Tempus fugit

Time flies!I read the obituary today of Jimmy Reid at the age of 78,one of the two Jimmies who led a successful campaign to keep the upper clyde shipyard open,in the early seventies,I shared a few drinks with Jimmy when we were both much younger men, in a pub in Sheffield one evening ,and along with others present was much entertained by his tales from early years in the shipyards,he was taken aback by the small measure of whisky we received and told me the measures in Scotland were much larger and that the best course of action would be to drink it quickly before it evaporated. There were those in the trade unions who claimed the real organiser of the struggle was Jimmie Airlie,and Reid was the Spokesman,in later years JR became a print and tv journalist,and criticised the leadership of the Miners union during the 80,s strike,though events have proved that all the forecasts of the NUM leadership about privatisation and decimation of the British mining industry have come true,and the Thatcher government at that time used the full resources of the state,and a compliant media to fight a battle heavily weighted against the miners.
I enclose a painting of a worn out old miner as a symbol of the heavy industry of Britain.