Although, on the up side - or at least what sounds like an upside from the other side of the puddle - there was quite an upset in the Amicus election (Sir Ken Jackson, with the boot). Can you tell us anything about this Derek Simpson fellah, Chris? The press have been just describing him as a "leftist," and are more fixated on the ouster of a notable Blair wonk, but I haven't been able to get a sense of his politics beyond this.
-----Ben At 01:47 AM 8/1/2002 +0100, Chris Burford wrote: >Arthur Scargill is due to resign today after 20 years as the leader of the >(British) National Union of Mine Workers. > >Despite great courage he was beaten by Mrs Thatcher's attack on the >miners. The Union, which was said to have 250,000 members in 1981, is now >said to have only 5,000. > >In 1996 Scargill set up the Socialist Labour Party in opposition to New >Labour. The latter won a landslide victory at the 1997 election. > >Scargill attracted some criticism for allegedly using autocratic methods >in the SLP. Eventually it became one of a number of participants in the >Socialist Alliance which contests parliamentary and local elections, >getting a few percentage of the vote. > >Chris Burford > >London
