junction in London. AFP
A sign with information regarding strike action at London Waterloo railway station. Bloomberg
Commuters arrive on one of the limited running services at London Waterloo railway station in London. Bloomberg
A passenger checks the departure boards at a quiet London Euston train station. PA
A commuter looks at signs with information about strike action at the entrance to Waterloo East railway station in London. Bloomberg
Former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South, join the picket line outside London Euston train station. PA
Then, too, there is the desire to let this play out, to see what transpires. At the moment it’s all with the likes of Lynch and Labour. But we’re barely into winter, the war in Ukraine shows little sign of ending, the economy may worsen drastically. Why not wait and watch how Lynch and his pals are treated then?
The result is an impasse. The first cracks in the Lynch armoury may be emerging as his union’s decision this week to reject a renewed pay offer and to strike on Christmas Eve is drawing flak.
Lynch may discover how short the distance is from TV favourite to pantomime villain. And Labour leader Keir Starmer, likewise.
Both sides are gambling. The unions, with the support of their members and public — it’s quite possible that the strikers may say “enough”, that they can't afford the continuous absence of wages. The mail, rail and health managements and ministers, in the knowledge that public opinion is fickle. The Tories hope the mood does indeed switch, that the unions are accused of intransigence and greed and Labour with them.
The tide is with the unions at present but it can easily turn. Perhaps, in Lynch’s case, it is already.
It’s a game of brinkmanship in which there is one guaranteed loser: the general public who must put up with misfiring services. Unfortunately, it still has some distance to run.
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Founders: Sebastian Stefan, Sebastian Morar and Claudia Pacurar
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2014
Number of employees: 36
Sector: Logistics
Raised: $2.5 million
Investors: DP World, Prime Venture Partners and family offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
Neil Thomson – THE BIO
Family: I am happily married to my wife Liz and we have two children together.
Favourite music: Rock music. I started at a young age due to my father’s influence. He played in an Indian rock band The Flintstones who were once asked by Apple Records to fly over to England to perform there.
Favourite book: I constantly find myself reading The Bible.
Favourite film: The Greatest Showman.
Favourite holiday destination: I love visiting Melbourne as I have family there and it’s a wonderful place. New York at Christmas is also magical.
Favourite food: I went to boarding school so I like any cuisine really.
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024. It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine. Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages]. The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts. With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians. Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved. Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world. The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
